Alesya Accused Laitman and Milwidsky of Rape, and Bnei Baruch of Paying for False Testimony

Bnei Baruch Investigation · Entry point · Part 3 of 4

Former Bnei Baruch cult member Alesya, identified in investigative records and media as victim “A,” accused cult leader Michael Laitman of sexual abuse and rape under the guise of spiritual authority. According to her signed testimony, Bnei Baruch organized preparation of false testimony in Israel in 2018–2019 and paid the agreed sum in two installments. Alesya separately accused the cult’s then-legal counsel Hanoch Milwidsky, now a Knesset deputy, of rape. In summer 2024, LAHAV 433 investigators traveled to Moscow to record her testimony.

In 2021, Milwidsky filed a false defamation lawsuit over an intimate image but withdrew it before technical analysis of the file and before a potential witness could be questioned. As TheMarker documented, the photograph was before the court years before his parliamentary statement about blackmail.

On September 5, 2022, Bnei Baruch filed a 2.87 million shekel lawsuit in Lod District Court against former security guard Binyamin Rafaeli for supporting victim “A.” In fall 2024, Milwidsky called the photo’s circulation an attempted blackmail from the Knesset podium. Behind this dispute lies a criminal trail: Alesya’s testimony of Laitman’s sexual abuse, payment for false testimony, Milwidsky’s rape accusation, and LAHAV 433 interrogations.

In this article: Milwidsky in the cult apparatus · Alesya’s briefing and two sums · signed testimony · the photo dispute · parliamentary statement and blackmail claim · civil lawsuit and uncalled witness · LAHAV 433 investigation

Milwidsky and the Bnei Baruch apparatus

Milwidsky served for years as legal counsel to the Bnei Baruch cult, participating in its legal campaigns and public defense of its leadership, as reported by TheMarker and The Seventh Eye. Inside this apparatus, Alesya’s statements, affidavits, and pre-trial instructions became procedural tools for Laitman’s defense.

Bnei Baruch cult leader Michael Laitman. Photo: David Becher.

In her signed statement, Alesya describes ten years of submission to Laitman as her rabbi and teacher. According to her, he asked whether she was sufficiently devoted and presented sexual contact as a “supreme act.” In a News 12 interview (The Seventh Eye), she recounted his demand: “If I am your rabbi, if you love me, you will do this for me.” She saw no possibility of refusing. Here Laitman is a religious predator: he turns a student’s devotion into a demand for sexual subjugation.

Alesya’s briefing and two distinct sums

In the News 12 investigation in August 2022 (Omri Maniv’s thread on X and the News 12 broadcast), victim “A” stated directly: the cult’s then-legal counsel Hanoch Milwidsky briefed her before court, demanding she deny sexual relations with Laitman.

According to former security guard Binyamin Rafaeli in The Seventh Eye, Alesya was paid $20,000 for false testimony in court, with Milwidsky directing preparation. In Rafaeli’s affidavit recounted in The Seventh Eye, attorney Tzvi Gelman was present at Milwidsky’s meeting; Alesya broke down in tears during briefing, feeling forced to lie about rape. Eli Vinokur, by Alesya’s signed statement, translated the instructions. Haaretz separately confirmed Alesya’s account naming Milwidsky, Vinokur, and Gelman as her instructors. The Bnei Baruch cult, Laitman, Milwidsky, and Gelman categorically denied these accusations.

In Haaretz’s summary of Rafaeli’s motion, money appears in two episodes: $20,000, per Rafaeli, was paid to Alesya for false court testimony; an additional $50,000, the motion states, was offered by an unnamed female lawyer in Russia in exchange for refusing to testify altogether. The sums differ, but the meaning remains: money for lies or silence about rape.

Alesya’s signed statement: rehearsals of lies and payment

The newsroom received the Russian text of Alesya’s testimony, signed before an attorney. It details preparation of false testimony in 2018–2019. In 2018, a representative of the Bnei Baruch cult’s Moscow branch told her she must travel to Israel and protect Laitman in court by swearing no sexual relationship existed. She was offered money for the lie.

The first trip in 2018 served as rehearsal. By Alesya’s account, Eli Vinokur interpreted while Hanoch Milwidsky adjusted her testimony and instructed her precisely how to lie in court. The next day, attorney Tzvi Gelman’s office rehearsed questioning details with her. After these meetings, Alesya received the first half of the sum and returned to Moscow.

