Ravid Yosef, the elusive alleged fraudster and fertility business entrepreneur who fled New York for Israel six years in the past, is at present working for a London-based startup underneath an assumed identify.
Six years in the past, Yosef was charged with financial institution fraud and conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud, and was indicted by the Southern District of New York.
Nonetheless, whereas two of her co-conspirators within the Crypto Capital Corp financial institution fraud have confronted the costs towards them and are serving jail time, Yosef managed to keep up a comparatively regular life-style.
Certainly, since her resolution to flee US regulation enforcement, she’s had a baby, based and closed an Israeli fertility startup referred to as Embie, and turn out to be head of promoting for an IVF agency in London referred to as Avenues.
Sarcastically, if Yosef had turned herself in in 2019, she’d probably already be out of jail.
From crypto shadow banker to hiding in plain web site
Yosef, who now goes by the nom de guerre “Ravid Israel,” has appeared on quite a few podcasts, typically delving into her private historical past and journey to turning into an IVF recipient and knowledgeable.
Noticeably absent from her retellings of the previous, nevertheless, are particulars of her involvement with Crypto Capital Corp, her six-years on the run from regulation enforcement, and the way she and her brother, Oz Yosef, misplaced entry to $800 million that got here principally from Bitfinex and Tether clients.
As a substitute, she claims, she moved to Israel for cheaper and extra available IVF procedures.
Co-conspirators rot, Ravid thrives
One of many operators of Crypto Capital Corp, Ivan Manuel Molina Lee, was arrested in Poland in 2019 and located responsible.
One other, Reginald Fowler, is at present serving a 72-month sentence after pleading responsible to financial institution fraud and conspiracy to commit financial institution fraud in 2022.
In the meantime, throughout this time, Yosef’s Embie went from power to power and in 2023, was chosen by Google Africa’s Google for Startups Development Academy: AI for Well being to obtain assist and funding from the Microsoft AI for Good Accelerator.
It’s unclear why each Google and Microsoft have been unable to establish that they have been forking over funding and assist to a global fugitive.
Protos reached out to Google and Microsoft for remark and can replace the article in the event that they reply.
Google for Startups blogpost that includes Ravid Israel (a.okay.a. Ravid Yosef).
Protos performs a task
Whereas Embie had been a struggling startup for years and kind of ceased to exist previous to Protos reporting in August, a noticeable change appeared on the web site shortly after the publication of our August 25 story.
Embie’s web site two days earlier than and 6 days after Protos revealed an article on Yosef.
In a quick weblog put up signed by “The Embie Team,” it states that “after five years of supporting women and couples on their fertility journey… we have made the very difficult decision to close the Embie app.”
No purpose for the sudden resolution to close up store is given, however timing means that the Protos article didn’t assist.
What’s subsequent for Ravid?
Protos reached out to Yosef’s present employer, Avenues, to ask if it was conscious of her fugitive standing or if it had interacted together with her in-person.
We’ve not but acquired a reply, although a phone dialog steered it was each unaware of Yosef’s standing and anxious.
It’s a optimistic signal that discovering Yosef has turn out to be simpler on account of her fixed on-line presence, however an absence of due diligence from main world company manufacturers and an absence of willingness to implement legal guidelines by authorities in Israel and the US implies that she stays comparatively secure… for now.
