Airline exec settles hack-for-hire case against law firm, pledging to ‘vigorously’ prosecute other alleged conspirators

The aviation executive Farhad Azima settled litigation this week against the law firm Dechert and two of its former attorneys who he alleged were involved in the hacking of his personal accounts in order to smear his reputation. 

The details of Thursday’s settlement were not disclosed, but it comes on the heels of another resolution in the United Kingdom involving Azima and Dechert in which the firm agreed to pay the Missouri-based businessman $3.8 million. 

Through litigation, Azima has sought to expose the hack-for-hire industry, and court documents in his various cases shed light on the role of law firms, private investigators and mercenary companies in India hired to steal information through cyberattacks. 

Dechert representatives told Reuters the case had been settled "without admission of liability."

According to a complaint filed in October 2022 in the Southern District of New York, Dechert attorney Neil Gerrard conceived of the scheme to hack into Azima’s accounts in 2015 on behalf of the law firm’s client, the Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA), a sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates. 

Dechert was first hired by RAKIA as part of an investigation into the investment fund’s former head and his associates, including Karam Al Sadeq, who was ultimately detained and alleged human rights abuses while in custody.

After Azima — who had previously had business dealings with RAKIA — spoke out about Al Sadeq’s treatment, Gerrard, his deputy David Graham Hughes and Dechert allegedly sought to silence him. The plan, according to court documents, was to hire hackers to access his personal information and to then use that data against him in legal proceedings on behalf of RAKIA. 

Dechert allegedly hired a private investigator in North Carolina, Nicholas Del Rosso, who then brought on the Indian hacking firms Cyber Defense and CyberRoot to go after Azima. 

Azima claims the hackers successfully breached his personal accounts, and ultimately 30 gigabytes of data — including emails, text messages, voice messages and photographs — were dumped online. 

While the settlement resolves litigation against Dechert and its associates, it does not end the legal odyssey Azima has been on for years. He vowed to continue his case against the other defendants.

“Mr. Azima will now devote his energy and resources to vigorously prosecuting his claims against lead defendant Amir Handjani, who was at the center of the conspiracy alleged in the complaint and was the proxy for Ras al Khaimah,” his team said in a statement. 

The other defendants include the private investigator, Del Rosso; Amit Forlit, an Israeli accused of participating in the hacking; and Andrew Frank and his New York-based company KARV, which allegedly orchestrated a smear campaign against Azima.