Cameron Jay Ortis, a former intelligence official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has been found guilty by a jury of violating the Security of Information Act.
In a verdict delivered Wednesday in Ottawa, jurors found Ortis guilty of three counts of violating the Security of Information Act and one count of attempting to do so. They also found him guilty of breach of trust and fraudulent use of a computer.
At the start of the trial last month, Ortis, 51, pleaded not guilty to all charges, including violating the Protection of Information Act by revealing secret information to three people, in 2015, and attempting to do so in a fourth case.
Ortis argued at trial that he offered secret material to people who were targets of RCMP investigations, in an attempt to entice them to use an online encryption service set up by an allied intelligence agency to spy on opponents.
But the Crown argued for its part that Ortis did not have the authority to disclose secret documents and that he was not doing so as part of an undercover operation authorized by the RCMP.
Ortis faces a heavy prison sentence. Meanwhile, Judge Robert Maranger announced Wednesday that Ortis’ bond would be revoked.
Sabotage or undercover operation?
The defense argued that the former RCMP intelligence officer did not betray Canada, but rather acted on the basis of a “clear and serious threat.”
Ortis had led the RCMP’s operational research group, which gathered and developed secret information on cybercriminals, terrorist cells and transnational criminal networks.
He told the jury that in September 2014 he was contacted by a counterpart at a foreign agency who informed him of a particularly serious threat.
Ortis claimed that his counterpart had confidentially informed him of an online encryption service, called “Tutanota”, which had been secretly set up to monitor communications of interest to intelligence services.
Ortis said he then quietly devised a plan, dubbed “Nudge,” to lure RCMP investigation targets into signing up for the encryption service, using promises of secret documents as lure.
“Cameron Ortis was not and is not an enemy of the RCMP or the citizens of Canada,” argued defense lawyer Jon Doody.
The online encryption company, now known as “Tuta”, denies having links to intelligence agencies.
Although Ortis demanded thousands of dollars from one target before sending full versions of sensitive documents, there is no evidence that he actually received money from the people he contacted.
“Was there a profit motive? Maybe, prosecutor Judy Kliewer said. This is not something the Crown has to prove. »
Selective memory
Despite this, the suit portrayed Ortis as a selfish and reckless man, flouting rules and protocols during a solo mission that sabotaged national security and even endangered the life of a real undercover officer, according to the crown.
The suit, which called several current and former RCMP employees to the stand, argued that no one other than Ortis had heard of Operation Nudge and that no records of the project had been made. could be traced.
Me Kliewer described Ortis as an evasive witness with a selective memory, telling jurors he “just couldn’t be believed.”
Ortis was taken into custody in September 2019. The process leading to his arrest began the previous year, when the RCMP analyzed the contents of a laptop belonging to Vincent Ramos, general manager of the company Phantom Secure Communications, who had been apprehended in the United States.
An RCMP investigation known as “Project Saturation” revealed that members of criminal organizations were using Phantom Secure’s encrypted communications devices.
Ramos would later plead guilty to using his Phantom Secure devices to facilitate the distribution of cocaine and other illicit drugs to countries including Canada.
A retired RCMP investigator testified at trial that he found an email addressed to Ramos from an unknown sender that contained parts of several documents, including mention of documents from the federal law enforcement agency. against money laundering, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center of Canada.
The sender in question offered to provide Ramos with the complete documents in exchange for $20,000.
Ortis admitted in court that he was behind the communications with Ramos and others, but he maintained that it was all part of the clandestine operation involving “Tutanota.”
An international investigation
An agreed statement of facts in the case indicates that information sent anonymously to Ramos, Salim Henareh and Muhammad Ashraf — as well as documents intended for Farzam Mehdizadeh — was “special operational intelligence” within the meaning of the Privacy Act. the information.
This lengthy agreed statement of facts indicates in particular that since at least 2014, the RCMP and several police forces and intelligence agencies of Canada’s close allies were investigating money laundering activities carried out by various entities associated with Altaf Khanani, owner of a money services company based in Dubai.
Salim Henareh and his companies Persepolis International and Rosco Trading, Muhammad Ashraf and his company Finmark Financial, as well as Farzam Mehdizadeh and his company Aria Exchange were targeted by this international investigation in Canada.
In linking Ortis to the information disclosures, the Crown explained to the jury the contents of documents contained on a USB drive seized during a search of Ortis’ downtown Ottawa home during his arrest.
In his testimony, the former intelligence official generally downplayed the sensitivity of the information he shared with investigative targets.
But prosecutor Kliewer painted a much more damning picture, saying the disclosure of these documents could allow targets to evade law enforcement efforts and thwart police progress against criminal networks.