The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $5 million for the arrest of Maximilian Rivkin, a Swedish national who served as the administrator of an encrypted communication service used by criminal networks worldwide. Rivkin has been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2021 when law enforcement agencies apprehended numerous individuals involved in the administration, use, and distribution of Anom devices, which were secretly operated by American and Australian authorities to monitor criminal activities.
Over 12,000 Anom devices were sold to 300 criminal syndicates, including the Italian and Albanian mafia, drug syndicates, and other organized crime groups.
Users of the Anom devices believed their communications were protected by impenetrable encryption, leading them to openly discuss illegal activities such as narcotics concealment, drug shipments, money laundering, and even violent threats.
Rivkin, among 17 foreign nationals indicted by U.S. authorities, is linked to various illegal activities, including drug sales, money laundering, murder conspiracy, and kidnapping, based on messages sent through the platform.
The Anom devices were distributed as part of Operation Trojan Shield, in which an informant collaboratively developed these phones with the FBI to gain a reduced sentence. Designed to resemble regular Android smartphones but lacking typical functionalities like voice calling and internet browsing, the primary purpose of Anom devices was to provide a supposedly secure and covert communication platform for criminals.
Through undercover promotion and control over Anom’s server infrastructure, law enforcement agencies were able to intercept and decrypt criminal messages, acquiring valuable intelligence, identifying key individuals involved, and tracking their movements.
