He was smartly dressed with an expensive watch, flashier than the consultants - who were in fact undercover reporters - had expected. It was late December and despite several online meetings, this was the first time the consultants had seen the man they had been communicating with. He had kept his camera off in five previous video calls. And now a warm, disarming greeting, but still no name.
Flanked by two of his colleagues, Jorge launched into a demonstration on a wall-hung screen. It was similar to the ones the consultants had been shown in the Zoom meetings: a presentation of how, so Jorge boasted, he had manipulated more than two dozen elections around the world through hacking, the spread of disinformation and subterfuge. What Jorge and his team did not know, as he bragged about how he could get into a target's Gmail account undetected, was that his demonstration was being secretly filmed by undercover reporters.
Three journalists - Gur Megiddo of TheMarker, Frédéric Métézeau of Radio France, and Omer Benjakob of Haaretz - had been on the tails of Jorge for over six months, posing as consultants working on behalf of a businessman who wanted to delay an election in a large and unstable country in Africa.
Denne historien er fra February 16, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra February 16, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian.
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