Spyware Bombshell: Greek Court to Hear Landmark Case

The Supreme Court building with large columns and a clear blue sky

Eight Greeks say a private spyware company secretly turned their phones into pocket spies—and now they want €8 million to make someone pay.

Story Snapshot

Eight victims of Greece’s “Predatorgate” scandal are suing Predator maker Intellexa SA for up to €1 million each in moral damages.
Their phones were allegedly hacked with Predator spyware between 2020 and 2021, sweeping up private calls, messages, and data.
The civil case follows criminal convictions of four Intellexa-linked figures, showing courts will punish vendors even as state officials walk free.
The lawsuit highlights a wider problem: powerful tech and government insiders can invade privacy, while ordinary people fight for years just to get basic justice.

Spyware Victims Take Intellexa to Court

Eight people caught up in Greece’s wiretapping scandal have filed a civil lawsuit in Athens against Intellexa SA, the company behind the Predator spyware. Their lawyer says they are asking for up to €1 million each in moral damages, for a total of about €8 million. The suit also targets 13 individuals tied to Intellexa, including company founder Tal Dilian, whom courts have already linked to illegal surveillance. The case is set to be heard by the Athens Multi-Member Court of First Instance.

The plaintiffs’ phones were reportedly hacked with Predator between 2020 and 2021, a period when Greek politics and media were already tense. All eight say their private lives, communications, and personal data were unlawfully violated by the spyware. They are not asking for lost money; they are asking the court to recognize deep moral harm from knowing someone could read their messages, listen to their calls, and watch their lives without consent. Their lawyer has warned that more lawsuits are likely to follow.

Who Was Targeted and How Predator Worked

The group includes well-known journalist Thanasis Koukakis, lawyers, employees of the Greek National Intelligence Service, a police officer, and other professionals. Koukakis helped expose the scandal after discovering his own phone was infected and wiretapped, turning a private investigation into a national and European story. For many readers, this cuts close to home: if a journalist and intelligence officials can be spied on, the average citizen’s privacy looks even weaker.

Predator is highly invasive spyware that can take full control of a phone once a user taps a malicious link. Investigations by Amnesty International and others found it lets operators access the microphone, camera, messages, and files, basically turning the device into a live tracking bug. In Greece, later probes showed at least 87 high-profile people were targeted with Predator, including politicians and business leaders, often through zero-day flaws in Android and Chrome. This kind of quiet, technical power feeds fears that a “deep state” of officials and tech vendors can watch anyone while staying in the shadows.

Criminal Convictions but Political Impunity

The civil suit comes after a landmark criminal ruling in Athens, where four people linked to Intellexa were found guilty of unlawful access to private communications and data. Those four, including founder Tal Dilian and key business partners, received long prison sentences, though these are suspended while they appeal. Human rights groups praised the verdict as a rare win against the spyware industry, which often seems untouchable. At the same time, Greece’s Supreme Court cleared the national intelligence service and political leaders of wrongdoing in 2024, despite evidence that Predator and state wiretaps hit dozens of public figures.

This “vendors punished, state actors cleared” pattern worries people across the political spectrum. Conservatives see unaccountable security services and foreign tech firms trampling national sovereignty. Liberals see elites protecting themselves while journalists and activists carry the risk. In both views, the powerful circle the wagons, and regular citizens—whether in Athens or Washington—are left to fight slow court battles against companies with deep pockets and high-level friends.

Why This Matters Beyond Greece

Greece’s Predatorgate is part of a wider European and global spyware problem, with similar scandals in Hungary, Poland, Spain, and beyond. Commercial spyware like Predator and Pegasus has been used on journalists, opposition politicians, lawyers, and civil society leaders, often in democracies that claim to respect rights. The European Parliament has already raised rule-of-law concerns over Greece and called for a ban or tight controls on spyware, warning that unchecked surveillance erodes trust in institutions. When people believe their phones are tools for silent monitoring, free speech and honest politics suffer.

Predatorgate Victims Sue Intellexa for €8 Million in Major Spyware Lawsuit https://t.co/K4R8kszqdc pic.twitter.com/Mo9scqgldF

— Greek City Times (@greekcitytimes) July 8, 2026

For Americans watching from afar, this case hits familiar nerves. It shows how complex networks of private companies, intelligence services, and political insiders can join forces to watch citizens while avoiding real accountability. In the United States, past sanctions on Intellexa-linked figures were later lifted, adding to worries that both parties talk tough on privacy but bend when faced with powerful tech interests. Many on the right and left already feel the federal government protects the well-connected more than the average worker; Predatorgate is another warning sign that advanced spying tools deepen that imbalance.