‘Predator’ Spyware’s Makers Draw More Sanctions From the US

(Bloomberg) — The US has imposed new sanctions related to the Intellexa Consortium, a web of companies that makes “Predator” spyware products that Biden administration officials say have been used to target American officials and enable human rights abuses.
The sanctions announced Monday target five individuals associated with Intellexa as well as the Aliada Group Inc., a British Virgins Islands-based company. Aliada is a member of the Intellexa Consortium and has enabled tens of millions of dollars of transactions involving the network, according to the US. 
“The United States will not tolerate the reckless propagation of disruptive technologies that threatens our national security and undermines the privacy and civil liberties of our citizens,” Bradley T. Smith, acting under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.
Spyware is technology that can take over a phone or other electronic device, including accessing the microphone, camera and other data, sometimes without a victim clicking any link.
Monday’s announcement marks the second time the US has imposed sanctions on individuals and companies connected to Predator spyware.
Intellexa was founded by Tal Dilian, an Israeli intelligence agency veteran who started the company in 2019 and has since supplied spyware to authoritarian regimes, according to the Treasury.
Dilian was sanctioned in March, along with another individual and five entities associated with the consortium, according to Treasury. In 2023, the US added four companies associated with Intellexa to an export blacklist, which effectively bans use of the products in the US or supplying parts to them.
Dilian didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Aliada Group couldn’t be located for comment, nor could the five individuals sanctioned as part of Monday’s announcement.
In 2022, Predator spyware triggered a national scandal in Greece after it was allegedly used to target dozens of politicians, journalists and businessmen in the country. Amid the fallout from those revelations, the head of Greece’s intelligence service resigned.
A 2023 investigation by Amnesty International and media organizations found evidence that Predator spyware had been used to target United Nations officials, US lawmakers and the president of the European Parliament.
A senior US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity to detail the actions, said the actions represent the next step in US efforts to make it harder for problematic spyware vendors to operate, saying they are resorting to a sprawling and complex corporate structures and “shell games” to avoid detection. The US government has been seeking to track money movements by members of the Intellexa Consortium, in addition to steps it has taken to avoid or circumvent financial sanctions, the official said.
The sanctions freeze US assets owned by targeted entities and block financial transactions with them, putting financial institutions that break the sanctions at risk of sanctions or law enforcement.
In 2021, the US Commerce Department imposed export controls on NSO Group and Candiru, saying the two Israeli makers of spyware had developed and supplied spyware to foreign governments that used their tools to maliciously target government officials and journalists, among others.
–With assistance from Ryan Gallagher.
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