A new report out of Bloomberg has put another wrench in the works for Evolution AB, which has been involved in a lawsuit regarding its operations in banned markets.
Audio obtained by Bloomberg through Black Cube, an Israeli private intelligence firm. In April, it began to push back on dismissed evidence pertaining to Evolution working out of these banned markets.
Black Cube has been tied to other lawsuits and investigations, including trying to discredit the women involved in the Me Too movement around Harvey Weinstein.
Its report goes back to 2021, when an anonymous rival company commissioned the report. The ensuing fallout led to Evolution losing 36% of its stock value, or $10 billion.
Games were accessible in US-sanctioned countries
Now, Bloomberg has confirmed Black Cube’s report. The audio of executives reveals that Evolution provided illegal casino games to countries under US sanctions.
This news also led to another drop in its stock, which over the last week has dropped around 7% at the time of writing. It is slowly recovering since the news broke, however.
Black Cube provided video of them logging into the platforms provided by Evolution in areas like Iran. According to the report, staff didn’t need to use a VPN or spoof their location in any capacity to withdraw winnings from the games, despite the country being under US sanctions.
Evolution appeared to know what it was doing
Another video seen showed Kfir Kugler, the commercial director for Africa and Latin America for Evolution, showing off a spreadsheet with revenue figures. Included in the list were countries like Sudan and Syria. In the clip, Bloomberg reports that Kugler said (most likely joking) that he was “sure that Assad’s family are playing, 100%.”
The company’s ex-US commercial director, Jeff Millar, was left “shocked” by Evolution. He claims, in another covert recording, that Evolution knows exactly what it’s doing and that it hides this information from shareholders. Millar also claims that the CEO, Martin Carlesund, is routinely informed about these unregulated markets.
