The FBI has inserted itself into an ongoing state case in Miami involving two suspects accused of sextorting Julieanna Goddard, a South Beach socialite who goes by YesJulz online. The accused sextortionists are reality-TV star Hencha Voigt and her then-boyfriend, Wesley Victor.
According to a recent court filing, which was provided to Ars by the Miami Herald, the FBI offered to cover Florida’s costs to pay Cellebrite, a well-known Israeli digital forensics firm, to extract data off of one of the suspects’ iPhone 6. The Cellebrite effort was successful.
The case provides a clear look into the efforts that the federal government is willing to go to—even in local, non-terrorism cases—to aid local law enforcement’s attempts to defeat strong encryption.