ARRESTED FOR HELPING DRUG DEALERS GO DARK.
Phantom Secure at centre of global probe
The British Columbia chief executive of a cybersecurity firm has appeared before a grand jury in the U.S. accused of conspiring to provide drug traffickers with modified BlackBerry smartphones to evade law enforcement.
The U.S. Justice Department announced the charges Thursday against Vincent Ramos, chief executive of Phantom Secure, who was arrested March 7 in Bellingham, Wash., near Seattle. It followed a years-long undercover operation that included police forces around the globe.
According to U.S. authorities, over the past two weeks — in co-operation with the RCMP and Australian Federal Police — more than 250 agents around the world conducted approximately 25 searches of houses and offices of Phantom Secure associates in Canada, Australia, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.
“The coordinated effort led to the seizure of servers, computers, cellphones and Phantom Secure devices used to operate the Phantom Secure network, as well as drugs and weapons,” said a U.S. Department of Justice press release.
It is alleged Phantom Secure generated about US$80 million in annual revenue since 2008 and facilitated drug trafficking, obstruction of justice and violent crime around the world.
“With one American dying of a drug overdose every nine minutes, our great nation is suffering the deadliest drug epidemic in our history,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in the press release. “Incredibly, some have sought to profit off of this crisis, including by specifically taking advantage of encryption technologies to further criminal activity, and to obstruct, impede, and evade law enforcement, as this case illustrates.
“The Department of Justice will aggressively prosecute not just drug traffickers, but those who help them spread addiction and death in our communities.
“Today’s indictment sends a clear message that drug traffickers and criminals cannot hide, because we will hunt them down and find them wherever they are.”
Ramos, of Richmond, B.C., and four of his associates, were indicted by a federal grand jury Thursday on charges that they knowingly and intentionally participated in a criminal enterprise that facilitated the transnational importation and distribution of narcotics through the sale and service of encrypted communications.
Phantom Secure advertised its products as impervious to decryption, wiretapping or legal thirdparty records requests. The company also guaranteed the destruction of evidence contained within a device if it was compromised, either by an informant or because it fell into the hands of law enforcement, claimed the Justice Department.
It is alleged the case stemmed from a California investigation of a Phantom Secure client who used Phantom devices to coordinate shipments of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and other drugs throughout the globe.
According to court documents, there were an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Phantom devices in use worldwide before the authorities dismantled the company.
It is believed to be the first time the U.S. government has targeted a company and its principals for knowingly and intentionally conspiring with criminal organizations by providing them with the technological tools to evade law enforcement and obstruct justice while committing transnational drug trafficking.
“When criminals go dark, and law enforcement cannot monitor their phones or access evidence, crimes cannot be solved, criminals cannot be stopped and lives can be lost,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Braverman. “As a result of this groundbreaking prosecution, we will disable the communication infrastructure provided by a criminal enterprise to drug traffickers and other violent criminals.
“Phantom Secure was designed to profit off of criminal activity committed by transnational criminal organizations around the world. We are committed to shutting these criminals down.”