Jerusalem (CNN) The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust Thursday over the alleged misuse of state funds at the couple's official residence.

In a case known as the "Meals Ordering Affair," prosecutors say Sara Netanyahu used state money to pay for $100,000 worth of meals at the prime minister's residence, according to an indictment filed in Jerusalem's magistrate's court on Thursday.

Sara Netanyahu also illegally paid approximately $10,000 for private chefs, prosecutors said.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 8 years in prison.

Her lawyers slammed the indictment, describing it as "false and hallucinatory".

"It's the first time in Israel and in the world that the wife of a leader is put on trial for food entrees," her legal team said in a statement. "There was no fraud, no breach of trust or any other felony. The food was not for the Netnayahu family, but for other people, including workers in the residence. We're certain in the end that justice will speak. Truth and logic will prevail."

The indictment is a blow to an embattled power couple already facing several other criminal investigations. Benjamin Netanyahu has been named a suspect in two separate criminal investigations and was questioned as a suspect in a third. Police say they have enough evidence to indict the Israeli leader on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust in those cases.

From April 2009 until March 2013, Sara Netanyahu ordered meals from some of the most expensive restaurants in Jerusalem, according to the indictment, which painstakingly detailed each transaction by month. In December 2011, prosecutors say she ordered meals to the prime minister's residence totaling 24,164 shekels -- more than $6,500 dollars. Just a few months later in April 2012, the family ordered meals amounting to 26,061 shekels -- more than $7,100.

Sara Netanyahu with her husband Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Under Israeli law, if there is no cook in the prime minister's residence, it is permissible to order prepared food. But prosecutors say the Netanyahu family had a cook in the house and yet still ordered the food, with Israeli taxpayers footing the bill.

Sara Netanyahu also used state funds to pay waiters to serve the meals on weekends and during private events, according to prosecutors, who said the hand-picked waiters were registered as "extra manpower" or "cleaners" to hide the fact that they were being illegally employed.

Prosecutors allege that Sara Netanyahu submitted claims "knowing that the claims were not true, believing they were not true, and through these claims, they have received goods by fraud." Prosecutors pointed to the "severity of the circumstances," citing the "sum of money, the planned, continuous, and systemic action, the character of the false presentations, and the carrying out of those deeds in the official residence of the Prime Minister."

Prosecutors also charged the former Deputy Director-General of the Prime Minister's Office, Ezra Saidoff, with fraud and breach of trust. Prosecutors say he coordinated with Sara Netanyahu, managing the meal payments and invoices to conceal them from oversight. He was also charged with forgery.

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A lawyer for Saidoff, Yehoshua Reznik, insisted Saidoff had done nothing wrong. "Mr. Saidoff acted with integrity and according to the law in all his actions and were done in coordination with all of the relevant parties in the office. The submission of the indictment sheet against Mr. Saidoff is fundamentally wrong and does not coincide with the factual and judicial situation as it appears from the evidence in the case," Reznik said.

The latest developments increase the pressure on the Prime Minister, who has already faced numerous calls from opposition politicians to resign. Like his wife, Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly proclaimed his innocence, decrying the investigations as a "witch hunt" and saying "there will be nothing because there is nothing."

Netanyahu has insisted he will not step down as Prime Minister, though an indictment against him would likely lead to his government coalition partners forcing him out.</s>Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been charged with fraud over misuse of public funds on Thursday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.</s>TEL AVIV, Israel — The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was charged with fraud and breach of trust Thursday over the alleged misuse of state funds at the couple’s official residence.

In a case known as the “Meals-Ordering Affair,” prosecutors say Sara Netanyahu used state money to fraudulently pay for $100,000 worth of meals at the prime minister’s residence between 2010 and 2013, according to an indictment filed at the Jerusalem magistrate’s court on Thursday.

Sara Netanyahu also illegally paid approximately $10,000 for private chefs, prosecutors said.

She has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the past.

CNN has reached out to the Netanyahu family for comment.</s>Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife, Sara, has been charged with alleged fraud.

The Justice Ministry on Thursday accused her of alleged misuse of state funds.

Sara Netanyahu was charged along with Ezra Saidoff, a former deputy director general of the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The Jerusalem district prosecutor a short time ago filed charges against the prime minister’s wife,” the ministry said.

