Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, Daniel Gericke, Hacking-Related Services, Washington 2023

Three Former U.S. Intel Employees Charged with Hacking-Related Services

Washington, D.C. - Three former U.S. Intelligence Community and military personnel have agreed to pay more than $1.68 million to resolve criminal charges arising from their provision of hacking-related services to a foreign government.

According to court documents, Marc Baier, 49, Ryan Adams, 34, and Daniel Gericke, 40, all former employees of the U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) or the U.S. military, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) that restricts their future activities and employment and requires the payment of $1,685,000 in penalties to resolve a Department of Justice investigation regarding violations of U.S. export control, computer fraud and access device fraud laws.

The defendants worked as senior managers at a United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.)-based company (U.A.E. CO) that supported and carried out computer network exploitation (CNE) operations, also known as “hacking,” for the benefit of the U.A.E government between 2016 and 2019. Despite being informed on several occasions that their work for U.A.E. CO, under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), constituted a “defense service” requiring a license from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), the defendants proceeded to provide such services without a license.

These services included the provision of support, direction and supervision in the creation of sophisticated “zero-click” computer hacking and intelligence gathering systems – i.e., one that could compromise a device without any action by the target. U.A.E. CO employees whose activities were supervised by and known to the defendants thereafter leveraged these zero-click exploits to illegally obtain and use access credentials for online accounts issued by U.S. companies, and to obtain unauthorized access to computers, like mobile phones, around the world, including in the United States.

The defendants have agreed to pay $1,685,000 in penalties to resolve the charges. The deferred prosecution agreement also restricts their future activities and employment.

The charges against the defendants are part of a larger investigation into the activities of U.A.E. CO and its employees. The FBI will continue to investigate individuals and companies that profit from illegal criminal cyber activity.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, with assistance from the State Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

The case is being prosecuted by the Department’s National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/three-former-us-intelligence-community-and-military-personnel-agree-pay-more-168-million