Jan 11, 2020

An Israeli tech company accused of helping Saudi Arabia spy on murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi has hired its first US lobbying firm in an attempt to fend off allegations that it illegally spied on hundreds of people through WhatsApp.

Herzliya-based Q Cyber Technologies hired Mercury Public Affairs last month after coming under fire on Capitol Hill, according to newly disclosed lobbying filings. The one year, $1.4 million contract was signed by Q Cyber Technologies legal counsel Shmuel Sunray and Mercury CEO Kieran Mahoney and was effective Dec. 15, 2019.

The agreement calls for Mercury to provide “strategic consulting and management services specific to government relations and crisis management issues” that Q Cyber faces in connection with “pending” and “potential future litigation or regulatory actions.” The firm also wrote in the Justice Department filing that it is providing “consulting services in connection with public relations, media relations, government relations, and litigation.”

Digital communications specialist Nicole Flotterton and Ian McCaleb, a former spokesman for the Justice Department’s criminal division who previously worked as a reporter for CNN and producer for Fox News, have registered to work on the account for Mercury. Neither responded to a request for comment.

WhatsApp and its parent company, Facebook, sued Q Cyber Technologies and its subsidiary the NSO Group in federal court in California in October, alleging that the companies used WhatsApp servers to send malware to 1,400 users with country codes from 20 countries, including Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Mexico. The lawsuit claims that among those targeted were more than 100 human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and academics, including at least one person with a Washington, D.C., area code.