Lawyers for Goran Gogic, a former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro facing serious drug trafficking charges, are pushing back against the US government’s use of evidence from intercepted messages. These messages came from a European police operation targeting the Sky ECC cryptophone network. Gogic stands accused of being part of a scheme importing vast amounts of cocaine.
His defense claims the prosecutors skirted US legal protections by relying on foreign surveillance efforts. They’re challenging the validity of the evidence gathered by French authorities, who accessed these messages after hacking Sky ECC, in a collaborative effort with Belgian and Dutch police. This case marks the first time legal arguments used to dismiss evidence obtained through torture have been applied to exclude international intercepts.
Joseph Corozzo, one of Gogic’s lawyers, argues that Gogic, being a non-US citizen, doesn’t enjoy the constitutional protections that would apply to an American. He emphasized that had Gogic been a US citizen, the court would likely have suppressed the evidence swiftly. The burden lies heavier on them to navigate these complexities for a non-citizen.
US prosecutors counter that the intercepted texts are comparable to the standard data collected from American telecom and social media firms. They assert that even if Gogic had Fourth Amendment rights, the actions of French law enforcement agencies don’t scandalize the conscience, claiming no intent to sidestep constitutional requirements.
Sky Global, based in Canada, developed encrypted phones starting in 2008. By 2016, Belgian police had already begun probing their use among organized criminals after seizing these phones during drug raids. Investigations intensified internationally by the end of 2018, leading to concerted efforts to break the encryption.
In June 2019, French investigators began intercepting Sky ECC messages. It wasn’t until Dutch tech experts cracked the encryption in early 2021 that real-time access to messages became possible. A major operation, dubbed Operation Argus, unfolded on March 9, 2021, leading to thousands of arrests and the capture of one billion messages.
Gogic was arrested in Miami in October 2022, following a massive cocaine seizure in Philadelphia. His case emerges from an extensive federal investigation into a global drug trafficking network moving cocaine from South America to the US and Europe.
His lawyers assert that US investigators engaged in “forum shopping” to bypass American laws and protections, putting their inquiries on hold until they could use evidence that would otherwise be inadmissible. Documents reveal a tacit understanding between US and Dutch officials to pause US actions until after European authorities completed theirs.
The Dutch police also had to work around legal limitations; a Dutch magistrate once denied their request for an extensive data seizure of Sky ECC, which would have violated users’ rights. Instead, they obtained data through French channels.
The defense is now demanding full disclosure of how the US secured this data, citing potential risks of manipulation. An expert had already flagged alterations in the intercepted message files, and the defense claims crucial metadata about the messages has not been disclosed.
To analyze the intercepted messages, Dutch police created an AI tool known as Chat-X. This tech enabled investigators to sort through vast quantities of data for relevant criminal activity. Gogic’s defense contends that without access to this metadata and the software’s workings, the prosecution’s evidence is incomplete.
Prosecutors argue that foreign evidence can be utilized in US courts under the “silver platter doctrine.” They maintain that, regardless of how the data was obtained, the situation didn’t constitute an unreasonable search. They assert the process followed legal and constitutional standards, arguing that the authenticity of the collected evidence can be established through testimony rather than exhaustive reviews of its origins.
The defense, however, insists that the prosecution is sidestepping key issues regarding the reliability and procedural integrity of the evidence, raising questions about the very foundation on which the case stands.