Black Cube named as Firm Behind Evolution Smear Campaign

After a long and expensive battle to unmask the firm behind the Calcagni Report, Evolution now know who it is – Israeli private intelligence service Black Cube. Trouble is, they still don’t know who is behind Black Cube.

This saga dates back to 2021 when law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky (‘C&K’) provided a report to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (‘NJDGE’), alleging Evolution had been operating in black markets. The report has since come to be known as the Calcagni Report.

The fallout was immediate and severe with billions wiped off Evolution’s market cap as the NJDGE and counterparts from Pennsylvania (PGCB) announced investigations into the matter. Adverse findings would not only jeopardise Evolution’s provider licenses in these burgeoning US markets resulting in a material hit to their bottom line, but also potentially spark knock-on investigations from other regulators. Significant damage was done.

Both investigations have since concluded, both finding no wrongdoing on Evolution’s behalf.

In the meantime, Evolution sued C&K, seeking an order for them to reveal the source of the report. This order came 28 February this year, when the New Jersey Superior Court ruled:

“This court finds the weight of the plaintiffs’ current claims is more than sufficient to warrant the disclosure of the anonymous client’s identity.

The report lacks veracity and the plaintiff is entitled to all relevant discovery necessary. This court further finds that pursuit of the truth of the parties assertions is necessary here and disclosure of the client’s identity is ordered. The identity of the client is clearly necessary to enable the plaintiff to fully address its legal claims.”

After dragging their heals as long as legal delaying tactics would allow C&K finally complied with the order this week. It was supposed to be the big reveal. An end to the suspense and speculation as to which of Evolution’s competitors had resorted to an underhanded smear campaign was expected.

Instead, we got the name Black Cube.

A letter from C&K to Evolution’s lawyers maintained that they (C&K), ‘did not know the identity of the entity or individual who engaged Black Cube to perform the investigation on which the Report is based’.

The letter further read, ‘C&K has asked Black Cube to provide the identities of any other individuals who were involved with or participated in the investigation and/or the preparation of the Report.C&K will supplement its interrogatories when Black Cube provides that information.’

A handful of Black Cube employees and legal council were named as having known involvement: Yoav Nursella, Alex Gorelik (head of investigations ), Romy Martin (general counsel) and Dr. Avi Yanus (director, founder) from Black Cube as well as their attorney Adi Avtaf.

Evolution’s Next Moves

The reveal was an anti-climax for the wider iGaming community. For Evolution it would have gone down like a fart in a space suit.

Their attorney’s have already filed a motion arguing that C&K have failed to comply with the 28 Feb court order. It rejects the assertion that C&K do not know who hired Black Cube and describes the lack of disclosure as a deliberate attempt to obstruct discovery and prevent Evolution from pursuing its claims.

Part of that motion reads:

“During the past three years, Evolution has expended considerable time, effort, and money litigating the narrow issue of whether C&K needs to disclose the identities of the two anonymous defendants.

Evolution won that fight, but it is a Pyrrhic victory until C&K fully complies with the Court’s Order. Under these circumstances, additional sanctions are appropriate to both compel compliance and deter future misconduct.”

The motion further asks the court to:

• issue a further order compelling the disclosure of the anonymous client’s identity, and
• require C&K to certify under oath that it neither knows the client’s identity, nor has the means to obtain it if Black Cube refuses to cooperate

Who Are Black Cube?

Black Cube was founded by former Israeli intelligence officers Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus. The tag-line of this rather shadowy firm is to, ‘secure the seemingly impossible, helping you win when no on else can’.

Scrolling their website you’d be forgiven for thinking they’re part IMF, part Kingsman, with a sprinkle of A-team thrown in.

“As veterans of Israel’s elite intelligence units, our expert operatives conduct innovative, complex operations online and offline. Our Human Intelligence (HUMINT) methodology is supported by top-notch Open Source (OSINT) capabilities and cutting-edge technology to secure hard evidence otherwise impossible to obtain.”

Cue lit-fuse and Mission Impossible theme.

Some of Black Cube’s higher profile engagements have received media scrutiny.  In 2016 they were hired by Harvey Weinstein to discredit the growing list of women coming forward with sexual assault allegations. A New Yorker article titled, “Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies” detailed their methods, some of which were entered into evidence by prosecutors at Weinstein’s 2020 assault trial.

In the wake of the resulting ant-Black Cube public opinion, the firm resolved to strengthen their KYC processes for vetting high risk clients.

They were in the spotlight again when news broke of another of their engagements – Project Maple Tree. The mission for Project Maple Tree was to embarrass and discredit Ontario Justice Frank Newbould for a client named Newton Glassman. The fee for this engagement was CAD 11 million.

Needless to say, Black Cube’s services don’t come cheap. It also could be said that their moral compass doesn’t exactly point due north.