Latest news with #Azari
West Australian
5 days ago
- West Australian
Dawood Zakaria: Alleged Alameddine associate dies after being shot in head
A man who was ambushed and shot in the head during an allegedly targeted drive-by shooting has died in hospital. Dawood Zakaria was shot in the head inside a Toyota HiLux while it was turning onto Woodville Road, in Granville, about 5pm on Sunday. The 32-year-old died on Tuesday afternoon after being rushed to hospital in a critical condition and undergoing surgery. Police said earlier in the week he had not been expected to survive. It is understood Mr Zakaria was an alleged gangland associate. Another passenger in the front seat, Sydney lawyer Syvlan Singh, suffered arm and leg gunshot injuries. He remains in a stable condition. It is understood gunshots were allegedly intended for Alameddine crime gang member Samimjan Azari, who was in the back seat with his bodyguard Levi Vitukawalu. Both were uninjured in the ordeal. The men had reportedly just attended Mr Azari's bail hearing, joined by Mr Singh – who has no links to the underworld other than his work. It is the second time an attempt on Mr Azari's life has been carried out, escaping another attempted hit in Brighton Le Sands – where he was in a group alongside Mr Zakaria – uninjured three months ago. Strike Force Arrino has been established to investigate the shooting, and will be overseen by Taskforce Falcon. The taskforce is a combination of 13 strike forces to investigate a arson, kidnappings and public shootings since December 2024. 'The recent violence on our streets is horrific,' NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley said. 'We won't tolerate these lawless thugs playing out their vendettas in our communities. 'When innocent people get caught up in them and are made to suffer it's sickening and barbaric. 'We will not tolerate these lawless thugs getting out there with their vendetta against each other and putting in danger members of our community.' Anyone with information, dashcam footage or CCTV vision of the incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Throwing everything at it': Police stand up taskforce amid gangland war fears
Azari, 26 was in the back seat of a Toyota HiLux travelling on Woodville Road in Granville at 5pm on Sunday when his vehicle was set upon by occupants of a black Mercedes-Benz who fired at least seven shots at the car. Dawood Zakaria, an alleged Alameddine associate, was shot in the head and is not expected to survive his injuries. Parramatta lawyer Sylvan Singh was also shot, but is in a stable condition in Westmead Hospital. Azari and Vitukawalu were kept under police guard on the footpath before being led away just after 7pm. Overnight on Sunday, they were each charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol and acquiring a pistol in contravention of firearm prohibition orders that had been previously placed on the pair. The pistol was allegedly found loaded on the front seat of the HiLux. Opposing Azari's bail application in Parramatta Local Court on Monday afternoon, police prosecutor Ky Jiang said the 26-year-old was at the 'epicentre' of an ongoing 'tit-for-tat feud' between the Alameddine clan and rival organised crime networks. 'This incident was targeted toward Mr Azari,' Jiang told the court. Loading 'The reason why is his connection and significant holding in the Alameddine [organised crime network].' Jiang said Azari, who the court heard had reported to Granville police station 15 minutes before the shooting, would commission 'serious offences' if he was released on bail. Under his previous bail conditions, Azari had been required to report daily to police, which Jiang said had made his movements 'predictable'. 'There will be further bloodshed on the streets – the streets will not be safe. And it's because of Mr Azari's standing and holding in the organised crime network,' Jiang said. Jiang said Azari had 'taken up a senior role' in the Alameddine network and had started travelling with several bodyguards after being targeted in an unsuccessful broad daylight assassination attempt in Brighton-Le-Sands in February. Zakaria, who acts as a bodyguard for Azari, was also targeted and uninjured in the shooting. Loading The latest escalation of violence on Sydney's streets has taken on a more sinister character, with several innocent people or minor criminals being targeted in gangland-style killings. Plumber John Versace, 23, was shot at least four times in the driveway of this Sydney home in an execution-style killing. Thi Kim Tran, a 45-year-old mother, was abducted by a group of men from her Bankstown home. Her naked body was found in a burnt-out car. Even children have been harmed, with an eight-year-old boy struck in the head with a baseball bat in the course of Tran's abduction.
