From 2017, Spanish security contractor Undercover Global S.L. allegedly recorded Julian Assange and his visitors inside Ecuador’s London embassy, copied phones and other devices, and transferred intelligence to U.S. officials. Former UC Global employees testified in Spanish proceedings in 2020 that visitors’ passports were photographed, devices were disassembled and downloaded, and microphones were added to cameras in December 2017. The allegations included recordings of meetings with Assange’s lawyers, raising claims of violations of privacy and attorney-client privilege. UC Global owner David Morales denied working for the CIA and said the surveillance was conducted for Ecuador; the CIA and former director Mike Pompeo disputed the claims through litigation.
Lawyers and journalists associated with Assange filed Kunstler v. Central Intelligence Agency in August 2022 in the Southern District of New York, alleging that the CIA, Pompeo, Morales, and UC Global violated their constitutional rights. In December 2023, Judge John Koeltl allowed a device-access privacy claim to proceed while dismissing portions concerning conversations recorded at the embassy. In February 2025, Koeltl dismissed the case after ruling that the CIA properly invoked the state-secrets privilege. Separately, Spain’s National High Court opened proceedings against Morales in August 2019; the source does not establish a final criminal judgment against him or prove CIA operational control.
