Stefania Maurizi was no stranger to the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The Italian investigative reporter had worked as a partner journalist with WikiLeaks for all its major releases since 2009. Maurizi had also pursued litigation in four separate countries seeking to compel their governments to release information about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Assange, at that point, was trapped in the embassy. In 2012, Ecuador’s democratic socialist government granted him political asylum, but the United Kingdom made clear they would arrest the journalist should he ever set foot outside the embassy. Maurizi had visited him a number of times.

While Maurizi met with Assange on December 29, 2017, embassy security held on to her electronics for the duration of the visit. As she talked to her journalistic counterpart, employees of the Spanish security firm UC Global accessed her devices, photographed them, disassembled one of her phones, and removed its SIM card. On at least one occasion, the same security contractor took audio and video recordings of her meeting with Assange.

Since Assange had become an unexpected resident, the embassy beefed up its security by hiring Spanish security firm UC Global. In early 2017, UC Global had imposed a new regime on Assange’s myriad visitors. It demanded they turn over their passports and electronic devices when visiting the Australian journalist. UC Global also placed new video cameras inside the embassy. In spite of their claims to the contrary, those cameras recorded not just video but audio. Unbeknownst to Assange’s guests, UC Global was photographing their passports as well as attempting to access their electronic devices. According to former employees, UC Global’s actions within the embassy may have been at the behest of a second client — US intelligence services.