Intelligence Firm Bosses Plead Guilty in Romania Surveillance Case

Romanian organised crime prosecutors on Tuesday asked for lenient sentences after the heads of corporate intelligence company Black Cube - Dan Zorella, Avi Yanus and Gal Farchi - admitted spying on the chief prosecutor at Romania's National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Laura Kovesi, who has since taken the helm at the European Public Prosecutor's Office.

The plea agreement included a 35-month suspended jail sentence for each man, to run concurrently with a three-year supervision programme. The court must confirm the verdict by February 17, according to the G4Media website.

Romanian prosecutors accuse Black Cube's chiefs and employees of organising a criminal group, gaining illegal access to a computer system, the unauthorised transfer of computer data, computer forgery, illegal operations with computer devices and programmes, and violation of the secrecy of correspondence. 

Black Cube bosses allegedly launched a campaign of surveillance and harassment against Laura Kovesi at the request of clients who have yet to be identified and prosecuted. 

Black Cube employees hired by the unidentified Romanian contractors hacked into Laura Kovesi's emails and stole data. 

Another two Israeli citizens in the Black Cube scandal in Romania, Ron Weiner and David Geclowicz, were given suspended prison sentences of two years and eight months each in January 2017 for illegally accessing the email addresses of relatives of Kovesi.

In September 2016, Romanian prosecutors detained Daniel Dragomir, a former Romanian secret services employee, who was suspected of having mediated the connection between those who wanted to find out information about Kovesi and Black Cube employees who were in charge of spying on her.