Case Studies

Israeli billionaire Benny Steinmetz faced a personal UK lawsuit filed by Vale, one of the world’s largest mining companies, to enforce a $2 billion arbitral award against him and his companies. Vale claimed that it had been induced to enter a mining partnership with Steinmetz under false pretences. Knowing that Vale’s claims were unfounded, Steinmetz hired Black Cube to prove what he had been unable to prove in the arbitration proceedings.

Over the course of four months, Black Cube covertly gathered human intelligence from Vale’s senior executives. The operations revealed that Vale’s management and board were aware of all the risks that the purchase of the mine entailed and the arbitration was Vale’s attempt to recover its financial losses after the mines were nationalized by the Guinean government.  Black Cube submitted an affidavit containing the evidence in courts in New York and in London, forcing Vale to withdraw its lawsuit against Steinmetz, and the worldwide freezing order against his assets was lifted.

Oro Negro, a drilling contractor with bonds traded in the US, hired Black Cube to investigate corruption allegations against the Mexican state oil company, Pemex. After Oro Negro built five oil rigs on the shores of Mexico, Pemex had forced Black Cube’s client into bankruptcy by cancelling contracts worth $1.5 billion.

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Black Cube’s investigation uncovered evidence of widespread corruption at Pemex, including bribes accepted by the CEO and board in exchange for contracts. The evidence also revealed how the bribe money was being laundered and that Pemex had cancelled the contracts because Oro Negro refused to pay millions in bribes to high-ranking Pemex officers. The evidence was submitted to the SEC and DOJ, leading to criminal investigations into Pemex, and Black Cube’s witness statement was provided to a NAFTA arbitration panel seeking $700 million in compensation for Oro Negro.

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French multinational engineering company Alstom and its Israeli partner Afcon hired Black Cube to investigate the loss of a NIS 2.3 billion rail electrification tender in Israel. After Spain’s engineering company SEMI was awarded the tender, Alstom and Afcon filed a lawsuit alleging unlawful score adjustments and non-compliance.

Black Cube presented recordings of conversations with SEMI representatives and advisors of the railway bid discussing flaws in the bidding process. Based on these findings, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered that the project would be divided among all three companies as a compromise and gave part of the contract to Alstom and Afcon valued at NIS 580 million.

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Black Cube was hired by a Panamanian businessman to investigate systemic corruption within the country’s judiciary. The investigation focused on attorney Janio Lescure and his involvement in suspicious court rulings. Black Cube’s intelligence operations uncovered a complex system of corruption involving numerous judges and magistrates, including Judge Oydén Ortega of the Supreme Court. The bribes, amounting to millions of dollars, were transferred to the corrupt justices through intermediaries and offshore accounts, making the transactions difficult to trace.

Black Cube was also able to secure audio recordings of Lescure admitting to his close ties with judges, state officials, and mafiosos, as well as his ability to influence court verdicts, dodge investigations into his illegal activities, and evade paying taxes. The evidence was presented at a hearing presided by a Panamanian magistrate, which led to the dismissal of the Judge, and shed light on the scale of corruption within the country’s judiciary system.

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Black Cube conducted a three-month investigation to expose fraud and corruption within a series of Italian arbitration cases filed against our client, amounting to a total of €2 billion. These proceedings emerged from a dispute between our client, AmTrust Financial Services, an insurance company listed on Nasdaq, and Antonio Somma, a former business partner.

Black Cube’s investigation uncovered pre-existing relationships between individuals involved in the case and revealed that Somma had paid bribes to the lead arbitrator. This evidence was corroborated by the arbitrator who boasted about his ability to guarantee a favourable outcome to a given party. The evidence led to the swift halt of the proceedings and dismissal of the biased arbitrator. The two parties reached a settlement out of court, with Somma agreeing to compensation solely for unpaid previous invoices, instead of the initial arbitration award of €400 million that he had arranged with the corrupt arbitrator.

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Bank Hapoalim, one of Israel’s two largest banks, engaged Black Cube to recover assets from the estate of Motti Zisser, a former client of the bank who had declared bankruptcy and owed the bank hundreds of millions of NIS. Black Cube provided evidence of Zisser's concealed assets, which included hotels in Brussels, a mall in Amsterdam and a hotel furniture supplier in Hong Kong, all of which had been transferred to his son David through a complex network of shell companies and Swiss trustees. This intelligence prompted an injunction that froze the Zisser family’s companies, and the successful asset recovery efforts contributed to a settlement agreement in which the Zisser family paid the bank NIS 95 million.

Attorney Joseph Benkel, the state-appointed insolvency administrator, hired Black Cube to investigate and trace concealed assets of a bankrupt Israeli tycoon, Eliezer Fishman. Fishman, once considered one of Israel’s wealthiest businessmen, was declared bankrupt with a staggering debt of hundreds of millions of euros.

Using our elite team of undercover agents, Black Cube secretly recorded several meetings with Fishman’s associates, including his personal trustee, which led us to discover a network of trusts, shell companies, and third parties that were used to conceal assets valued at around €100 million across Europe, particularly real-estate in Germany. A detailed report and witness statement were submitted to the Tel Aviv District Court and to the London High Court, resulting in a resounding victory for our client, which took control of the UK company held by Fishman nominees.

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Isabel dos Santos, previously the richest woman in Africa, accused the Angolan government of pursuing a personal and financial vendetta to defame her and destroy her business empire and take control of her assets. The government froze her local assets over allegations of defrauding the state of $1 billion in diamonds and oil-related transactions. Dos Santos in return sued the government for several billion dollars. These cases were heard in multiple ICC arbitrations and in the High Court of Justice in London.

Black Cube’s investigation into Angola’s political and business elite revealed the existence of a government task force aimed at illegally seizing dos Santos’ assets and enriching their personal pockets. The evidence collected by Black Cube’s agents, presented in a witness statement to the High Court in London, showed a large-scale negative campaign by various players in Angola, designed to defame dos Santos and confiscate her assets illegally and exposed corruption in the highest echelons in Angola.

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Rami Levy, the founder of Israel’s largest discount supermarket chain, was targeted in a negative media campaign, suspected to have been orchestrated by a competitor. Levy sought assistance from Black Cube to verify his suspicions.

Black Cube investigated Levy’s rivals and managed to gain evidence from the spokesperson of Victory, a rival chain, admitting that they had orchestrated the negative campaign involving various media and on-the-ground efforts designed to damage Levy’s reputation and public image. With this evidence, Levy was able to take legal action against his competitor, defend his business and stop the negative publications against his supermarket chain.

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