A United States court filing has drawn attention to an international hacking-for-hire operation that targeted government officials in several African countries and thousands of individuals and organisations worldwide, as separate allegations link Washington-based lobbying firm DCI Group, retained by President Bola Tinubu’s administration under a reported $9 million contract, to a hacking campaign against climate-change advocates and critics of American oil giant ExxonMobil.
The filing, submitted on October 8, 2026, in a separate US federal court case involving American transparency activist Aaron Greenspan, contains a sentencing memorandum prepared by US prosecutors in October 2023 concerning Israeli private intelligence operator Aviram Azari.
The memorandum detailed a hacking operation prosecutors said ran between November 2014 and September 2019, involving the targeting of government officials, environmental activists, financial analysts, employees of the Bahamas gaming authority, members of a Mexican political party and critics of German payment processing company Wirecard.
However, the allegations concerning DCI Group relate to a separate strand of the hacking investigation involving environmental advocates and individuals critical of ExxonMobil.
The sentencing memorandum does not establish that DCI Group targeted African government officials, nor does it implicate the Nigerian government in commissioning or financing any of the hacking operations.
According to the prosecutors’ account, Azari operated an Israeli private intelligence business through which he coordinated hacking campaigns for paying clients. He allegedly managed projects by directing hacking groups, including a group based in India, to target selected individuals and organisations.
The hackers reportedly deployed spearphishing emails designed to appear as though they originated from trusted sources, including email service providers and victims’ employers, to deceive targets into surrendering their login credentials.
Those credentials were allegedly used to gain unauthorised access to victims’ email accounts, social media profiles and online storage services.
The hackers subsequently supplied information obtained from compromised accounts to Azari, who passed the stolen material to clients who had commissioned the intelligence-gathering operations.
US prosecutors said their investigation confirmed that more than 100 victims had been successfully hacked, while approximately 200 additional targets were identified. The wider operation was estimated to have targeted thousands of individuals and organisations across the world.
Government officials from several African countries were among those targeted, although the sentencing memorandum did not identify Nigeria as one of the countries affected or name any Nigerian government official as a victim.
The revelations have drawn attention to DCI Group because of separate allegations concerning its alleged involvement in a hacking-and-leak operation targeting climate-change advocates and other critics of ExxonMobil.
In November 2024, Reuters reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had investigated DCI Group over its alleged role in a hacking operation targeting prominent critics of the oil company.
According to the Reuters investigation, more than 500 email accounts belonging to environmental activists and their allies were targeted between 2015 and 2018.
The operation allegedly sought to undermine climate-change investigations and lawsuits involving ExxonMobil by obtaining private emails and documents belonging to environmental advocates and subsequently leaking some of the material to the press.
Articles based on the leaked material reportedly helped undermine investigations by the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts into ExxonMobil’s knowledge of climate change and allegations that the company had misrepresented climate-related risks.
US prosecutors said ExxonMobil subsequently relied on some of the resulting media reports in court filings while challenging the investigations.
Although the sentencing memorandum described how information obtained through hacking was used, it did not identify the clients who commissioned Azari’s projects.
Reuters separately linked DCI Group to the investigation into the hacking of environmental activists. The firm, however, denied involvement in hacking or unlawfully obtaining information.
In a statement reported by Reuters in December 2024, DCI Group said it had “not been involved in nor commissioned others to hack or to obtain information unlawfully.”
ExxonMobil also denied involvement in the espionage campaign, stating that it condemned hacking if any had occurred.
The allegations against DCI Group remain distinct from the criminal proceedings against Azari, whose guilty plea and conviction established his involvement in the hacking-for-hire operation but did not establish that DCI Group commissioned the attacks.
Neither Azari’s conviction nor the allegations concerning DCI Group establish any connection between the Nigerian government and the hacking campaigns.
The scrutiny surrounding DCI Group has intensified following its engagement by the Tinubu administration under a lobbying agreement reportedly worth $9 million.
In January 2026, reports based on documents filed with the US Department of Justice disclosed that the Nigerian government had retained the Washington-based firm to help communicate its position to American policymakers and maintain US support for counterterrorism operations in West Africa.
The arrangement was facilitated through Aster Legal, a Kaduna-based law firm acting on behalf of National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu.
Under the agreement, DCI Group was hired to communicate the Nigerian government’s efforts to protect Christian communities and sustain American support for counterterrorism operations against jihadist groups in the region.
The contract reportedly provided for a monthly retainer of $750,000 under an initial six-month agreement valued at $4.5 million, with provisions that could extend the total contract value to $9 million.
Reports on the arrangement said the initial $4.5 million payment had been made in December 2025.
The lobbying contract has attracted attention because of the firm’s previously reported links to the investigation into the hacking of environmental advocates. However, the agreement with the Nigerian government is separate from the hacking operation described in the US prosecutors’ sentencing memorandum.
The hacking campaign detailed in the memorandum allegedly operated from November 2014 until September 2019, years before the Nigerian government’s reported engagement of DCI Group.
No evidence in the materials reviewed establishes that the Nigerian government’s lobbying agreement was connected to the hacking campaign against climate-change advocates or the broader operation that targeted African government officials.
Azari, who pleaded guilty in April 2022 to conspiracy to commit computer hacking, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, was sentenced to 80 months in prison on November 16, 2023.
The court also ordered the forfeiture of $4,844,968 linked to the operation.
According to the US Department of Justice, Azari played a significant role in organising and facilitating an international hacking-for-hire campaign that generated more than $4.8 million in proceeds over nearly five years.
His conviction established his criminal responsibility for the offences to which he pleaded guilty, while questions concerning the commissioning of particular hacking projects and the possible involvement of other individuals or organisations have continued to attract scrutiny.
The separate allegations concerning DCI Group have also prompted calls in the United States for further investigation into the hacking of climate-change advocates.
However, the available court documents do not establish that DCI Group commissioned the hacking operation prosecuted in Azari’s case, that it was responsible for targeting African government officials, or that Nigeria’s subsequent lobbying agreement was connected to the alleged cyberespionage activities.