Persistence Brings Vindication

Businessman claimed For several years that he was the sufferer of the rip-off — and of wiretaps by a famed private eye.

LAS VEGAS – Right until very last week, Ami Shafrir experienced expended 4 disheartening decades telling anyone who would listen a seemingly remarkable tale of currently being conned from tens of millions of bucks well worth of companies, house and money, and of remaining wiretapped in the method by non-public detective Anthony Pellicano.

Shafrir, an Israeli-born telecommunications whiz who came to America 15 yrs ago “looking for my destiny” and wound up full of Beverly Hills, informed his Tale in impassioned speeches for the duration of court docket proceedings and on a website he named BigCrime.com.

He invited a L. a. television crew to observe him as he tried to break into his individual Workplace making – only to be stopped by a safety guard at gunpoint – and pleaded with legislation enforcement officers to carry out some thing about the people that had “robbed me of anything I'd, including my identity, livelihood, dignity.”

Shafrir’s Tale was that whilst he was dealing with a divorce, two brothers – fellow Israelis – had befriended his wife, Sarit, and supplied to help you her from the contentious break up-up; the brothers turned out for being Daniel and Abner Nicherie, equally of whom had legal records; and that by the point he and his now ex-spouse discovered who they had been, it was as well late.

In lawsuits submitted to start with in L. a. Remarkable Courtroom, then federal courtroom, Shafrir alleged that the Nicherie brothers had utilized forgery and also other schemes to loot his family members’s belongings, which include Office environment structures on Sunset and Wilshire boulevards and a company that related callers to Net chat rooms.

The brothers also tried to body him for credit card fraud and for molesting his have baby, Shafrir alleged, and paid $154,000 to Pellicano, Shafrir claimed, to faucet his cellular phone and find out how he was striving to guard himself versus them.

Although the worst portion, Shafrir stated, was how the more mature of the brothers, Daniel Nicherie, expended numerous pounds from the looted revenue to hire teams of attorneys to file lawsuit following lawsuit from him, so many that he was pressured into bankruptcy even though he went from court docket to court, praying that some judge would imagine the wild conspiracy idea he spouted.

“I keep on waking each and every early morning to a completely new day of nothingness, continuing to battle the terror,” he lamented previous November, inside of a letter towards the U.S. Labor Division.

Shafrir typically feared that not a soul considered him. Actually, three federal companies, the FBI, IRS and Labor Division, had opened investigations. And on Thursday, when Shafrir flew listed here from La for a meeting Along with the elder Nicherie brother, federal brokers moved in to arrest Daniel Nicherie on 7 counts of wire fraud, personal bankruptcy fraud and pension fraud.

On Friday, a 49-website page arrest warrant affidavit was unsealed describing Daniel Nicherie, 44, as a man with 11 aliases and a path of victims stretching across the nation and spanning much more than ten years. He faces a Listening to nowadays in La on no matter if he should really continue being in custody during the felony situation that might shed light-weight both of those on significant-stake self esteem video games and also the non-public detective get the job done of Pellicano, who's currently in jail on explosives expenses.

Along with the Shafrirs, Nicherie allegedly duped a L. a. medical doctor and his father out of $275,000 by telling them they'd be joining other wealthy buyers, like a notable Israeli entertainer, inside of a enterprise selling “near out” items over the web. In fact, the celeb wasn't an Trader and the money was employed for Nicherie’s entertainment and “personalized expenses,” for example airfare and foods, The federal government mentioned.

As for Ami Shafrir, The federal government affidavit estimates that he and his ex-spouse experienced, certainly, been “defrauded from not less than $40 million.” Daniel Nicherie employed his acquire, the doc says, on every little thing from his father’s memorial assistance to a residence in San Diego towards the selecting of Pellicano.

The federal government also echoes Shafrir’s decades of complaints that a cadre of civil lawyers experienced exploited the court docket system “to assist advertise” the fraudulent strategies.

Nicherie utilised the Shafrirs’ possess dollars to fund “close to 106 lawsuits and ten individual bankruptcy filings” to individual them from their wealth, the government alleges. According to the affidavit, Ami Shafrir the accused con man reasoned that “the legal system wasn't Outfitted to cope with attorneys who lie.”

“Lastly,” Ami Shafrir said after Nicherie’s arrest, “the world considered me.”

Shafrir obtained his start off in electronics, owning a sales and repair business enterprise in Israel. He fulfilled Sarit when she came in as a purchaser. They married in 1988 and the following year moved to The usa, persuaded it absolutely was the sole spot for a man of Ami’s Thoughts and push. The Shafrirs created quite a few firms to services the trades that experienced figured out the way to revenue off the online market place, from psychic hotlines to racy chat rooms. One particular firm presented the telephone traces and another billing companies for sellers.

