Tel Aviv Psychologist Indicted for Forging Signatures and 12.5 Million Shekel Fraud
The State Attorney's Office has indicted Yosef Hananel, 73, for conducting 131 unauthorized psychological assessments, forging specialist signatures, and evading 1.55 million shekels in taxes. His fraudulent reports led the Ministry of Education to allocate 12.5 million shekels in support budgets.
The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment on Monday with the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court against Yosef Hananel, 73, of Tel Aviv. Hananel is registered as a psychologist but does not hold a specialist degree. He is accused of conducting 131 psychological assessments without authorization, forging the signatures of specialist psychologists, obtaining goods by deception, and committing tax offenses.
According to the indictment, filed by attorneys Sarit Reich Avniel and Sharon Landau of the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office, Hananel presented himself to patients, parents, and state authorities as authorized to perform psychological assessments. He claimed his evaluations met legal standards, despite not being a specialist psychologist, not being in an active residency program, and lacking the authority to conduct or sign these assessments.
Forgery and Deception
In some instances, Hananel sent the assessments to specialist psychologists for review and signature, even though he was not permitted to conduct them in the first place. In other cases, after his professional relationship with those specialists ended, he forged their signatures without their knowledge, making it appear as though the assessments had been reviewed and approved by them. In total, the defendant is charged with 72 counts of signature forgery and 131 instances of signing assessments without authorization.
These assessments were distributed to parents, diagnostic institutes, and educational institutions. They were subsequently submitted to the Ministry of Education to secure academic accommodations and support budgets. The indictment states that Hananel charged approximately 2,000 shekels for each assessment.
Based on these fraudulent evaluations, the Ministry of Education allocated support budgets totaling approximately 12.5 million shekels to the educational institutions of the diagnosed students.
Tax Evasion
Furthermore, the indictment alleges that between 2012 and 2021, Hananel omitted income totaling approximately 1.55 million shekels from his tax reports to the Israel Tax Authority. Among other violations, he filed reports claiming he had no income, while in reality, he received income as both a salaried employee and a self-employed worker, and failed to maintain proper account books as required.
The indictment charges Hananel with forging a document with the intent to obtain goods under aggravating circumstances, using a forged document, obtaining goods by deception under aggravating circumstances, violations of the Psychologists Law, willful omission of income, presenting false documents to prevent tax withholding, fraud, and failure to maintain account books.
