Nicolas Giannakopoulos
Giannakopoulos is a credentialed political scientist who used university affiliations, NGO presidencies, and research-institute directorships as platforms for intelligence collection and influence work on behalf of state and corporate clients. His role as SCL Group's Swiss partner and his recruitment by Benedetti for the SoftBank campaign place him at the intersection of the Cambridge Analytica data ecosystem, the Epstein-adjacent Benedetti/Misra financial network, and the broader intelligence-for-hire industry that includes firms such as Psy-Group and Team Jorge.
Nicolas Giannakopoulos is a Swiss-Greek political scientist and criminologist who operated a cluster of Geneva-based intelligence and risk-consulting firms — Inside.CO SA, Miles SA, Global Risk Profile, and the Organized Crime Observatory (OCO) — while holding an academic appointment at the University of Geneva's Global Studies Institute. Between 2010 and 2017 he served as the Swiss partner and agent for SCL Group, the parent company of Cambridge Analytica, sharing office space and phone lines with SCL's Geneva operation. 1
Giannakopoulos does not appear by name in the Epstein document corpus. Records show his connection to the network runs through Alessandro Benedetti, a Paris-based intermediary who appears repeatedly in Epstein's contact lists and calendar entries 2345 6. In 2015-2016, Benedetti recruited Giannakopoulos as a subcontractor in a campaign to discredit SoftBank executives Nikesh Arora and Alok Sama on behalf of Rajeev Misra, who paid USD 500,000 through a Cyprus shell company 7. Examination of corporate filings identifies that shell as Barkmere Limited (HE 338259), incorporated weeks before the operation began 8.
Concurrently, Giannakopoulos conducted intelligence-gathering operations for Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's government in connection with the 1MDB scandal, staging a fraudulent University of Geneva seminar in October 2016 designed to surveil opposition figures and 1MDB investigators. 9 10 His exposure by the Sarawak Report led to his suspension and termination from the university in 2017. 11 Prior to the 1MDB operation, he had executed an analogous covert influence campaign on behalf of the Kazakh government targeting oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov in 2014-2015, using OCO's academic veneer to produce reports that served state intelligence objectives. 12
The Campaign Against SoftBank Executives
The central thread connecting Giannakopoulos to the Epstein network is the SoftBank shareholder campaign of 2015-2016. Alessandro Benedetti recruited Giannakopoulos as a subcontractor to discredit SoftBank executives Nikesh Arora and Alok Sama. 7 The campaign was financed by Rajeev Misra, then a senior SoftBank executive, who routed USD 500,000 through Standard Chartered Bank to Barkmere Group, a multi-jurisdiction shell structure controlled by Benedetti with entities in both Cyprus (Barkmere Limited, HE 338259, incorporated November 24, 2014) and the British Virgin Islands. Review of the filings suggests the incorporation timing — weeks before the operation commenced — points to a vehicle created specifically to channel these funds 8.
Giannakopoulos's role involved distributing screenshots of Arora and Sama's private banking records and emails to journalists 7. He also served as the nominal shareholder behind a formal complaint letter sent to the SoftBank board on January 20, 2016, drafted by Boies Schiller Flexner LLP partner Matthew Schwartz. Analysis of the legal relationships indicates a further overlap, in that the same firm separately represented Epstein victims including Virginia Giuffre 13.