The Age
6 days ago
- The Age
‘Throwing everything at it': Police set up taskforce amid gangland war fears
Azari, 26 was in the back seat of a Toyota HiLux travelling on Woodville Road in Granville at 5pm on Sunday when his vehicle was set upon by occupants of a black Mercedes-Benz who fired at least seven shots at the car. Dawood Zakaria, an alleged Alameddine associate, was shot in the head and is not expected to survive his injuries. Parramatta lawyer Sylvan Singh was also shot, but is in a stable condition in Westmead Hospital. Azari and Vitukawalu were kept under police guard on the footpath before being led away just after 7pm. Overnight on Sunday, they were each charged with possessing an unauthorised pistol and acquiring a pistol in contravention of firearm prohibition orders that had been previously placed on the pair. The pistol was allegedly found loaded on the front seat of the HiLux. Opposing Azari's bail application in Parramatta Local Court on Monday afternoon, police prosecutor Ky Jiang said the 26-year-old was at the 'epicentre' of an ongoing 'tit-for-tat feud' between the Alameddine clan and rival organised crime networks. 'This incident was targeted toward Mr Azari,' Jiang told the court. Loading 'The reason why is his connection and significant holding in the Alameddine [organised crime network].' Jiang said Azari, who the court heard had reported to Granville police station 15 minutes before the shooting, would commission 'serious offences' if he was released on bail. Under his previous bail conditions, Azari had been required to report daily to police, which Jiang said had made his movements 'predictable'. 'There will be further bloodshed on the streets – the streets will not be safe. And it's because of Mr Azari's standing and holding in the organised crime network,' Jiang said. Jiang said Azari had 'taken up a senior role' in the Alameddine network and had started travelling with several bodyguards after being targeted in an unsuccessful broad daylight assassination attempt in Brighton-Le-Sands in February. Zakaria, who acts as a bodyguard for Azari, was also targeted and uninjured in the shooting. Loading The latest escalation of violence on Sydney's streets has taken on a more sinister character, with several innocent people or minor criminals being targeted in gangland-style killings. Plumber John Versace, 23, was shot at least four times in the driveway of this Sydney home in an execution-style killing. Thi Kim Tran, a 45-year-old mother, was abducted by a group of men from her Bankstown home. Her naked body was found in a burnt-out car. Even children have been harmed, with an eight-year-old boy struck in the head with a baseball bat in the course of Tran's abduction.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
US lawyer says UK intel firm paid for hack operation against him
By Raphael Satter BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) - A New York attorney has accused a British private intelligence firm of paying mercenary hackers who he says tipped a court battle in his opponents' favor. In a legal motion filed Thursday in Manhattan federal court, Daniel Feldman accused the London-based investigations firm Vantage Intelligence of paying the spies who intercepted privileged communications with his attorneys around 2016, 2017, and 2018. Feldman said the hacking occurred when he was in a court battle with Vantage's clients, a group of companies tied to the defunct Russian oil giant Yukos, over allegations of self-dealing. Feldman denied wrongdoing, but in 2019 he was found liable for breaching his fiduciary duties to several of the Yukos-related entities, although the jury found no evidence of harm and fined him a nominal $5. Feldman, whose law license was suspended for a year in the wake of the verdict, is now seeking to have the judgment thrown out, arguing the case was irrevocably tainted by hacking. Attempts to contact the Yukos-related entities, which are based out of the British Virgin Islands and the Netherlands, were unsuccessful. U.S. attorneys listed for the firms did not return repeated messages seeking comment. Vantage referred questions to a lawyer who did not return messages seeking comment. Vantage last year drew attention in the private intelligence world when it brought in Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater and an ally of President Donald Trump, to serve on its board of advisors. Prince is not named in Feldman's motion and there's no suggestion that he had any involvement with the hacking. Messages left with Prince and his lawyer weren't returned. Feldman's motion follows a pair of Reuters investigations in 2022 and 2023 outlining how the litigants around the world were being hacked by their opponents in high profile cases using mercenary spies based out of India. Feldman was one of thousands of cyberespionage targets identified by Reuters during its reporting. In Feldman's filing, he said that federal prosecutors in Manhattan privately confirmed that his emails had been breached ahead of the 2023 sentencing of Israeli private eye Aviram Azari, a key figure in the hack-for-hire industry. The Justice Department declined comment. Azari, who has since served out his sentence and returned to Israel, did not return an email. A former business associate told Reuters that Azari "refuses to discuss anything related to his previous conviction." In his lawsuit, Feldman said he had