Intellexa Consortium had five of its executives and an associated entity sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for their involvement in the development and distribution of Predator spyware, which has been primarily leveraged by governments and state-backed threat actors for surveillance and data compromise, according to BleepingComputer.
Included among those sanctioned by the Treasury Department were Intellexa S.A. Manager Felix Bitzios, who owns an Intellexa Consortium firm that provided the spyware to an unspecified foreign government; Intellexa S.A. Manager and Intellexa Consortium executive Merom Harpaz; Cytrox Holdings General Manager and Board Member Artemis Artemiou; Intellexa Limited and Thalestris Limited beneficial owner Andrea Nicola Constantino Hermes Gambazzi; and Panagiota Karaoli, who serves as director at several Intellexa Consortium organizations.
Similar action has been imposed on British Virgin Islands-based Aliada GroupInc, which facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions to Intellexa.
"The United States will not tolerate the misuse of technologies that undermine Americans’ national security or that of our allies, nor will we tolerate the misuse of technologies to perpetrate human rights abuses or undermine freedom of expression," noted State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
