FBI and Global Allies -Trojan Shield- 800 Arrests Worldwide -UPDATED- INDICTMENT

The FBI literally created the encrypted communications platform Anom - law enforcement watched in almost real time

update - 17 defendants

‘newly unsealed and as promised I wrote a follow up article, found here because it occurred to me that my RICO Twitter research is gone but it also made sense to reach back to “in the beginning”

This is fantastic - the FBI got into the encrypted communications platform and working with our Global Allies - unleashed HELLFIRE ska Trojan Shieled

…the FBI, with the help of the Australian Federal Police, launched their own encrypted communications platform and supplied more than 12,000 devices to hundreds of criminal organizations...

…watched the organizations quickly regroup: “When we took down Phantom Secure in 2018, we found the criminal organizations moved quickly to back-up options with other encrypted platforms.” After Phantom Secure, investigators came up with a solution that would do more than cause the organized crime groups to shift to different platforms, such as Sky Global and EncroChat.

Netherlands

Jannine Van den Berg, chief, Central Unit, Netherlands Police:

“We will continue unabated to track down and dismantle criminal organizations—both nationally and internationally. Working together, we can get the job done.

New Zealand

Andrew Coster, commissioner of New Zealand Police:

“The operation has been a tremendous success, and it underscores the importance of our relationships to disrupt organized crime, which this operation has achieved in a significant way.”

Australia

Reece Kershaw, commissioner, Australian Federal Police:

“The AFP and FBI have been working together on a world-first operation to bring to justice the organized crime gangs harming our communities with drugs, guns, and violence.” - Australia will executed hundreds of warrants & arrest

Switzerland

Linda H. Staaf, head of intelligence, Swedish Police:

“Thanks to valuable intelligence that the FBI has shared with us, we have been able to arrest a significant number of leading actors within the violent crime and drug networks in Sweden.”

The FBI created the platform…

And then relied on our International Allies to launch it - this was after the 2018 FBI operation. Specifically the FBI’s San Diego Field Office, acted as the hub for

• the more than 100 agents,

• and analysts and 80 linguists

Worked in concert for the operation, which ultimately took down the encrypted phone provider Phantom Secure. Thereafter the the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California pursued charges against the company’s executives for facilitating the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics by providing encrypted devices to criminals. After the Phantom Secure take down the FBI

In 2018 after they busted Phantom Secure, which allowed the FBI Agents to gained essentially real-time access to the profitable world of international organized crime. The USAO then prosecuted Phantom Secure’s CEO, Vincent Ramos, who eventually pleaded guilty; as did other senior employees who were also indicted.

FBI agents in San Diego the. recruited a confidential source who said they were working on a "next generation" encrypted device, according to Cheviron's affidavit.

San Diego FBI agents recruited a Confidential Human Source (“CHS”)3 who had been developing the “next generation” encrypted communications product, poised to compete for market share against established hardened encrypted device competitors…the void created by Phantom Secure’s dismantlement provided a new opportunity for criminal users to switch to a new, secure brand of device.

-read the footnotes too…

The CHS previously distributed both Phantom Secure and Sky Global4 devices to TCOs and had invested a substantial amount of money into the development of a new hardened encrypted device. The CHS offered this next generation device, named “Anom,” to the FBI to use in ongoing and new investigations. The CHS also agreed to offer to distribute Anom devices to some of the CHS’s existing network of distributors of encrypted communications devices, all of whom have direct links to TCOs

That source also had ties to Phantom Secure's shadowy distribution network — and they agreed to let the FBI take control of the new device and help it spread. But I now refer you to page 8 of the Affidavit- specifically paragraphs 13 and 14 - FBI’s CHS created a master key before the Anoms were deploy to the transnational criminal networks

Operation Trojan Shield - master key created before deploying hardened cell phones…

…centered on exploiting Anom by inserting it into criminal networks and working with international partners, including the Australian Federal Police (“AFP”), to monitor the communications.

