The Tel Aviv District Court convicted alleged crime boss Ismail Jarushi and 12 additional defendants on Wednesday, including minors and members of the SSQ gang, after they admitted, as part of a plea bargain, to offenses stemming from the extortion of a Tel Aviv money-changer that escalated into gunfire.
According to the amended indictment to which the defendants pleaded guilty, the case centered on an alleged debt of approximately NIS 1 million, tied to the complainant’s previous financial-services business.
Prosecutors said that Jarushi, together with several co-defendants and other criminal actors, acted in concert to pressure the complainant to pay up, using repeated calls, text messages, in-person meetings, and eventually shooting attacks on the business after he refused to pay the full amount demanded.
The prosecution announcement said the plea agreement was reached after negotiations, with the defendants withdrawing their denials, admitting to the amended indictment, and being convicted on that basis.
For the adult defendants, the deal provides for prison terms ranging from 13 to 45 months, while no sentencing agreement was reached regarding the minors.
As a condition of the arrangement, Jarushi deposited NIS 150,000 in compensation for the complainant.
Amended indictment
The amended indictment shows that the extortion campaign began no later than February 2025. Prosecutors alleged that Jarushi and four adult co-defendants conspired to threaten the complainant over the alleged debt, with some of them at times presenting themselves as acting in Jarushi’s name or on his behalf.
One meeting in Ramle on February 17 ended with a demand that the complainant pay NIS 200,000, to be transferred to Jarushi; later demands rose as high as NIS 500,000 before settling back into repeated pressure for hundreds of thousands of shekels.
The case then allegedly escalated into armed violence. According to the charge sheet, a separate conspiracy was formed to shoot at the complainant’s business in order to frighten him. The first shooting attack, on May 9, 2025, struck the wrong address. After the mistake was discovered, the assailants allegedly returned on May 12 and fired eight shots at the actual business.
Prosecutors further alleged that gang members later documented the bullet damage on video and relayed confirmation that the shooting had been carried out.
The indictment also attributed direct threats to Jarushi himself. In one message cited by prosecutors, sent on May 15, 2025, Jarushi allegedly warned the complainant that if he thought that “we forgot about you,” he was mistaken, and threatened to destroy the business.
Prosecutors said Jarushi also sent photographs showing the business after the shooting, including one image in which the complainant himself was visible inside it.
While the offenses in the amended indictment vary for each defendant, they include conspiracy to commit a felony, extortion by threats, firearms offenses, shooting from a gun, aiding the carrying of a weapon, and aiding a shooting offense.
A separate count also concerned the transfer and carrying of a handgun, with another alleging an agreement between two defendants relating to illegal firearms dealing.
The broader case has been unfolding for months. In July 2025, 12 alleged SSQ members, including minors, were charged over the extortion-and-shooting affair. At that stage, prosecutors alleged that some gang members had falsely presented themselves as acting for the Jeroushi crime family.
Later that month, Jarushi surrendered to police after a period on the run, and prosecutors moved to remand him, describing him as a criminal figure whose name itself allegedly served as a tool of intimidation.
Wednesday’s conviction marks the first formal resolution of the case, but not its full end. The court still must sentence the minor defendants without an agreed punishment framework, and the publication ban remains in force on any detail liable to identify the minors or defendants who were minors at the time of the offenses.