A Paris court has denied bail to businessman Thomas Herdman, who faces charges over distributing encrypted phones that were used by criminals, stating that he is a flight risk and that justice needs to be carried out.
The Canadian is charged with 22 offences, including laundering profits from drug trafficking by organised crime through the distribution of Sky ECC encrypted phones. He denies all charges.
Belgian and Dutch police broke the encryption of Sky ECC, the world’s largest cryptophone network, and harvested millions of messages between June 2019 and March 2021, resulting in mass arrests of suspected drug gangs in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
French prosecutors have indicted more than 30 individuals who owned or worked for four companies that distributed Sky ECC phones and individual resellers. Sky Global’s founder and CEO, Jean-Francois Eap, who continues to live and run businesses in Canada, is among those named on the French indictment.
Herdman is understood to be the only individual charged in French custody.
At a hearing in a Paris court on 27 February, Herdman’s lawyer, Paul Sin-Chan told, the court his client had been cooperating with American authorities, including the Department of Justice (DoJ), the FBI and the US Marshals Service, before he was unexpectedly arrested by French police.
Herdman had consistently demonstrated his willingness to work with law enforcement and should not be considered a flight risk, the court heard.
Philippe Ohayon, also representing Herdman, said French police were wrong to extradite his client to France while he was working with US law enforcement investigating Sky Global in Spain.
Thomas Herdman
The court heard that the FBI ran a sting operation to trap Herdman. A Department of Justice report disclosed to the court claims that Herdman allegedly sold three Sky phones to undercover officers posing as drug traffickers.
The prosecutor acknowledged both Herdman’s cooperation and the fact that he had not directly communicated with anyone she said was “mafia”.
Five judges will hear a case against 30 people accused of being involved in the distribution of encrypted mobile phones used by organised criminals at a special criminal court expected to take place in spring 2026 in Paris.
The French appeal court judges rejected a petition by Herdman in December 2024 to expedite his case by hearing it in a lower court, after his lawyers argued that there was no evidence that Herman had any direct links to criminality.
‘Let me fight this from the outside’
The defence team said their client was isolated and had lost hope after years of incarceration without trial.
When Herdman addressed the court, his voice broke with emotion. He has been detained for nearly four years without trial.
His daughter, Julie, who was in the courtroom for the hearing, cried as he spoke of missing four of her birthdays.
Herdman asked the court to allow him to fight his case from outside prison. He assured the judges that he had a job and a place to live in France, which demonstrated his ties to the country.
“I am the breadwinner for my family, and this situation is weighing heavily on them,” he said. He told the court that his mother suffered a stroke in December and now requires 24-hour care, further straining the family’s finances.
He rejected allegations that he was involved in illicit activities and told the court he did not own Sky Global and was not an employee of the company.
Herdman was hired by LevUp Technologies Inc in 2017 after it won a contract to distribute Sky ECC phones. He described LevUp as a “failed business” that had never profited from criminal activity.
“According to my calculations, it only had 1% of Sky Global’s customers,” he said.
His only known link to France, Herdman argued, was a computer server used by Sky Global, which supplied Sky ECC software to resellers, in a French datacentre that he had not even been aware of.
He said France was bending its own pre-trial detention rules by holding him for so long without trial. “I was extradited from Spain and came here willingly,” Herdman said. “I am not a flight risk.”
Bail denied
After a short deliberation, the judges ruled against granting Herdman bail.
As officers prepared to take him back into custody, Herdman and his daughter exchanged words – “I love you” – before he was led away in handcuffs.
Speaking outside the courtroom, Julie said she was baring up given the circumstances. “I didn’t know what to expect,’ she said, “but my dad and his lawyers did think the bail would be denied, so they were prepared for it.”
He has 10 days to appeal the decision.
