The Qatari government has conducted wide-ranging cyber-attack on a prominent Republican fundraiser and Trump ally, reports say.
Washington Free Beacon quoted his legal representatives as saying that they have evidence Doha conducted a series of cyber-attacks on U.S. citizens via agents stationed in Washington, D.C.
Legal representatives for Elliott Broidy, a prominent Republican fundraiser and philanthropist, informed Qatari leaders that they have uncovered forensic evidence tying the Qatari government to a massive hack on Broidy that led to a series of damaging stories in the U.S. press.
"We now possess irrefutable forensic evidence tying Qatar to this unlawful attack on, and espionage directed against, a prominent U.S. citizen within the territory of the United States," Lee Wolosky, a lawyer from the legal team Boies Schiller Flexner, wrote to Qatari Al Thani family’s member Sheikh Meshal bin Hamad Al Thani. "We have made aware, or are in the process of making aware, relevant U.S. authorities, including U.S. counterintelligence authorities."
Some of the materials disseminated in the wake of the hack were later said to be forged or altered, according to those familiar with the situation.
Broidy, who runs an intelligence firm called Circinus that has multi-million dollar contracts with UAE, maintains the Qatari government orchestrated the hack and altered some documents that were eventually leaked to the press.
While working with Qatar, Broidy secured lucrative contracts with the UAE to provide security services through Circunus.
"The individuals located in Qatar tied to this attack evidently believed they could maintain anonymity by trying to disguise their malicious activity targeting Mr. Broidy's servers," the letter states. "They were wrong. Mr. Broidy's advanced cybercrime forensics unit has established Qatar's ties to this illegal hacking operation."
The report quoted one veteran foreign policy operative with intimate knowledge of the Qatar controversy as saying that Doha went too far in its illicit operations and is now likely to suffer repercussions from U.S. authorities.
