Inside Black Cube: How the intelligence firm made millions from corporate investigations

According to deposition transcripts filed by Evolution in a New Jersey court, Black Cube co-founder Avi Yanus confirmed that the firm received an initial £400,000 for three months of work, followed by a string of “success fees” as its findings gained traction.

Playtech’s brief was clear: uncover evidence of wrongdoing that could trigger legal or regulatory action against its rival. What followed was a calculated mix of intelligence-gathering, public relations pressure, and legal escalation.

The price of influence

Black Cube’s first milestone payment — £150,000 — came when it presented Playtech with material purporting to show Evolution’s games being offered in restricted markets. That dossier formed the basis for a complaint filed by law firm Calcagni & Kanefsky to New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement, alleging violations of US sanctions.

The next payout followed swiftly. In November 2021, Bloomberg published a story based on the complaint, which Yanus later described in his deposition as “a beautiful piece of article.” The resulting market shock sent Evolution’s shares tumbling by 30% in a week — and earned Black Cube another £175,000.

A larger fee, £350,000, was tied to the launch of an official New Jersey regulatory probe into Evolution’s operations. Although the regulator ultimately dismissed the allegations as “objectively baseless” and closed the case in 2024, Playtech’s payments to Black Cube had already mounted to seven figures.

The firm was even promised a £500,000 bonus if Evolution’s licence were revoked — a contingency that never materialised.

Methods under the microscope

Evolution’s filings paint a picture of elaborate subterfuge. One former executive, Jeff Millar, recounted how operatives posing as investors from a fictitious firm called Parvus Capital lured him into meetings. They had created an entire fake corporate identity — website, email accounts, and business records — to appear credible.

Yanus defended the firm’s practices as “accurate and ordinary,” insisting that every project followed clear contractual guidelines. But the revelations have reignited questions about how far corporate clients are willing to go in pursuit of competitive advantage — and whether Black Cube’s brand of intelligence crosses ethical lines.

A controversial history

Black Cube, founded in 2011, operates out of Tel Aviv, London, Madrid, and Singapore. It has built a reputation for serving powerful and often contentious clients. The firm was infamously hired by Harvey Weinstein in 2016 to gather information on women and journalists investigating his sexual misconduct. Its operatives were also accused of hacking email accounts linked to Romania’s former anti-corruption chief, Laura Codruța Kövesi, in an operation that led to criminal charges against several team members.

Black Cube says it now follows stricter ethical guidelines. Former police officer Adrian Leppard, who joined its advisory board, stated that the firm no longer accepts cases involving sexual harassment or violent clients, nor does it engage in “offensive cyber” operations such as hacking. Its website declares: “Winning isn’t everything — it’s the only thing.”

Still, its work for Playtech shows how lucrative such assignments remain. “Everything is crystal clear,” Yanus told the court. “The letter of engagement details all payments and milestones.”

Fallout and denials

Playtech’s involvement with Black Cube became public only last month, prompting a 25% plunge in its stock price. Evolution, whose shares had earlier suffered during the 2021 revelations, immediately denounced the campaign as “false, selective, and misleading.”

Black Cube, for its part, has stood by its work, saying its findings — including “countless hours of video and audio recordings” — proved that Evolution “knowingly and deliberately allowed its games to operate in sanctioned jurisdictions and black markets.”

Playtech echoed that position in a statement, asserting that “there has been no ruling that the allegations in the Black Cube report are false.” Evolution, meanwhile, maintains that the intelligence dossier was “objectively baseless” and that the supposed evidence was “inaccurate and misleading.”

Beyond the casino floor

The Playtech-Evolution case underscores how the world of private intelligence has become a high-profit extension of corporate strategy. In industries where regulation and reputation are tightly bound, information — or the suggestion of it — can move markets and sway oversight bodies.

For Black Cube, such operations have become a business model. From political influence to litigation support, the firm’s blend of secrecy, psychological tactics, and plausible deniability continues to attract clients seeking outcomes beyond what traditional law firms or consultants can deliver.

Whether regulators will tighten scrutiny on these shadow investigations remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: in the age of information warfare, firms like Black Cube have turned intelligence into one of the most profitable services money can buy.