A London-listed gambling group has been accused of a secret “smear campaign” against a Swedish rival after hiring an Israeli intelligence firm to investigate the company.
On Tuesday, legal documents revealed that executives at FTSE 250-listed Playtech had hired Black Cube, founded by former Mossad officers, to produce a report on Sweden’s Evolution, which claimed the company operated in banned markets.
Playtech, a gaming software company, is alleged to have paid £1.8m to Black Cube to produce a report using information gained through undercover methods such as secret recordings and false personas.
Shares in Playtech, founded by the Israeli billionaire Teddy Sagi, fell by as much as 39pc before regaining ground to close down 22pc.
Playtech is alleged to have paid a firm to investigate Evolution, but said the claim from Evolution that this was a “smear campaign” was “wholly untrue and designed to distract from serious questions about Evolution’s business practices”.
Black Cube, which was used by Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers to try to prevent an article about the Hollywood mogul being published, passed a dossier about Evolution to New Jersey gambling regulators in 2021 after being commissioned by Playtech.
The investigation accused Evolution, which makes software used by online casinos to provide games, of operating in illegal and sanctioned markets, including Iran, Sudan, Syria and Hong Kong.
Evolution has been fighting a legal battle to have Black Cube and Playtech unmasked as being behind the report, as part of a defamation lawsuit that has yet to be decided.
The Swedish company said the report and the allegations in it contained “highly inflammatory and knowingly false” claims, which had led to a “multi-billion dollar damage to our company”.
“It is deeply disturbing to learn that one of our competitors has gone to such extraordinary lengths to damage our business and reputation by hiring Black Cube and paying them over £1.8m to fabricate a report they knew would have extremely harmful repercussions,” the company claimed.
The report has not led to any action by regulators. It said it had added Playtech as a defendant in its lawsuit and “look forward to finally holding Playtech and its accomplices to account for the significant harm they have caused”.
Playtech defended its decision to hire Black Cube.
The company said: “The suggestion that its subsidiary, Playtech Software Limited (PTS), engaged in a smear campaign is wholly untrue and is designed to distract from serious questions about Evolution’s business practices.
“PTS commissioned an independent business intelligence firm to investigate credible and repeated concerns raised by operators, suppliers and regulators about Evolution’s activities in prohibited and sanctioned markets, and its supply to unlicensed operators in regulated markets.”
Source : Yahoo Finance
