Washington: Qatar hired a team of former CIA and US military intelligence officials to conduct a hack attack on a prominent American political activist after he raised questions about the country’s support for terrorism, according to allegations in a new lawsuit.
Republican financier Elliott Broidy alleges that Qatar enlisted former US intelligence officials to carry out a 2018 cyber espionage operation on his personal and business email servers. That information, Broidy alleges, was later leaked to the media in order to discredit the longtime party activist and advance Doha’s interests in America.
The suit reveals allegations that US-based hackers affiliated with the Global Risk Advisers (GRA) consulting group were paid by Qatar to carry out the illicit scheme and similar attacks on prominent critics of Qatar.
GRA comprises former CIA and other military intelligence officials with extensive experience in the cyber espionage realm.