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Israeli cyber chief flees US after arrest in underage sex sting [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-08-20

A top Israeli cybersecurity official who was arrested for attempting to sexually exploit a minor in Las Vegas showed up for the rendezvous with a condom and Cirque du Soleil tickets — then managed to leave the country after posting bail, as reported by The Guardian.

Tom Artiom Alexandrovich, division head at the Israel National Cyber Directorate, was caught in a police sting operation targeting online predators. According to police documents obtained by 8NewsNow, Alexandrovich chatted with an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl. When arrested, he claimed he thought he was meeting an 18-year-old, though police records show otherwise.

Alexandrovich was allowed to return to Israel following his release on $10,000 bond. This prompted speculation about potential government intervention, leading the State Department to issue a statement: "He did not claim diplomatic immunity and was released by a state judge pending a court date. Any claims that the US government intervened are false."

The arrest occurred during Alexandrovich's visit to the Black Hat Briefings cybersecurity conference. He was one of eight men caught in the operation led by Nevada's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. His employer, the Israeli Prime Minister's office, downplayed the incident, referring to it only as a "state employee" being "questioned by American authorities."

"Alexandrovich stated he felt the girl 'pushed' him to talk about bringing a condom, yet could not remember how many times the girl 'pushed' him," the police documents stated, as reported by 8NewsNow.

Previously:

• Gentleman who sold FBI-controlled phones to drug traffickers sentenced to 63 months in prison

• Restaurant owner acquitted after foiling police sting

• Sting operation: the NRA explains to white nationalist Australian political party how to deflect gun control calls after a massacre

• ICE arrested 250 foreign-born people for the most heinous of crimes: pursuing higher education

• People who gave money to scam school run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement can sue government

• Police officer has sex with prostitute, then arrests her

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