Security News > 2021 > March > US govt indicted me because I make privacy tools, says crypto-chat app CEO accused of helping drug smugglers

The CEO of Sky Global - which sold encryption chat software with customized smartphones - has come out fighting after Uncle Sam charged him with knowingly assisting the international drug smuggling trade.

"There is no question that I have been targeted, as Sky Global has been targeted, only because we build tools to protect the fundamental right to privacy. The unfounded allegations of involvement in criminal activity by me and our company are entirely false."

In the case of Sky Global, the US government claims Eap learned from the Phantom Secure case and so "Instituted an 'ask nothing/do nothing' approach toward its clients shortly after the takedown of Phantom Secure. This policy allowed for Sky Global to claim plausible deniability from the activities of their clients that they knew - or had reason to know - participated in illegal activities, including international drug trafficking."

Sky Global and its Sky ECC software effectively created a closed encrypted network, the US Dept of Justice said.

It claims Sky Global "Generated hundreds of millions of dollars providing a service that allowed criminal networks around the world to hide their international drug trafficking activity from law enforcement." The result, said acting US Attorney Randy Grossman, is "The deadliest drug epidemic in our nation's history."

According to reports, before the Sky Global website was taken down, it denied any connection to the European investigation and instead blamed "Disgruntled" former distributor Herdman for setting up a fake, and insecure, version of the Sky ECC app.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2021/03/15/sky_global_indicted/