Ortis does a walk-in

This is how the pros do it

There is a 507-page compilation of material, including email communications, contained in the “agreed statement of facts” presented in the Cameron Ortis case. The extent of this material, in itself, is extraordinary.  Usually agreed statements of fact in criminal trials are a few pages at most.

Ortis’s defence team doesn’t plan to challenge the factual nature of this material. Their game plan appears to be different--to agree that the email communications between Cameron Ortis, former Director General of the RCMP’s National Intelligence Coordination unit, and organized crime figures, are factual and probative, but were conducted under some kind of authority that Ortis possessed.  In other words, that he was on a one-man secret mission into the organized crime underworld. Interesting story, that, to spin before a jury. We shall see and be able to judge the full narrative when the defence has its turn in court.

So far it has been the Crown prosecutors leading the charge and explaining to the jury the significance of some of Ortis’s clandestine email comms.

Ortis engaged in email exchanges with Vincent Ramos, proprietor of a dodgy business based in Richmond, B.C., that supplied modified and encrypted Blackberry smart phones to underworld figures, as a tool to allow their communications to stay ‘dark.’  Ramos was indicted by a US grand jury, following an FBI investigation, and arrested in March 2018. The Department of Justice news release stated that:

“This is the first time the U.S. government has targeted a company and its principals for knowingly and intentionally conspiring with criminal organizations by providing them with technological tools to evade law enforcement and obstruct justice while committing transnational drug trafficking.”

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/chief-executive-and-four-associates-indicted-conspiring-global-drug-traffickers

Ramos pled guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy and is currently serving a nine-year sentence. At the time of his arrest and the dismantling of his operation, the US government estimated that there were between 10-20,000 Phantom Secure devices in circulation worldwide.  It was claimed that Ramos made a pretty penny through his company, which generated some $80 million in annual revenue since 2008.  

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime described Ramos as a “cyber genius” who chose to work for criminals rather than pursue a “brilliant” career in the tech industry.

https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/untoc20/truecrimestories/phantom-secure.html

Ortis approached Ramos with care. He operated in line with a standard playbook for “walk-in” agents volunteering information, although in this case the allegation is that Ortis was a walk-in to a criminal organization, not a defector to a foreign state intelligence service.

In his communications with Ramos, revealed in the agreed statement of facts submitted in court, a few things stand out about Ortis’s ‘walk-in’ methodology.

1.     He did not reveal his true identity, but posed as a private sector “hacker.” (Would be interesting to know whether Ramos believed this)

2.     He wanted to ensure the creation of a secure communications channel with Ramos

3.     He understood that Ramos might be suspicious of his approach and offered to prove his bona fides by providing an initial and partial package of evidence, to establish that he had access to materials that would allow Ramos to understand how law enforcement agencies were tracking him and to be able to have some early warning of any impending action against his company.

4.     He persisted in his 2015 efforts to lure Ramos into his scheme, offering up a piece of intelligence that warned Ramos and his principals against a person posing as a “friendly”—in effect betraying an undercover police informant.

5.     He was modest in his initial demand for payment—asking for only $20,000 for an initial tranche of documents

6.     He wanted to establish a longer-term “business relationship” with Ramos

All of this is consistent with the methodology of a “walk-in.” Of course, Ortis was turning the playbook on its head by allegedly offering intelligence to an organization known for its work with global organized crime. He was also offering, as some “walk-ins” will do, to stay in place and continue to provide sensitive intelligence to the Ramos organization.

The extent to which Ramos accepted this walk-in offer remains unclear at this stage in the trial. It is also immaterial to the trial’s outcome.

Thanks to a journalist colleague I now have access to the agreed statements of facts and its voluminous contents.   I may find more there that I think worthy of comment.

In the meantime, the Ortis trial takes a break for Thanksgiving. Ortis is out on bail but subject to strict conditions and has to wear an electronic tracking device.