Police wiretaps show the sprawling global nature of an investigation into Milan-based private detectives and their clients. ROME — A massiv

Vatican and Israel implicated in Italian hacking scandal, leaked files reveal

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2024-11-01 22:00:39

Police wiretaps show the sprawling global nature of an investigation into Milan-based private detectives and their clients.

ROME — A massive hacking scandal that has engulfed Italy is now threatening to spill beyond its borders, sucking in Israel, the Vatican, the United Kingdom and Lithuania.

New claims have been made via police wiretaps that foreign powers were among those using a Milan-based private investigative firm to penetrate state security databases with the aim of obtaining secret information about financial activity, private bank transactions and police investigations.

Italian intelligence firm Equalize, which allegedly hacked information on thousands of people including politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and even musicians, is accused of working for Israeli intelligence and the Vatican, police wiretaps leaked to Italian media show.

Members of the hacking network, including Nunzio Samuele Calamucci — the man prosecutors accuse of orchestrating the scheme — met with two Israeli agents at the firm's office in Milan in February 2023 to discuss a task worth €1 million, according to the leaked wiretaps.