The man who pleaded guilty to participating in a massive criminal hacking scheme targeting climate advocates who campaigned against ExxonMobil was sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison yesterday, while the question of who hired him remains unanswered.

During his sentencing hearing in federal court in Manhattan, Israeli private investigator Aviram Azari said through a translator that “there will come a day” when he would be able to tell his victims more. Federal prosecutors say Azari served as the scheme’s middleman, connecting his clients with hackers across the globe who were directed to infiltrate the emails and online accounts of thousands of victims and their close friends, family, and coworkers between 2014 and 2019. In 2019, he was arrested on his way to Disneyland and detained in New York.

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Azari had pleaded guilty to counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit hacking, and aggravated identity theft last April. None of Azari’s clients, who prosecutors say paid Azari $4.8 million, have been named.

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“I would’ve thought by now, given the facts and circumstances of this case, that the board [of ExxonMobil] would’ve called for a transparent and independent investigation to make sure that none of their employees or agents were involved in this crime,” Lee Wasserman, director of the Rockefeller Family Fund and a victim of the hacking, told reporters outside the courthouse. “But Exxon’s silence is deafening.”