Israel indicted Eli Lavon, a 21-year-old US citizen living in Israel, on July 3 for espionage on behalf of Iranian intelligence. He was arrested on June 9 and faces 16 charges, including two counts of contact with a foreign agent. According to the indictment, he was recruited through Telegram job advertisements in late 2025 and received approximately $1,379 in cryptocurrency for surveillance tasks and signaling messages. This case is part of a broader crackdown with at least 60 similar indictments in Israel since 2023, following a recurring pattern: online recruitment, low-stakes intelligence tasks, and digital asset payments. While cryptocurrency enables cross-border payments that bypass traditional banking and anti-money laundering systems, blockchain transactions remain theoretically traceable on public ledgers.
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