A Greek court has convicted four people over the illegal use of Predator spyware, in a case with direct links to the Cyprus surveillance scandal first exposed by Phileleftheros in 2022 and 2023.
The defendants — Tal Dilian, the Cyprus-linked founder of the Intellexa Group; Sara Hamou, reportedly his second wife; Greek businessman Felix Bitzios; and Yannis Lavranos — were found guilty on three counts covering both completed acts and attempts: interfering with personal data filing systems, violating the secrecy of telephone and oral communications, and unlawfully accessing information systems and data. The combined sentence totalled 126 years and eight months, merged under Greek law to eight years and suspended pending appeal.
Reading the verdict, court president Nikos Askianakis said it had been proved that the defendants “jointly and by mutual agreement committed the acts attributed to them with common intent.”
Prosecutor Dimitris Pavlidis argued against granting any of the defendants mitigating circumstances. He cited the scale of the operation, the recruitment of unknown individuals and intelligence services, the defendants’ clear knowledge of Predator’s illegal use, the web of companies and front persons involved, and the fact that the company continued operating in 2023 and 2024 “with the obvious aim of profit,” which he said ruled out any mitigating circumstance.
According to journalistic sources in Greece obtained by Phileleftheros, the court directly linked the espionage activity to the company’s relationship with Israel.
Dilian had previously been at the centre of the Cyprus surveillance scandal. One of his companies, WiSpear, was fined by Larnaca Criminal Court, though — unlike in Greece — surveillance on Cypriot soil was not proven. Hamou reportedly lived permanently in Limassol and held involvement in corporate entities linked to Dilian. Bitzios was connected to the surveillance case and companies associated with the Predator software from the outset, as was Lavranos, who was linked to phone surveillance and technology companies providing services to the public sector.
One of the complainants, Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis, was among those illegally targeted. Speaking to journalists after the verdict, he said the acts had amounted to “the rape of my private life.”
Investigative journalists Tasos Teloglou and Eliza Triantafyllou, whose reporting for the Inside Story investigative journalism blog pieced together the scandal, appeared as witnesses and gave lengthy sworn testimony detailing how the companies and individuals involved had operated.
According to official notification from the Greek Data Protection Authority, individuals targeted while holding public office included Makis Voridis (Interior Minister), Adonis Georgiadis (Development and Investment Minister), Kostis Hatzidakis (Labour Minister), Giorgos Gerapetritis (Minister of State), Nikos Dendias (Foreign Minister), Vasilis Kikilias (Health Minister), Niki Kerameus (Education Minister), Michalis Chrysochoidis (Citizen Protection Minister), Yannis Oikonomou (government spokesman), Giorgos Mylonas (Secretary General of Parliament), Anna Stratiniki (Secretary General for Labour Relations, Labour Ministry), Alexandra Sdoukos (Secretary General for Energy and Mineral Resources, Environment Ministry), Alexis Patelis (chief economic adviser to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis), Antonis Samaras (former Prime Minister), Vasiliki Vlachou (EYP prosecutor responsible for lifting communications secrecy), Christos Bardakis (Financial Prosecutor), Thanos Plevris (New Democracy MP and former Health Minister), Olga Kefalogianni (New Democracy MP), Andreas Loverdos (PASOK MP) and Dimitris Avramopoulos (former New Democracy MP, former minister, former European Commissioner).
Victims sue Intellexa for €1m each
Separately, eight victims of the wider wiretapping scandal, dubbed “Predatorgate,” have sued Intellexa and 13 individuals believed to be linked to it, seeking €1 million ($1.1 million) each for moral harm, their lawyer, Zacharias Kesses, said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Kesses said more lawsuits would follow.
The affair emerged in 2022 after a financial journalist and a centre-left political party leader said they had been placed under state surveillance using Predator, Intellexa’s flagship spyware product, Reuters reported. It led to the sacking of the head of Greece’s EYP state intelligence service and the prime minister’s chief of staff, with traces of Predator later found in dozens of phones. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ centre-right government has denied any political involvement, describing the monitoring of a political opponent’s phone as a mistake it was unaware of before it happened, and survived a vote of no confidence over the affair in 2023.
Dilian said in March that his conviction was unfounded and that he would not be made a scapegoat, arguing the surveillance technology had been sold only to governments, who were responsible for how it was used. An appeal hearing is set for December.
Each plaintiff in the new lawsuit is seeking €1 million in moral damages over “the unlawful violation of their private life,” Kesses said, as well as the confidentiality of their communications and their personal data. The case is due to be heard in April.
Intellexa’s Cyprus links
Beyond the WiSpear case, Intellexa’s Cyprus-based corporate network has drawn scrutiny from international investigators. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Dilian used Cyprus as an operational hub for his surveillance activities, building the business from Limassol and Larnaca. ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential investigation found that Hamou played a central role in structuring the offshore entities behind Dilian’s surveillance ventures, sitting on the boards of more than 20 companies linked to him across a network stretching from Cyprus to North Macedonia, Hungary, Greece and Ireland.
US Treasury sanctions imposed on Intellexa in 2024 named Panagiota Karaoli, described as a Cyprus-based corporate incorporation specialist who served as director of multiple Intellexa-affiliated companies, among the individuals targeted.
(With information from Reuters)
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