On September 16, 2024, the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated supporters of the Intellexa Consortium, an international web of decentralized companies that contributed to the development of a highly invasive commercial spyware technology that poses a significant threat to U.S. national security. The commercial spyware, which is primarily marketed under the brand-name “Predator,” enables perpetrators to access data stored on a device such as a cellphone without any interaction with the user. OFAC specifically designated five individuals and one entity for enabling the consortium, including Felix Bitzios, who is the beneficial owner of a company that allegedly supplied Predator spyware to a foreign government client and Marom Harpaz, a top executive of the Intellexa Consortium. According to OFAC, the designations build upon the Department of Commerce’s addition of certain commercial spyware vendors to the Entity List in 2023 and the Department of State’s visa ban in April 2024, targeting those who misuse or profit from the misuse of commercial spyware.
The designations were imposed pursuant to Executive Order 13694, as amended, for engaging in cyber-enabled activities originating outside of the United States that threatens U.S. national security, foreign policy or the economic health and stability of the United States. As a result of these designations, all property and interests in property of the designated persons within the United States or within the possession or control of a U.S. person are blocked, and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in transactions involving a designated person. Entities owned 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked.