The U.S. government announced on Monday that it had imposed new financial sanctions on five individuals and one company linked to the Intelexa consortium of spyware manufacturers, following sanctions imposed on the company's founders several months ago.
In a recent statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said it had imposed sanctions on five individuals, including senior executives and associates of Intellexa, for allegedly selling Intellexa's “Predator” mobile phone spyware to authoritarian regimes.
“Predator can be used to hack fully patched mobile phones almost invisibly, giving organizations that deploy it full access to a target's device, including private messages and real-time location information. The Treasury Department said the spyware has been used to target U.S. government officials, journalists and opposition politicians.”
Those sanctioned include Felix Bitzios, owner of the Intellexa consortium of companies that the Treasury Department allegedly used to supply Predator spyware to unnamed foreign governments; Merom Harpaz and Panagiota Karaoli, who held senior positions in Intellexa's corporate structure according to the Treasury Department; and Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi, who the Treasury Department said was involved in processing transactions for companies in the Intellexa consortium.
The Treasury Department added that the Ariada Group, a British Virgin Islands-based company that is part of the Intelexa Group, was also sanctioned for facilitating tens of millions of dollars in transactions for the spyware manufacturing consortium.
A senior U.S. administration official told a news conference on Monday that the latest round of sanctions is part of the government's continuing efforts to target the commercial spyware industry. The official said the government is tracking the flow and movement of funds to determine which entities are trying to avoid or circumvent sanctions. (Reporters agreed not to quote the official by name.)
Sanctions imposed by the US government make it illegal for US individuals or companies to do business with sanctioned entities, such as paying for access to spyware.
The government's sanctions come months after the Treasury Department sanctioned Intellexa founder Tal Dilian for his role in creating and selling Predator spyware.
Intellexa founder Tal Dilian could not be reached for comment before publication.
U.S. officials said they are “systematically building” their response to sanctions imposed on spyware manufacturers, including the State Department's recent decision to restrict U.S. visa applications from individuals involved in commercial spyware exploitation. At a press conference on Monday, the official said the government has information that spyware company executives have said they are “concerned” about government sanctions.
In March, TechCrunch spoke with several people in the spyware industry, including former spyware executives, who expressed concerns about their own involvement in spyware and the repercussions they may face in the wake of the sanctions against Dilian.