A Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court on Thursday sentenced Yosef Fraiser, who carried out a years-long scheme in which he falsely presented himself as a single man in order to form intimate relationships with multiple women, finding that his conduct formed part of a single overarching criminal plan spanning more than seven years and involving twelve complainants.
In a sentencing decision handed down by Judge Amir Shaked, the court determined that Fraiser’s actions – which included presenting himself as unmarried and seeking a serious relationship while in fact maintaining a family life – were carried out in similar circumstances sufficient to constitute one continuous criminal episode, notwithstanding the number of victims involved.
Setting a sentencing range of 20 to 36 months’ imprisonment, the court cited the multiplicity of offenses, the prolonged period over which they were committed, and the emotional harm caused to the complainants, many of whom were themselves seeking to establish long-term relationships or families.
According to the decision, Fraiser sustained parallel relationships by falsely presenting himself as unmarried, thereby inducing complainants to enter into intimate relationships under materially false pretenses while he simultaneously expanded his own family unit.
The court rejected arguments advanced by the defense that the complainants’ consent to sexual relations diminished the gravity of the offenses, stating that a willingness to engage in intimacy with a man believed to be single “does not constitute consent to sexual relations with a married man with a family.”
Compensation for victims and history of the case
In addition to custodial punishment, the court ordered Fraiser to compensate several complainants who submitted victim impact statements during the sentencing phase.
Fraiser was first arrested in Jerusalem in August 2023 after police identified him as the man behind the alias “Jake Segal,” which he used on dating applications and websites while presenting himself as secular, unmarried, and interested in long-term relationships, marriage, and starting a family.
Investigators later determined that he was, in fact, a married father employed at a Jerusalem yeshiva, and had maintained romantic relationships with multiple women under false pretenses over a period of several years – a double life described by one complainant in contemporaneous reporting as enabling him to pursue parallel relationships while concealing his marital status.
In January 2025, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court convicted Fraiser after he admitted to twelve counts of fraudulently obtaining sexual relations through misrepresentation.
The case has drawn sustained public attention since Fraiser’s indictment in 2023 on charges including obtaining sexual acts by fraud, amid broader debate over the legal boundaries between deception and consent in intimate relationships.
In his final remarks to the court, Fraiser expressed remorse and said that the women he had harmed “did not deserve” his actions, adding that he would regret them for the rest of his life.
Michael Starr contributed to this report.