The allegations concern the misuse of around $100,000 in official funds for catering services at the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

Netanyahu himself faces several police investigations into alleged corruption.

But the Prime Minister has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the accusations against him and his wife as a media witch-hunt.</s>Israeli prosecutors have charged Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife, with a series of crimes including fraud and breach of trust.

JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors have charged Sara Netanyahu, the prime minister’s wife, with a series of crimes including fraud and breach of trust.

The Justice Ministry says in a statement on Thursday that Sara Netanyahu stands accused of misusing public funds by fraudulently ordering hundreds of meals to the prime minister’s official residence worth over $100,000 while falsely stating there were no cooks on staff.

A former deputy director of the prime minister’s residence is also charged in the case.

Sara Netanyahu has long faced allegations of abusive behavior and living extravagantly in a manner out of touch with the general public.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also faces several police investigations into alleged corruption. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing, dismissing the accusations against him and his wife as a media witch hunt.</s>JERUSALEM – Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was formally charged Thursday with fraud and breach of public trust in a long-running corruption case involving the use of outside caterers in the official prime minister’s residence, state prosecutors said in a statement.

According to the indictment filed in the Jerusalem District Court, Sara Netanyahu and the former deputy director of the prime minister’s office, Ezra Saidoff, were charged with ordering meals to the residence worth a total of $99,000 between 2010 and 2013.

Although the prime minister is not named in this case, the charges against his wife could have far-reaching implications for his political standing and appear likely to damage his public image. Both during his first term as prime minister from 1996 to 1999 and since taking office in 2009, his wife has come under scrutiny for her perceived opulent lifestyle, often being portrayed by the local media as a kind of Marie Antoinette.

In 2016, a former chief caretaker at the official residence successfully sued the couple for abusive treatment, winning about $43,735 in damages. During his testimony, Meni Naftali revealed intimate details about Sara Netanyahu’s lifestyle, including her taste for pink champagne and other luxuries.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is considering indicting Benjamin Netanyahu in two corruption cases on suspicion of accepting bribes, fraud and breach of trust. Last week, the prime minister was questioned by police as a witness in third case involving several of his close associates and in a fourth case in which he is suspected of playing a direct role.

In Sara Netanyahu’s case, which Israelis refer to as the “meals-ordering affair,” the prime minister’s wife and Saidoff allegedly falsified documents so that food from outside companies and private chefs could be used, even though there was a full-time chef employed at the residence.

According to the indictment sheet, investigators found evidence that Sara Netanyahu asked other employees to hide the fact that a cook was employed at the residence, indicating awareness that ordering meals from outside was a violation of the rules. Some of the testimony was provided by Naftali, who has waged an ongoing public battle calling for the attorney general to submit an indictment against the Netanyahus.

In a statement, lawyers for Sara Netanyahu called the indictment “absurd and delusional” while proclaiming her innocence.

“This is the first time in Israel and around the world that a leader’s wife is prosecuted for food in the trays. There was no fraud or breach of trust or any other offense,” said the statement. “The wife of the prime minister, who is not a public servant, did not even know the procedures, and she told the truth about it when asked in a polygraph test.”

Sara Netanyahu’s team of lawyers went on to accuse Naftali of ordering the food and questioned the very basis of the regulation for managing food orders to the official residence.

“The Netanyahu family is not the one who consumed most of the food and the trays, but many other people, including the household workers,” said the statement. It added that the expenditures also covered hosting “official guests from Israel and around the world.”

Over the past few months, there have been attempts to reach a plea bargain, with the attorney general saying he would be open to Sara Netanyahu’s repayment of the funds in question. Those negotiations appeared to fall apart last week.

The meal-ordering affair has received a great deal of Israeli media coverage. Outlets have published reports on attempts by Sara Netanyahu to clear her name by publicizing the results of a lie detector test on the matter and alleged efforts by one of the family’s top aides to bribe a judge to drop the investigation completely.

In February, the Israel police recommended indicting the prime minister in two other corruption cases, ramping up pressure on the Netanyahus, who continue to deny all the charges against them. They say that all the cases are politically motivated, part of efforts to drive Netanyahu out of office.

