Intellexa Founder Dilian Hints Greek Government Authorized Dozens of Phone Hacks

Tal Dilian, founder of spyware maker Intellexa, is planning to appeal a conviction handed down by a Greek court on charges that he and three other executives illegally obtained personal data as part of a mass-wiretapping campaign in the country. His decision to fight the ruling came with a pointed message: "I remained silent during the trial, but I will not be a scapegoat," Dilian said in a statement sent to Reuters. Whether or not Dilian is a scapegoat, as he claims, the remark is the most direct suggestion yet from anyone inside Intellexa that the Mitsotakis government authorized the hacks.

On February 26, a Greek court concluded that Dilian and three others were guilty of misdemeanor charges and sentenced them to eight years in prison, suspended until an appeal. His co-defendants were his wife Sara Hamou and two Greek businessmen. The defendants were not present in court when the verdict was read. The four executives were convicted of "breaching the confidentiality of telephone communications," as well as illegally accessing information systems. In total, the sentences exceeded 126 years, reduced to eight years under Greek law because the offences were classified as misdemeanours.

The spying scandal, sometimes referred to as "Greek Watergate," involved the hacking of dozens of phones belonging to senior Greek government ministers, opposition leaders, military officials, and journalists using Intellexa's Predator spyware. The case involved the illegal use of Predator software to target the phones of more than 90 politicians, journalists, business leaders and senior military officials. The tool is capable of breaking into iPhones and Android devices to steal call logs, text messages, emails, and location data, typically by tricking a target into clicking a malicious link.

The scandal snowballed in July 2022 when Nikos Androulakis, then a member of the European Parliament and soon-to-be leader of the socialist PASOK party, revealed that his cellphone had been tapped. Investigative journalist Thanasis Koukakis, one of the named victims, greeted the conviction with satisfaction. "It was a good day for democracy and the rule of law in Greece," he said outside the courthouse, adding that the verdict "opened the way" for additional prosecutions. Koukakis went further, claiming that "half of the cabinet and high ranking generals were under surveillance by the national security agency and Predator spyware," and insisted there was a "link" between Greece's intelligence agency and the Predator operation, which the government has always denied.

Several senior officials in the Greek government, including the head of Greece's national intelligence agency and a senior aide to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, resigned in the wake of revelations that journalists' phones had been hacked. The scandal led to the resignation of one of the prime minister's closest aides, his nephew Grigoris Dimitriadis. Mitsotakis later weathered a motion of no confidence in parliament over the case. In July 2024, the Supreme Court cleared the intelligence services and political officials of wrongdoing, angering victims and human rights bodies.

Dilian's statement moved beyond a simple denial. He told Reuters: "I believe a conviction without evidence is not justice; it could be part of a cover-up and even a crime." He argued that the Predator software was designed so that only the government agency operating it could identify surveillance targets and conduct operations, and that national authorities select targets and run operations without the company's knowledge. He noted that "many witnesses mentioned the possible intervention of the EYP" during the trial.

The court decision and trial records are now expected to be forwarded to prosecutors for further investigation into possible additional offences, including espionage, potentially involving other individuals beyond those already convicted. Dilian said he had remained silent during the trial but would now take his case to national, European, and international institutions, including seeking the intervention of the United Nations special rapporteur on judicial independence. Intellexa was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2024 under then-President Joe Biden, marking the first time the department sanctioned people or entities for the misuse of spyware; his successor Donald Trump dropped the sanctions the following year. No government officials have been charged in connection with the surveillance.