"Within an hour, guys will be at your house": Lawyer accused of extortion

At the beginning of the week, an indictment was filed against 52-year-old attorney Alon Kriti, charging him with extortion by threats against a person who borrowed money from him. According to the indictment, Kriti sent the complainant a series of threatening messages and even approached two other people, asking them to go to his home to intimidate him and force the repayment of the debt.

The indictment reveals that there were friendly relations between Kriti and the complainant, partly because Kriti represented him legally. During 2025, it is alleged, Kriti lent the complainant about 50,000 shekels in cash, of which about 30,000 shekels were returned. In addition, a relative of Kriti, who is also a friend of the complainant, lent him about 20,000 additional shekels, which were not returned.

According to the indictment, after the loans were not fully repaid, Kriti began sending the complainant text and voice messages on WhatsApp. Among other things, he wrote: "How much of a jerk and a scumbag can you be?", and in another message: "And don't worry, last night you already came up in a conversation with some guys, go in peace."

In additional messages, according to the indictment, Kriti wrote: "Within an hour, guys will be at your house." In one of the voice messages he said:

"When they are knocking on your door, I am on the camera with them... I am also giving the instructions."

According to the prosecution, the threats did not remain only within the framework of the correspondence. After the complainant did not return the money, Kriti contacted two other people and asked them to go to the complainant's house to intimidate him. The two arrived at the house while the complainant's nine-year-old son was with him, knocked on the front door, and left after receiving no response.

Even after that, it is alleged, the threatening messages continued. Among other things, Kriti wrote to the complainant: "I am not leaving you alone," "I promise that at the end of the day you will leave the house," and in another message: "Next time I will come."

Following the events, the complainant filed a complaint with the police and Kriti was arrested.

Parallel to the indictment, a request was filed for Kriti's detention until the end of the proceedings. In the request, attorney Rieger noted that the defendant acted intensively and sent many messages with threatening content for days. According to her, he even "dared to send people to the complainant's house" to intimidate him.

It is further alleged in the arrest request that "such audacity indicates the high risk posed by the defendant and that he does not shy away from any means to achieve his goals." According to the prosecution, an additional dimension of severity stems from the fact that Kriti is a criminal defense attorney by profession.