been targeted by Indian hackers hired by Azari, and that prosecutors provided him with numerous invoices showing Vantage was being billed by Azari for the hacking at the time. Azari billed Vantage 357,000 euros ($404,800) in total, Feldman said, adding that the spying tipped the scales of justice. "Email was my primary means of communication with my attorneys," Feldman said in the motion. "It belies common sense that it did not create an unfair advantage for the plaintiffs." Feldman joins a small but growing list of litigants who have used evidence of hacking to challenge legal judgments following Reuters' reporting. Last month, Israeli investor Ofir Levin said in legal documents filed in Florida federal court that his former business partner, Edmund Shamsi, had deployed Indian hackers against him in the context of an Israeli arbitration battle he lost. Shamsi's U.S. lawyer said in an email that the allegations were "ridiculous and completely untrue." Last year, Missouri-based aviation executive Farhad Azima had his British fraud judgment thrown out after showing that his legal opponent had covered up its use of Indian hackers to steal his emails. He also settled parallel lawsuits in London and New York against his opponent's law firm, Philadelphia-based Dechert. There was no admission of wrongdoing. ($1 = 0.8819 euros)
Reuters
15-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
US lawyer says UK intel firm paid for hack operation against him
BALTIMORE, Maryland, April 15 (Reuters) - A New York attorney has accused a British private intelligence firm of paying mercenary hackers who he says tipped a court battle in his opponents' favor. In a legal motion filed Thursday, opens new tab in Manhattan federal court, Daniel Feldman accused the London-based investigations firm Vantage Intelligence of paying the spies who intercepted privileged communications with his attorneys around 2016, 2017, and 2018. Feldman said the hacking occurred when he was in a court battle with Vantage's clients, a group of companies tied to the defunct Russian oil giant Yukos, over allegations of self-dealing, opens new tab. Feldman denied wrongdoing, but in 2019 he was found liable for breaching his fiduciary duties, opens new tab to several of the Yukos-related entities, although the jury found no evidence of harm and fined him a nominal $5. Feldman, whose law license was suspended for a year in the wake of the verdict, is now seeking to have the judgment thrown out, arguing the case was irrevocably tainted by hacking. Attempts to contact the Yukos-related entities, which are based out of the British Virgin Islands and the Netherlands, were unsuccessful. U.S. attorneys listed for the firms did not return repeated messages seeking comment. Vantage referred questions to a lawyer who did not return messages seeking comment. Vantage last year drew attention, opens new tab in the private intelligence world when it brought in Erik Prince, the founder of the private military company Blackwater and an ally of President Donald Trump, to serve on its board of advisors. Prince is not named in Feldman's motion and there's no suggestion that he had any involvement with the hacking. Messages left with Prince and his lawyer weren't returned. Feldman's motion follows a pair of Reuters investigations in 2022 and 2023 outlining how the litigants around the world were being hacked by their opponents in high profile cases using mercenary spies based out of India. Feldman was one of thousands of cyberespionage targets identified by Reuters during its reporting. In Feldman's filing, he said that federal prosecutors in Manhattan privately confirmed that his emails had been breached ahead of the 2023 sentencing of Israeli private eye Aviram Azari, a key figure in the hack-for-hire industry. The Justice Department declined comment. Azari, who has since served out his sentence and returned to Israel, did not return an email. A former business associate told Reuters that Azari "refuses to discuss anything related to his previous conviction." In his lawsuit, Feldman said he had been targeted by Indian hackers hired by Azari, and that prosecutors provided him with numerous invoices showing Vantage was being billed by Azari for the hacking at the time. Azari billed Vantage 357,000 euros ($404,800) in total, Feldman said, adding that the spying tipped the scales of justice. "Email was my primary means of communication with my attorneys," Feldman said in the motion. "It belies common sense that it did not create an unfair advantage for the plaintiffs." Feldman joins a small but growing list of litigants who have used evidence of hacking to challenge legal judgments following Reuters' reporting. Last month, Israeli investor Ofir Levin said in legal documents filed in Florida federal court, opens new tab that his former business partner, Edmund Shamsi, had deployed Indian hackers against him in the context of an Israeli arbitration battle he lost. Shamsi's U.S. lawyer said in an email that the allegations were "ridiculous and completely untrue." Last year, Missouri-based aviation executive Farhad Azima had his British fraud judgment thrown out after showing that his legal opponent had covered up its use of Indian hackers to steal his emails. He also settled parallel lawsuits in London and New York against his opponent's law firm, Philadelphia-based Dechert. There was no admission of wrongdoing. ($1 = 0.8819 euros)
