RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) has accused journalist Glenn Greenwald, and six other individuals under investigation by ‘Operation Spoofing’, which is examining the hacking and theft of cell phone messages between Operation Lava Jato task force prosecutors and the then Federal Judge Sérgio Moro.
The MPF claims that Glenn Greenwald was not the intended target of the investigations. It turns out that during the examinations of a computer seized at the home of Walter Delgatti Netto’s, also known as ‘Red’, an audio of a conversation between accused hacker Luiz Molição and Greenwald was found.
The conversation was held shortly after the hacking of the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, Sérgio Moro. “At that moment, Molição makes it clear that the hacking and the monitoring of phone conversations were still taking place and asks the journalist for guidance on the idea of ‘downloading’ the content of other people’s Telegram accounts before the reports were published on The Intercept website”.
Greenwald, then, suggests that the group should delete the messages that have already been passed on to him so as not to link them to the illegal material,” says the MPF.
According to the MPF, it has been demonstrated that Glenn helped, encouraged and guided the group during the hacking attacks. According to the prosecutors, this behavior by the journalist is characterized by ‘a clear conduct of auxiliary involvement in the crime, seeking to subvert the notion of protecting the journalistic source as immunity to guide criminals’.
“The journalist Gleen Greenwald, freely, consciously and voluntarily, directly helped, encouraged and guided the criminal group, during the crime, acting as guarantor of the group, obtaining financial advantage with the conduct described herein,” reads an excerpt from the accusation.
The 95-page document by the Prosecutor’s Office claims that the investigation complied with the injunction granted by Justice Gilmar Mendes of the Supreme Court in August. The injunction prevented Glenn from being investigated and held accountable by public officials and administrative or criminal investigation bodies (such as the Federal Police) for ‘receiving, obtaining or relaying’ information published in the press.
‘There was no investigation. No failure to comply with the decision’.
Prosecutor Wellington Divino de Oliveira points out that the decision (handed down by Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes) which prevented an investigation into Glenn ‘created a kind of special immunity and material ‘jure et de jure’, an absolute presumption of innocence, guaranteeing a safe environment for the accused not to be investigated’.
“The present police investigation complied with the decisions set out in the Cautionary Measure issued in APDF No. 601, but in the material resulting from the search and seizure measures, authorized by the Judge of the 10th Federal District Court, it was possible to identify an audio recording that illustrated the conduct of journalist Glenn Greenwald in the case and points to the journalist’s direct involvement in the criminal conduct,” the indictment states.
The Operation Spoofing prosecutor is adamant. “There was no investigation. The [STF] decision was not disregarded.”
The Prosecutor’s Office has highlighted sections of Glenn’s hacking dialogues
According to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office, ‘the conversations identified in red demonstrate some important elements’:
a) the group carried out the hacking of computer devices of several people, such as Danilo Gentili, Fernando Holiday and other members of MBL 2018;
b) Glenn Greenwald received the hacked material from accounts belonging to prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol, and also knew that the group had not concluded their criminal activity and continued carrying out hackings of computer devices and illegal monitoring of communications, and sought to create a narrative of ‘source protection’ that encouraged further criminal activity.
When transcribing a conversation by The Intercept journalist, the prosecutor emphasizes. “It evidences that, unlike the argument presented by the journalist, Glenn Greenwald received the material of illegal origin while the criminal organization was still engaged in similar conduct, seeking new targets, having a close relationship and trying to subvert the notion of protection to the ‘confidentiality of the source’ to orient the group to discard the messages that were stored in order to prevent linking the perpetrators to the hacked content, thereby evidencing a direct participation in criminal conduct”.
The prosecutor points out that because of Gilmar Mendes’s injunction ‘it was not possible to deepen the investigations in order to identify additional evidence that demonstrated Glenn Greenwald’s conduct in the specific case’.
He points out that a copy of the indictment and of the ‘evidence gathered’ will be sent to the Prosecutor General’s Office to support a request for revocation of the current injunction.
According to the prosecutor, ‘it is certain that Glenn was an accomplice in the crimes, acting as a aider and abettor to the criminal association’.
Cyber Crimes
The seven suspects were charged with crimes related to the hacking of mobile phones of Brazilian officials. They are also under investigation for money laundering, being a part of a criminal organization and possession of illegal phone interceptions.
The indictment, signed by Federal Prosecutor Wellington Divino de Oliveira, states that the criminal organization committed three different cyber-crimes: bank fraud, hacking of computer devices (such as cell phones) and money laundering.
The accusation against Greenwald does not include the crimes of bank fraud and money laundering. According to prosecutors, they are only mentioned in order to characterize the purpose of those involved and explain their connections. A criminal lawsuit will be brought later to deal with such crimes.
The investigations carried out have clarified the roles of the accused. Walter Delgatti Netto, aka the ‘Red’, and Thiago Eliezer Martins Santos acted as mentors and leaders of the group.
Danilo Cristiano Marques was Walter’s right-hand man, providing material means for the leader to execute the crimes. Gustavo Henrique Elias Santos was a programmer, and developed techniques that allowed the hacking of Telegram accounts and committed bank fraud.
Rafael Borges, who defends Glenn Greenwald says:
“We are baffled by reports of an indictment against journalist Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept. This is a crude move to undermine the authority of the injunction granted by the Supreme Court’s Injunction of Noncompliance with Fundamental Precept (ADPF) No. 601, in addition to violating press freedom and serving as an instrument of political dispute. Its purpose is to depreciate the journalistic work of disclosure of messages conducted by the team of The Intercept Brasil in partnership with other national and foreign media outlets. Glenn Greenwald’s attorneys will prepare the applicable judicial measure and urge the Brazilian Press Association, due to its relevance and representativeness, to close ranks in defense of the affected journalist”.