An explosive report by The Marker in 2025 revealed that Israeli businessmen Avishai Neriah and Uri Emmanuel Ansbacher bribed former Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto with $25 million to implement the Pegasus spyware in Mexico.
This scandal, revealed by documents from a 2024 arbitration, coincides with a new Mexican espionage law seeking to regulate such tools. Pegasus was used by the Peña Nieto administration to monitor journalists and activists.
Pegasus was directly sold to Mexico by its creators: the NSO Group, funded by Mossad, the Israeli government’s spy agency, and founded by Niv Karmi, who held a senior position at the agency.
Neriah and Ansbacher, who arrived in Mexico as emissaries of Torah Mitzion, became traffickers of surveillance technology. Their alleged bribe to Peña Nieto, described as an “investment in a high-ranking figure,” not only bought contracts but also unlimited spying power.
The Israeli government controls Pegasus exports as a military weapon. NSO sold it on Mossad orders to countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Hungary, according to the 2021 Project Pegasus report. These governments used the software to spy on dissidents.
Although there is no evidence of bribery outside of Mexico, NSO’s global network may have also leveraged corruption in other countries to sell and deploy its software.
This connection to Mossad raises alarms about foreign influence in Mexican surveillance. Was Peña Nieto a puppet in a global intelligence game?
Mexico’s new espionage law, passed in 2025, promises strict controls after scandals like this one, but its effectiveness is questionable. Mexican law now requires transparency, but fails to regulate actors operating in the shadows of global intelligence. The case exposes a systemic vulnerability.
The new espionage law seeks to protect citizens, but ignores how companies like NSO, protected by governments like Israel, operate unchecked. This scandal transcends Peña Nieto and reveals the global problem of unchecked surveillance, fueled by intelligence networks and corruption.
As Mexico grapples with its espionage history, the Israeli government’s protection of NSO and the lack of international regulation perpetuate abuse. The new law is a first step, but without addressing these connections, Mexico could become a dark geopolitical game board.
