Closing arguments to begin in trial of Cameron Ortis, accused RCMP leaker

Closing arguments are set to begin in the case of Cameron Ortis, a former senior RCMP intelligence official accused of leaking secrets to alleged criminals.

Ortis, the 51-year old former director general of the RCMP’s Operations Research branch, is facing four counts of breaching Canada’s official secrets law in addition to one count of breach of trust and the misuse of a computer system.

His arrest in 2019 sent shockwaves through the Canadian intelligence community. The allegations, if proven true, would be one of the most damaging national security leaks in recent Canadian history.

From his position at the top of RCMP intelligence, Ortis had access to a massive trove of secrets collected both by Canadian agencies and the Five Eyes security alliance. The Crown alleges he used that access to collect and send sensitive information to alleged criminals, including the head of an encrypted communications service and money launderers.

Ortis’ defence does not contest that he planned to send select information to criminal elements, but argued he had the authority and did so to nudge the targets onto an email service that would allow spies to monitor their communications.

The trial, which has stretched on since late September, has been unusual. Due to concerns that national security secrets could leak out through open court, Ortis and several witnesses testified behind closed doors, with censored transcripts of their testimony released later. The bulk of Ortis’ testimony in his own defence was released by the Public Prosecution Service late Friday afternoon.

It’s also been unusual in the sense that most of the facts of the case are agreed on both by Crown prosecutors and Ortis’ defence team.

Among those agreed-upon facts are that police raided Ortis’ Ottawa apartment in 2019, where they found an encrypted USB stick with a folder labeled “The Project.” It included classified documents that Ortis sent to Vincent Ramos, the convicted CEO of an encrypted communications company called Phantom Secure, as well as email correspondence between Ramos and a burner email account run by Ortis. The documents were noted as “embargoed,” with Ortis suggesting he’d send the full documents after receiving $20,000 from Ramos.

In addition to the information sent to Ramos, the USB stick also contained documents sent anonymously to Salim Henareh and Muhammed Ashraf — two targets of money laundering investigations in Canada. Henareh and Ashraf were suspected associates of Atlaf Khanani, the alleged head of an international money laundering group that moved billions for global crime and terrorist groups, according to the U.S. DEA.

Ortis does not dispute that he sent the files.

But he claims that he was doing so as part of his own covert operation to get the targets to use Tutanota, an encrypted email service Ortis claims was secretly run by an allied intelligence service to monitor criminals’ communications.

Ortis claims that Tutanota was a “storefront” — an intelligence strategy of setting up a front company. The German company, now called Tuta, has flatly denied that it’s operating with intelligence services.

According to Ortis’ testimony, a foreign counterpart (national security restrictions prevent him from saying who) contacted him with information (he is not allowed to say what) that “clearly” demonstrated a “direct and grave threat” to Canada. He also said the foreign counterpart gave a “strict caveat” that he was not to share the information with anyone else in the RCMP.

As a result of receiving that information, Ortis said he identified four subjects he would try and convince to start using Tutanota by dangling sensitive information and nudging them toward using the email service.

Ortis further contended that the files he sent contained no information that Ramos and his associates didn’t already know.

Asked by defence lawyer Mark Ertel if Ortis did what he did to get the money or because he was associated with organized crime, Ortis said no on both counts.

“In doing what you did, did you lose sight of your mission?,” Ertel asked.

“I did not lose sight of my mission … The mission from the beginning of my career ‘til the time I was arrested was to meet the threat to Canada,” Ortis responded.

The Crown has argued that Ortis did not have the authority to share what’s known as “special operational information,” and did not uphold his obligations as a person “permanently bound to secrecy.” The designation is given to numerous officials in Canada’s security and intelligence apparatus, and makes it an offence to share secrets “intentionally and without authority.”

Crown attorney Judy Kwlier told the jury at the outset of the trial that the trail that led investigators to Ortis began with a FBI investigation into Phantom Secure, the company run by Ramos. In reviewing files seized from Phantom Secure, RCMP investigators made a “strange and alarming” discovery that someone had been sending classified RCMP documents to Ramos.

The sender promised more secrets in exchange for $20,000.

But in investigating Ortis’ finances, the RCMP did not turn up any unexplained sources of income that would suggest he received payment for any files.

The Crown has also suggested that in his communications with Ramos, Ortis put an undercover RCMP officer’s life at risk by letting slip that they were planning to meet one of Ramos’ associates at the Vancouver airport. Ortis disagreed in his testimony that the information put the officer’s life in jeopardy.

Kwlier told the jury that there is no indication that Ortis’ actions were part of any kind of undercover operation.

Closing arguments from the Crown and defence are expected to begin Thursday morning in an Ottawa courtroom.

— with files from the Canadian Press.