From Lamborghinis to lockup

Ex-LAPD officer is accused of staging a crypto heist with a reputed Israeli mob figure. He was already facing a fraud probe.

- BY LIBOR JANY AND RICHARD WINTON

Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photos via Getty, Superior Court of California

In December 2021, Eric Benjamin Halem was riding high.

Beyond his day job as an LAPD officer, he was juggling several lucrative side hustles, business records and court filings show.

Private security. An app for aspiring actors trying to land auditions. And an exotic car rental company, Drive-LA, that was gaining a following among rappers, influencers and executives.

But Halem's comfortable life soon began to unravel. He left his full-time position with the LAPD after coming under internal investigation, according to records submitted as part of a lawsuit. Earlier this year, state authorities charged him with insurance fraud.

Then, a few weeks ago, L.A. County prosecutors accused him of masterminding a home invasion robbery with a man with reputed ties to the Israeli underworld — part of what authorities say is a growing trend of criminals targeting victims for their cryptocurrency profits.

How Halem, 37, became embroiled with one of his alleged co-conspirators, Gaby (sometimes spelled “Gabby”) Ben, remains a mystery.

Ben, who has twice been convicted of fraud, was a close business associate of Moshe Matsri, or “Moshe the Religious,” whom authorities describe as an L.A. leader of the Israeli underground who had long operated in the San Fernando Valley and had ties to the Abergil crime syndicate, according to court filings.

In the early morning hours of Dec. 28, 2024, Halem, Ben and Mishael Mann, 20, made their way into an apartment building in Koreatown, LAPD Robbery-Homicide Det. Guillermo De La Riva wrote in a sworn declaration in favor of denying Halem's bail.

Pierre Louis, 26, had arranged to meet up with the victim for a "digital currency transaction," which was a ruse to allow the three other men to enter the building and wait for the victim to return, De La Riva wrote.