The lawyers for the notorious hacktivist have accused the Spanish security firm Undercover Global of being in cahoots with the CIA, which they claim used the firm to surveil him at the London embassy.
UC Global was hired by the government of the country to provide security for its London embassy but the firm's employees allegedly engaged in a number of shady and likely illegal practices to keep tabs on the man they were hired to protect.
The High Court in Spain has been investigating UC Global since several of the company's employees came forward to say they had been spied on. The CEO of the firm was arrested and released in 2019. Spanish officials are still investigating the case, and it is unclear if he will face official charges, as he maintains that the espionage was done at the direction of the Senan intelligence service.
Spain is trying to get to the bottom of this, but the U.S. isn't making it easy. Spanish authorities have tried to clarify whether the U.S. ever had a relationship with UC Global by reaching out to the US Justice Department three times. According to the Yahoo report, the DOJ blew them off.
The DOJ asked Spanish authorities for more information about the inquiry, instead of answering the requests. This response would appear to skirt a mutual legal assistance treaty between the U.S. and Spain. The exchange of information between governments is supposed to be done through MLATs.
The US government has a shit list of people it dislikes, and since 2010 it has been on the list of Wikileaks. There were documents showing evidence of possible war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. The publication of the documents kicked off diplomatic and public relations crises for Western governments.
The Justice Department in February of this year announced a 17-count indictment against Assange. The Espionage Act is a federal law that pertains to the dissemination of classified national security information. The move was criticized by newspapers and civil liberties activists as setting a potentially dangerous precedent in regards to press freedoms and the First Amendment.
An investigation by Yahoo this past summer claimed that the Trump administration and the CIA were behind assassination plots against Assange. The report said that the CIA plotted how to kill or kidnap the man after he entered the embassy. The plans were partially inspired by the publication ofVault 7. The earlier reporting suggested that UC Global was aware of some of the plans.
We reached out to the Justice Department and will update when we get a response.
