Black Cube

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Cube is a private intelligence service with offices in London , Madrid and Tel Aviv and the trading name of BC Strategy Ltd. The company was founded in 2010 by former Israeli intelligence officers Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus. The workforce includes former employees of Israeli intelligence agencies such as Aman , Mossad and Shin Bet, as well as legal and financial experts.

The company's main business is litigation support, providing information and evidence to its clients and providing advice on civil and criminal litigation across multiple jurisdictions.

Important projects

Since 2011, Black Cube has provided information to Vincent Tchenguiz in a large number of cases, including in his proceedings against the British law enforcement agency Serious Fraud Office (SFO) after he was arrested on the basis of investigations by the SFO into the collapse of the Icelandic Kaupthing bank. Black Cube investigated the network surrounding the collapse and thus made it possible to successfully challenge the legality of the arrests and searches by the SFO, so that the judge in charge had to declare the SFO's actions unlawful in 2013. Following these investigations, the court ordered the SFO to make payments to Tchenguiz in the amount of three million pounds sterling and a formal apology in 2014.

In 2014, Black Cube was hired by Israeli entrepreneur Nochi Dankner to review a court ruling giving control of IDB Holding Corp. Ltd . (TASE: IDBH) was transferred to Motti Ben Moshe. Black Cube then checked Ben Moshe's sources of capital and came across ongoing investigations by German regulatory authorities against Ben Moshe's company ExtraEnergy. Black Cube staff also managed to locate a witness who could bring evidence of money laundering and tax evasion against Ben Moshe.

Black Cube's services were also used by Kfar Giladi Quarries in their high-profile legal battle with Caesarstone (NASDAQ: CSTE). Black Cube managed to get into conversation with an engineer from Caesarstone on a bike tour in Kfar Giladi. In that conversation, the employee disagreed with the allegations Caesarstone made during the arbitration with Kfar Giladi. After six years of trial, Judge Boaz Okun sentenced Caesarstone to pay Kfar Giladi $ 14 million in damages.

In 2015, Black Cube supported the Taiwanese entrepreneur Nobu Su , owner of the TMT shipping company, in his efforts to be able to appeal a judgment that had been handed down in 2014 in favor of Lakatamia Shipping and that made Su personally for a sum of almost 47 million. US dollars should be liable. Black Cube was able to provide Sus's lawyers with information that showed that 20 percent of the amount in dispute was due to a company called Slagen Shipping, which had already ceased operations at the time the claim was established and which was therefore not eligible. Not only did this significantly reduce the amount in dispute, but the appeal was also approved.

In 2016, Black Cube was involved in the detection of multiple corruption and bribery cases in a series of Italian arbitration proceedings between AmTrust (NASDAQ: AFSI) and an Italian individual named Antonio Somma, which totaled $ 2 billion in litigation. Somma admitted in discussions with undercover agents from Black Cube that he was able to influence the arbitrators and that he had agreed to pay the head of the arbitration tribunal 10 percent of the sums awarded by the arbitration tribunal. Due to Black Cube's revelations, the referee was dismissed in July 2016. The two parties then agreed on payments of 60 million euros instead of the original two billion.

In 2016, Black Cube was hired by Rami Levy, who owns Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing (TASE: RMLI) and is considered the king of low prices in Israel, to investigate his suspicions that he was the victim of a media hate speech caused by a rival competitor had been initiated. Black Cube provided Levy with evidence that the public relations agent hired by Levy's competitor - the supermarket chain Victory - had launched the negative campaign to damage Levy's public image. Levy later used this material in a lawsuit against his competitor.

Also in 2016, Alstom (EPA: ALO) and Afcon (TASE: AFHL) hired Black Cube to support them in the legal dispute with the Israeli railway company over their electrification tender, which the Spanish company SEMI had won. Black Cube was able to gain access to recordings made by officials of the Israeli railway, on which errors in the tender were discussed. On the basis of this information, the Israeli Supreme Court issued a compromise agreement, according to which the tendered contracts were divided between all three companies and the contract volume for Black Cube customers was set at 580 million shekels. The original negative decision has thus been reversed.

