The Crime Messenger: How Sky ECC Phones Became a Tool of the Criminal Trade

What do criminals say to each other when they think nobody can hear?

The fall of Sky Global — an encrypted communications company that once promised limitless privacy — may be our best-ever chance to find out.

For years, the company’s specially modified phones were an essential tool for fugitive bank robbers, global drug traffickers, and Serbian criminal organizations. In text messages and voice recordings, in groups and in one-on-one chats, these men discussed their next cocaine shipments, argued about the logistics of upcoming heists, and bragged about their latest acts of savagery.

Eventually, police agencies and prosecutors from multiple countries closed in. Their efforts led to the indictment of the company’s founder and 30 others in a Paris court earlier this year.

The company says it did its best to control its users, and bears no responsibility if a few criminals slipped through.

But few details about how the Sky universe worked have been released thus far — until now. In the Crime Messenger project, reporters from OCCRP and 12 partners gained access to over 3,800 files of evidence, police reports, chat logs, and other materials from the French investigation. These exclusive materials provide an unprecedented look at how some of the world’s most dangerous men used the service — and how they became its trusted distributors.