BEIRUT, Lebanon — More than a dozen Lebanese lawyers filed a complaint at the prosecutor’s office in Beirut on Wednesday against a prominent local banker, saying he violated the country’s laws by meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, DC, this week.

Lebanon and Israel have been holding US-backed direct talks for the first time in decades over the past three months, seeking an end to the latest fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese terror group. The talks are aimed at disarming Hezbollah, securing an IDF withdrawal from southern Lebanon, and progressing to a peace accord between the countries.

Lebanon’s laws prevent its citizens from having contact with Israelis, as the neighbors have technically been in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. A 1955 law bans dealing with Israel or having contact with Israelis and punishes offenders with up to 10 years in jail.

Axios reporter Barak Ravid posted a photo on X of the banker, Antoun Sehnaoui, sitting at a restaurant table with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara. Ravid wrote that Sehnaoui and former US envoy Morgan Ortagus hosted a dinner on Monday in memory of the late US senator Lindsey Graham that was attended by Netanyahu and US officials.

A Sehnaoui-linked website, This is Beirut, also reported details of what it called the “special dinner.” Sehnaoui’s lawyer in Beirut did not immediately respond for comment.

The complaint said Sehnaoui committed “the crimes of contacting and dealing with the Israeli enemy, violating the Israel boycott law, the crime of treason and state security crimes.”

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