Avi Yanus

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Avi Yanus

Born May 1983[1]
Nationality British (Companies House filings)
Occupation Private intelligence executive
Known for Co-founder of Black Cube; sole director of its British companies; suspended sentence in Romania, 2022; 2025 deposition in the Evolution case
Education BA, management and economics, Technion; PhD

Avi Yanus is an Israeli former army officer with a doctorate who co-founded the private intelligence firm Black Cube with Dan Zorella in 2011. He runs its finance, legal work and London office, is the sole director of its British companies, and signs the affidavits that put the firm's findings before courts. In 2022 he accepted a suspended prison sentence in Romania over the firm's operation against the anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi.

Dr Avi Yanus (Companies House date of birth May 1983)[1] is a co-founder of Black Cube with Dan Zorella. Nationality on the filings is British. Residence is Israel. The London footprint is the company seat, at City of London service addresses since 2012, and two leasehold flats in London NW6. According to the Daily Telegraph in 2024, he runs "the financial and legal side of the business and leads the London office", while Zorella heads intelligence operations.[2] He has been the only director of the firm's English company, B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, since it was formed in 2012.[3] Because his sworn statements carry the firm's evidence into court, his affidavits and depositions are the most detailed public account of how Black Cube works and how it is paid.[4][5]

Background

Yanus met Zorella when both were studying for a BA in management and economics at the Technion. He then completed a doctorate, and by 2017 he was based in London, handling the firm's European investigations.[4] The Slovenian weekly Mladina describes him as a former IDF strategic-planning officer with a PhD in organisational behaviour from the Technion.[6] The Telegraph calls him "a former IDF officer". No source reviewed for this page gives his unit or places him in Unit 8200 or another intelligence unit.[2]

Career timeline

# Date Event Source
1 2011 Co-founds Black Cube with Zorella. The parent company, B.C. Strategy Ltd (originally Zorella Ltd), is registered on 7 March 2011 [4][7]
2 24 July 2012 Appointed director of B.C. Strategy UK Ltd (company 08153977) on its incorporation [3]
3 2013 Named as a defendant, with Zorella and both Black Cube companies, in the Tel Aviv suit by Vincent Tchenguiz's company Vincos Ltd. The cross-claims settle in April [7][8]
4 21 November 2013 Appointed director of Tzur Intelligence Ltd (08785913) [1]
5 January 2014 Signs a 13-page affidavit, as Black Cube's partner and vice-president, setting out the firm's findings on Moti Ben-Moshe for Nochi Dankner [9]
6 6 April 2016 Notified as a person with significant control of B.C. Strategy UK Ltd (significant influence or control) [10]
7 2016 Appointed director of B.C. Strategy Europe Ltd (12 July, since dissolved) and B.C. Strategy Holdings Limited (17 November) [1]
8 c. 2016–17 His affidavit underpins the Alstom and Afcon appeal over the Jerusalem light rail electrification tender, describing interviews with 11 people in five countries [4]
9 9 July 2018 Appointed director of B.C. Strategy International Ltd (since dissolved) [1]
10 March 2022 Convicted in absentia by the Bucharest Tribunal on a plea agreement, with Zorella and Gal Farchi. Two years and eleven months, suspended [11][12]
11 11 August 2025 Files an affidavit in the New Jersey case brought by Evolution AB, offering what he said was new evidence for the firm's 2021 report [13]
12 2025 His deposition in the same case, published by the Financial Times in November, sets out the fees paid by Playtech [5]

British companies

Companies House lists five appointments for Yanus. In each he is the director. Correspondence addresses on the file are Floor 26, 23 Yehudah Halevi, Tel Aviv; Dashwood House, 69 Old Broad Street, EC2M 1QS; and Citypoint, 1 Ropemaker Street, EC2Y 9HT. Those City addresses are the company seats, not homes.[1]

