A Wall Street Journal reporter has accused a law firm of hiring cyber mercenaries to end his career. Jay Solomon, a former chief of foreign affairs correspondent for the said publication was fired due to leaked emails that showed unethical source-reporter conversations.
His source, Farhad Azima, a wealthy defense contractor and allegedly a CIA asset as well, had supposedly offered Solomon a stake in his fledgling company. The emails show that the former reporter had shown interest in the proposition, according to Gizmodo.
The Accusation Against the Law Firm
Jay Solomon believed that Dechert LLP, a major American law firm, has illegally hired cyber firms like BellTrox InfoTech Services and CyberRoot Risk Advisory to steal information from his emails via hacking, and published them.
This led to the reporter filing a lawsuit in the US District Court in Washington D.C. against the law firm. Azima also filed a lawsuit against Dechert, but with an entirely different reason. Azima claimed that the hack was meant to ruin his reputation on behalf of Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al-Qasimi, who was also a client of Dechert LLP.
The accusation was denied by the law firm, and expressed that they will defend the allegations.
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The Business Offer
The business offer in the emails that were leaked sparked the fire that burned down Jay Solomon's career. Based on the uncovered information, the reporter was offered a 10% stake in a new company by Farhad Azima, called Denx LLC. The other partners were former CIA officers, Gary Bernsten and Scott Modell.
The two mentioned CIA officers claimed that Solomon was involved in discussing proposed deals with Azima, and that he used the businessman as a source at the same time. However, they also added that Solomon withdrew from the deal shortly after the business efforts began. Bersten and Modell gave no evidence to support the claims.
Farhad Azima is an Iranian-born aviation magnate. He was known to have ferried weapons for the CIA. As mentioned in Poynter, Azima wrote to Solomon talking about a proposal contract worth $725 million, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to AP News.
The proposal would allow the UAE to allegedly spy on activities inside nearby Iran. Azima's firms would also manage surveillance planes that are meant to monitor activity in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
Solomon was then expected to deliver the proposal to government representatives. However, he later claimed that it was only to maintain his connection with Azima. He added that he never took money from Azima, or agreed to any form of business relationship with him.
It did not look well for Solomon when text messages surfaced, where he was asking Azima if he had told a mutual friend about their plans for the business, and Azima replied saying that he did not.
Wall Street Journal spokesman, Steve Severinghaus, said that they were dismayed by the actions and poor judgment of Solomon. He then concluded that Solomon has indeed, violated his ethical obligations as a reporter.
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