Three former US intelligence operatives have admitted to breaking US laws by carrying out hacking operations for the United Arab Emirates.
US prosecutors said the men had agreed to pay $1.7m (£1.2m) to resolve charges of computer fraud, access device fraud and violating export controls.
They worked for an unnamed UAE-based firm and allegedly hacked into servers, computers and phones around the world.
There was no immediate comment from the men or Emirati officials.
Earlier this year, the UAE was accused of using malware from the Israeli company NSO Group to spy on journalists, dissidents and rival governments.
