'It warrants a criminal investigation': Prominent former prosecutor seeks probe of Cyber Ninjas

Thousands of redacted texts. Missing messages. Gaps in exchanges. Records show the Cyber Ninjas CEO continues to withhold communications related to the Arizona "audit" more than a year after a judge ordered him to make them public.

A prominent former prosecutor is now calling on county and state authorities to investigate Doug Logan's refusal to release text messages and other records for potential criminal charges.

Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said Logan's failure to obey court orders is contemptuous ― and a possible violation of state law that makes withholding public records a Class 6 felony.

"Clearly, it warrants a criminal investigation for potential tampering of public records," Romley said. "This could even move into fraudulent schemes."

Romley, a Republican, said this is not a partisan issue. He pointed to statutes that make it a crime for anyone who knowingly "conceals, removes or otherwise impairs the availability of any public record" with the intent to "defraud or deceive."

The law also applies to anyone who "refuses to deliver a public record in such person's possession, upon proper request of a public servant." Romley said that could include the judge or the Arizona Senate, which hired Logan and told him to turn over any "audit-related" communications.

Romley said the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and the Arizona Attorney General's Office should launch formal investigations into Logan's refusal to release thousands of text messages. But Romley said there could be a bigger case involving fraud.

Romley said thousands of messages Logan has released in response to a public records lawsuit filed by The Arizona Republic suggest Cyber Ninjas might have perpetrated fraud by taking millions for an election review that appeared to have a predetermined outcome and could not be completed.

"The most obvious case is the failure to obey court orders," Romley said. "But the text messages themselves raise the specter that there could be corruption here."

The Arizona Attorney General's Office would not comment on Romley's request. Officials there have repeatedly declined to discuss Logan's text messages, including those showing his inability to tally 2.1 million ballots that his firm was contracted to count.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office also would not talk about any potential criminal investigation.

"We decline to comment because there is no case before this office," Deputy Chief of Staff Jeanine L'Ecuyer said.

Romley, who held the office longer than any other county attorney, said the explanation doesn't make sense. Both the Attorney General's Office and the County Attorney's Office have the ability to initiate their own investigations and bring criminal charges without a formal referral or complaint from a law enforcement agency, he said.

"I know this is difficult for those in political office," Romley said. "Sometimes you have to understand that what you are fighting for is bigger than you."

Arizona 'audit': Why what happened in 2021 still matters

Trove of text messages shows fatal flaws with Cyber Ninjas' ballot review

A recent investigation by The Arizona Republic found Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan was part of a coordinated multistate effort to overturn 2020 election results in several swing states.

Thousands of text messages to and from Logan show he was working closely with allies of then-President Donald Trump when he was tapped to lead a hand count of every ballot cast in Maricopa County's 2020 election.

Text messages also show Logan couldn't make sense of his own data and had no way to quantify results. In a series of private messages, Logan said "our numbers are screwy" and that he would be satisfied so long as the count was right "most of the time."

But Logan is fighting the release of records, including his own messages with members of Trump's inner circle and "Stop the Steal" organizers.

Neither Logan nor his attorney, David Hardy of Tucson, responded to interview requests.

They will not answer questions about the botched hand count or Logan's communication with Trumpworld figures such as current Trump lawyer Christina Bobb, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and retired Army Col. Phil Waldron, all of whom had roles in the "audit."

"Doug Logan continues to obfuscate and obstruct," said Larry Moore, the founder of Boston-based election technology company Clear Ballot Group. "He has not only hidden messages, he has eliminated them."

Moore is part of a trio of nationally recognized election experts known in the industry as The Audit Guys, who built software and databases to untangle Logan's messages. Those messages were released in nonsequential order with broken threads and in formats that couldn't be searched.

The trio's June review of Logan's text messages found Logan has redacted 2,823 messages with little or no explanation. Of the redactions, 2,159 involve people involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement.

'Our numbers are screwy': Cyber Ninjas CEO admits he couldn't tally hand count of ballots

The review also found gaps in Logan's communications, exchanges where Logan's side of the conversation is missing and several instances of texts stopping mid-conversation and picking up days or weeks later on different topics.

One example was a 38-day gap Logan had with a technology specialist he brought in to figure out without success how to quantify results of the hand count.

Their messages continue regularly from June to September 2021, then stop days before Logan delivered a report on his findings to the Senate on Sept. 24, 2021.

Their exchanges resumed on Oct. 29, 2021, with Logan expressing frustration over his "long shot" attempt to find thousands of missing numbers related to hand counts. Logan points out that "a version of this tally sheet goes live at the Senate tomorrow."

The Audit Guys pointed to a series of texts Logan had with Flynn, Waldron and Trump supporter Seth Keshel between January and February 2021, before the Senate hired him.

"Mr. Logan did not include any messages from his side of these conversations," the Audit Guys wrote in their analysis. "In addition, there were significant gaps in these text messages with the first two from Mike Flynn being transmitted on 1/14/2021 and the next two messages from Phil Waldron on 2/1/2021 and 15 messages from Seth Keshel on 2/8/2021."

The Audit Guys include Benny White, a prominent Pima County Republican data analyst, and Tim Halvorsen, Clear Ballot's retired chief technology officer. Their stated mission: "To debunk election disinformation and confront those who would use their power to spread it."

