Overview
- An Athens misdemeanour court found Intellexa founder Tal Dilian, partner Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, Felix Bitzios and Yiannis Lavranos guilty over illegal surveillance linked to the Predator spyware.
- The court imposed combined sentences of 126 years and eight months on each defendant, with actual incarceration capped at eight years, and the four remain free pending appeal.
- Judges convicted the group of breaching the confidentiality of telephone communications, repeated tampering with a personal-data filing system, and illegal access to information systems.
- The court referred the case to prosecutors to investigate possible more serious crimes, including espionage, signaling potential escalation beyond misdemeanour charges.
- The scandal surfaced in 2022 after infections of journalists’ and politicians’ phones; Greece’s ADAE watchdog says Predator was used against more than 90 people, prompting top resignations and a 2024 Supreme Court decision clearing officials of wrongdoing.