MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Four people arrested in Brazil for hacking ministers and judges' phones

The judge said the group invaded messaging app accounts of Moro, two federal judges and two federal police investigators

Brazil's federal police arrested four people for allegedly hacking the phone of Justice Minister Sérgio Moro, a key member of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's Cabinet who had previously been a renowned anti-corruption judge.

A federal judge in the capital of Brasilia ordered the arrests of Gustavo Henrique Elias Santos, Suelen Priscila de Oliveira, Danilo Cristiano Marques and Walter Delgatti Neto. They live in three different cities in São Paulo state, but allegedly met in the countryside town of Araraquara.

The judge said the group invaded messaging app accounts of Moro, two federal judges and two federal police investigators. Later a federal forensics analyst said the group might have hacked into more than 1,000 phones, including the one of Economy Minister Paulo Guedes.

The ruling was issued Friday by judge Vallisney de Souza Oliveira but not made public until Wednesday.

Moro, who also heads Brazil's federal police, said on June 5 that his phone had been hacked.

Four days later, the website The Intercept Brasil and other associated media outlets started publishing reports based on leaked messaging app exchanges between Moro and prosecutors dating back to the minister's time as a judge in a corruption investigation known as “Operation Car Wash,” which led to the arrests of many of Brazil's business and political elite, including former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Oliveira's ruling does not establish a direct link between the arrests and the reported exchanges, which have caused a major stir in Brazilian politics and led Moro to testify in Congress in a turbulent environment.

The judge said in his decision that “there are strong indications the suspects formed a criminal organization to commit crimes, and joined together to violate the phone secrecy of several Brazilian authorities through the invasion of the Telegram app.”

Oliveira also said two members of the group made suspicious transactions estimated at US$ 167,000 between April 18 and June 29.

Ariovaldo Moreira, an attorney for suspects Gustavo and Suelen Priscila, said much of those funds came from bitcoin negotiations. The two deny any wrongdoing the lawyer said.