Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Qatar Hired Former CIA Agents to Hack Prominent GOP Official

Qatar hired a team of former CIA and U.S. military intelligence officials to conduct a hack attack on a prominent American political activist after he raised questions about the country's support for terrorism, according to allegations in a new lawsuit.

Republican financier Elliott Broidy alleges that Qatar enlisted former U.S. intelligence officials to carry out a 2018 cyber espionage operation on his personal and business email servers.

The suit reveals allegations that U.S.-based hackers affiliated with the Global Risk Advisors consulting group were paid by Qatar to carry out the illicit scheme and similar attacks on prominent critics of Qatar.

The filing marks another salvo in a long-running legal dispute between Broidy and Qatar, which is accused of orchestrating multiple hack attacks on its most prominent U.S. and European critics.

In addition to the quarrel with Broidy, Qatar is believed to be behind a series of similar cyber attacks on prominent GOP and Jewish community activists who have pressured the Trump administration to cut ties with Doha.

Qatar has long been suspected of financing the hack on Broidy and other leading critics of Doha's terror financing network, which includes support for Hamas and other Iranian-backed militia groups.

Qatar is said to have hired the organization as part of a "Criminal enterprise" to penetrate Broidy's online networks and collect confidential data.

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