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Tue 18 May 2004

5:36pm (UK)
Rabbi Bore 'Indecent Proposal' Businessman 'no Evil'

By Cathy Gordon and Jan Colley, PA News


A senior rabbi being sued by the multi-millionaire at the centre of the ''Indecent Proposal'' slander case today said he bore the businessman ''no evil''.

Dayan Yaakov Lichtenstein, who hotly disputes spreading sexual slurs about Brian Maccaba, told a High Court jury in London that he had not had a grudge against him and had never intended to cause him any harm.

Mr Maccaba, 46, who denies offering teacher Alain Attar a million dollars for his wife Nathalie, claims the rabbi spread ''poisonous'' slurs about him in early 2001 after hearing allegations of the offer and sexual harassment from the couple.

Giving evidence from the witness box today, the 49-year-old rabbi, who earns £60,000-a-year, said he believed Nathalie when she told him Mr Maccaba had sexually harassed her – claims the businessman vehemently denies.

Rabbi Lichtenstein, of Cricklewood, north-west London, the senior judge in the Beth Din, or rabbinical court of the Federation of Synagogues, told the jury and Mr Justice Gray: ''I believed her then and I believe her now.''

The father-of-eight, who denies slandering Mr Maccaba within the orthodox community as a ''sexual predator'' and a ''serial adulterer'' who chased after young married Jewish women, described the past few years as a ''nightmare''.

He said that Nathalie and Alain Attar came to see him about Mr Maccaba in December 2000 and she told him how one day Mr Maccaba announced ''that he was in love with her'' and how there were two events of ''physical assault''.

''There was anger but more fright than anger. She asked me to do something to stop Mr Maccaba from continuously harassing her.''

Teacher Mrs Attar, an orthodox Jew, alleges that Mr Maccaba, a father-of-six, tried to destabilise her relationship with her husband and that he twice sexually harassed her – once with a kiss on the lips and on another occasion by touching her breast.

Rabbi Lichtenstein told the court: ''She told me he tried to kiss her once and the second thing was that he tried to fondle her.''

Asked if she said she had reciprocated his feelings he said: ''She said it was absolutely the opposite.''

He described how he felt after talking to Nathalie and Alain: ''I was a bit worried because the way Nathalie presented her story, it wasn't simply a case of a man who had fallen in love with a woman but looked almost as if there had been a careful planning how to get this woman.

''So, I was worried if this man was someone who doesn't only fall in love with a woman, but who sets out to ensnare and entrap a woman to bring her under his control.''

He said Nathalie kept referring to her being in his ''web'' and under his control.

Rabbi Lichtenstein claimed Mr Maccaba had told him he had been in love with her, but it had passed and he wasn't in love with her anymore.

He said that he was disturbed by some of the documents which Mrs Attar showed him from Mr Maccaba.

''One of the things which bothered me was that he was an orthodox Jewish married man writing to an orthodox Jewish married woman discussing sexual matters – the question of having a period of abstinence of sex with his own wife.

''In orthodox Jewish circles sex is not talked about in any public forum except when it's absolutely necessary.

''To write like this is very wrong. It's just not done in our circles.''

Mr Maccaba, of Hendon, north London, who was born an Irish Roman Catholic and converted to Judaism in 1990, claims his relationship with Nathalie was an intensely emotional and ''reciprocal'' one and that she had declared her love for him. She denies this was the case.

The rabbi denied today that he had taken against Mr Maccaba, the chief executive and founder of the international technology company Cognotec, because he was a convert to Judaism.

''Converts are accepted in the community with open arms''.

The hearing was adjourned until tomorrow.


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6:26pm (UK)
'Indecent Proposal' Slander Jury Still Out

By Cathy Gordon, PA News


Jurors in the High Court ''Indecent Proposal'' slander case have been sent home after failing to reach a verdict on the fourth day of their deliberations today.

The jury panel of 11 began deliberating on Friday, and has so far been out for 23 hours.

Trial judge, Mr Justice Gray, has asked the jurors to return to London's Law Courts tomorrow morning to continue trying to reach a verdict.

He gave them a majority direction this afternoon.

The judge said he wanted them to continue their efforts to reach a unanimous verdict, but the time had arrived when he could accept answers on which at least 10 of them were agreed.

Tomorrow is the 40th day of multi-millionaire Brian Maccaba's action against a senior rabbi over alleged sexual slurs – the longest-running slander case in English legal history.

Mr Maccaba has accused rabbi and religious judge Dayan Yaakov Lichtenstein of spreading ''poisonous'' allegations that he was a ''sexual predator'' and a ''serial adulterer'' who chased after young married Jewish women.

Rabbi Lichtenstein, 49, an American-born father of eight, of Cricklewood, north-west London, who is the senior judge in the Beth Din, or rabbinical court, of the Federation of Synagogues, hotly disputes slandering Mr Maccaba within the orthodox community in early 2001.

Dublin-born Mr Maccaba, 46, who converted to Judaism in 1990, has vehemently denied defence claims that he offered family friend Alain Attar one million dollars for his wife Nathalie – echoing the plot of the film Indecent Proposal starring Robert Redford – and twice sexually harassing her.

Mr Maccaba, a father of six, from Hendon, north-west London, the chief executive officer and founder of the international technology company Cognotec, says he and Nathalie had a ''reciprocal'', emotional relationship, but it was never physical.

