A well-known haredi advertiser was indicted Sunday on charges of sexually assaulting six of his employees, the Kikar Hashabbat Hebrew news website reported.
The indicted was filed in the Jerusalem District Court against Matityahu Ben-David, who served between 2011 and 2016 as the co-owner of an advertising agency called Media 1, abused his authority to force himself on a number of women.
Additional complaints by other women were not included in the indictment for technical reasons.
Ben-David claimed that that a business rival is behind the accusations against him “in an attempt to topple my business, and he tried to extort money from me through these women. Although they haven’t approached me and asked for money, I am certain that that is what is behind these complaints.”
Ben-David’s attorney, Ariel Atari said in response to the indictment that “a few weeks ago, the police claimed that there were dozens of complaints against Ben David. Last week they claimed there were ten.
Today, the number is reduced to six.” He claimed that the indictment proves that a number of the accusations were in fact cases where all contact was consensual.
“I have no doubt that it will be proven that any contact in which Ben-David was involved was consensual contact, and that he will be acquitted of all charges.”
