According to various Israeli media, the French authorities have called on CGI Groupa company created in Tel Aviv, specializing in security and intelligence, to support the investigation into the spectacular jewelry theft in Louvre museum. Little known to the general public, CGI is a international reference in the resolution of complex crimes combining heritage, security and intelligence.
A company born from Israeli intelligence
Founded by Yaakov Periformer director of Shin BetIsrael’s internal security service, CGI Group operates at the crossroads of state and private sector intelligence. Its team, made up of former intelligence officers, cyber investigators and forensic experts, intervenes in cases where the dimensions cultural, financial and geopolitical intermingle.
The company became known in Europe for its role in the resolution of the burglary of the Green Vault in Dresden in 2019, one of the biggest art thefts of the century, where jewelry and diamonds worth an estimated 113 million euros had been stolen from a German museum. CGI then helped trace the resale circuits and identify the intermediaries involved in the laundering of the coins.
Heritage security and economic counter-intervention
CGI’s activities extend well beyond the museum field. The company is involved in protection of critical infrastructure, whether museums, embassies, or even government institutions, and in the securing supply chains.
Its missions include:
- of the security audits and intrusion simulations,
- there monitoring of art trafficking networks,
- analysis of possibilities internal complicity,
- and, more recently, the cyber intelligencein particular the detection of threats linked to the dark web.
This integrated approach, combining human intelligence (HUMINT) and predictive analysis technologies, is attracting more and more governments faced with transnational organized crime.
A discreet but strategic actor
Based between Tel Aviv and ZurichCGI Group operates in around fifteen countries and has an investigation unit dedicated to crime linked to art and cultural property. The company occasionally collaborates with Europol, Interpol and several European ministries of culture.
