Businessman Morris Talansky, witness in Ehud Olmert trial, passes away at 92
According to the verdict, Talansky transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to former prime minister Olmert over several years.
Jewish-American businessman Morris Talansky passed away on Monday evening at the age of 92.
Talansky, who also goes by "Moshe," was known for serving as a key witness in the "Cash Envelopes" affair, in which former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was convicted of receiving money illegally while serving as mayor of Jerusalem.
According to the verdict, Talansky transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars to Olmert over several years. At the trial, Olmert said in 2011 that he denied ever demanding cash bribes from Talansky, and added that the Jewish-American philanthropist's testimony at the trial claiming he lent Olmert tens of thousands of dollars was nothing but a made-up fantasy. Olmert responded by saying he received money from Talansky in the form of campaign donations.
Olmert's defense later said in September of that year that the donations from Talansky were legal, after prosecutors alleged that the former prime minister failed to report the donations to the State Comptroller.
The indictment said that Talansky gave Olmert the money as a personal loan, which the Israeli leader allegedly stashed away unreported to the tax authority.
He was laid to rest in a cemetery in Beit Shemesh, according to Ynet. He was an Orthodox Jew from Long Island, New York.
Both he and Olmert jointly founded the New Jerusalem Fund, a charity aimed at raising money for projects in Israel's capital.
Yaakov Lappin, Ron Friedman, and Joanna Paraszczuk contributed to this report.
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