Black Cube in Romania
| Black Cube in Romania
| |
|---|---|
| Type | Covert surveillance, hacking and intimidation operation |
| Date | February–April 2016 (operation); 2016–2022 (prosecutions) |
| Location | Bucharest, Romania |
| Participants | Black Cube (B.C. Strategy Ltd and B.C. Strategy UK Ltd) |
| Organisers | According to prosecutors, former Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) officer Daniel Dragomir |
| Victims | Laura Codruța Kövesi, then chief prosecutor of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA), and people close to her |
| Charges | Forming an organised criminal group; illegal access to computer systems; unauthorised data transfer; illegal operations with devices or programs; computer forgery; violating the secrecy of correspondence |
| Court | Bucharest Tribunal; Bucharest Court of Appeal |
| Inquiry status | A separate DIICOT file on who financed the operation remained open as of March 2022 |
| Arrests | Ron Weiner and David Geclowicz (April 2016); Daniel Dragomir (September 2016); Yossi Barkshtein (May 2018) |
| Convictions | Weiner, Geclowicz, Barkshtein, Dan Zorella, Avi Yanus and Gal Farchi, all by plea agreement with suspended sentences |
Black Cube in Romania was a 2016 covert operation in which operatives of the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube hacked email accounts and harassed people close to Laura Codruța Kövesi, then head of Romania's anti-corruption prosecutors. Two operatives were arrested in Bucharest, a third was caught in 2018, and in 2022 the firm's founders Dan Zorella and Avi Yanus each accepted a suspended prison sentence by plea agreement.
The Romanian case is the only one in which Black Cube staff, and its founders, have been convicted of crimes. Romania's organised-crime prosecutors (DIICOT) code-named the plan "Tornado" and said it was meant to discredit Laura Codruța Kövesi and others whom a former intelligence officer blamed for his own prosecution.[1][2] Kövesi has since become head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO).[3]
The operation
According to DIICOT, the operation was commissioned by Daniel Dragomir, a former officer of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI). Prosecutors said he wanted to denigrate the people he held responsible for the DNA's case against him.[1] G4Media summarised the work of the two operatives arrested in April 2016:[2]
- Ron Weiner broke into the email accounts of people close to Kövesi.
- David Geclowicz made night-time phone calls to members of her family.
Both were 25 at the time.
DIICOT charged the operatives with forming an organised criminal group, illegal access to computer systems, unauthorised transfer of computer data, illegal operations with devices or programs, computer forgery and violating the secrecy of correspondence.[1] Digi24 described the firm at the time of the arrests as a business intelligence company staffed by former Israeli intelligence personnel.[4]
Prosecutions
| # | Name | Role | Detention | Outcome | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Geclowicz | Black Cube operative | Arrested April 2016. Held 120 days in pre-trial custody, then 60 days under house arrest | Plea agreement with DIICOT. 2 years 8 months, suspended (November 2016) | [5] |
| 2 | Ron Weiner | Black Cube operative | Held 3 April to 8 September 2016 | The Bucharest Tribunal rejected his first plea agreement on 29 November 2016. The Bucharest Court of Appeal gave a final sentence of 2 years 8 months, suspended, with 3 years' supervision and 60 days' community service (January 2017) | [1] |
| 3 | Daniel Dragomir | Former SRI officer, alleged commissioner of the operation | Held 14 September to 29 December 2016, then under house arrest | Sent to trial in 2020. Separately given a final sentence of 3 years 8 months in a corruption case, after which G4Media reported that he had fled to Italy | [1][2] |
| 4 | Yossi Barkshtein | Black Cube operative | Left Romania in April 2016. A warrant was issued in his absence on 8 August 2016, and he was arrested in May 2018 | Plea agreement. 2 years 10 months, suspended | [1][2] |
| 5 | Dan Zorella | Co-founder and chief executive | None reported | Plea agreement with DIICOT. 2 years 11 months, suspended, with 3 years' supervision and 60 days' unpaid community work (March 2022) | [2] |
| 6 | Avi Yanus | Co-founder | None reported | Plea agreement. 2 years 11 months, suspended, with 3 years' supervision (March 2022) | [2] |
| 7 | Gal Farchi | Black Cube executive | None reported | Plea agreement. 2 years 11 months, suspended, with 3 years' supervision (March 2022) | [2] |
The Bucharest Tribunal also confiscated £115,000 from Zorella and Yanus. B.C. Strategy UK Ltd had paid the sum into a DIICOT deposit account on 17 June 2021.[2] According to G4Media, DIICOT was still pursuing a separate file on who financed the operation in March 2022.[2]
Black Cube's account
In depositions taken in Israel under letters rogatory, the founders said they had believed the operation was commissioned by the SRI with the agreement of President Klaus Iohannis. G4Media, citing Haaretz, reported that Zorella produced no evidence. He said the person who had confirmed SRI involvement was Meir Dagan, who died in 2016 without being questioned. DIICOT dropped this line of inquiry in 2020, when it sent Dragomir to trial, finding no evidence that any official or businessman had committed an offence.[2] Globes reported in 2017 on Zorella's deposition, as published by the Romanian paper Evenimentul Zilei.[6]
The Times of Israel summarised the outcome in 2018: two Israeli Black Cube employees had been "arrested in Romania for harassing and spying on the country's anti-corruption czar and later pled guilty".[7] When the 2022 sentences are mentioned in later coverage, they are usually described as convictions for intimidating Romania's former chief anti-corruption prosecutor.[8]
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Decizie în dosarul "Black Cube": Ron Weiner, condamnat definitiv la doi ani şi opt luni de închisoare cu suspendare (Ruling in the "Black Cube" case: Ron Weiner given a final sentence of two years and eight months, suspended), Observator, 26 January 2017.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 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.
- ↑ Borut Mekina, Achiya Schatz, Filip Dobranić and Nika Kovač, How Israelis met with Janez Janša (English version of the 8 March Institute investigation report), Mladina, 16 March 2026.
- ↑ Cu ce se ocupă Black Cube, compania care a spionat-o pe șefa DNA (What Black Cube, the company that spied on the DNA chief, does), Digi24, 6 April 2016.
- ↑ Gabriela Ghitcuta, Dosarul Black Cube. Unul dintre angajaţi a fost condamnat la doi ani şi opt luni de închisoare cu suspendare (Black Cube case: one of the employees sentenced to two years and eight months, suspended), Mediafax, 16 November 2016.
- ↑ Hadas Magen, Black Cube - a "Mossad-style" business intelligence co, Globes, 2 April 2017.
- ↑ ToI Staff, Cambridge Analytica-linked businessman helped start Black Cube, lawsuit claims, Times of Israel, 23 August 2018.
- ↑ ToI Staff, Minister, Black Cube CEO discussed probing Students for Justice in Palestine – report, Times of Israel, 8 August 2024.