As the 2019 trial approached, Alesya flew to Israel again. Boris Belotserkovsky met her at the airport and drove her to a hotel. At Gelman’s office, another multi-hour training with Vinokur took place. On hearing day, the interpreter was replaced by a woman. After testifying, Alesya received the second half. This is Alesya’s primary signed statement; Bnei Baruch, Milwidsky, and Gelman deny involvement in the lies she told in court. According to Haaretz and Ynet reports from July 28, 2025, police suspect that in 2018 and 2019, Gelman and Vinokur, together with Milwidsky, pressured her and coached her on how to lie in court about Laitman, and that Gelman signed her false affidavit. This is exactly what Alesya describes.

Three photos, one face

The collage distributed by Milwidsky’s opponents became the basis for the public dispute over blackmail: beach selfies with identifying markers, an intimate photograph, and a picture with Benjamin Netanyahu.

At an April 2025 hearing in Lod District Court reported by The Seventh Eye, Milwidsky insisted the photo was fabricated for blackmail. Boka Rafaeli’s lawyer, Dudi Parhiya, questioned whether the image was a frame from a video sent to victim “A” in personal context. Milwidsky called that “nonsense” and denied any sexual relationship with Alesya.

TheMarker on September 18, 2024 confirmed: as early as January 2021 in Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court, Aaron Appelbaum’s defense demanded technical file analysis and announced its intention to call the witness who received the image. Milwidsky withdrew the private criminal complaint via settlement before authenticity could be examined.

In the photo, Hanoch sends himself from his phone to Alesya while his wife and children are in the next room.

Parliamentary statement and the blackmail version

In September 2024, Milwidsky declared from the Knesset podium that photo circulation was part of attempted blackmail against people close to him, not himself. TheMarker noted that the photo circulated among former cult members and was presented to Milwidsky in court in January 2021, yet he did not contact police until September 2024. Knesset security received no complaint.

The civil lawsuit and witness “A”

On September 2, 2025, The Seventh Eye reported the Lod District Court decision on the 2.87 million shekel lawsuit by “Bnei Baruch, Kabbalah La'Am” against Binyamin Rafaeli. Rafaeli requested “A” testify in person or by video. Judge Dror Ard-Eilon rejected this on procedural grounds: evidence stage closed, witnesses examined, and Rafaeli had previously requested then withdrawn this. The court decided nothing on the merits of Alesya’s accusations or criminal suspicions against Milwidsky. Rafaeli paid 4,000 shekels in costs. The civil case proceeded without her testimony.

Alesya. Moscow. The LAHAV 433 investigation

In a News 12 interview quoted by The Seventh Eye, Alesya described Laitman’s pressure in a room with a bed and explained why she could not refuse him: “He controls your mind, your soul, your consciousness, so you cannot refuse him.” Then, according to her signed statement, she was to deny the sexual relationship with him in court, after briefings and for money. Laitman and Bnei Baruch deny accusations of sexual abuse and of paying a witness to lie.

In July 2025, LAHAV 433 questioned Hanoch Milwidsky under caution on suspicion of inducing a witness to lie and sexual offense. The investigation rested on Alesya’s testimony recorded in Moscow in summer 2024. She asserted that after her 2019 court appearance, Milwidsky drove her to a hotel and raped her. Media sources differ on the city: N12 / Mako and Kan reported Tel Aviv; Rafaeli’s motion in Haaretz listed Petah Tikva. Milwidsky rejected suspicions, claiming political persecution, and told the court against Rafaeli he was “more or less a driver” for Alesya.

In a report by The Seventh Eye, Alesya was quoted from her News 12 interview regarding Milwidsky’s words in his office during pre-trial preparations: “We are having a professional conversation, and in the middle of it he says: ‘Let’s fuck, everyone does it.’” On suspicion of involvement in preparing a lie, a false affidavit, police in Lod also questioned attorney Tzvi Gelman and Gordon Academic College vice president Eli Vinokur under caution.

Alesya’s testimony links two kinds of submission: first to Laitman, who presented sexual contact as a “supreme act,” then to the instructors who prepared her to deny that relationship in court. Binyamin Rafaeli also spoke about the coaching of testimony and the payment; these claims were covered by Haaretz and The Seventh Eye. In summer 2024, LAHAV 433 took Alesya’s statement in Moscow; in summer 2025, it questioned under caution the three instructors she named (N12 / Mako, Ynet). By her account, her devotion to her teacher was first used for sexual subjugation, and then she was required to protect him with a lie, with payments both before and after her court testimony. Spiritual dependency and pressure after an attempt to speak out link the stories of Katya Sukhova and Mona Andersen to her account. All of it served one man: Laitman got sex from his student, and then her lie in court, paid for by the cult.