Within a several years, they were being living with their two youngsters during the Mount Olympus enclave, over the Sunset Strip, and have been ready to buy the tiny Office environment building by which they rented Room and also a fifty,000-sq.-foot setting up on Wilshire owned by producer Dino De Laurentis.

Their businesses had been a lot more profitable than their relationship, on the other hand, Primarily after Ami commenced spending time in Europe, growing their holdings. Suspicious of his perform to the street and experience neglected in your own home, Sarit filed for divorce in August 1998. They nonetheless had been negotiating the terms in their split the next calendar year when she fulfilled the Nicheries.

In the courtroom declaration, Sarit Shafrir stated the brothers gave their names as “Nishrie,” which is why she didn't quickly locate their criminal backgrounds: Daniel Nicherie experienced acquired a 1-calendar year sentence in a very Texas situation for defrauding the College Discounts Assn. of $1.two million in loans. His brother, Abner, experienced pleaded responsible in 1999 to 1 federal conspiracy depend in the scheme to defraud pharmaceutical suppliers.

Sarit mentioned the brothers introduced on their own as “rich businessmen in a position to deliver legal and consulting products and services,” and presented to help ensure that her husband did not cheat her inside their divorce. One way they alienated her from him, she mentioned, was by using the services of Pellicano, three yrs before the private investigator’s purported wiretapping would make front-web site headlines. Sarit final 12 months was one of the witnesses referred to as right before a federal grand jury investigating the detective and lawyers who could have benefited from these types of eavesdropping on Hollywood celebrities and also other Southern Californians.

Associates have reported that Pellicano was careful and secretive and by no means Allow consumers hear his recordings. But courtroom data advise that he could possibly have departed from his rule In such a case. Because Ami Shafrir frequently spoke in Hebrew, his ex-wife said, the detective let the Nicheries, who also spoke the language, arrive at his office to listen to the tapes. They, subsequently, from time to time termed her over a cellphone and Permit her hear excerpts, she stated.

“I heard [Ami] speaking to his mom about me and the kids,” she recalled. “I really needed to bury this male.”

Sarit later on alleged in court papers which the brothers had instructed her to transfer her residence to a Nevada Company and her discounts to accounts they specified to help keep this kind of belongings away from attain of her partner.

With the summer season of 2001, she experienced 2nd thoughts about the Nicheries and declared, all through a La court docket visual appeal, that they ended up pulling a “large fraud.” Sarit mentioned she experienced helped them by signing her ex-spouse’s nameto files that put their World-wide-web organization less than Daniel Nicherie’s
Management.

“They confirmed me the best way to lie,” she instructed a judge that Aug. 28. “They showed me tips on how to forge. They confirmed me the best way to do probably the most Terrible matters.”

She ultimately aided her ex-spouse in his own racketeering fit from the Nicheries. The accommodate alleged that the brothers had driven him into bankruptcy, tried to ship him to prison by obtaining a male to assert that Ami experienced served him in a credit card fraud, and had even inspired his daughter to say he experienced molested her. Last year, Shafrir’s fit was settled, on paper at the very least, once the Nicheries agreed to pay him $4 million, even though Shafrir acknowledged that, like Other folks who had sued them just before, he may need a hard time collecting.

The major fraud section from the U.S. attorney’s office in L. a. claimed the arrest will not likely conclusion an “ongoing” investigation. Assistant U.S. Atty. Steven Olson claimed the findings of your 3 companies will probably be introduced to your federal grand jury and that additional rates – and defendants – may very well be included in an indictment.

Olson explained Daniel Nicherie as “an economic predator” and said he were arrested now in part for the reason that he was from the nation. Although Nicherie lists his home as Las Vegas, he also has a house in Belgium.

In Las Vegas on Friday, one among Nicherie’s criminal attorneys, David Chesnoff, asked a federal magistrate to Enable the defendant remain no cost and be along with his five young children, certainly one of whom suffers from Crohn’s disorder. But following hrs of lawful wrangling, and even more on Monday, Nicherie remained in custody pending now’s hearing.

Nicherie’s attorneys reported they could not comment on the costs right until they hadread by means of The federal government’s submitting. “It’s easy to make allegations,” mentioned La protection legal professional Stanley Greenberg, “harder to demonstrate them.”

Ami Shafrir, In the meantime, claimed he prepared to see them all in court right now. “I wouldn’t miss out on it,” he reported.