Giannakopoulos also hired freelance journalist Mark Hollingsworth to pitch a SoftBank-related story to The Independent, which was published in October 2015. Email evidence suggests Hollingsworth would be compensated if the story ran, indicating a pay-for-placement arrangement alongside the campaign. Connection #436 7
After Benedetti and Misra fell out, the operation was reported by the Wall Street Journal in February 2020. SoftBank and Alok Sama filed defamation complaints against Giannakopoulos at the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office on December 23, 2016. Giannakopoulos counter-filed alleging computer attacks on his company Global Risk Profile. No public record of criminal conviction has surfaced. 11
1MDB Intelligence Gathering and the Bogus Geneva Seminar
Running parallel to the SoftBank campaign, Giannakopoulos conducted intelligence operations on behalf of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's government in connection with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal. The centerpiece was a seminar held October 26-27, 2016, formally hosted by the Observatory on Security (OUS) at the University of Geneva's Global Studies Institute. 9 10
According to reporting by the Sarawak Report, the seminar was designed as an intelligence-collection exercise disguised as academic engagement. Giannakopoulos invited senior Malaysian civil society figures and 1MDB investigators, including Clare Rewcastle Brown, editor of Sarawak Report. 10 He promised that Swiss officials would brief attendees on the progress of Switzerland's 1MDB investigation. Former Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and opposition MP Nurul Izzah Anwar were listed as speakers but did not attend, and no Swiss officials appeared. Instead, Giannakopoulos steered discussions toward how frozen Swiss-seized 1MDB assets could be diverted to an NGO that attendees could join. 10
The seminar cost CHF 17,000, paid privately by Giannakopoulos rather than by the university as formal invitations implied. The university had no knowledge the event was taking place despite invitations sent in its name. 11 After Sarawak Report exposed the operation in March 2017, the University of Geneva opened an internal investigation that found Giannakopoulos's appointment as Vice-Director of OUS was never formally endorsed, the seminar funding was never submitted or approved, and he had used university premises and branding without authorization. He was terminated in June 2017. His superior, Professor Frederic Esposito at the Global Studies Institute, was also implicated. 11
The SCL Group's Southeast Asia office, based in Kuala Lumpur and directed by Azrin Zizal, provides an organizational link between Giannakopoulos's SCL partnership and the Malaysia-focused intelligence operations, though no direct evidence of SCL involvement in the 1MDB seminar has been established. 9
Kazakhstan Influence Campaign
Before the 1MDB operation, Giannakopoulos ran a closely parallel influence campaign for the Kazakh government in 2014-2015. The target was Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive Kazakh oligarch and regime critic living in exile. As reported by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, FTI Consulting, a London-based PR firm serving Kazakhstan, activated Giannakopoulos's Organized Crime Observatory (OCO) to produce a purportedly independent report portraying Ablyazov as a swindler hiding behind claims of political persecution. FTI employee Jonathan Hawker coordinated the work, and Giannakopoulos held meetings at the Reed Smith law firm in London with FTI representatives. 12
Giannakopoulos claimed to have refused direct FTI payment for the OCO report but acknowledged accepting research contracts from companies close to the Kazakh government through his company Inside.co. 12 The same pattern — academic or NGO credentials used to produce reports that appear independent but serve the objectives of a state client — recurs in the 1MDB seminar one year later, suggesting a recurring business model rather than an isolated incident.
SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica Nexus
Giannakopoulos served as SCL Group's partner and agent in Switzerland from 2010 onward, with one of his Swiss companies sharing an address and phone number with SCL's Geneva office. 1 This relationship placed him within the organizational infrastructure of Cambridge Analytica's parent company during the period when SCL/CA conducted election influence operations across multiple countries including Trinidad, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Kenya. According to the available filings, none of these operations were registered under FARA or filed LDA lobbying disclosures, and SCL International Group Ltd was itself registered as a BVI offshore entity (reg #677767, incorporated September 23, 2005, at Portcullis TrustNet Chambers, Road Town, Tortola) 14.
The Cambridge Analytica connection creates a two-hop link to Steve Bannon, who served as CA Vice President from June 2014 to August 2016 — overlapping with the period when Giannakopoulos ran the SoftBank campaign. No direct evidence of Giannakopoulos-Bannon contact or coordination has been found. Records reveal that Richard Kahn forwarded a Senate Intelligence Committee article about Bannon being questioned about Cambridge Analytica to Jeffrey Epstein on December 6, 2018 15, indicating Epstein's awareness of and interest in the CA ecosystem 16.
The broader SCL/CA ecosystem shows overlapping relationships with several intelligence-for-hire operations: Team Jorge (Tal Hanan's Israeli disinformation operation) did business with Cambridge Analytica; Psy-Group (Joel Zamel's firm, investigated by Mueller) established a CA relationship from December 2016; SCL Group did business with Michael Flynn in November-December 2016; SCL was partially owned by Vincent Tchenguiz; and Cambridge Analytica itself was owned by Gravitas Maximus LLC, the Mercer family vehicle. Cross-reference of these connections places Giannakopoulos within a private intelligence ecosystem that intersected with multiple nodes in the Epstein network 17 13.
Connection to the Epstein Network
Giannakopoulos does not appear by name anywhere in the Epstein document corpus — zero hits across 461,000+ documents in the DOJ Vol 11, LMSBAND, Unified, and DDoSecrets datasets. The available records indicate his connection to the network is indirect, running through Alessandro Benedetti, who appears repeatedly in Epstein's records as "Allesandro de Benedetti-Paris" 6. Benedetti is found in Epstein's Paris contact lists and calendar reminders from September-October 2013 234, compiled by Lesley Groff. As late as January 28, 2019, Epstein emailed Eduardo Teodorani-Fabbri from his [email protected] account asking "Allesandro benedetti?" — indicating ongoing interest in Benedetti just months before Epstein's arrest 5.
