Mexican govt's $300 mn spending on spyware included kickbacks, says anti-money laundering body The bills for programs like the Pegasus spyware appear to have included excess payments that may have been channelled back to former government officials as kickbacks Mexico had the largest list — about 700 phone numbers — among the thousands allegedly selected by NSO clients for potential surveillance Associated Press Updated Jul 22, 2021, 8:44 AM IST Mexico's top anti-money laundering investigator has said that officials from previous administrations from 2012 to 2018 spent about $300 million in government money to purchase spyware from the Israeli spyware firm NSO Group. The bills for programs like the Pegasus spyware appear to have included excess payments that may have been channelled back to former government officials as kickbacks.