In what is known as Case 1000, the police accused the prime minister of receiving gifts worth $280,000 from billionaires in exchange for political favors. In Case 2000, they say he tried to cut a deal with a newspaper publisher in return for favorable coverage.

Last week, Netanyahu was questioned as a witness in Case 3000, also known as the “submarines affair,” which relates to alleged corruption surrounding the purchase of naval vessels and submarines from a German shipbuilder. He has not been named as a suspect, but several of his top aides are accused of having ties to the scheme.
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• Oakland to pay $12 million to motorcyclist hit by cop car Netanyahu was also questioned in Case 4000, which alleges he enacted policies that would financially benefit his friend Shaul Elovitch, the controlling shareholder of the telecommunications company Bezeq, in exchange for positive coverage on Elovitch’s Walla news site.</s>Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Israeli prime minister, is charged with fraud.

She is accused of misusing $100,000 in state funds for catering services at their Jerusalem residence. The charge represents the latest development in corruption scandals dogging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The prime minister was not named in the case.

Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.</s>Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been charged with fraud over misuse of public funds on Thursday.

Netanyahu, 59, was also charged with breach of trust in connection with the "Prepared Food Affair," the Jersualem Post reported.

The Jerusalem Post reported Benjamin Netanyahu may also be indicted this year or early 2019.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.</s>The wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is being charged with fraud for allegedly misusing public funds.

Sara Netanyahu was indicted in Jerusalem today for alleged fraud involving 100-thousand-dollars worth of meal expenses at the Prime Minister’s residence.

The indictment claims Mrs. Netanyahu instructed her staff to order meals from gourmet restaurants between 2010 and 2013, in violation of rules barring the residence from ordering outside meals when there’s a cook on staff.

Attempts to reach a resolution in the matter failed when Sara Netanyahu refused to pay for the value of the meals, or to admit to the allegations.

The post Wife of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Charged with Fraud appeared first on 850 WFTL.</s>Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s wife Sara Netanyahu has been indicted on “systematic fraud” charges over the alleged misuse of hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds.

Sara Netanyahu was charged along with Ezra Saidoff, a former deputy director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, after a criminal investigation by the police national fraud squad.

Haaretz reports: Sara Netanyahu was indicted on Thursday for alleged “systematic fraud” involving hundreds of thousands of shekels in connection with meal expenses incurred at the Prime Minister’s Residence

The two are charged in an indictment filed at the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court with aggravated fraudulent receiving of an item or items, fraud and breach of trust. Saidoff was also charged with falsification by a public servant.

According to a draft of the indictment, Sara Netanyahu instructed staff at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem to order meals consumed at the residence worth a total of 350,000 shekels ($96,000) from gourmet restaurants between 2010 and 2013 in violation of rules barring the residence from ordering meals from the outside during periods when the residence had a cook on its staff.

Investigators in the case gathered evidence that purportedly shows that the Israel prime minister’s wife ordered that the employment of cook at the residence be concealed and that she was aware that ordering meals from the outside for the residence when it employed a cook was a violation of the rules.

In July 2015, a probe was initiated, based on the state comptroller’s report concerning the Netanyahu households; its findings were turned over for criminal investigation by the police national fraud squad.

The investigation looked into a series of scandals, including public funding for at least 15 privately catered meals while forging the number of their participants, residency cleaner who were paid by the State but instead was retained as a live-in nurse for Sara Netanyahu’s father, and the case of the Likud member electrician hired to work in the prime minister’s official residence in Jerusalem and their home in Caesarea, despite the prohibition on hiring a Likud activist.

In September 2017, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit announced he would file an indictment against Ezra Saidoff and Sara Netanyahu pending a hearing.

At the same time, he announced he would close most of the suspicions against Netanyahu due to lack of evidence proving she was aware of the fraud and forgery.

Saidoff, on the other hand, was to stand trial for the charges removed from Netanyahu, including the private catering, forging the number of participants, expenses for waiters, and the electrician. However, in January a hearing was held for Sara Netanyahu. Since then, negotiations for a plea deal have been underway.

The indictment of the Israel prime minister’s wife followed unsuccessful attempts to reach a resolution of the matter with prosecutors when Sara Netanyahu refused to agree to pay the residence for the value of the meals and to admit to the allegations against her.
Sara Netanyahu, wife of Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is charged with fraud over the alleged misuse of state funds at their residence.