US intelligence officials desperate to get back stolen cyberweapons reportedly paid $100,000 to a Russian operative who claimed he was not only in possession of the hacking tools but had compromising information on President Donald Trump.
According to a report by the New York Times on Friday, the Russian took the money but failed to turn over the stolen material or the dirt on Trump.
The outlet reports that the CIA began meeting with the unidentified spy early last year after he claimed to have cyberweapons stolen from the National Security Agency. The man also told American officials that he had images of Trump hanging out with hookers in Moscow in 2013.
US spies reportedly paid a Russian spy $100,000 after he claimed to have cyberweapons stolen from the National Security Agency
The Russian also said he had alleged photos of President Donald with three hookers in Mowsow
Several US intelligence officials who spoke with the Times made it clear to the outlet that they were not interested in the Trump dirt but wanted the stolen NSA hacking tools, which were designed to break into computer networks in Russia, China and other US rivals.
The materials were stolen in 2017 by a group which calls itself Shadow Brokers.
The Times reports that American spies had their doubts about the Russian operative, who was known to have ties to Russian intelligence and cybercriminals, but decided to arrange a deal with him.
The man initially asked for $10 million in exchange for the information, but later changed it to $1 million. After months of negotiations, US intelligence met the Russian spy in September at a Berlin TK to give him the first installment of his payment – $100,000.
Instead of coming through on his end of the deal, the Russian spy handed over a 15-second video that showed an American businessman speaking to two women in a hotel room. There was no sound in the video and no evidence the man was Trump.
The Russian took the money but never turned anything over. The cyberweapons were stolen from the NSA last year
To keep the deal from ending, the Russian also said he had information on Trump associates. In October and December he delivered documents he alleged contained information which implicated Trump’s associates, but the Times reports that most of the information the documents included were already public knowledge.
The Russian also said he was holding on to the NSA cyberweapons ‘at the orders of senior Russian intelligence officials’.
Fearing the man might have been working with the Russian government and purposefully providing false information to create discord in the American government, US officials cut ties with the operative.
Earlier this year, the Times reports, they gave him one more chance but he still did not follow through on providing the hacking tools and information he claimed to have.
Officials told the man to either leave Western Europe or face criminal charges. The Russian decided to leave.