In 2017 Gefen Biomed (TASE: GEFEN) brought a 60 million shekel lawsuit against entrepreneur Moshe (Mori) Arkin and other parties, according to which the defendants had misled or deceived minority shareholders of biomedical company cCam Biotherapeutics. The lawsuit was based on evidence produced by Black Cube that had started conversations with key figures at cCam who demonstrated that cCam had deliberately and systematically attempted to obtain up to $ 625 million in exit talks with Merck (NYSE: MRK) conceal.

Thanks to its specialization in asset tracing and the analysis of offshore companies and trust companies, Black Cube was hired by the bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI) to track down the assets of Motti Zisser, who left the bank with high liabilities. Black Cube was able to prove the existence of numerous assets in Europe that Zisser had transferred to his son David with the help of a complicated network of bogus companies. In addition to other items, hotel chains in Brussels , a hotel and a shopping center in Amsterdam , apartments in Strasbourg and a company in Hong Kong were found. The information obtained by Black Cube was used by the Hapoalim bank to obtain an injunction that blocked all the Zisser family companies. At the end of the proceedings, the two parties reached a settlement in February 2018, in which the Zisser's heirs undertook to pay 95 million shekels to the Hapoalim bank.

Controversy

In 2013, Black Cube filed a lawsuit in the UK against Vincent Tchenguiz for unpaid bills and breach of contract. At the same time, Tchenguiz was suing Black Cube in Israel for allegedly fraudulent invoices, an allegation that Black Cube rejected. Both procedures were discontinued due to a comparison, the details remained unknown.

In April 2016, two employees of the company were arrested in Bucharest on suspicion of espionage, phishing and cyberbullying against the chief prosecutor of the Romanian National Anti-Corruption Authority , Laura Codruța Kövesi , and persons close to her. After the judgment was announced, an agreement was reached with the Romanian authorities; the two employees were released and returned to Israel a few months later. At the time of the arrest, Black Cube denied any wrongdoing, saying that the agency was under contract with leading political forces in Bucharest, "all Black Cube employees follow local law to the letter and all allegations against them are unfounded and untrue".

In November 2017, Ronan Farrow reported on The New Yorker that film producer Harvey Weinstein had hired Black Cube to put an end to allegations of abuse against him. Black Cube private detectives sought out and met with journalists and actresses, particularly Rose McGowan, who Weinstein later publicly accused of rape. Within a year, Weinstein had Black Cube and other agencies "target or gather information about dozens of individuals."

In March 2018, both Black Cube and Cambridge Analytica denied a testimony by a former Cambridge Analytica employee that the company had used Black Cube's services. In April 2018, Brittany Kaiser , a senior executive at Cambridge Analytica, upheld the denials and testified before the UK Parliament that Black Cube was not the company it had worked with.

In May 2018, Black Cube was accused of using false identities to seek harmful information on former Obama administration officials in order to help the Trump administration undermine the Iran nuclear deal. Black Cube responded to the allegations by stating that it had no relationship with the Trump administration, its advisers or the Iran nuclear deal.

International Board of Directors

  • Meir Dagan (deceased in 2016) - Former Director of Mossad , Honorary Chairman of the Board of Directors
  • Efraim Halevy - Former director of the Mossad
  • Yohanan Danino - Former Israeli Police Commissioner
  • Major General Giora Eiland - Former Chairman of the Israeli National Security Council, headed both the Operations and Planning Divisions of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)
  • Professor Asher Tishler - President of the College of Management Academic Studies
  • Brigadier General Mati Leshem - 1997 Israel Defense Prize winner
  • Paul Reyniers - Former partner at Price Waterhouse and author of GARP (Generally Accepted Risk Principles, German: generally accepted risk principles)
  • Itiel Maayan - Member of the Microsoft Customer Advisory Board
  • Lt. Col. Golan Malka - Former Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at NICE Systems

