Walter Soriano

Walter Zvi Soriano (born December 24, 1967) is a British-Israeli businessman and philanthropist based in London. He is CEO and owner of USG Security Ltd., a UK-based firm specializing in crisis management and litigation support, and WSLM, a real estate management company. He is a family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Biography

Soriano was born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel as a young man. He served in the Israel Defense Forces as an intelligence officer, and later moved to London.

On October 3, 2002, Soriano set up an international security company called the Universe Security Group, based in London, jointly owned with Guy Nagar and Yitzhak Molcho, who received about half of the company's shares. The company's board of directors also included Nahum Admoni, who served as the Director-General of the Mossad from 1982 to 1989, and Uri Sagi, former head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, and Albert Raes, Former Director of the Belgian State Security Service (VSSE) from 1977-1990.

In 2004, Universe Security Group was appointed by the AMP (Panama Maritime Association) as a RSO (Recognized Security Organization) to certify ship security plans in accordance with the ISPS (International Ship and Port Facility Security) code.

In 2007, Soriano and Universe Security Group were involved in a trade deal to sell three Bell 212 helicopters, which served the Spanish Fire Department, to the Georgian Ministry of Defense through the mediation of Gal Hirsch, a former Israeli brigadier general, while Hirsch served as an adviser to the Georgian Defense Minister.

Between 2008 and 2011, Soriano was hired by billionaire entrepreneur Ruth Parasol and her then-husband Russ DeLeon to help resolve a criminal investigation that took place against them in the United States, for violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006. Following Soriano's involvement, Parasol's company, PartyGaming, eventually entered a non-prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.

In 2010 Soriano set up a new company called USG Security, which replaced Universe Security Group. The company "provides security, intelligence and investigation services to private and corporate clients in the UK and around the world", according to its website.

In 2013, Soriano founded "Walter Soriano London Management" ("WSLM", "WS London Management Limited"), a real estate company based in London.

Soriano owns or co-owns other companies, including "Tov 7", "Tov 77", "Crossroads Property 2" and "London Western Ranch", companies that are engaged in real estate development and management in the UK. He was also previously the owner of "Football Universe Limited" and acted as Diego Maradona's official European representative.

In June 2019, it was reported that Soriano was asked to participate voluntarily in a closed-door hearing by the United States Senate on Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election. However, the Senate's intelligence committee's report eventually concluded that Soriano introduced Russian businessmen Oleg Deripaska and Dmitri Rybolovlev to Israeli company Psy Group for private projects, and found no connection to the US elections.

In March 2020, Soriano founded the Anti-Cyberbullying Association in the UK. According to its website, the association is "working (together) to end cyberbullying" through legislation and regulation.

In May 2020, Soriano joined the board of directors of PAVOCAT, a company that provides anti-corruption services to companies and governments.

Links to Prime Minister Netanyahu

In 2000, Soriano was one of the founders of an association commemorating the name and memory of Jonathan Netanyahu, brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who was killed in Operation Entebbe. That same year, Soriano produced "Yoni", a film about Jonathan Netanyahu's life, directed by Semion Vinokur. The film incorporated archived materials from various sources, including the IDF video archives, the IDF spokesman archives, and the Netanyahu family.

After Netanyahu lost the elections to Ehud Barak in 1999, he temporarily retired from politics and went into private business. During that time, according to Soriano, he worked with Netanyahu on a number of high-tech ventures in the United States. In 2002, Soriano recruited Netanyahu for paid lectures at fundraising evenings held in Mexico City for the "Lev Malka Organization", which helps patients from low-income families. The story was published by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which claimed that Netanyahu was paid $180,000 for two days of work. Soriano confirmed to the newspaper that while living in Jerusalem, he had close ties with Netanyahu and that their relationship was based on “years of deep friendship, devoid of any external interests”.  

According to an affidavit to the court by Doron Stempler, which was filed as part of a lawsuit filed by Soriano against Raviv Drucker, in 2006 Soriano initiated a meeting between Netanyahu and Mexican businessman Alonso Ancira. Ancira purchased the inactive Timna Valley copper mines in southern Israel during Netanyahu's tenure as head of the opposition in the Israeli parliament. Stampler claims his company was hired by Soriano to conduct a security survey of the assets of a large Mexican company, owned by Ancira. "I remember that in that conversation and to impress me, Mr. Soriano told me that Mr. Ancira had purchased the Timna mines and wants to restart production. ... Soriano reiterated - perhaps to impress me - that Mr. Netanyahu is a partner in the project, thus explaining his expectation that government ministries will not pile difficulties on the project." Representatives of both Netanyahu and Soriano denied the claims and called the affidavit "false".

In early 2018, Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh was interviewed by Israeli journalist Ilana Dayan. In the interview, Alsheikh said, among other things, that private investigators are gathering information against Lahav 433 officers involved in investigating Netanyahu's cases. Media reports, starting with Raviv Drucker on Israeli Army Radio, raised the possibility that Walter Soriano was behind this activity, which both Soriano and Netanyahu denied. Netanyahu added that he has not met Soriano or talked to him since 2010. No proof of Soriano’s involvement was ever published.

Defamation suits

In February 2018, Soriano filed a ILS500,000 defamation claim against Israeli Journalist Raviv Drucker, and in May 2019 filed a second claim for ILS580,000 against Drucker, together with the website HaAyin HaShevi'it, journalist Oren Persico and editor Shuki Tausig, claiming all four have been coordinating to publish stories to harm his reputation.

In October 2019, Soriano sued Twitter in Dublin for defamation in order to "stop false and malicious allegations about him online". In an interview for the Daily Telegraph in 2020, he stated that he plans to sue Google.

By May 2021, Soriano has sued at least 10 journalists and news media worldwide, including U.S. based Forensic News which he sued in the U.K under section 9 of Defamation Act 2013 . Entities whom Soriano have sued have called him a serial SLAPP-suiter. HaAyin HaShevi'it reported that Soriano hadn't sued Forensic News in California because of California's legal protection of Special motion to strike. Israeli newspaper TheMarker has stated that Soriano's attempts to stay out of the public eye via multiple defamation lawsuits has produced the opposite effect by way of the Streisand effect.

Personal life

Soriano became an observant Ultra-Orthodox Jew. Between 2000 and 2004, he lived in Jerusalem and studied Torah with Rabbi Moshe Shapira. He then returned to live in the Golders Green neighborhood of London. His wife, Aviva, made contributions to the Jewish preacher Yemima Mizrahi and the Hidabrut organization in London.

Soriano gives over $1 million to charity every year, supporting orphans, widows and wounded soldiers in Israel, as well as synagogues in Israel and in the UK and cancer research institutes. In London, he opened a synagogue named after Rabbi Shapira and in his memory.