Efraim Halevy, the former head of Israeli spy agency Mossad, has joined the board of Black Cube, the private intelligence company that was hired to find dirt on Harvey Weinstein’s #MeToo accusers and former members of the Obama administration.
Black Cube may soon face a US congressional subpoena seeking information about its operations targeting Ben Rhodes and Colin Kahl, former Obama national security officials who helped to forge the Iran nuclear deal. Democrats on the House government oversight committee unsuccessfully requested the subpoena in July, when they were in the minority; they are set to retake control in January following last week’s US midterm elections.
The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow revealed the operation against Rhodes and Kahl, which was reportedly initiated by associates of Donald Trump in an attempt to discredit the Iran nuclear deal. Black Cube was also hired by David Boies, then the lawyer for Weinstein, to use undercover operatives to discredit Annabella Sciorra, Rose McGowan, and other actresses accusing him of sexual assault.
US federal prosecutors are investigating whether Weinstein’s hiring of Black Cube violated wire fraud laws, according to the Wall Street Journal (paywall). The firm was recommended to Weinstein by former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak.
Halevy, 83, whose autobiography is titled Man in the Shadows, will also serve on the Black Cube committee that screens new clients, and may eventually become the company’s president, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Black Cube was founded in 2010 by Israeli intelligence veterans Avi Yanus and Dan Zorella.