US/Canada Bust CEO Allegedly Selling Custom BlackBerry Phones to Gangs and Drug Cartels

[Steel]

[quote] A complaint filed in the Southern District of California on Thursday charges Vincent Ramos, the founder and CEO of Canada-based Phantom, with racketeering conspiracy to conduct enterprise affairs, as well as conspiracy to distribute narcotics, and aiding and abetting. Authorities arrested Ramos on Thursday, according to the court docket. Crucially, the complaint alleges that Ramos and Phantom were not simply incidental to a crime, like Apple might be when a criminal uses an iPhone, but that the company was specifically created to facilitate criminal activity.

The heavily redacted complaint, written by FBI Special Agent Nicholas Cheviron, alleges that even members of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel used Phantom’s devices, and that the “upper echelon members” of transnational criminal groups have bought Phantom phones. A second source also familiar with the secure phone industry told Motherboard that the devices have been sold in Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela, as well as to the Hells Angels gang. Cheviron estimates that 20,000 Phantom devices are in use worldwide, with around half of those in Australia; bringing in tens of millions of dollars of revenue to Phantom.[/quote]
[url=https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/a34b7b/phantom-secure-sinaloa-drug-cartel-encrypted-blackberry]Motherboard[/url]

[LZTYBRN]

for those wondering what the custom mods are, the article mentions disabled microphone and camera, as well as the ability to send messages through private networks