Israeli spyware company accused of hacking activists hires lobby firm
Q Cyber Technologies has been sued by Facebook and WhatsApp and is accused of helping Saudi Arabia spy on murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
An Israeli tech company accused of helping Saudi Arabia spy on murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has hired its first US lobbying firm in an attempt to fend off allegations that it illegally spied on hundreds of people through WhatsApp.
Herzliya-based Q Cyber Technologies hired Mercury Public Affairs last month after coming under fire on Capitol Hill, according to newly disclosed lobbying filings. The one year, $1.4 million contract was signed by Q Cyber Technologies legal counsel Shmuel Sunray and Mercury CEO Kieran Mahoney and was effective Dec. 15, 2019.
The agreement calls for Mercury to provide “strategic consulting and management services specific to government relations and crisis management issues” that Q Cyber faces in connection with “pending” and “potential future litigation or regulatory actions.” The firm also wrote in the Justice Department filing that it is providing “consulting services in connection with public relations, media relations, government relations, and litigation.”
Digital communications specialist Nicole Flotterton and Ian McCaleb, a former spokesman for the Justice Department’s criminal division who previously worked as a reporter for CNN and producer for Fox News, have registered to work on the account for Mercury. Neither responded to a request for comment.
