3rd government worker guilty in spyware case

A former Mexican government employee living in Los Angeles pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge Tuesday in San Diego federal court, admitting he both used and sold spyware in Mexico and the U.S. in order to monitor political and business rivals.

Julio Santamaria, a 49-year-old dual national, pleaded guilty to the single felony on the same day prosecutors filed the charge, signaling prior negotiations. In his plea agreement, he admitted to working as a broker for a firm called Elite by Carga and other related businesses that he knew were selling spyware intended for law enforcement use to “private citizens and Mexican politicians who intended to use the services for private and political purposes.”

Carlos Guerrero, who owned Elite by Carga and a consortium of other U.S. and Mexican businesses, pleaded guilty last year to a conspiracy charge, as did his director of technology, Daniel Moreno. Both men have since been sentenced to three years of probation, and Guerrero was fined $5,500.

According to Guerrero’s plea agreement, Elite by Carga sold spyware to state governments in Baja California and Durango, knowing that the “equipment sold to its Mexican clients could and likely would be used for political purposes.”

The cases against Guerrero, Moreno and Santamaria, all filed separately, are part of a body of evidence that spyware intended for legitimate law enforcement investigations has been used widely in Mexico to monitor and undercut political rivals, human rights activists and journalists.

Prior to working for Elite by Carga, Santamaria worked for Mexico’s attorney general’s office, then known as the Procuraduría General de la República, or PGR. That office was part of Mexico’s executive branch until 2018, when the country established a new, more independent attorney general’s office.

Prosecutors did not specify Santamaria’s role with the PGR or say if or how he may have used his former employment to his benefit while selling the spyware for Elite by Carga.