On September 28, 2026, Access Now wrote to four pension funds — Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association, Houston Firefighters’ Relief and Retirement Fund, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board, and Hampshire Pension Fund — regarding their investment in AE Industrial Partners (AEI). AEI purchased spyware technology vendor Paragon Solutions in 2024 and merged the company with its holding company REDLattice. The letters urge pension fund managers to use their leverage with AEI to ensure the fund “provide[s] remedy where warranted, and implement robust safeguards” to prevent any contribution to human rights breaches.
Investors have a responsibility to identify and address human rights risks in their portfolios. Paragon presents a clear risk given its appalling human rights record, and these pension funds should avoid exposure to such spyware in their portfolios and demand answers from AE Industrial Partners.Isedua Oribhabor, Business & Human Rights Manager at Access Now
A well-documented history demonstrates Paragon’s spyware tool, Graphite, being used to target journalists and activists. A 2025 report confirmed the use of Graphite spyware against journalists, adding to previous findings revealing that the company’s tech was used to target civil society actors in Italy. Coupled with the disclosures by Meta and Apple, an Italian parliamentary report, and forensic confirmation by the Italian prosecutor, these findings raise urgent concerns regarding Paragon’s due diligence practices, post-sale oversight mechanisms, and provision of access to remedy for affected individuals.
Paragon has also sparked concerns in the U.S. given the company’s $2 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Though a notice on a federal procurement website indicates that the contract’s “close out” date was January 20, 2026, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that ICE has “no relationship” with Paragon, DHS has not clarified whether ICE still has access to Paragon’s tools.
Access Now previously requested information from AEI and Paragon Solutions on what steps they will take to prevent future uses such those documented in Italy, and how they will respond to those harmed, in an open letter addressed to both entities on June 19, 2025. Neither AEI nor Paragon responded. The Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRC) also contacted both AEI and Paragon regarding allegations and is still awaiting a response.
Failure to comply with international human rights norms can also have substantial legal and financial repercussions for Paragon, as well as its corporate investors — who risk financial and reputational costs as backers of a firm linked to high-profile cases of human rights abuses.
Hampshire Pension Fund confirmed on October 9, 2026, that it is not invested in Paragon through AEI. Access Now has yet to receive public responses from the other funds.