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Interesting: Eliminalia’s ‘Reputation Laundering Tactics’ by OCCRP!

Spanish reputation management agency Eliminalia
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We recently reported on an alleged action by the reputation agency Eliminalia against the Italian boiler room operator Gennaro Lanza. A report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has uncovered troubling practices by this Spanish reputation agency. This company has been helping individuals involved in criminal activities, from drug traffickers to kleptocrats, erase their dubious pasts from the internet.

Scope of Eliminalia’s Operations

Registered in Barcelona, Eliminalia, which recently changed its name to iData Protection S.L., has been in operation for a decade. It boasts over 1,400 clients, many of whom have been convicted or are suspected of various crimes. According to Wikipedia, the technical offices are in Kyiv, Ukraine, and the company is part of Maidan Holdings, a Miami-based holding company.

The company’s tactics include intimidating journalists, producing fake news, and misusing copyright infringement notices to exploit “right to be forgotten” laws.

Read the story about Eliminalia and Gennaro Lanza here.

Based in Barcelona, Eliminalia has been laundering reputations for a decade … Eliminalia is part of a growing disinformation-for-hire industry that helps bad actors, from criminals to kleptocrats, to hide their murky pasts.

OCCRP report

Key Clients and Services

The OCCRP report highlights several high-profile clients of Eliminalia:

  • Italian company Area S.p.A. used Eliminalia to remove reports of fines imposed for illegal dealings with Syria.
  • Malchas Tetruashvili, linked to Russian-Georgian organized crime, sought services to erase content related to his criminal activities.
  • Antonio Herrero Lázaro, involved in a prostitution ring, used Eliminalia to target articles about his conviction.
  • José Mestre Fernandez, a convicted drug trafficker, employed Eliminalia to clean his online image.
  • The Cierco Brothers, who are associated with money laundering investigations, were also Eliminalia clients.

The Faces Behind Eliminalia

The company is officially run by Diego “Didac” Giménez Sánchez (pictured left) a Spanish entrepreneur now believed to be in Georgia. However, Spanish investigators suspect that Jose Maria Hill Prados, who was convicted of sexually abusing Sánchez, might be controlling Eliminalia, part of a network of companies linked to Hill Prados and Sánchez.

Eliminalia’s Legal and Ethical Controversies

Eliminalia‘s practices have raised significant ethical concerns. The company has been found to open new business ventures with its own criminal clients in some countries. The leaked files obtained by Forbidden Stories and shared with OCCRP provide insights into Eliminalia‘s extensive digital influence and dubious methods.

The Impact on Right to be Forgotten Laws

While some of Eliminalia‘s business comes from individuals seeking to erase malicious material, the majority of its clients are criminals manipulating laws meant to protect privacy. This misuse of “right to be forgotten” laws poses significant challenges to maintaining transparency and accountability online.

The company’s lawyers declined to respond to questions regarding their operations and clients, accusing journalists of bias. They argued that many questions concerned business secrets about the company’s clients.

Preliminary Opinion

The revelations about Eliminalia highlight the growing disinformation industry’s role in assisting individuals with problematic backgrounds in managing their reputations. This report underscores the need for vigilance against such practices that manipulate online information to the detriment of truth and accountability. FinTelegram warns its readers to be cautious of such reputation management firms that engage in unethical practices under the guise of protecting privacy.

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