Cyber mercenary Tal Hanan aka »Jorge«
[M] Lina Moreno / DER SPIEGEL;
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The head of the cyber mercenary group Team Jorge has already been investigated in Switzerland on suspicion of industrial espionage.
An international investigation, in which SPIEGEL, ZDF and the Swiss Tamedia Group were also involved, revealed this week that the Israeli Tal Hanan, aka "Jorge", and his previously secret company were offering, among other things, election manipulation as a service.
Traces led to Kenya, Nigeria and the Balkans.
Now it turns out that the Swiss spy Daniel M. had hired Tal Hanan to get bank documents from the former German secret service chief August Hanning.
Proceedings for industrial espionage
Daniel M., who worked for the Swiss intelligence service until 2010, commissioned Tal Hanan in 2014 to obtain alleged bank data from ex-BND boss Hanning.
Tal Hanan, in turn, passed the order on to an IT specialist who allegedly obtained the desired bank information on the dark web.
Hanan then provided Daniel M. with a report entitled "August Hanning - Confidential Report" and an account transaction summary, and received at least $88,000 in compensation.
This emerges from documents available to SPIEGEL.
The crux of the matter: Hanning's alleged account details were fake.
It was "non-existent and therefore fictitious bank customer data," as the Swiss public prosecutor later determined.
The case ended up there because spy M. had walked into a trap.
His conversations were secretly recorded with a hidden camera and the information ended up at a major Swiss bank.
Proceedings were initially initiated against Tal Hanan on suspicion of “economic intelligence” – i.e. economic espionage.
However, the procedure was discontinued in 2021.
The federal prosecutor's office saw it as proven that Hanan had sold the bank account data allegedly obtained on the Darknet.
However, it could not be proven that he knew the purpose for which the data was intended.
Confronted with the allegations by the Swiss “Tags-Anzeiger”, Hanan explained in 2017 that he works according to “the highest ethical and legal standards”, allegedly also for a well-known Swiss bank.
Charges of fraud, forgery, election rigging
Five years later, he boasted to undercover journalists posing as potential clients that his team could break into email and messenger accounts, obtain private banking information, and rig elections.
His people are active all over the world, he has already influenced 27 elections in the interests of his customers.
When asked, he denied any wrongdoing.
As recently as Wednesday, a prominent Israeli lawyer reported Tal Hanan and his colleagues and asked Israel's authorities to bring charges.
The accusation: fraud, forgery and election manipulation.
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