The significance appears to lie in shared networks rather than direct personal contact. Analysis of the overlap shows that Boies Schiller Flexner LLP was used by Giannakopoulos to send the SoftBank shareholder complaint letter and separately represented Epstein victims 13. K2 Intelligence was hired to investigate SoftBank targets alongside the Giannakopoulos operation. Examination of the Epstein corpus shows Cambridge Analytica articles 1518 and Bannon's 985+ emails with Epstein, which together suggest Epstein was engaged with the same intelligence-for-hire circles in which Giannakopoulos worked 19.
Post-Termination Activity
Following his termination from the University of Geneva in June 2017, Giannakopoulos continued operating through his network of private firms: Miles SA, OCO, Global Risk Profile, and Inside.CO SA. 11 He founded Apex Fusion Foundation in Zug, Switzerland in 2024, pivoting into the blockchain sector. He continues to speak at industry conferences including the Corporate Intelligence & Security Conference, maintaining public-facing credibility in the intelligence-consulting market despite the exposure of his operations.
All Connections
7 total
All Connections
7 totalGiannakopoulos was Benedetti's subcontractor in the SoftBank campaign (2015-2016). Benedetti recruited Giannakopoulos to distribute leaked banking records and act as nominal shareholder.
Giannakopoulos hired freelance journalist Hollingsworth to pitch SoftBank-related story to The Independent (published Oct 2015). Email evidence suggests Hollingsworth would be paid if story published.
Co-shareholders in 2010. At the time Giannakopoulos described himself as a 'private consultant in security and investigation.' Ergen is the US satellite-TV billionaire and EchoStar/DISH Network founder. A previously undocumented US business connection for the SCL/Cambridge Analytica Geneva agent who later ran the public phase of the SoftBank campaign in 2015-2017.
Geneva Cantonal Attorney General Jornot is the prosecutor handling SoftBank's Dec 2017 criminal defamation complaint against Giannakopoulos and Giannakopoulos's Nov 2016 counter-complaint alleging hacking. Sama also filed defamation complaint in Geneva Dec 23 2016. The Swiss prosecutorial route became Sama's chosen forum for redress instead of US/UK civil litigation.
Two-hop organizational overlap via Cambridge Analytica/SCL Group. Giannakopoulos was SCL partner since 2010. Bannon was CA Vice President Jun 2014-Aug 2016. No direct contact evidence found.
All Findings
15 total
All Findings
15 totalintelligence (14)
Neither Cambridge Analytica nor SCL Group registered under FARA (Foreign Agents Registration Act) or filed LDA lobbying disclosures, despite conducting election influence operations in multiple countries (Trinidad, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya). This mirrors a broader pattern of FARA avoidance seen elsewhere in the Epstein network. SCL International Group Ltd registered as a BVI offshore entity (reg #677767, incorporated 2005-09-23, Portcullis TrustNet Chambers, Road Town, Tortola) per the ICIJ Offshore Leaks database.
Giannakopoulos was SCL Group (Cambridge Analytica parent) partner in Switzerland since 2010. One of his Swiss companies shared an address and phone number with SCL's Geneva office. He was the SCL agent for Switzerland and their conduit into Swiss academic/intelligence circles.
Giannakopoulos was a co-shareholder with Charlie Ergen (US satellite-TV billionaire, EchoStar founder) in 2010, a previously undocumented US business connection
Nicolas Giannakopoulos, the Swiss-Greek private-intelligence consultant who became Misra's Geneva subcontractor on the SoftBank campaign, was a 2010 co-shareholder with Charlie Ergen, the US satellite-TV billionaire and EchoStar/DISH Network founder. At the time Giannakopoulos described himself as a 'private consultant in security and investigation.' This is a previously undocumented US business connection for the consultant who later: (a) ran the public phase of the SoftBank campaign 2015-2017 (distributed Arora/Sama private banking screenshots; hired Mark Hollingsworth for the October 2015 Independent piece); (b) ran the University of Geneva seminar tied to Najib Razak/1MDB on October 26-27, 2016; (c) was SCL Group's Switzerland agent (Cambridge Analytica's parent) since 2010, with his Swiss entity sharing an address and phone with SCL's Geneva office; (d) was a board member at High-Tech Bridge SA (Geneva cybersecurity); (e) was terminated by the University of Geneva in June 2017; (f) faces criminal defamation complaints from SoftBank (Dec 2017) and Sama in Geneva via Geneva Attorney General Olivier Jornot. The Ergen relationship raises the question of whether Giannakopoulos's intelligence-for-hire work had US-side principals beyond the SoftBank and 1MDB matters.
