Alleged Azima hacker arrested in London

News broke yesterday about Amit Forlit, an alleged hacker wanted by the United States on three charges, one count of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud. He was arrested in London on an Interpol Red Notice while attempting to travel to Israel, and an extradition hearing was held at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday 2 May.

The criminal charges against Forlit centre on a “cyberespionage campaign on behalf of an unidentified American PR firm”, and the “U.S. allegations include that an unnamed Washington-based PR and lobbying firm paid one of Forlit’s companies 16 million pounds ($20 million) ‘to gather intelligence relating to the Argentinian debt crisis’”, according to Reuters’ reporting of the hearing. Reuters stated that the “judge ruled that the attempt to extradite Forlit by the United States could not continue as he was not produced in court within the timeframe required under British extradition law”. Dechert LLP represented Elliot Management and affiliate NML Capital in relation to the Argentinian debt crisis, securing a settlement in April 2016

As well as the criminal charges against him, Forlit also faces a US civil claim from American aviation entrepreneur Farhad Azima, alleging his involvement in an alleged global hacking conspiracy, drawing in major international law firm Dechert LLP and their disgraced former head of white-collar crime Neil Gerrard. Forlit is alleged to have been involved in the highly controversial “perjury school” in the Moosegg Hotel, Switzerland, in which the false narrative around how the conspirators came to possess Mr Azima’s data was settled and a “mock trial” conducted to ensure those involved were fully prepared.

In a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) claim against Forlit, Dechert LLP and other alleged conspirators, Mr Azima alleges that Forlit, “acting at the direction of Gerrard and other members of the Enterprise”, “orchestrated the hacking and theft of private emails, and then assisted the Enterprise in covering up such conduct through the obstruction of U.S. judicial proceedings”. Forlit is also alleged to have utilised two of his companies, Insight and SDC-Gadot, “to receive and transfer funds into and from the U.S. to pay for and promote the Enterprise’s hacking operations and obstruction-of-justice campaign”.

Forlit was allegedly central to the whole enterprise, including both in allegedly orchestrating the hacking and strategising of how to use this in furtherance of the conspiracy: “Forlit participated in meetings in New York with the RICO Conspirators in which they discussed and planned the use of the hacked data and deploying false statements in U.S. and UK courts and to U.S. law enforcement agencies in service of the Enterprise’s goal of inflicting reputation harm and litigation costs on Azima”.

“Forlit met with Gerrard at least a dozen times between 2015 and 2020, including at Dechert’s offices in New York”. In addition to this, the RICO claim alleges that Forlit met with Gerrard and other conspirators in Cyprus to establish a false cover story to be deployed in testimony in court in the US and UK in October 2018 and November 2018, before following up with this in May 2019 in a meeting in Dechert’s London office. Forlit is also alleged to have been in attendance at the December 2019 “perjury school” meeting in the Moosegg Hotel in Switzerland, in which he is claimed to have participated in a “mock trial” with some of those giving false testimony in the UK proceedings. A number of those that gave false testimony, including Stuart Page and Majdi Halabi, have since admitted that their testimony was false.

Another investigator in the conspiracy, Stuart Page, “paid Forlit approximately $250,000 each month between October 2017 and May 2020”. Page has confirmed “payments to Forlit and his companies for hacking and the preparation of the Hacking Reports and other obstructive conduct, including, for example, providing “security” for the perjury school at the Moosegg Hotel”.

The claim alleges that Forlit has paid just under $100,000 to Aviram Azari’s company. Azari, a notorious hacker, pleaded guilty in 2022 in New York to an indictment charging him with “conspiracy to commit computer hacking, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft based on allegations that he successfully gained access to private email accounts through the use of phishing emails”. Forlit also transferred funds to a company owned by Rafi Pridan, who “has twice been charged in Israel in connection with illegal wiretapping”.

The RICO claim further alleges that Gerrard “knew and intended that Page would engage hackers, such as Forlit and those engaged by him, to carry out their instructions because Page had been providing them for years with regular Hacking Reports that contained information obviously obtained through hacking”, and that ‘on July 19, 2022, Dechert and Gerrard conceded that “Mr. Gerrard was aware in or around February 2020 that Mr. Forlit carried out work for Mr. Page and that, as a result, Mr. Page had ‘access’ to Mr. Forlit’s services.”’

Forlit was also allegedly involved in the hacking of the legal representatives of Karam Al Sadeq, who has alleged that Mr Gerrard and Dechert were involved in extensive breaches of his human rights, including torture. “In April or May of 2020, in response to earlier instructions from Gerrard and Handjani, Forlit produced a Hacking Report concerning the source of the litigation funding for Azima and Al Sadeq. Upon information and belief, the report contained information obtained through hacking”.

Mr Azima’s case was, until recently, also being litigated in the English courts. Mr Azima launched a counterclaim in the UK against the UAE Sovereign wealth fund Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), the underlying client of Dechert LLP and the other alleged conspirators, that it had hacked and disseminated his private data. Mr Azima lost the original trial in May 2020. However, after further evidence was found linking RAKIA to the hacking of his data, and a number of the alleged conspirators subsequently gave evidence undermining RAKIA’s arguments in the initial trial, it was ordered that there would be a retrial of his hacking counterclaim.

In June 2022, after a damning judgment against the actions of Mr Gerrard and Dechert LLP in a separate case, RAKIA fled the jurisdiction and withdrew from proceedings, laying the blame for the hacking at the feet of Mr Gerrard and those instructed by him, described as “dishonest and unscrupulous third party advisers”. In November 2022, Mr Justice Michael Green granted permission for Mr Azima to bring an additional counterclaim against RAKIA, seeking an order setting aside the judgments and orders obtained by it from the High Court and the Court of Appeal, on the basis that they were procured by fraud.

In January 2024, Dechert LLP made an offer to settle the UK portion of its dispute with Mr Azima, which he accepted. Dechert is set to pay Mr Azima a sum of up to $15 million. Following Dechert’s settlement, a court Order was made on the 25th of March 2024 setting aside all judgments against US aviation entrepreneur Farhad Azima, as these were ‘obtained by hacking and fraud’.

The order overturning the English judgments and orders against Mr Azima can be found here: https://web.tresorit.com/l/mwtIP#P6bIBzhE39G9wpM2bbFB5w

Mr Azima’s RICO claim is being brought in the District Court of the Southern District of New York, Case 1:22-cv-08728-PGG. The case is Farhad Azima, ALG Transportation, Inc., Main 3260 LLC, FFV W39 LLC, and FFV Development LLC v. Dechert LLP, David Neil Gerrard, David Graham Hughes, Nicholas Del Rosso, Vital Management Services, Inc., Amit Forlit, Insight Analysis and Research LLC, SDC -Gadot LLC, Amir Handjani, Andrew Frank, and Karv Communications. The claim can be found here: https://web.tresorit.com/l/AOv2k#lqTnFq-2cep46uVDkODUUw

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