The New Yorker claims that former Israeli intelligence operators now behind the private investigations company Black Cube were deployed by Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein over sex accusations.
Harvey Weinstein’s Army of Spies
In the fall of 2016, Harvey Weinstein set out to suppress allegations that he had sexually harassed or assaulted numerous women. He began to hire private security agencies to collect information on the women and the journalists trying to expose the allegations.
The New Yorker alleges that two Black Cube investigators met the actor Rose McGowan, who later publicly accused Weinstein of rape, to obtain information.
Another former client of the organisation was residential freehold speculator Vincent Tchenguiz.
Tchenguiz falls out with his ex-Israeli intelligence operatives … and now they are suing each other
The two then fell out, with Black Cube claiming in 2013 that it had not been paid for its services.
As a result, Black Cube contacted the Leasehold Knowledge Partnership and met with trustees Sebastian O’Kelly and Martin Boyd in Hanover Square, central London.
This was part of its campaign – including interviews with the Telegraph, the Guardian and The Lawyer – to put the squeeze on Mr Tchenguiz and get him to cough up their fees.
Avi Yanus, Black Cube’s chief financial officer, explained that the company had been employed just before Mr Tchenguiz’s wrongful arrest in March 2011 by the Serious Fraud Office.
The entrepreneurial former spooks were “core members of the Tchenguiz entourage”, according to Mr Yanus, lived at his Mayfair home and sort to find out who had briefed the SFO prior to the arrest of Vincent and his brother Robert Tchenguiz.
Black Cube claimed Vincent agreed to pay it additional fees of one per cent of any monies recovered from the various legal actions he was pursuing that were collectively dubbed “Project Athena”.
It was not confirmed whether LKP or Sebastian O’Kelly, who had at that point received a number of letters from law firms acting for Mr Tchenguiz, were ever part of “Project Athena”.
Mr Tchenguiz disputed the claim at the time, and issued his own proceedings in Tel Aviv alleging that Black Cube “engaged in a wholesale fraud”.
Although Black Cube volunteered salacious information regarding Mr Tchenguiz’s social life, which were off-topic to the issue of leasehold reform, its main task appeared to be to carry out “open source” research and gather information that could be used in the Tchenguizs’ legal tussles with the SFO, Kaupthing and Grant Thornton, the administrator of the Icelandic bank.
Yanus related how Black Cube set up a UK-incorporated company, with four staff taking up residence in the “office of Vincos in Park Lane”. It was “backed up by a small team of researchers in Israel”.
In the end, Black Cube dropped its legal case against Mr Tchenguiz and the issue was settled.
In the Weinstein case, the New Yorker makes the serious allegation that Black Cube secretly recorded Rose McGowan while posing as women’s rights advocates.
Whatever the truth of this and the other allegations, Mr Weinstein had better pay his bill, or journalists may be receiving a few calls from the operatives of Black Cube.
Related posts:
Ex-Israeli intelligence operatives settle dispute with Tchenguiz
Tchenguiz falls out with his ex-Israeli intelligence operatives … and now they are suing each other
Tchenguiz’s compo claim ‘liberally interspersed with assertions of fraud, falsity, dishonesty …’, says judge
Grant Thornton had ‘direct interest’ in the Tchenguiz arrests, which should have been revealed
Tchenguiz gets a reprieve from Lloyds Bank
Change your doubling ground rents before the John Lewis Partnerships Pension Trust sells the freehold, urges LKP
Classy!!
why am I not surprised…searching for our own freeholder ended up in Tel Aviv, (though the trail went cold after that..). hello anyone there? why was the freehold to my home sold to a ‘landlord’, whose identity cannot be verified, in Tel Aviv?
Fleecehold reform,
If your freeholder does not ‘ Present’ his or herself after a period of time then can’t the Freehold be acquired through some sort of default?
I think I read that somewhere or maybe I just dreamt it…..
Didn’t that Tchenguiz fella own “ Peverel “ until he was wrongly arrested and then it all went belly up? Hmmmmm, nice people.
“Tchenguiz” is frightfully difficult to spell, can we call them something other?
Suggestions by email or @ 07991 435 235.
Note: email suggestions will be disregarded. Calls will cost £49.50 per second, proceeds will go to the Benevolent Fund for newly impoverished property lawyers, managing agents, and freeholders.
Dear David
I can think of another moniker for Tchenguiz. Look In the dictionary between “ Unethical and “/Unscrupulous. That’s my belief- Apologies if nobody likes it – so sue me!!
Ooops- meant “ unscrupulous/ Unethical. S before T …..
