Police: Tzan'ani Ordered, Orchestrated Extortion

Popular singer and television personality Margalit Tzan'ani not only extorted funds from her manager for months, but also told her associates when to lean on him harder and when to ease up on him instead, police said in court Thursday.

"There is evidence she monitored the intensity of the extortion over several months," a police prosecutor told the Rishon Letzion Magistrate's Court Thursday.

Police intend to press charges against the singer for the alleged extortion of her manager, Assaf Atedgi, whom she has said owes her money. The extortion charge carries a maximum sentence of seven years. The court extended Tzan'ani's detention Thursday by another five days.

"We have a huge quantity of the suspect's [taped] conversations," the police prosecutor said. "She told those criminals when to threaten her manager and when to lay off."

"In some recordings, she said, 'He doesn't understand the threats; now we must give him other opportunities to understand,'" the prosecutor said.

She also allegedly told the criminals when to stop their threats: "'Now he understands, so enough with the threats,' she tells them another time. This is how she controlled the degree of extortion that went on for months," the prosecutor said.

Handing the prosecutor's statement to the magistrate, as a prelude to an indictment, the police representative said the investigation was intended to protect Atedgi.

"The entire investigation was only carried out to protect the complainant," he said. "Anyone who has not experienced blackmail or extortion like the one in this case cannot understand the pressure [Tzan'ani's manager] is living under." Tzan'ani's attorney, Sassi Gez, pointed out in her defense that his client had been tape-recorded instructing producer Yossi Ben David to treat her manager "like a human being."

"Isn't it true Tzan'ani was recorded saying to Yossi Ben David, 'I want you to talk to him like a human being. Don't you dare threaten him'?" Gez said.

The police representative replied that Tzan'ani had at times ordered the criminals to make threats, and at other times she had ordered them to stop.

"Atedgi had no idea Margol [Tzan'ani's nickname] was behind the extortion," the police representative said.

Earlier this week, another alleged crime-ring leader, Shalom Domrani, was arrested on suspicion of also being involved in the extortion. Domrani's detention was extended yesterday by four days.