Hunt for Israeli national Bar Cohen wanted in Germany over alleged '14m euro investor fraud' after he failed to show for extradition from UK

A MANHUNT is underway after a man accused of masterminding a 14 million euro cyber fraud that targeted German investors failed to turn up for his extradition.

Germany has been seeking the extradition of Israeli national Bar Cohen, 32, from the UK since 2022.

He was set to be flown out of the country on Wednesday, October 15 2025, but failed to show up after earlier being released on conditional bail.

At a hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court the next day a bench warrant was issued for his arrest without bail.

Cohen had been bailed to live at a flat in Hamilton Road, Brent Cross (above).

His extradition was ordered by a district judge in October 2023, but he launched an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

In July this year, the higher court rejected his appeal meaning there was nothing to prevent his extradition.

Lawyers for Cohen had argued he should not be extradited to Germany on health and human rights grounds.

But, in her judgment, Mrs Justice Thornton dismissed the appeal.

It was argued he has a history of traumatic brain injury, severe depression, PTSD and recently diagnosed epilepsy.

His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald KC argued that extradition would be oppressive under section 25 of the Extradition Act 2003 and disproportionate under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, amounting to an abuse of process.

However, the court ruled that, although Cohen had notable physical and mental health issues, they could be managed in custody in Germany, thereby rejecting fresh evidence suggesting that information regarding Cohen’s health that came to light after the original hearing – including further self-harm, hospitalisations and an increased suicide risk – warranted reversing the original decision.

A European Arrest Warrant issued by the Local Court at Bamberg, Germany, on 2 November 2022 accused Cohen of operating fraudulent call centres in Bulgaria and Israel between 2016 and 2020, targeting German investors via bogus online trading platforms. The German authorities allege that he was the “head of the ring and its leading ‘mastermind’” and orchestrated a sophisticated scheme to extract funds under false pretences.

Cohen was first arrested at Heathrow Airport on 3 November 2022 while arriving in England for his honeymoon.

Mr Fitzgerald also argued that antisemitic attacks posed an ongoing risk to him in prison in Germany and that extradition would severely harm Cohen’s wife, who suffers from depression and has a history of suicide in her family.

Peter Caldwell KC, for Germany, argued that prison authorities in Würzburg, where Cohen is due to be detained, had the resources to manage his condition, saying that the German authorities had provided detailed information confirming the availability of psychiatric care, regular suicide monitoring and procedures to protect Jewish inmates from antisemitic abuse.