Geddit!!??
Before the great banking crisis in 2008, the “Moniker” used by the Tchenguiz Brothers was called the Consensus Business Group (CBG ) which had a website claiming CBG was led by T-Bros under successful and superior style of business management .
This superior style of Business Management led Vincent’s brother to become director of the major shareholder company in Kaupthing Bank in Iceland and persuaded the Kaupthing Bank to extend excessive bank loans as much as 50% of the banks capital to CBG and contributed to its collapse in Oct 2008. Normally the banks are supposed to lend not more than 1% to any one borrower.
During the period before 2008, the HalifaxBOS Bank Group was led by an ex-supermarket CEO who had little or NO sense of banking risk and allowed his bank to extend excessive loans to CBG and this risk contributed to HBOS becoming insolvent and Gordon Brown had to persuade Lloyds Bank to takeover what was an insolvent Bank and messed up what was then a prudently managed bank. .The Board of Directors at HBOS thought they were entering into partnership with CBG in property investment and getting superior management from CBG
That famous US Bank known as Lehman Bros .was also seduced by CBG and its superior business management and arranged a long term loan facility at starting rate around 4.6% for as long as 80 years based on the ground rent stream from investing in UK leaseholds running for 99 years and 125 years ..
We all saw the Great Banking Crash started by the failure of Northern Rock after becoming insolvent in 2007 was followed by failures in Oct 2008, included Kaupthing Bank in Iceland ,, Lehman Bros Bank taken over by Bank of America and HBOS saved by Lloyds-TSB Bank Group.
These banks had helped CBG to become .the biggest freeholder in residential blocks of flat and retirement sites in UK by excessive loans and ended up with Kaupthing, HBOS and Lehman Bros going out of business.
Looking back in hind sight , the superior management style of CBG seems to have been based on subversion of the decision making process followed by the loans department of those collapsed banks. .
Cor Ollie, what a terrific post. Says it all really.
Folks have a plot to answer for, although they never will. However I do believe in karma.
A plague on the houses of these deplorables.
Yes , it should be etched in the minds of every UK MP when they come to vote for Justin Madders’s Bill.
Many MPs still DO NOT know what contributed to the failures of those banks because none of the Boards of Directors of those banks were prosecuted for reckless trading.
Justin’s Bill should add that banks now lending to freeholders should be required to lend on the same interest terms to the leaseholders buying their freehold at less than 10 times the first annual ground rent.
Let us not forget, Peter Cummings was instrumental in granting loans to people such as Tchenguiz, whilst at HBOS.
A subsequent report into the failure of HBOS showed that loans had been granted that were well outside industry normal standards.
Peter Cummings was fined £500,000 and given a lifetime ban from working in the finance industry.
Moving forward, it is still the case that loans granted to property speculators such as Tchenguiz are vastly over valued. Not only is the bricks and mortar element over valued but so is the projected income to be derived from the ownership of the freeholds as well .
This was amply demonstrated by the good folks at Charter Quay(can we reprint the story one day Mr Editor?) who purchased their freeholds for around a third of the value Tchenguiz had put on it.
Master Epstein
I long ago printed off the “ Charter Quay” story and read it to naughty children to give them NIGHTMARES.
The venality and nefariousness was shocking beyond belief I gather the Judge didn’t think much of CEM’s Conduct. In fact I believe his criticism of CEM was excoriating. Well done to the residents for junking them and being refunded 100% repair fees and 75% management fees.
Incidentally, did the residents actually receive the overcharged sums due or did CEM go into voluntary liquidation beforehand.? It would be interesting to know.
The soonest rogue Managing Agents are Strictly Regulated then very much the better.
Perhaps we should employ the services of Black Cube – there are certainly many untold stories in the leasehold scandal.
Also this sounds like a good film in the making – not produced by Harvey of course!
Dear Kay,
What a good idea. The Leasehold scandal would make a great movie Involving
Sleaze, Venality, criminality , nefariousness, and more Sleaze.!
Weinstein could play “ 4th Lavatory attendant “ and rogue Managing Agents, Freeholders and developers, shady solicitors and puppet surveyors can play his little helpers.
I pay to watch it!,
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“Monetize” (monetise) is a dirty word, FirstKristen, as are terms like “deferred consideration”, “modern ground rent” etc. This site is run by Amish folk who have forsaken the modern world and its attachment to greed.
Rats, I get those sort of comments. I thought they were posted by considerate humans who cared about me. Is nothing what it seems?
Mind, a good spam filter saves wasting time answering traffic advising not to waste traffic and assists high quality content, like the sort what I contribute here.