Mexican billionaire duped DWF partner in private intelligence sting

The Court of Appeal has condemned the actions of a Mexican billionaire who employed an Israeli intelligence firm to carry out a sting operation on opposing counsel to gain an advantage in litigation.

Ricardo Salinas Pliego, who owns media conglomerate Grupo Salinas, sued Ukrainian national Vladimir Sklarov after he allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million through a stock lending scheme by posing as an associate of the prominent Astor family.

The sting

The mogul hired Black Cube, an international private intelligence firm founded by ex-Israel Defence Forces intelligence agents, to gather evidence on Sklarov.

Pliego’s team paid Black Cube a retainer of £1.1 million. On its website, the firm says it crafts “unique, complex scenarios to capture evidence for high-profile international litigations, arbitrations and white-collar crime cases”.

Agents from the firm posed as Italian oil executives and, after a Zoom call, took a DWF partner who was acting for Sklarlov on an all-expenses-paid trip to Amsterdam under the pretence of seeking legal representation for a “multi-million-dollar arbitration” against the government of the United Arab Emirates.

Black Cube had identified the newly reported partner as one of the “optimal subjects” and after a dinner including alcoholic drinks spanning five and a half hours, the agents ultimately duped the partner into disclosing confidential information about the case.

The Israeli firm gained notoriety after it was hired by Harvey Weinstein to interfere with journalists and sources involved in The New York Times’ investigation into the cinema mogul’s sexual misconduct. It has since apologised for the work it undertook for Weinstein.

‍‘Privilege hunting’

The CoA has discharged worldwide freezing orders obtained by the claimants against the alleged fraudster, describing the conduct as a “serious abuse” of court processes.

In a judgment published last week, Lord Justice Males condemned the “privilege hunting” operation, writing: “Although I have reached no final decision whether the conduct of Black Cube amounted to the commission of a criminal offence under English law, it is clear that this conduct was a serious abuse of the process of the court for which the claimants are responsible.

“Solicitors in other cases who are presented by clients with the fruits of such ‘privilege hunting’ operations will need to consider carefully, not only their professional responsibilities, but also the possibility that by making use of such material they may be encouraging, or assisting their clients to benefit from, the commission of criminal offences.”