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Contact Us | Black Cube. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 30, 2018 ; Retrieved November 20, 2018 (UK English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.blackcube.com
  2. ↑ a b c Investigating the investigators. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  3. ↑ Subscribe to read. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (UK English).
  4. ↑ Two property tycoons are arrested . In: BBC News . March 10, 2011 ( bbc.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  5. ^ Inside Black Cube - The "Mossad" of the Business World - Forbes Israel . In: Forbes Israel . June 9, 2018 ( forbes.co.il [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  6. ^ The Serious Fraud Office and Vincent Tchenguiz announce settlement of civil claims . In: Serious Fraud Office . July 25, 2014 ( gov.uk [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  7. ↑ Subscribe to read. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (UK English).
  8. ↑ Dankner: German regulator probing Ben-Moshe. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  9. ↑ Dankner accuses Ben-Moshe of money laundering. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  10. ^ Inside Black Cube - The "Mossad" of the Business World - Forbes Israel . In: Forbes Israel . June 9, 2018 ( forbes.co.il [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Caesar Stone to pay Kfar Giladi NIS 50 m compensation. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  12. ↑ UK judge declares Nobu Su personally liable for $ 37.9m . In: TradeWinds | Latest shipping and maritime news . November 7, 2014 ( tradewindsnews.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  13. ^ Nobu Su Fights Back Against Lakatamia. Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
  14. ^ Today's Stock Market News and Analysis from Nasdaq.com. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (American English).
  15. ↑ Bloomberg - Are you a robot? Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
  16. ^ Il lodo da 2 miliardi in Tribunale Corruzione o calunnia per l'arbitro . In: Corriere della Sera . ( corriere.it [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Black Cube dezvăluie cel mai mare de caz corupţie judiciară din Italia . ( b1.ro [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Pace milionaria, salvo il broker Antonio Somma - Transazione tra AmTrust e l'assicuratore stabiese con un giro di affari all'estero . In: Il Corrierino . ( ilcorrierino.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  19. ^ Who is Rami Levy and why investors love him - Jewish Business News . In: Jewish Business News . April 28, 2013 ( jewishbusinessnews.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  20. ^ Adi Dovrat-Meseritz, Yoram Gabison: Rami Levy Allegedly Targeted by Rival Chain in Negative Media Campaign . In: Haaretz . May 2, 2016 ( Haaretz.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  21. ↑ Israel High Court Splits Disputed $ 500M Rail Power Contract . ( enr.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  22. ↑ Lawsuit claims Arkin misled eCam shareholders. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  23. ^ Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  24. ↑ Zisser's heirs to pay Hapoalim NIS 95 m. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  25. ^ Simon Bowers: Vincent Tchenguiz settles Black Cube legally dispute. April 22, 2013, accessed November 20, 2018 .
  26. ^ Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (Hebrew).
  27. ^ Report Claims Romania Investigating 4 Israelis for Spying . In: Algemeiner.com . ( algemeiner.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  28. ↑ Harvey Weinstein's Army of Spies . In: The New Yorker . ( newyorker.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  29. ^ "Army of Spies": Weinstein is said to have used ex-Mossad agents on alleged victims . In: RT German . ( rt.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  30. ^ Harvey Weinstein Hired ex-Mossad Agents to Track Women Accusing Him of Sexual Assault . In: Haaretz . November 7, 2017 ( Haaretz.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  31. ^ "Written testimony to the Fake News Inquiry". (PDF) Retrieved November 20, 2018 .
  32. ^ Israeli Operatives Who Aided Harvey Weinstein Collected Information on Former Obama Administration Officials . In: The New Yorker . ( newyorker.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  33. ↑ An attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would amount to genocide . In: RT German . ( rt.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  34. ↑ Chaim Levinson, Hagar Shezaf: $ 6 Billion of Iranian Money: Why Israeli Firm Black Cube Really Went After Obama's Team . In: Haaretz . October 26, 2018 ( Haaretz.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  35. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Advisory Board | Black Cube. Retrieved November 20, 2018 (UK English).
  36. ^ Spy Firm Black Cube Adds Former Israeli Police Chief to Advisory Board . In: CTECH - www.calcalistech.com . July 5, 2018 ( calcalistech.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  37. ↑ ISRAEL: Black Cube lands Security heavyweight . In: Intelligence Online . July 11, 2018 ( intelligenceonline.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).
  38. ↑ TheMarker digital: מתי לשם מונה למנכ"ל אוטו-סנטר . In: TheMarker . February 20, 2007 ( themarker.com [accessed November 20, 2018]).