 Cherney is the founder and primary sponsor of the Intelligence Summit.In February 2006, "The New York Sun" reported that John Deutch and James Woolsey had resigned from the Intelligence Summit's board of advisers after receiving information that the conference's primary sponsor, Cherney, had "alleged ties to the Russian mafia".On 21 May 1994, Cherney and his future wife were detained by immigration officers on arrival in Heathrow from Geneva.