Asher Levy, the chairman of the controversial NSO Group, has stepped down amid a scandal over Israel Police’s use of its spyware Pegasus against civilians, the Calcalist business news site reports.
The outlet quotes Levy and NSO as saying it is a standard move since Levy was chairman on behalf on English fund Novalpina Capital, and once the fund ended its involvement with NSO and was replaced by Berkeley Research Group, a new chairman has been appointed, Finbarr O’Connor.
Levy was NSO chairman starting in April 2020. Numerous revelations have since emerged about alleged rights violations by governments using the firm’s Pegasus spyware.
Over the past week, Calcalist has revealed that Israeli police used it for years against Israeli civilians, allegedly without oversight and against people not suspected of crimes. Police have denied the charges, though they have appeared to acknowledge using Pegasus.
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
