The Jerusalem District Court sentenced Yitzhak Sharifi, 58, to 11 years in prison, probation, and compensation for the victims of his crimes, on Tuesday. He was convicted of several serious crimes against 30 women, among other things, soliciting them to engage in prostitution and have sexual relations with him, while cheating them and exploiting their economic hardship.

The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office (Criminal) requested, through attorney Michal Azoulai, that the defendant be sentenced to 18 years in prison, probation, and that he pay compensation to the complainants, and a monetary fine.

As part of the arguments for his sentence, the prosecution emphasized the serious harm the defendant had inflicted on the dozens of women and the great damage caused to them

The prosecution during his sentencing hearing had said: "The indictments to which the defendant admitted include 30 charges, and behind each charge, the story of a woman, of a mother, who is a world unto herself... The indictments show that the defendant's occupation and his mission in this life were to locate women in distress, to deceive them in the ugliest way possible that comes to mind, and hurt them badly. The accused, as an insatiable well-oiled machine, who for a decade, non-stop, worked intensively to satisfy his sexual desires and urges."

Yitzhak Sharifi is brought for a court hearing sentence at the Jerusalem District court, on May 30, 2023. Photo by Flash90 (credit: FLASH90)
Yitzhak Sharifi is brought for a court hearing sentence at the Jerusalem District court, on May 30, 2023. Photo by Flash90 (credit: FLASH90)
Over the course of a decade, beginning in 2012, Sharifi used false identities to approach 30 women, most of them single mothers in a difficult economic situation. He fraudulently sought intimate photos of them, met with them, and had relationships with them while presenting various misrepresentations of himself and giving them false promises.

Took advantage of single mothers

Sharifi took advantage of the economic plight of women by offering to set them up with wealthy men. Posing as a wealthy man by using a fictitious character he created, he offered to meet with them to have several sexual encounters with him in return for a large cash payment.

The women were asked to complete a quota of meetings with him, that they only committed to at the end of all the meetings with the "sponsor." The women were promised payment for all the meetings.

He instructed his friends to approach the women as one of those characters and coordinate a meeting with them.  On the basis of the series of false representations and in view of their severe economic hardship, he deliberately and systematically used punishments to take intimate photos of them, which he then sent to other women, under his false identities.

Sharifi also sent the photos to different men and all this without the approval and consent of women.