After a global scandal over its use of the notorious Pegasus spyware to target journalists and activists, the Presidential office of Nayib Bukele’s El Salvador secretly sought to acquire alternative spyware through a shadowy international deal involving intermediaries in Central America, Europe, and the Middle East.
In late 2024, two representatives of the Salvadoran government traveled to Romania for a demonstration of a spyware system advertised as “better than Pegasus,” according to a source directly familiar with the proposed deal and documents obtained by The Newsground.
The pair ultimately did not purchase the system, citing the steep $10.9 million asking price. However, according to a source directly involved in the original negotiations, the Salvadoran government continued to pursue spyware with the same company as its cut-out into 2025.
These new revelations come on the heels of a previous hacking scandal linked to President Bukele’s administration, which triggered international condemnation from human rights organizations. In early 2022, it emerged that the Bukele government had used Pegasus spyware, made by the Israeli tech company NSO Group, to spy on journalists and activists.
Recently, the scandal reached the U.S. Congress. On April 16, a group of Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists testified before a Congressional committee on the ongoing erosion of rights in the country and the role Pegasus spyware has played.
“What the story I think is, is that Pegasus software reflects that the loss of rights of one group, sooner or later, will affect the entirety of the society,” Noah Bullock, the executive director of Cristosal, a Central American human rights organization, said.
Despite international condemnation, the proposed Pegasus-like deal demonstrates that the Bukele government has continued to pursue additional mass-surveillance technology.
A trip to Romania
According to documents obtained by The Newsground, the proposed 2024 transaction involved a middleman who was to purchase the technology on behalf of Bukele’s office. That cut-out was the tech company Data & Graphics S.A. de C.V, which has ties to both Bukele and the U.S. government.
One page of an exclusive contract obtained by The Newsground
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The company, run by Erik Altamirano, deals in telecommunications, computer equipment, and electronic security, according to its website. Salvadoran media reported in 2015 that Altamirano and his company had been involved in vote tallying for the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
According to federal procurement records, Data & Graphics received at least 25 contracts totaling $1.3 million from the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador from 2016 through 2024. Most awards were for the purchase of computer equipment and other technology for government agencies in El Salvador working to combat crime, including the National Civil Police and the National Judiciary Council.
The company also had a California branch that was closed in 2023, according to state corporate records.
While the Bukele government has significantly reduced crime, it continues to face criticism for human rights abuses and authoritarian crackdowns on civil society. Beginning last year, Bukele’s actions received broad attention in the U.S. when the Trump administration announced an agreement with Bukele to detain migrants and send them to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.
Altamirano and a representative of the Salvadoran government, Juan Francisco Flores Molina, traveled to Bucharest, Romania, in late 2024 for a demonstration of the “better than Pegasus” technology, according to documents and a person familiar with their travel. The price tag for the spyware was $10.9 million.
According to a source familiar with the technology, the system Bukele’s office sought was a click-based system that could be deployed onto Android devices to monitor phones, track locations, and capture files, among other usages. Documents show the technology could even be deployed through online ads.
Hiding the seller
A draft December 2024 contract reviewed by The Newsground shows Data & Graphics was set to act as a reseller in a proposed deal for the Presidency of El Salvador, purchasing surveillance equipment from a little-known Dubai firm, Masayoshi FZCO, via a European broker.
The signature on the contract was that of a Cypriot man named Constantinos Nikita, Masayoshi’s sole shareholder. Nikita is currently a bunker trader in Cyprus, but has previously worked for several different financial tech companies.
Exclusive contract obtained by The Newsground
When contacted for comment, Nikita confirmed he was the shareholder of Masayoshi and that he was serving as a nominee owner for a friend whom he had met in a past business venture. Nikita offered to provide more details about Masayoshi, but later said he had spoken to his lawyer and would not answer further questions.
While the extent of Nikita’s involvement remains unclear, a source told The Newsground that the main figure involved in brokering the deal was an Israeli cyber intelligence consultant named Tomer Bar, who also sells tahini in Mexico and previously worked at Jenovice, an Israeli cyber firm.
Jenovice’s flagship product, “Metropolink,” was marketed as a citywide surveillance system. The company also had a long-distance Wi-Fi interception tool called “Piranha,” which could simulate up to 8 Wi-Fi access points at once.
According to the same source, Bar stated that Masayoshi had connections to Intellexa, the now infamous consortium of companies that sold spyware services. Tal Dilian, the founder of Intellexa, and his wife, Sara Hamou, were both sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2024. Late last year, the Trump administration lifted sanctions on Hamou.
In February, Dilian, Hamou, and two other Intellexa executives were convicted in an Athens court for the use of Intellexa’s spyware by the Greek intelligence services to surveil journalists, politicians, and businessmen.
Although The Newsground was unable to independently confirm whether Masayoshi is linked to Intellexa, numerous reports indicate that Intellexa continues to operate through a web of global shell companies, including some in Dubai.
An investigation by the Insikt Group found that one Dubai company, Pulse FZCO, “likely operates as a front entity used to facilitate the shipment of Intellexa-related products, either directly to suspected Intellexa customers previously identified by Insikt Group or to intermediary entities that import such products on behalf of the end customers.”
Bar did not respond to a request for comment about his involvement or the connection to Intellexa. The El Salvadoran President’s Office, as well as Data & Graphics, also did not respond to questions about their role in trying to obtain spyware.