# Company Number Status (October 2026) Role Appointed
1 B.C. Strategy UK Ltd 08153977 Active Director (sole) 24 July 2012
2 Tzur Intelligence Ltd 08785913 Active Director 21 November 2013
3 B.C. Strategy Europe Ltd 10273752 Dissolved Director 12 July 2016
4 B.C. Strategy Holdings Limited 10483521 Active Director 17 November 2016
5 B.C. Strategy International Ltd 11453510 Dissolved Director 9 July 2018

The persons with significant control of B.C. Strategy UK Ltd are the Israeli parent, B.C. Strategy Ltd (75 per cent or more), Zorella (more than 50 but less than 75 per cent, as a member of a firm) and Yanus (significant influence or control), all notified on 6 April 2016.[10]

On the Holdings file he is the only officer, styled Dr Avi Yanus, correspondence address Dashwood House, residence Israel. Identity verification was completed on 8 January 2026 by Stuart Harris Associates Ltd.[1][14]

London flats (NW6)

Two flats in the same block in London NW6 are on the electoral and land records.

One flat is on the electoral roll for 2018–21, with a recorded purchase price of £750,000 on 14 June 2016. A second flat, on the fourth floor, was registered to him on 10 July 2018. The price stated to have been paid on 3 July 2018 was £840,000. He is the sole registered proprietor. A charge of the same date is in favour of National Westminster Bank. The lease is 999 years from 1 January 2014, dated 22 July 2016. A deed of 27 March 2020 between Grosvenor Freeholds Limited and Yanus varied the lease. The electoral roll has him at the block in 2022. A people-search extract records him as sole owner.[15]

Affidavits and depositions

Dankner v Ben-Moshe (2014)

Black Cube first became known to the Israeli capital market when Nochi Dankner filed a 13-page affidavit signed by Yanus, as "one of Black Cube's two partners and VP", in his court bid to reverse the loss of IDB Holding. The affidavit set out claims against the new controlling shareholder, Moti Ben-Moshe, including doubts about his ownership of Extra Holding GmbH and suspicions of fraud. It described Black Cube as "based on a select group of veterans of the Israeli intelligence community, legal and financial experts", with more than 50 investigators.[9] According to Globes in 2017, it also stated that the firm "was certified as the exclusive supplier to major organizations and government ministries" because it had no competitors of comparable ability.[4]

Jerusalem light rail tender

In the appeal by Alstom and Afcon over the Jerusalem light rail electrification tender, Yanus's affidavit described the questioning of 11 people at meetings in Madrid, Vienna, Barcelona, New Delhi and Ahmedabad, after operatives approached the project managers posing as a company recruiting for a project in Asia. District Court Judge Michal Agmon-Gonen rejected the appeal. She said it had begun "like a chapter taken from a thriller or spy novel", that the evidence was "based on partial sentences and statements taken out of context", and that "everything was done while hiding behind Yanus’ affidavit". The Supreme Court later told the parties to settle in a way that included Alstom and Afcon in the tender.[4]

Evolution v Calcagni & Kanefsky and Black Cube (2025–)

In 2021 Playtech hired Black Cube to investigate whether its Swedish rival Evolution AB was serving prohibited markets.[5][13] In a deposition filed in New Jersey, Yanus confirmed that the firm received £400,000 for the first three months. A success fee of £150,000 followed when it delivered material that became a complaint to the New Jersey gaming regulator. Another £175,000 came when Bloomberg reported the complaint in November 2021, a story Yanus called "a beautiful piece of article", and £350,000 when the regulator opened an inquiry. A further £500,000, conditional on Evolution's licence being revoked, was not paid. He described the firm's methods as "accurate and ordinary".[5] Evolution put the total paid at more than £1.8 million.[13][5] The regulator closed its inquiry in February 2024 without taking action. In September 2025 a New Jersey judge said that, "viewed through the lens" of the Division of Gaming Enforcement, the report based on the Black Cube dossier was "objectively baseless", and the court ordered disclosure of who was behind the report.[5][13] Evolution says Yanus's affidavit of 11 August 2025 relied on new recordings of a former Evolution employee, made under false pretences.[13] The case is covered on Playtech–Evolution affair, Black Cube and Playtech.