Before the device could be put to use, however, the FBI, AFP, and the CHS built a master key into the existing encryption system which surreptitiously attaches to each message and enables law enforcement to decrypt and store the message as it is transmitted. A user of Anom is unaware of this capability. By design, as part of the Trojan Shield investigation, for devices located outside of the United States, an encrypted “BCC” of the message is routed to an “iBot” server located outside of the United States, where it is decrypted from the CHS’s encryption code and then immediately re-encrypted with FBI encryption code. The newly encrypted message then passes to a second FBI-owned iBot server, where it is decrypted and its content available for viewing in the first instance.

Australia Beta Test - let’s take it for a spin

Before the FBI developed device fully rolled out - our partners in Australia initial “beta test,” - they obtained a court order to legally monitor the Anom devices of the individuals in Australia or with a clear nexus to Australia.

…fifty devices were distributed as part of the beta test, and it was a success. Through the interception of these communications, the AFP penetrated two of the most sophisticated criminal networks in Australia. The AFP has shared generally with San Diego FBI the nature of conversations occurring over Anom

Sidebar a couple of weeks ago I had a conversation with a few coworkers and a friend - and randomly said - there’s something big going down in SDCA because the amount of warrants and sealed filings has increased dramatically. I actually hypothesized that there was an encrypted telecom vacuum created and asked a Co-worker “random question you don’t think our Fed Law Enforced created a new device and has infiltrated dozens of transnational crime organizations…” to wit my coworker was like… nah you’re reading too much into it —I am now the proud owner of a 24 year old single malt scotch.

And for the record MLATs are not asymmetrical and I’ve never understood those who state they are. FFS MUTUAL legal Assistance Treaty - MLAT as you’ll note on page 10 of the affidavit - a third country wanted in on the action but the ingenuity here is if the Anom device touched down in America — our International Partners agreed to monitor the encrypted device(s) because Geo-fencing limitations and other civil liberties and what not…

agents on the investigative team and our federal and international partners, this was a creative and innovative way for us to get behind that firewall and see what was happening among the leadership of these criminal organizations

When a picture conveys a thousand words - look I have to get back to my bonbons

I uploaded the May Affidavit to my public drive - today’s Operation Trojan Shield netted 800 arrest (worldwide) “55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies," -see EUROPOL Press Release

the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, in close coordination with the Australian Federal Police, strategically developed and covertly operated an encrypted device company, called ANOM, which grew to service more than 12 000 encrypted devices to over 300 criminal syndicates operating in more than 100 countries, including Italian organised crime, outlaw motorcycle gangs, and international drug trafficking organisations. 
Europol supported OTF Greenlight / Operation Trojan Shield, which was led by the US FBI, Sweden, the Netherlands and Australia.

The following countries participated in the international coalition: Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Lithuania, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom incl. Scotland, and the United States.

You need to understand the scale of Operation Trojan Shield - per Europol these figures are staggering— in a good way and it’s hard to enumerate just how much damaged Trojan Shield inflicted on numerous Transnational Organized Crime Syndicates, worldwide. For Example;

• large-scale law enforcement actions were executed over the past days across 16 countries

• resulting in more than 700 house searches,

• more than 800 arrests and

• the seizure of over 8 tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis and cannabis resin, 2 tons of synthetic drugs (amphetamine and methamphetamine) 6 tons of synthetic drugs precursors,

• 250 firearms,

• 55 luxury vehicles and

• over $48 million in various worldwide currencies and cryptocurrencies

Seriously stop attacking the Department of Justice and the FBI - that kind of nonsense is un-American, un-Patriotic and shows just how un-informed you are.

Also one of my readers asked an excellent questions about Arrest in America - in today’s FBI Press Release - it’s the 2nd to last paragraph;

“…U.S. federal prosecutors may bring charges against additional providers of these platforms, and FBI San Diego said that the operation will have far reaching, long-term transnational effects on these organizations and their ability to communicate and coordinate their criminal activities…”

I really have to get back to my bonbons I’m on a tight 3:45PM schedule but I’ll pick this up after COB ETA 6PM DC local time.