The DOJ alleges Trenchant’s employer sold assets to a Russian broker who had access to ‘millions in computers and equipment’.

The former boss of a US company that makes hacking and surveillance tools stole and sold sophisticated tools capable of hacking millions of computers and people around the world, US prosecutors have confirmed for the first time.

In October, Australian citizen Peter Williams, 39, he agreed to sell eight firearms that he had stolen from his employer Trenchant, the group of the US defense contractor L3Harris, which sells its surveillance equipment to the US government and its close associates. Williams admitted to making more than $1.3 million in crypto from trading between 2022 and 2025, according to the Department of Justice.

In a court document published on Tuesday, prosecutors said Williams’ actions “directly harmed” the US intelligence community by selling counterfeit weapons to a Russian company, which counts the Russian government among its clients.

Although it was known that Williams sold Trenchant they take advantage of it — software that often takes advantage of flaws in other software to gain access to another person’s computer or device — prosecutors now say the eight tools could have been used indiscriminately for government surveillance, cybercrime, and ransomware attacks around the world.

The latest disclosure comes as Williams is expected to be sentenced on February 24 in Washington, DC, federal court. In its ruling, which prosecutors are using to persuade the court to impose the maximum penalty, the Justice Department said the products Williams sold would have allowed the Russian trader and his clients “access to numerous computers and devices around the world, including in the United States.”

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Williams to nine years in prison, with three years of parole, $35 million in restitution, and a $250,000 fine. Williams is expected to be deported from Australia after serving his sentence, the memorandum said.

In response to the objections, Williams submitted a letter for the judge to explain his decisions, saying that he regretted it.

Williams wrote: “I made choices that conflicted with what I believed in and what my family, friends, and colleagues believed in. “I realize now that I allowed myself to neglect my responsibilities and education, and failed to seek help or guidance when I knew I was on the wrong path.”

Williams’ attorney, John P. Rowley, wrote in response to critics that no stolen weapons were designated, and there was no evidence that Williams knew the weapons would end up in the hands of the Russian or foreign governments. His lawyer said Williams had no intention of harming the US and his home country of Australia, “even though he now knows that this was the result of his actions.”

When reached by TechCrunch, Justice Department spokesman Pierson Furnish declined to comment. Rowley, Williams’ attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

From the scapegoat to the judgment

In mid-2025, multiple sources with knowledge of the offensive cybersecurity industry told TechCrunch that an employee of Trenchant stole hacking tools and sold them to an adversary of the United States.

A former employee of Trenchant has come forward, telling TechCrunch that he was wrongfully fired after the company accused him of stealing and revealing some of the company’s actions.

But by October, prosecutors accused Williams, who also goes by “Doogie” and was Trenchant’s general manager at the time, of stealing the company’s equipment. The US government charged Williams with selling the assets to a Russian broker in exchange for crypto.

Prosecutors said FBI agents contacted Williams from late 2024 until his arrest in mid-2025, when he was overseeing an internal investigation into Trenchant’s theft of company secrets.

Although they are still investigating, Williams he continued to sell the secrets and actions of the company – is technically known as zero days since the developer involved didn’t have time to fix them – even if he knew the FBI was investigating the theft and sale of Trenchant’s tools.

Williams also oversaw the firing of a Trenchant employee accused of leaking the weapons, sources told TechCrunch and prosecutors confirmed. The fired employee told TechCrunch that he they believed that he was a scapegoat to someone in the company. A few weeks after he was fired, the employee received a notification from Apple that he had been targeted by government spying software, which has yet to be disclosed.

“(Williams) stood by while another employee of the company was charged for Defendant’s actions,” prosecutors wrote in their filing. “He watched as the company’s internal investigation impeached his employee.”

A spokesman for Trenchant did not respond to a request for comment on Williams or his investigation.

On August 6, FBI agents obtained and executed search warrants at Williams’ home, then confronted Williams with evidence that revealed receipts for crypto payments, the name he used to contact the Russian broker who bought the stolen securities, and his relationship with the broker.

The Russian dealer is probably Operation Zero, which offers $20 million in funding to help hack into Android devices and iPhones. The company clearly it only sells to the Russian government and local organizations.

Operation Zero did not return a request for comment.

The prosecutors called the broker, who he did not name, “one of the most exploitative people out there,” and said Williams chose him because, “by his own admission, he knew he was paying a lot of money.”

Williams’ “desire for more money, a better life, a bigger house and more jewels and valuables could not be satisfied, and he chose to put himself at risk to sacrifice his company, his friends, and the United States and its allies to fulfill that desire,” the prosecutors wrote.