Greek Court Convicts Four Spyware Executives in Landmark Predator Case
Athens court sentences Intellexa founder and three associates to eight years in prison for illegally surveilling over 90 journalists and politicians—the first known criminal conviction of spyware vendors following abuse of their technology.
An Athens court sentenced four executives of spyware consortium Intellexa to eight years in prison on Thursday for illegally wiretapping journalists and opposition politicians, marking the first criminal conviction of commercial spyware vendors for the misuse of their surveillance technology.
The Second Single-Member Misdemeanor Court convicted Intellexa founder Tal Dilian, his business partner Sara Aleksandra Fayssal Hamou, former deputy administrator Felix Bitzios, and Yiannis Lavranos—whose company Krikel purchased the Predator Spyware—on charges of breaching the confidentiality of telephone communications, tampering with personal data systems, and illegal access to information systems. The court imposed a combined sentence of 126 years and eight months, with a mandatory minimum of eight years to be served under Greek law, though the sentence has been suspended pending appeal.
The scandal erupted in early 2022 when investigative journalist Thanasis Koukakis discovered his phone had been infected with Predator—a sophisticated software that can infiltrate mobile phones, access messages and photos, and remotely activate microphones and cameras—and that he had simultaneously been wiretapped by Greece’s intelligence services. Greece’s independent telecommunications privacy authority ADAE confirmed that Predator was used against more than 90 people between 2020 and 2021, including opposition party leader Nikos Androulakis, government ministers, senior military officials, and prosecutors.
A Rare Moment of Accountability
The verdict represents the first known time a spyware maker has been sentenced to jail following the misuse of their technology, according to TechCrunch. The convictions are a significant turn of events for Intellexa, which has been accused of facilitating spying on dozens of civil society members worldwide, including the president of the European Parliament, the president of Taiwan, and U.S. senators.
The court found the defendants acted with “joint intent” to gain access to personal data and private conversations of their targets. Presiding Judge Nikos Askianakis rejected all mitigating circumstances, and ordered prosecutors to open an inquiry to probe whether more serious espionage charges are also warranted.
“This is going to be a huge ball and chain that Intellexa’s executives are going to be dragging around. Nobody’s going to want to bank you if you’re sentenced in absentia.”
— John Scott-Railton, Senior Researcher, Citizen Lab
John Scott-Railton of Citizen Lab, who helped document the Predator targeting in Greece, noted that defendants found guilty in a European court with prison sentences attached are potentially extraditable in many countries with treaties with Greece. The four remain free pending appeal, but the convictions carry immediate reputational and financial consequences for the embattled spyware consortium.
Political Fallout and Government Denials
The scandal, dubbed “Predatorgate,” erupted in mid-2022 when Nikos Androulakis—then a Member of the European Parliament and soon-to-be leader of the PASOK party—discovered his phone had been targeted by Predator spyware while simultaneously being placed under “legal” Surveillance by Greece’s national intelligence agency (EYP). The revelations forced the resignation of EYP head Panagiotis Kontoleon and Grigoris Dimitriadis, the Prime Minister’s nephew and Chief of Staff who held oversight of the intelligence services.
Greece’s right-wing government has said it lawfully monitored the communications of Socialist party leader Nikos Androulakis and has denied any wrongdoing. In July 2024, Greece’s Supreme Court concluded that no state ministry or agency had used illegal Predator spy software, or any other surveillance software, though a debate has continued about whether the Supreme Court’s investigation was sufficient.
Following the 2019 Greek legislative election, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed the Greek National Intelligence Service under his personal control and the responsibility of his nephew Grigoris Dimitriadis. According to investigative reporting, Greece’s EYP purchased Predator for an initial 7 million euros followed by monthly payments of 150,000 euros for ten alternating targets, concealed within another contract, with the software installed in a state-owned building in Agia Paraskevi, outside Athens.
Opposition leader Androulakis said he felt vindicated by the court’s decision, describing the ruling as a “major defeat for the deep state organized by the Maximos Mansion system and the prime minister.” While the government has consistently denied involvement in the use of illegal spyware, critics note that while the “service providers” have been convicted, the ultimate “clients” or political orchestrators of the surveillance remain a subject of fierce public and parliamentary debate.
