Lava Jato prosecutor suffers hacker attack after hearing

Hours after Eduardo Appio, the new judge responsible for the Lava Jato processes in Curitiba, released videos of the hearing this Monday (27) of former Odebrecht lawyer Rodrigo Tacla Duran, Federal Attorney Walter José Mathias Júnior, who represented the Ministry Federal Public (MPF), was the target of cyberattacks. At the hearing, Tacla Duran tried, for the third time, to attribute extortion to former judge Sergio Moro and former prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol.

Mathias Júnior’s Twitter account was hacked, and personal data, such as address and telephone numbers, were collected by the invaders. The profile on the social network has not yet been recovered. Criminals still tried unsuccessfully to access his account on the Telegram messaging app and his personal email.

“I’ve never been a victim of this kind of situation in my life, and ‘coincidentally’ comes hours after a very tumultuous hearing. These invaders got hold of sensitive information, phone number, email, address. It is a serious situation, which puts my integrity and that of my family at risk, and which clearly intends to destabilize my work”, said the prosecutor.

“It is very clear to me that it was an attack not only on me, but also on my attributions in the Lava Jato case”, said Mathias Júnior, who has been acting in the Lava Jato processes for a year.

Tacla Duran’s accusations against Moro and Dallagnol occurred the week after the start of the Federal Police (PF) operation that arrested PCC criminals who were planning an attack against the senator from Paraná and other authorities who fight organized crime. The episode led to a statement by President Lula (PT), in which the PT raised suspicion of the PF’s actions and said that he considered it to be a “framework” on the part of the former judge. The speech was considered disastrous even by the PT’s closest allies.

Faced with the crisis in the government, which had already lasted for days, several influencers and media vehicles supporting Lula took advantage of Tacla Duran’s statements to try to divert criticism of the President of the Republic and create a counteroffensive in order to erode Moro’s image, which had left politically strengthened after the episodes of the PCC plan and the interview in which Lula stated that he wanted to take revenge on Moro when he was imprisoned in the PF.

Immediately after the hearing, some left-wing vehicles even published texts critical of the prosecutor, who had pointed out that Tacla Duran’s new complaint was unfounded, with no evidence to support it. Hours earlier, Mathias Junior had asked the judge to grant secrecy to the hearing and the process. Appio, however, ignored the request, and the case gained wide attention.

Other cyber attacks on Lava Jato members

After the attacks, Mathias Junior contacted the Institutional Security Office and the Ministry of Information Technology of the MPF. If there is progress in the investigations, the information collected will be sent to the Federal Police for the initiation of an investigation, since the case involves a Public Prosecutor.

“I use apps to talk to my advisors and other colleagues about strategies we’re going to take. All of these must be reserved. An attack like this weakens your work, destabilizes you,” said the prosecutor. “These criminal invasions of members of the Public Ministry have already happened in the past, even without due reprimand, which perpetuates this type of attack against the professional and the institution itself”, he lamented.

In June 2019, text message conversations on the Telegram app attributed to former judge Sergio Moro (União Brasil-PR), former prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol (Podemos-PR) and other members of Operation Lava Jato were obtained from of hackers invading cell phones and ended up being published on a news site.

The following month, the PF arrested the author of the attacks as part of Operation Spoofing. A report by the Federal Police concluded that it was not possible to identify the authenticity of the conversations. Even so, the attack was responsible for weakening Operation Lava Jato.

In February 2023, the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) decided to close an inquiry against members of the Lava Jato task force that investigated an alleged attempt by prosecutors to intimidate the ministers of the Court. Investigations were opened at the request of the STJ itself last year, after the leak of messages obtained during Operation Spoofing.

On social media, Moro said that the hacked and publicly disclosed messages only helped to release bandits and undermine the fight against corruption in Brazil.