Disgraced Israeli Tycoon Eliezer Fishman Formally Declared Bankrupt
Nearly a year after the Israel Tax Authority sought it, fallen tycoon Eliezer Fishman on Wednesday was formally declared bankrupt by the Tel Aviv District Court.
Nearly a year after the Israel Tax Authority sought it, fallen tycoon Eliezer Fishman on Wednesday was formally declared bankrupt by the Tel Aviv District Court.
Businessman Eliezer Fishman has racked up debts of some 4 billion shekels ($1.1 billion), the largest personal debt in Israel’s history.
Creditors late Tuesday rejected a proposed debt agreement that would have let fallen tycoon Eliezer Fishman repay less than a 10th of some 1.7 billion shekels ($480 million) that he owes them.
The creditors of Eliezer Fishman are due to vote on a debt bailout on Tuesday after the once high-flying tycoon reached an agreement with a court-appointed administrator that will let him write off as much as 92 percent of what he owes.
The Bank of Israel on Sunday answered back critics who say lenders and regulators were too ready to give tycoons and their holding companies loans and too hesitant in trying to get repaid when the loans went bad.
Calling it the biggest bankruptcy in Israel’s history, the receiver appointed to oversee Eliezer Fishman’s assets issued a scathing report on the indebted tycoon and his family’s efforts to keep assets out of the hands of creditors.
They once pulled the strings of Israel’s economy, but now the country’s most influential tycoons are reeling under a popular backlash against corporate power and selling assets in a regulatory squeeze.