Israeli PM’s wife charged with fraud, breach of trust

JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors on Thursday charged the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with misusing more than $100,000 in public funds to order lavish meals from some of the country’s most famous chefs.

While the prime minister was not directly implicated in the case, the indictment against Sara Netanyahu threatens to embarrass the long-serving leader.

Netanyahu has basked in months of political success, including the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal and its move of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, taking away attention from a series of corruption investigations facing the prime minister.

Sara Netanyahu has long faced allegations of abusive behaviour and living extravagantly. In 2016, a court ruled she abused an employee and awarded the man $42,000 in damages.

In Thursday’s indictment, the Justice Ministry said Sara Netanyahu was charged with graft, fraud and breach of trust for allegedly overspending more than $100,000 on private meals at the prime minister’s official residence, even when there was a full-time chef on staff.

Sara Netanyahu acted “to circumvent the rules and conditions” governing the official residence “in order to fraudulently obtain state funding for various expenses for the accused and her family that were not supposed to be financed in this manner,” the indictment said.