Attorney Itamar Cohen, age 53, of Thornhill in Ontario, Canada was reading an article in The Toronto Star article last week when he was quite surprised to read that Itamar Cohen, age 52, of Thornhill in Ontario, Canada had pleaded guilty in New Jersey to a $17 million stock fraud involving market manipulation. 

 

Unfortunately for the innocent Mr. Cohen, it turns out that there are, in fact, two Itamar Cohens in Thornhill. This unfortunate coincidence, he says, has been nothing short of a "nightmare that has robbed him of his sleep and peace of mind this week."

 

The innocent Mr. Cohen is the owner of Itamar Cohen Israeli Law Office in Thornhil, as well as a high school teacher at a Hebrew school.  “I’m known by many people in the community through my business and my teaching and I have to keep telling people, ‘it’s not me,’” he told The Star after the initial article was published. Indeed, the school at which he teaches received "so many calls from parents that the headmaster sent out a notice to make clear that the school teacher is not the fraudster." Cohen has also posted notices in local newspapers to clarify that he is not the fraudster who pleaded guilty. 

 

Although The Star emphasized that it had not made any errors in its reporting, it stated in an editorial yesterday that this was a unique situation because the name in question is distinctive and the guilty man is of a similar age and from the same small community. Accordingly, The Star issued the following unusual "clarification" and photo to the end of its original story:

Clarification – June 4, 2015: Itamar Cohen, 53, below, of Jenstar Way, Thornhill, an Israeli lawyer and owner of Itamar Cohen Israeli Law Office in Thornhill and a high school teacher at the Anne and Max Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto is not the person named Itamar Cohen of Thornhill who pleaded guilty to the stock manipulation scheme described in the above article. According to U.S. authorities, the Canadian man named Itamar Cohen who pleaded guilty is 52 years old and resided at 81 Townsgate Dr., Apt. 207 in Thornhill.

 

 

 

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