Convicted spyware chief hints that Greece’s government was behind dozens of phone hacks

The founder of spyware maker Intellexa has said he 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.

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 the Intellexa’s Predator spyware. 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.

Several senior officials in the Greek government, including the head of Greece’s national intelligence agency and a senior aide to the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, resigned in the wake of revelations that several journalists’ phones had been hacked. No government officials have been convicted in connection with the surveillance, and critics have accused the Mitsotakis government of a cover-up.

Intellexa’s founder Tal Dilian, was convicted in February and sentenced to eight years in prison. In a statement first reported by Reuters on Wednesday, he said he will not be a “scapegoat.”

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.

“I believe a conviction without evidence is not ⁠justice, it could be part of a cover-up and even a crime,” Dilian told Reuters. He said he was willing to share evidence with national and international regulators.

Dilian did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment on his remarks. The Greek embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond when contacted by TechCrunch.

Dilian also told Reuters that surveillance technologies like Predator are typically sold only to governments, which are responsible for using them lawfully.

The U.S. government imposed sanctions against Dilian in 2024 after Predator was found to have been used against phones belonging to U.S. officials and journalists. The sanctions make it effectively illegal for anyone to enter into a business transaction with Dilian and his other sanctioned business associates.