(Reuters) – A senior attorney in the law firm Dechert covered up the foundation of the cache of hacked emails used to win a case against an Iranian-American aviation tycoon, an old colleague said in legal papers filed a week ago.
The tycoon, Farhad Azima, is suing Dechert over allegations that certain from the firm’s London-based partners – Neil Gerrard, who has since retired from the firm – organized the theft of his emails and leaked these to the web in front of a British lawsuit filed in 2022.
Now an affidavit by British private eye Stuart Page has offered support for Mr. Azima’s case, alleging that Mr. Gerrard helped concoct a bogus story that will explain how he got a duplicate of the stolen data.
Dechert declined to comment. Representatives for Mr. Gerrard, who had previously denied wrongdoing, did not return emails. Lawyers for Mr. Page didn't respond to messages.
Mr. Page’s affidavit could open a brand new window into how hackers are utilized to win high-stakes litigation.
A Reuters investigation has previously revealed the existence of several India-based hackers that worked with Western private eyes to hack parties involved with lawsuits. Mr. Azima was one of the hackers’ targets.
It was at 2022, shortly after he was targeted through the hackers, that Mr. Azima was sued by one of Dechert’s clients, the Emirates-based Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority.
The British judge who tried that case in 2022 discovered that the leaked emails showed Mr. Azima had engaged in “seriously fraudulent conduct” in his dealings with RAKIA and ordered him to pay $4.2 million in compensation to the fund.
Mr. Azima has fought to toss the ruling out on the causes the emails were stolen through the opposing party. He recently was granted a retrial in great britan, that is because of begin the coming year.
