Attorney sentenced to 8 years for hiring hit-man to kill ex’s partner

Tel Aviv District Court sentences lawyer Gur Finkelstein, who was first arrested in 2011 on suspicion of hiring a Jaffa-based mob to bomb Scientology Center building.

By YONAH JEREMY BOB
Attorney Gur Finkelstein was sentenced to eight years in jail for conspiracy to commit a felony in his hiring of a hit-man to kill or cause serious bodily harm to Daniel Cohen, the partner of his ex-wife. (photo credit: FLASH 90)
Attorney Gur Finkelstein was sentenced to eight years in jail for conspiracy to commit a felony in his hiring of a hit-man to kill or cause serious bodily harm to Daniel Cohen, the partner of his ex-wife.
(photo credit: FLASH 90)
Lawyer Gur Finkelstein was sentenced to eight years in jail by the Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday relating to convictions that involved conspiracy to commit a felony in his hiring of a hit-man to kill or cause serious bodily harm to Daniel Cohen, the partner of his ex-wife.
It was alleged that Finkelstein and his father, who was convicted separately, tried to hire an undercover policeman to carry out the hit. The undercover policeman arrested Finklestein once they had agreed upon terms for the attack.
Separately, Finklestein had been convicted of obstruction of justice arising from original allegations that he ordered the killing of a state witness to prevent that individual from testifying against him. When the story broke, Finkelstein was rearrested at the Sharon Prison while facing the original charges relating to his ex-wife’s partner.
Finkelstein’s father, Yitzhak, also was taken into custody at the time amid intelligence gathered by the police and the Prisons Service in an undercover operation.
Gur Finkelstein was first arrested in 2011 on suspicion of hiring a Jaffa-based mob to bomb the Scientology Center building there for financial gain. When the alleged bombing plot, which involved a truck filled with gas canisters and 300 liters of gasoline, failed, the men were ordered to set the building on fire, police said in 2011. That alleged attempt ended in failure, as well.
Originally, the younger Finkelstein was accused of ordering mobsters to harm Shota Hovel, the head of the construction oversight department at the Tel Aviv Municipality, following Hovel’s decision to knock down the building in Jaffa owned by Scientologists due to violations of building regulations.
Because the evidence available supported fewer and less serious convictions, his sentence was limited to eight years.