Romania

Yanus was prosecuted in Romania over the firm's 2016 operation against Laura Codruța Kövesi, and, like his co-defendants, he was not present in court. In March 2022 the Bucharest Tribunal approved plea agreements under which he, Zorella and Gal Farchi were each given two years and eleven months, suspended, with three years' supervision, for forming an organised criminal group. The court ordered "special confiscation" from Zorella and Yanus of £115,000, which B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, the company Yanus directs, had paid into a DIICOT account in June 2021.[11][12] The details are on the Dan Zorella and Black Cube pages.

Other operations

The Harvey Weinstein contract (2016–17) was signed with the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, and Black Cube supplied an agent who posed as an employee of the London front company Reuben Capital Partners.[16] In 2018 Globes reported that Black Cube, "owned by Dan Zorella and Dr. Avi Yanus", had traced the assets of the Zisser family for Bank Hapoalim.[17] In February 2021 Adrian Leppard told the Financial Times that the mining businessman Beny Steinmetz was a "historic" client of Black Cube. The same article reported that the firm had in the past been retained by ENRC (Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation); ENRC denied wrongdoing.[18] Other operations, including the Israeli Defence Ministry contract (2012–14) and the reported work for Idan Ofer, are on the Black Cube page.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Avi YANUS personal appointments, Companies House, officer ID IQDe9u5vmdV79hJjLhv7V8FdQAg, date of birth May 1983.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Robert Mendick, Inside the shadowy world of the ‘private Mossad’, Daily Telegraph, 21 March 2024 (syndicated by Yahoo News; original, paywalled).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Officers: B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, Companies House, accessed 17 October 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Hadas Magen, Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co, Globes, 2 April 2017.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Euan Healy, Inside Black Cube: how notorious intelligence firm rakes in client fees, Financial Times, 3 November 2025.
  6. ↑ Borut Mekina and others, How Israelis met with Janez Janša (English version of the investigation report), Mladina with the 8 March Institute (critical), 16 March 2026.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 ToI Staff, Cambridge Analytica-linked businessman helped start Black Cube, lawsuit claims, Times of Israel, 23 August 2018.
  8. ↑ Simon Bowers, Vincent Tchenguiz settles Black Cube legal dispute, The Guardian, 22 April 2013.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Efrat Peretz, Investigating the investigators, Globes, 3 February 2014.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Persons with significant control: B.C. Strategy UK Ltd, Companies House, accessed 17 October 2026.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Alex Costache, Şefii Black Cube, condamnați la câte 2 ani și 11 luni de detenție cu suspendare în dosarul spionării fostei şefe DNA, Laura Codruţa Kovesi (Black Cube bosses each given 2 years 11 months suspended in the case of spying on former DNA chief Laura Codruța Kövesi), G4Media, 20 March 2022.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 AFP and ToI Staff, 3 Israelis from Black Cube intel firm given suspended sentence in Romania, Times of Israel, 21 March 2022.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Playtech Unmasked as Black Cube Client Behind Defamatory Smear Campaign Targeting Evolution AB, Evolution AB press release (a litigant's own statement), 21 October 2025.
  14. ↑ B.C. Strategy Holdings Limited officers, Companies House, 10483521.
  15. ↑ HM Land Registry, title register, London NW6, accessed 3 October 2026.
  16. ↑ Ronan Farrow, Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies, The New Yorker, 6 November 2017.
  17. ↑ Ela Levi-Weinrib, Zissers heirs to pay Hapoalim NIS 95m, Globes, 15 February 2018.
  18. ↑ Kadhim Shubber and Tom Burgis, Black Cube executive says UK austerity helped business, Financial Times, 5 February 2021.
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