A prominent Italian businessman was targeted with Paragon spyware, according to local news reports. On Thursday, the Italian online investigative website IrpiMedia and the newspaper La Stampa reported that Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone was among around ninety people who received a notification from WhatsApp in January. The alert informed him he had been targeted with spyware made by Paragon Solutions.
It is not immediately clear for what reason Caltagirone was targeted. A spokesperson for his holding company, Caltagirone SpA, did not respond to a request for comment. Caltagirone’s namesake holding company owns several firms across different industries, including construction, real estate, finance, and publishing, which includes the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero.
Caltagirone becomes the first businessman to be added to the list of Paragon victims in Italy. So far, the other victims include journalists Francesco Cancellato and Ciro Pellegrino, who work for the online news site Fanpage. Other victims are immigration activists Luca Casarini and Giuseppe Caccia, who work for Mediterranea Saving Humans, an Italian non-government organization that helps rescue immigrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
The alleged targeting of Caltagirone now widens the ongoing Paragon spyware scandal in Italy to victims beyond journalists and activists. Following the reports of the Fanpage journalists being targeted, Paragon cut ties with the Italian government, whose intelligence agencies were its customers.
Paragon, which has long claimed to be an ethical spyware maker, is headquartered in Israel. It was bought by U.S. private equity giant AE Industrial in December 2024. As part of the deal, Paragon was reportedly going to merge with the cybersecurity firm REDLattice.
When reached for comment in September regarding the company’s contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a Paragon spokesperson referred questions to REDLattice’s vice president of marketing, Jennifer Iras. This indicated that the merger may have been finalized. Paragon and WhatsApp did not respond to a request for comment.