(Bloomberg) -- An Israeli private investigator pleaded guilty in a probe of a vast hacking-for-hire ring that allegedly targeted hedge funds, short sellers, journalists and advocacy groups fighting climate change.

Aviram Azari entered his plea Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan to three counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit computer hacking. Azari, 50, was accused of working with hackers who targeted potential victims with phishing emails. He acknowledged hiring them on behalf of his clients.

Azari, who was charged in 2019 and arrested in Florida, is being held without bail in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and is scheduled to be sentenced July 21.  

Investigators are probing a ring that allegedly has offered its hacking services to target thousands of entities. Those entities include hedge funds Coatue Management LLC and Blue Ridge Capital LLC, nonprofit groups fighting telecommunications companies, and journalists at multiple news organizations, according to cybersecurity researchers including the Toronto-based Citizen Lab, which tracks illegal hacking and surveillance. 

Read More: U.S. Investigating Vast Hacker-for-Hire Scheme Traced to India

The hackers are based in India and typically are hired by private investigators and other middlemen in Israel, the U.S. and Europe, according to the researchers. But their ultimate clients are often law firms or corporations, which may receive pilfered material under the guise of corporate intelligence or litigation preparation, according to court documents and several people familiar with the scheme.

The case is U.S. v. Azari, 19-cr-00610, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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