Arik Shtilman, the Rapyd founder and chief executive who is also Maccabi Tel Aviv's main shirt sponsor, has escalated his fight for influence at the basketball club, with his lawyers formally demanding the Recanati family hand over documents on how it sold off part of its newly enlarged shareholding.
According to a report by ONE, attorneys for Shtilman sent an urgent letter to Naftali S.S. Investments, the Recanati-controlled company that holds the family's stake in the club, giving it three business days to produce a set of records related to the transaction.
The letter demands all correspondence with American investor Jason Levien concerning the acquisition of club shares, full financing documentation for the Recanati family's purchase of the Federman family's stake — including the source of the funds used — and any agreements or side arrangements covering the transfer of shares to a third party.
The dispute traces back to July 7, when the Recanati company exercised its right of first refusal to buy out the Federman family's roughly 29% holding in Maccabi Tel Aviv, held through Fedanco Sports, for about $50 million. That move took the Recanatis' stake to 58% and derailed a rival plan under which Shtilman — who already held a 50% interest in Fedanco Sports and a seat on Maccabi's board — had been positioned to buy into the club.
Shtilman had separately floated an offer of roughly $100 million for the Recanati family's entire holding, a proposal that went nowhere as the family instead moved to consolidate control itself.
The dispute took a fresh turn on August 7, when the Recanati family informed fellow shareholders it planned to sell roughly half of its enlarged stake — about 29% of the club — to Levien, a former chief executive of the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies, in a deal again worth about $50 million.
Shtilman's lawyers now argue that sale was effectively agreed well before it was disclosed. Their letter points to a company linked to Levien that was incorporated on July 6 — one day before Recanati exercised its refusal right over the Federman shares — and to the near-identical size and price of the two transactions, calling it, in their words, "a coordinated scheme designed to transfer rights to an unauthorized third party."
Reached for comment by ONE, Udi Recanati gave a brief response: "Unknown to me, no comment."
The confrontation is the latest flashpoint in a months-long ownership battle that has consumed one of Israeli basketball's flagship clubs, pitting one of the country's best-known tech entrepreneurs against the family that has controlled Maccabi Tel Aviv's board. Neither Naftali S.S. Investments nor Levien has yet issued a substantive public response to the specific allegations in Shtilman's letter.