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Fri 25 Jun 2004

1:11pm (UK)
Indecent Proposal Claim 'Is Ridiculous'

By Cathy Gordon, PA News.


Wealthy businessman Brian Maccaba dismissed the allegation that he had offered a husband one million dollars for his wife as ''ridiculous''.

There had been no ''Indecent Proposal'' for teacher Alain Attar's wife Nathalie, he told the High Court.

His case was that his relationship with Mrs Attar, with whom he shared a love of poetry, had been an intensely emotional one.

The twice-married father of six told the jury hearing his slander claim against a senior rabbi that the friendship was ''reciprocal'', but it was never physical and he had not been sexually attracted to her.

In August 1999, when they were both experiencing difficulties in their marriages, Mrs Attar had ''declared her love for me'', he said, and it was then he realised their emotional closeness had gone too far.

He and his wife Ruth, who was by his side in court, had managed to sort out their problems.

But it was Mrs Attar's case that his attentions were unwelcome, that he had tried to destabilise her marriage and had twice sexually harassed her – once with a kiss on the lips and on another occasion fondling her breast.

Mr Maccaba, who had lent the young couple a deposit for their London home and employed Jewish studies teacher Mrs Attar at a school he founded, vehemently denied her claims of sexual misconduct.

In May 2001 a Jewish court, the Kedassia Beth Din, investigated her claims of sexual harassment against Mr Maccaba, and the alleged million dollar offer, and found them ''not proven''.

The story of the offer later hit the headlines.

It was described in newspapers as a ''real life'' version of the 1993 Hollywood film Indecent Proposal, starring Demi Moore and Robert Redford, in which Redford offers a couple a million dollars for the wife to spend a night with him.

Mr Maccaba said of it: ''This story has got very wide currency. I don't believe there was any ground for the million dollar story, but it was published all over the world and caused great damage.''

He agreed with the suggestion by a defence lawyer that it would be ''abhorrent for a rich man to try and buy another man's wife''.

Mrs Attar was ''horrified'' by the publicity. So concerned was she that a pre-trial application was made for an anonymity order, but it was refused.

The seven-months pregnant mother of three later went into the witness box in the full glare of international publicity – dramatically confronting Mr Maccaba and accusing him of lying.

After falling ill and fainting during a lunchtime recess, she flew home to Israel and later continued her evidence via video link.

Mrs Attar, 35, now a student of law, rejected the suggestion that she had loved Mr Maccaba more than her husband and that this had put her marriage to Alain in ''crisis''.

''I don't love him and I never loved him,'' she told the jury.

She accused him of trying ''whatever he could in order to break my marriage''.

It was Mr Maccaba who had made the declaration of love, not her.

Mrs Attar described her husband, whom she married in 1993, as her ''life''. He and her children were ''everything''.

''I was not looking for any experience with anybody else.''

At the time she was alleged to have become emotionally interested in Mr Maccaba, she had just moved into a new home in London and was ''building a wonderful family''.

It was ''totally false'' that she and Alain had been suffering marital problems at the time.

Her husband too denied there had been any closeness between the millionaire and his wife.

He claimed Mr Maccaba told him in the summer of 1999 that he had fallen in love with Nathalie the first time he saw her and wanted to have her children.

Mr Attar said: ''He said to me 'If you only knew how much she is worth to me'. He said 'I will throw a figure at you'. I said 'OK, Brian'.

''He said to me 'She is worth a million dollars to me'.''

Mr Maccaba denied that he had also made an offer for Nathalie in a poem he had written to her, Knocking On Heaven's Door, which referred to ''one million dollars cash''.

It was just a silly poem, he said. There had never been any offer for Nathalie.


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Court defeat costs Maccaba £2m
The longest slander trial in English legal history finally ended last week when the multi-millionaire businessman who sued a senior rabbi for allegedly spreading 'poisonous' slurs about him finally lost his case.

Brian Maccaba, 45, of Brampton Grove, Hendon, accused Dayan Yaakov Lichtenstein of spreading rumours in the Orthodox Jewish community about him being a 'sexual predator and serial adulterer'.

Dayan Lichtenstein, 49, always denied slandering Mr Maccaba, who is the chief executive of technology company Cognotec, whose personal fortune was estimated at £70million at the height of the internet boom but is now thought to be worth a more modest £20m.

And after nearly 32 hours of deliberations, the jury in the High Court returned a verdict against Mr Maccaba on Friday.

In a case which has had overtones of the Hollywood film Indecent Proposal, starring Robert Redford and Demi Moore, the defence had claimed Mr Maccaba had offered Alain Attar US$1million for his wife Nathalie, and sexually harassed her twice.

Nathalie Attar said in a statement: "I am delighted for Dayan Lichtenstein at the outcome of this case.

"The Dayan (religious judge) was the only person who stood up for me and my family and I am sorry that he had to go through such a difficult time because of it.

"My husband and I are happy that this hard time is now over for us. We look forward to focusing on our future. We are pleased that justice has been done."

Dublin-born Mr Maccaba was born Brian McCabe as a Roman Catholic and converted to Judaism in 1990 after a previous marriage. Mr Maccaba now faces paying more than £2million in legal costs but is said to be considering an appeal. He said: "I brought this case only after trying so very hard to have my complaints against Dayan Lichtenstein heard within the Jewish community. I am naturally very disappointed that we have not succeeded in convincing the court of my case in slander and harrassment against Dayan Lichtenstein."


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