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Adv. Harel Perlmutter, Head of the Tax Department at Barnea was interviewed by Ynet regarding the expected tax amendments going into effect in 2017.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, Partner and Head of Capital Markets & Securities Department at Barnea was interviewed by Several Israeli Newspapers, after Nochi Dankner was sentenced today to 2 years in prison following his conviction on charges of stock manipulation. Zvi commented that unlike the verdict, which gave the impression that Dankner would receive a more severe punishment, it can be assumed that the District Court tried to impose a light sentence, but one which would not cause the prosecution to file an appeal.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, Partner and Head of the Capital Markets Department at Barnea, in a comparative review of the regulation of crowdfunding for Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law. The article discusses how three jurisdictions, the UK, US and Israel, have dealt with the regulatory aspects of the equity crowdfunding sector, comparing and contrasting the approaches taken by the regulators.

Adv. Yuval Lazi, Partner at Barnea represented Sun Corporation of Japan in a mutual investment with Alibaba the Chinese retail and Internet giant in the Israeli company Infiniti AR, which is developing augmented reality systems for medicine, training, and games.

Adv. Ariella Dreyfuss, Partner at Barnea in an article on Convertible Notes. According to Ariella, Convertible notes are an attractive instrument for investors, they can also be advantageous to entrepreneurs and if drafted correctly should balance the interests of both parties.

Micky Barnea joined IBM Alpha Zone Accelerator 4th Class as a mentor. The program focuses on post Seed and Round A funded companies with the aim to create a long term Technology and Business partnership with IBM worldwide.

Adv. Yuval Lazi, Partner at Barnea, interviewed by the blog 'Talks about Entrepreneurship' and the granting of stock options to a start-up's employees. Yuval discussed the possibility for an employee to sell his options, valuation of options and how stock options are taxed.

Dr. Zvi Gabbay, Partner and Head of the Capital Markets and Securities department at Barnea, represented D.G.I Media Ltd. in a precedent administrative enforcement settlement in the field of Forex Trading.

This week the Supreme Court rejected Yaakov Peri's demand for a tax reduction from the tax authorities from an exercise of options received by the public company, Lipman Electronic Engineering. Adv. Harel Perlmutter, Head of the Tax Department at Barnea was interviewed by Globes and noted that during the period in which the controversy arose, there was a difference between corporate tax (35%) and capital gains tax (25%) for companies. Today, when the tax rates are identical, there are no implications arising from the nature of the tax imposed on the taxpayer.

Barnea represents iTrader, an online forex trading company, which is under investigation by the Israeli Securities Authority. Adv. Zohar Lande and Adv. Moran Bickel from the Litigation department were interviewed by The Marker and commented that they hope the investigation by the ISA, which focuses on the company's activities during the period in which it was entitled to act as a trading platform, will end soon.

Following reports on the voluntary retirement programs that are promoted by the Israel’s largest banks, our Head of the Employment Department at Barnea was interviewed by Globes. She commented that a successful voluntary retirement program is one which creates a situation where the employer offers retirement to certain workers, without harming the functioning of the organization, which often relies on the knowledge and experience of the veterans.

Our firm represented Hadad Brothers, Worldwide Judaica Artists, in a claim by a service provider with an independent business, that after 17 years of engagement argued for a recognition of an employee-employer relationship and filed a claim for various social benefits in the sum of 1.5 Million NIS.  After 2.5 years of legal proceedings, the court this week denied the claim in full.

Barnea is hosting today a seminar for students from the IDC Legal Clinic for Start-Ups on various issues including founding agreement, labor law and tax issues, privacy policy, entrepreneurship and more. The cooperation is part of the firm's pro bono activities.

Barnea, hosted today a delegation of 50 community and entrepreneurial organizations from Barcelona and mayors from the region of Catalonia, which were invited to Israel by Startau, Tel Aviv University Entrepreneurship Center. The event was held as part of a series of meetings of the delegation with leaders of the technological and entrepreneurial environment in Israel.

Adv. Ariel Nadler, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Department at Barnea was interviewed by Ynet and commented that opening the market to foreign companies is a positive move. He also addressed the question of problems that may arise for the consumer who is required to deal with a foreign company. Ariel commented that he is convinced that the Ministries of Finance and Construction will ensure adequate securities to address the issue of deficiencies and quality construction.

Adv. Ariel Nadler, Partner and Head of the Real Estate Department at Barnea was interviewed by The Marker regarding the Ministries of Finance and Construction decision to grant foreign companies permits to perform construction work in Israel. Ariel commented that with Israeli on-site construction firms in a state of collapse, opening the market for foreign companies is a positive move.

The new HIP Boost program is a direct continuation of the HIP program with which our firm was associated in the past. During HIP Boost, graduates of the HIP will undergo a comprehensive process to accelerate their early stage startups into growing and sustainable businesses. 

Next week a panel presentation event will be held with leading mentors giving insights to the entrepreneurs. Adv. Yuval Lazi was chosen to be the legal advisor for the HIP Boost program.

Barnea is pleased to co-operate with the IDC Legal Clinic for Start-Ups in mentoring the law students participating in the clinic and entrepreneurs from underprivileged communities engaged in social business ventures.  

As previously published, Geller had filed a lawsuit alleging fraud in the amount of nearly NIS 70 million. Even though the main claim for fraud was dismissed, the District Court obliged Omer to pay millions of NIS to Geller deciding that they were granted to Omer as a loan.

Geller and Omer both appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied Geller's appeal entirely, accepted Omer's appeal and returned the case to the District Court.

This week, the District Court dismissed the action entirely and accepted Omer's argument that the funds were transferred to him as part of a share purchase transaction. The Court ruled that under these circumstances, Omer does not need to reimburse the funds or to transfer any shares.

Adv. Asaf Shalev will serve as a mentor and participate at the Herzliya sustainable urban mobility Hackathon, which takes place on October 27^th , in cooperation with the European Union.