Prior to the 1MDB seminar, Giannakopoulos conducted a covert lobbying operation for the Kazakh government (2014-2015) targeting fugitive oligarch Mukhtar Ablyazov. FTI Consulting (London PR firm serving Kazakhstan) activated Giannakopoulos's OCO (Organized Crime Observatory) to produce a purportedly independent but critical report portraying Ablyazov as a swindler hiding behind political persecution. FTI employee Jonathan Hawker coordinated the operation. Giannakopoulos held meetings at Reed Smith law firm in London with FTI representatives. He claimed to refuse FTI payment for the OCO report but acknowledged accepting research contracts from companies close to the Kazakh government through his company Inside.co. The pattern -- academic/NGO credentials used as cover for intelligence-for-hire work -- is identical to the 1MDB seminar one year later.
Barkmere Limited, the shell company controlled by Benedetti through which Misra paid USD 500K for the SoftBank operation, is registered in Cyprus (HE 338259, incorporated 2014-11-24), identified via OCCRP Aleph. The timing -- incorporated November 2014, operation began 2015 -- suggests it was created specifically for this purpose. Registered at Spyrou Kyprianou 18, Floor 2, 1075 Nicosia. Reports also reference a Barkmere Group (BVI), suggesting a multi-jurisdiction structure.
Giannakopoulos conducted intelligence operations for Malaysian PM Najib Razak related to 1MDB scandal (2016-2017). Organized bogus University of Geneva seminar to gather intelligence on 1MDB critics and opposition politicians. Suspended from University of Geneva after exposure by Sarawak Report, then terminated. SCL Group's Southeast Asia office in Kuala Lumpur directed by Azrin Zizal, connecting Giannakopoulos-SCL-Malaysia intelligence operations.
In the SoftBank operation (2015-2016), Giannakopoulos distributed screenshots of Nikesh Arora and Alok Sama's private banking records and emails to journalists. He was positioned as the nominal shareholder behind the Boies Schiller Flexner LLP complaint letter sent to SoftBank board (Jan 20, 2016, signed by partner Matthew Schwartz). He was recruited as subcontractor by Alessandro Benedetti, who was paid USD 500K from Rajeev Misra via Standard Chartered Bank to Barkmere Group (BVI/Cyprus).
The University of Geneva seminar took place October 26-27, 2016, formally hosted by the Observatory on Security (OUS) at the Global Studies Institute (GSI). Giannakopoulos invited senior Malaysian civil society figures and 1MDB investigators including Clare Rewcastle Brown (Sarawak Report editor), promising Swiss officials would brief on 1MDB investigation progress. Political leaders Muhyiddin Yassin (former Deputy PM) and Nurul Izzah Anwar (opposition MP) were listed as speakers but did not attend. No Swiss officials appeared. Giannakopoulos steered discussions toward how frozen Swiss-seized 1MDB assets could be diverted to an NGO the attendees could join -- intelligence collection disguised as civic engagement. Cost CHF 17,000 paid privately by Giannakopoulos, not by the university as initially claimed. University had no knowledge the event was taking place despite formal invitations sent in its name.
Giannakopoulos operated within a larger intelligence-for-hire ecosystem with direct Epstein network overlaps: (1) Boies Schiller Flexner was used by Giannakopoulos to send the SoftBank shareholder letter AND represented Epstein victims (Giuffre). (2) K2 Intelligence was hired to investigate SoftBank targets alongside the Giannakopoulos operation. (3) Tal Hanan/Team Jorge did business with Cambridge Analytica (LittleSis rels #1913078-79). (4) Psy-Group had a relationship with CA from Dec 2016. These overlapping private intelligence firms suggest a shared ecosystem rather than isolated operations.
