Seven Israeli military and police officers charged with stealing tens of millions of shekels

Israeli authorities have charged seven military and police officers with running a multimillion-dollar theft and bribery ring, the second crypto-related criminal case to hit the country’s defence establishment in two months.

The State Attorney’s Office filed charges Monday at the Central District Court in Lod against seven officers who served in classified units within the Israel Defence Forces and Israel Police. The charges include bribery, theft by a public servant, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and tax offences. A court-imposed gag order is blocking most details from being made public.

Prosecutors say the defendants used their access and authority to steal tens of millions of shekels over several months. Most of the money was moved through cryptocurrency wallets.

During the investigation, authorities seized wallets and cash worth more than 50 million shekels, roughly $13 million. After one suspect was arrested and others realised an investigation was underway, three of them allegedly destroyed evidence to hinder the probe.

The investigation included The Shin Bet, the Military Police Criminal Investigation Division, Israel Police’s Central District unit, and the Police Internal Investigations Department. Four defendants will be detained. The remaining three will be kept under restrictive conditions. Since the war began, this case is one of the most serious security-linked criminal matters, according to the officials.

Reservist Charged over Polymarket bets placed with classified intel

This is not the first time in recent months that Israeli security personnel have been caught using crypto for personal gain.

A reservist and a civilian were charged after allegedly using classified military information to place bets on Polymarket, a crypto-based prediction platform. That case also involved the Shin Bet, the Defence Ministry, and Israel Police, and several additional reservists were arrested during the investigation.

The backdrop to both Israeli cases is a broader global picture in which crypto has become a tool of state-level financial operations. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that total illicit crypto transaction volume hit a record $154 billion in 2025, driven by a 694% surge in value moving through sanctioned entities.

Iran and Russia built crypto networks worth hundreds of billions

In 2025, Iran reached more than 7.78 billion in crypto flows. IRGC-owned wallet addresses used half of that amount for Iranian crypto services. These addresses received over $3 billion in total. The year before it was $2 billion, and that figure does not include volumes from UK-registered exchanges Zedcex and Zedxion, which were not sanctioned until January 2026.

Russia launched its own ruble-backed token called A7A5. $93.3 billion was processed under the token in a year. The exchange Grinez was affiliated with the token. It was linked to Garantex

Russia built its own parallel system. A ruble-backed token called A7A5, launched in 2025, processed $93.3 billion in under a year. Its affiliated exchange, Grinex, was the rebrand of a previously sanctioned Russian platform, Garantex. It was shut down in March 2025. $2.2 billion worth of A7A5 were converted into dollar-pegged stablecoins through an instant swap service. It was the way for Russian authorities to enter the global financial system without the need for traditional banking.

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