A Canadian software developer accused of playing a “central role” in creating and operating EncroChat, an encrypted phone service favoured by organized crime groups, has lost his legal battle against extradition to France to face criminal charges.
A federal criminal court in Switzerland denied an appeal by Seiji Godo, a 38-year-old Canadian who had been living in the canton of Zug since 2019, according to a recent decision. Mr. Godo has since been extradited to France, where he is currently in custody, according to French news outlet Le Parisien.
Mr. Godo is not the first Canadian to be extradited to France in connection with EncroChat, which grew to more than 60,000 users before it was infiltrated by French police. Paul Krusky, a 55-year-old from Guelph, Ont., had been living in the Dominican Republic with his wife when he was arrested and extradited to France in February, 2024, on drug and money-laundering charges. French prosecutors have said Mr. Krusky is the alleged mastermind behind EncroChat.
His lawyer, Antoine Vey, previously told The Globe and Mail that Mr. Krusky is the victim of a “fake story” concocted by French authorities.
Police and prosecutors across Europe have said that EncroChat was used by organized crime groups to co-ordinate drug shipments, launder money, trade arms and even plot murders, all while evading monitoring by law enforcement. EncroChat shut itself down after it realized it had been compromised.
EncroChat was an operating system loaded onto modified Android smartphones that could be purchased through a network of resellers. Users could switch to the EncroChat operating system by entering a password to access encrypted messaging services and other secure apps. The phones came with a “panic wipe” feature that allowed users to erase the contents by punching in a code, while a reseller could do the same remotely.
French police began investigating EncroChat in 2017 and by 2020 were able to access the company’s servers housed at a data centre in the northern city of Roubaix. The information retrieved through that investigation has so far resulted in more than 6,500 arrests and the seizure of huge quantities of drugs and more than €700-million ($1-billion) in cash.
French authorities allege that Mr. Godo, along with his brother and another unnamed individual, built the EncroChat system. The three developers were paid approximately US$3-million over three years for their services, according to the Swiss court document.
Authorities allege that Mr. Godo also dealt with problems that arose on the EncroChat network and for its customers.
In his appeal, Mr. Godo argued that EncroChat’s underlying technology was not much different from the encryption used by BlackBerry to protect its users’ e-mails and that there is nothing inherently criminal about the technical work he performed.
His lawyer in Switzerland, Mark Livschitz, did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Godo is referred to only as “A” in the Swiss court document, although The Globe previously connected the extradition case to him.
Thierry Marembert, an attorney for Mr. Godo in France, told The Globe that his client “denies any wrongdoing.”
“He will answer the investigators’ questions, which he never tried to avoid since he never received an invitation for an interview despite the fact that his address was and remained well known. He is confident that his explanations will clarify his role of a pure IT technician and will dissipate any ambiguity or misunderstanding,” Mr. Marembert said in an e-mailed statement.
Mr. Godo challenged the extradition on numerous grounds, including that his arrest warrant was invalid because French authorities never attempted to contact him first or invite him for questioning and that prosecutors had not established his complicity in criminal acts. He also argued that France went on a “worldwide fishing expedition” and that any evidence cannot be relied upon. He claimed his arrest was politically motivated, owing to the French government’s dislike of encrypted communications.
The court rejected his arguments. “It can be assumed that the complainant was aware of the criminal use of the EncroChat phones and at least accepted this,” reads the Swiss court document, which is in German.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. Godo was a director and chief executive officer of SDM Technologies in Zug. The company sold mobile phones with a custom operating system that allowed users to toggle between the regular Google Android interface and an ultrasecure environment, complete with an encrypted messaging app.