LittleSis network analysis reveals the Cambridge Analytica/SCL ecosystem had significant overlaps with known intelligence-for-hire firms: (1) Team Jorge (Tal Hanan's Israeli disinformation operation) did business with CA. (2) Psy-Group (Joel Zamel's firm, investigated by Mueller) had a CA relationship from Dec 2016. (3) SCL Group did business with Michael Flynn (Nov-Dec 2016). (4) SCL Group was owned by Vincent Tchenguiz (Iranian-British financier involved in Kaupthing bank collapse). (5) Sophie Schmidt (Eric Schmidt's daughter) interned at SCL Group. (6) Cambridge Analytica was owned by Gravitas Maximus LLC (Mercer family). These connections place Giannakopoulos within a private intelligence ecosystem that intersected with multiple nodes in the Epstein network.
University of Geneva terminated Giannakopoulos in June 2017 after an internal investigation found: (1) his appointment as Vice-Director of OUS was never formally endorsed by the Global Studies Institute, (2) seminar funding was never formally submitted or endorsed, (3) he used university premises and branding without authorization. His superior Prof. Frederic Esposito at the Global Studies Institute was also implicated. After termination, Giannakopoulos faced defamation complaints from SoftBank and Alok Sama at the Geneva Public Prosecutor's Office (filed Dec 23, 2016). Giannakopoulos counter-filed alleging computer attacks on his company Global Risk Profile. No public record of criminal conviction. He continued operating through Miles SA, OCO, Global Risk Profile, and later founded Apex Fusion Foundation (Zug, blockchain, 2024). Still speaks at conferences including Corporate Intelligence & Security Conference.
The Cambridge Analytica link to Bannon creates a two-hop connection: Giannakopoulos was SCL/CA partner since 2010; Bannon was CA Vice President Jun 2014 - Aug 2016 (LittleSis rel #1320305). However, there is NO direct evidence of Giannakopoulos-Bannon contact or coordination. The timing is notable: Giannakopoulos ran the SoftBank operation in 2015-2016 while Bannon led CA; Bannon then entered Epstein's orbit in Jan 2018. Richard Kahn forwarded a Senate Intelligence Committee article about Bannon being grilled about Cambridge Analytica to Epstein (EFTA02610736, Dec 6, 2018).
Giannakopoulos is a Swiss-Greek political scientist/criminologist who operates multiple intelligence companies: Inside.CO SA (Geneva, criminal investigations), Miles SA (Swiss criminal investigations), Global Risk Profile (risk consulting). President and co-founder of OCO (Organized Crime Observatory). Vice-Director of the University Observatory on Security at the University of Geneva. Chairman of Apex Fusion Foundation (Zug, blockchain). Led Swiss Confederation three-year research program on Swiss Corruption and Organized Crime.
Giannakopoulos operated parallel intelligence operations for both 1MDB (Najib Razak) and the SoftBank shareholder campaign (with Benedetti). His Geneva 'seminar' was exposed by Sarawak Report as a sham intelligence-gathering operation targeting 1MDB investigators and Malaysian opposition figures. University of Geneva terminated him after exposure. Giannakopoulos was also the Swiss agent for SCL Group (Cambridge Analytica parent), connecting 1MDB spy operations to the same data-manipulation ecosystem that Bannon led. The SCL/Cambridge Analytica connection is significant because Bannon had 985+ emails with Epstein and Cambridge Analytica articles appear in the Epstein corpus (EFTA02610736, EFTA02601042). Giannakopoulos represents the intersection of 1MDB intelligence, Cambridge Analytica data operations, and the Epstein-adjacent Benedetti/SoftBank network.
document (1)
Giannakopoulos does not appear by name anywhere in the Epstein document corpus (DOJ Vol 11, LMSBAND, Unified, DDoSecrets) -- zero hits across 461K+ documents. His principal Alessandro Benedetti does appear repeatedly as 'Allesandro de Benedetti-Paris' in Epstein's contact lists and reminders (EFTA02575276, EFTA02576024, EFTA02297224, EFTA02575400, EFTA02628256). Benedetti was on Epstein's Paris contact list alongside known associates.
Full Timeline
14 events
Full Timeline
14 events- 1.Finding #821
- 2.EFTA02575276
- 3.EFTA02575400
- 4.EFTA02576024
- 5.EFTA02628256
- 6.Finding #828
- 7.Finding #826
- 8.Finding #839
- 9.Finding #823
- 10.Finding #981
- 11.Finding #987
- 12.Finding #986
- 13.Finding #836
- 14.Finding #838
- 15.EFTA02610736
- 16.Finding #834
- 17.Finding #841
- 18.EFTA02601042
- 19.Finding #956