Crypto International AG considers legal action against the Federal Council

The Federal Council is currently blocking the exports of the Zug company Crypto International AG. The cybersecurity company is therefore considering making a claim for damages.

Crypto International AG announced at the beginning of July that it would lay off more than 80 employees (we reported). There is now also the threat of a lawsuit against the Federal Council, which is blocking the company's exports, according to a report in the Tagesanzeiger newspaper on Thursday. According to this report, the current owner Andreas Linde replied to the question as to whether his company was seeking an action for damages by saying that this "also depends on the decision of the Federal Council on whether to reconsider its position". According to the Tagesanzeiger, the announced mass redundancies are "not yet definitive".

According to the Tagesanzeiger, the Zug company Crypto AG hired the lobbying agency Furrerhugi, along with lawyers, as early as March in order to enforce its interests. This seemed to work at first. On 12 June, Economy Minister Guy Parmelin requested that pending export applications be granted to Crypto International AG and TCG Legacy AG. On 19 June, however, the Federal Council decided that the Federal Prosecutor's Office should investigate the Crypto case and that all export applications would be suspended until the investigation had been completed.

Manipulated cipher devices have triggered the conflict
The dispute began with the so-called "Crypto Affair". In 2019, it was announced that the former Zug company Crypto AG had sold manipulated encryption devices to several states in previous years. The media, including the SFR "Rundschau", were able to show for the first time that the former Crypto AG had been in the possession of US and German secret services for a long time. As a result, the Confederation revoked the general export licence from the successor companies, including Crypto International AG, and an investigation is underway against the original company. Crypto International AG has always stressed that it has nothing to do with its predecessor.