Victims React: Relief and Resolve
Financial journalist Thanasis Koukakis, one of the first identified victims, said he is relieved by the verdict but believes the process is just beginning, describing the ruling as demonstrating that Greek citizens will not be “defenseless in the face of arbitrary actions by those who possess the technical expertise and the means to monitor them.”
“This decision sends a very resounding message that those who act arbitrarily by violating these goods will face the consequences of the law.”
— Thanasis Koukakis, Financial Journalist and Predator Victim
Zacharias Kesses, a lawyer representing victims of the Predator affair, said that “after today’s decision, justice must, without distraction, investigate the involvement of third parties in felony offenses.” Some of those targeted by Predator have considered taking their fight to the European Court of Human Rights, particularly given persistent questions about the adequacy of domestic investigations.
Global Implications for the Spyware Industry
The Greek conviction arrives as commercial spyware faces mounting regulatory pressure worldwide. In 2024, the U.S. government sanctioned Intellexa and several linked companies, Dilian, and Hamou, for their role in developing Predator, used in targeting Americans including government officials and journalists. In December, the Trump administration reversed sanctions against Hamou and two other Intellexa executives, though Dilian remains on the list. Despite the sanctions, Intellexa has proven resilient and its spyware infrastructure continues to be detected worldwide.
Recent Amnesty International research revealed that Predator was used to infect the phone of a prominent Press Freedom advocate in Angola in 2024, and a Pakistani human rights lawyer was targeted with Predator during the summer of 2025.
EU Regulatory Landscape
The Greek case has intensified pressure on European institutions to regulate the commercial spyware sector. The European Parliament adopted a resolution in June 2023 outlining reforms necessary to curb spyware abuse, arguing that the illicit use of spyware has put “democracy itself at stake” and calling for credible investigations, legislative changes, and better enforcement.
The Parliament recommended that EU rules on spyware use by law enforcement should only authorize deployment in exceptional cases for a pre-defined purpose and limited time, with data falling under lawyer-client privilege or belonging to politicians, doctors, or the media shielded from surveillance unless there is evidence of criminal activity. Parliament also asked the Greek government to “urgently restore and strengthen the institutional and legal safeguards,” repeal export licenses not aligned with EU export control legislation, and respect the independence of the Hellenic Authority for Communication Security and Privacy.
The EU’s Recast Dual-Use Regulation, which came into force in September 2021, defined ‘cyber-surveillance items’ as dual-use items specially designed to enable covert surveillance of natural persons by monitoring, extracting, collecting or analyzing data from information and telecommunication systems. However, Brussels and member states have largely ignored risks and resisted calls for stronger regulation, according to civil society groups cited by Follow the Money.
- First criminal conviction of spyware vendors globally for technology abuse
- Over 90 Greeks targeted, including cabinet ministers, opposition leaders, and journalists
- Convictions create extradition risks and financial consequences for Intellexa executives
- Greek government denies involvement despite documented connections to Predator operators
- European Parliament has called for urgent regulatory action, but implementation lags
What to Watch
The defendants have ten days to appeal the verdict, and the case will likely drag through Greek courts for months. More immediately, the court’s referral to prosecutors for investigation of potential espionage charges could widen the scope of accountability—potentially implicating government officials who commissioned or facilitated the surveillance.
The conviction also tests whether criminal prosecutions can succeed where export controls and sanctions have failed to curb spyware proliferation. If the sentences hold on appeal, expect accelerated efforts by other European jurisdictions to pursue similar cases against surveillance technology vendors operating within their borders.
For Intellexa, the reputational damage is immediate: financial institutions and potential clients now face the prospect of doing business with convicted criminals, even if the executives remain outside Greek jurisdiction. Watch whether this triggers a broader exodus of personnel or dissolution of the consortium’s corporate structure.
Finally, the European Commission faces renewed pressure to translate parliamentary recommendations into binding legislation. The Greek verdict provides political cover for member states to support stricter export controls and mandatory human rights due diligence for surveillance technology firms—if they choose to act before the next scandal breaks.