New motion tries to keep secret messages Logan sent later in 'audit' process

Logan for two years has defied court orders to turn over records of his communications, and on June 21, 2023, he made another attempt to block the public from seeing them.

His lawyer claimed in a new motion that Logan shouldn't have to turn over any records dated after June 2021, when The Republic made a sweeping records request for all "audit" related communications from the Senate and Cyber Ninjas.

A review of Logan's redacted texts shows most of the messages ― and the ones he has fought hardest to keep private ― came after June 21, 2021, when the most critical moments of the election review unfolded. The end of the hand count, Logan's struggle to add up the tick marks on tally sheets and his scattershot attempts to come up with an alternative way to quantify results, and his report to the Senate all occurred after June 21.

"Of the nearly 40,000 texts he has already provided, 62% were exchanged after June 21, 2021," Moore said. "Of the 2,823 redactions remaining, 74% were submitted after June 21."

Hardy's motion could come up at a July 6 hearing, when the court will hear arguments in The Republic's lawsuit against the Arizona Senate and Cyber Ninjas over records that have yet to be turned over.

Hardy asked the court if Logan is required to disclose records "that did not exist at the time of" The Republic's request, and then appeared to answer his own question.

"The Logan Defendants therefore move that the court modify its prior orders to indicate that their duty to turn over documents is limited to documents that were in existence on June 2, 2021," Hardy wrote.

The move is similar to one Hardy attempted in 2022, when he told the court there was a "factual question" over whether Logan needed to hand over the records.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Michael Kemp rebuked him. "He needs to turn over everything. Every email. Every text. Everything," Kemp said. "The issue of public records has been clearly resolved. These are public records. There is no more dispute over that. That is the law of the case. Period."

More revelations: Arizona 'audit' leader traded messages with dozens of 'Stop the Steal' partisans, texts show

A judge in January 2022 fined Logan's company $50,000 a day until he complied with the order. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the fine in July, rejecting Logan's request to rescind it. The fines now total more than $5 million.

Senate Republicans in 2021 announced they would commission a hand count of every ballot cast in Maricopa County to address claims the election had been stolen from Trump. The Senate subpoenaed the ballots and other election material from the county.

Then-Senate President Karen Fann hired the Cyber Ninjas to lead the hand count after privately communicating with Waldron. Although neither Logan nor his company had election auditing experience, Fann at the time said he was "well qualified" and "well experienced."

The review was supposed to take a few weeks and cost taxpayers $150,000. It ultimately took about two months and so far has cost Arizona more than $5 million.

While Logan confirmed President Joe Biden's victory in Arizona, his report to the Senate focused on so-called anomalies that raised doubts about the process. It allowed Trump allies to insist the vote was compromised, instilling distrust in voting machines and encouraging partisan calls for paper ballot tabulations, hand recounts and "audits."

Greg Burton, Republic executive editor, pledged to keep fighting for all of Logan's records that a judge ordered be made public.

"It’s our responsibility to seek and inspect documents related to the Maricopa County ballot review, which was the only privately run election recount in America after the 2020 election," Burton said.

"The 'audit' created such turmoil in Arizona and raised so-far-unfounded doubts about election processes," he said. "Before another presidential election is held, the details of this one should be put to rest."

Romley's advice to prosecutors: 'Do what you are elected to do'

Romley said the issues raised in Logan's texts raise concerns about Logan's role in attempting to "undermine democracy."

Romley ran the County Attorney's Office from 1989 to 2004. He briefly resumed his role as interim Maricopa County attorney in 2010 after the controversial term of Andrew Thomas, who was disbarred over political prosecutions.

Since leaving office, Romley has carved out a niche for tackling issues of public corruption, and his investigations have resulted in reforms and criminal convictions. He frequently consults on issues of legal ethics and has led independent state and county investigations.

More messages revealed: Cyber Ninjas CEO traded nearly 2,000 texts with current Trump lawyer on 'audits,' money

Romley has consulted for Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, and advised County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, a Republican, during her campaign.

"It's not like this is a trivial thing," Romley said of Logan's text messages. "These are difficult cases, no question. ... But that is the job."

Early on, Romley said he had to make a decision about whether he would put politics ahead of his career when he charged seven powerful legislators and seven other political figures with bribery and money laundering charges in the 1991 AZScam case.

Page out of the past: Read more about the AZScam case.

The case stemmed from a sting operation in which an alleged gaming consultant siphoned thousands of dollars to lawmakers in a bid to legalize casino gambling.

Romley said he faced enormous pressure not to prosecute and was told his career would be over if he brought the case forward. He said he decided then that his career was secondary to his oath of office.

The political implications of an investigation into Cyber Ninjas and Logan are similar to what he faced in the AZScam case, Romley said. But so are the potential damages.

Text messages make clear Logan lacked the capability to conduct a true "audit" of election results; that didn't stop him and other Trump allies from soliciting millions of dollars from donors around the world for the botched review, Romley said.

The public deserves to know how donations were used and if anyone personally benefited from them, Romley said. Logan also needs to be investigated for thumbing his nose at the public records law and not complying with lawful court orders, Romley said.

Prosecutors have a duty to protect the public trust no matter the political fallout, Romley said.

"Do what you are elected to do," he said. "Otherwise, you have to ask yourself if you are the right person for the job."

Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter for The Republic. Reach him at robert.anglen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8694. Follow him on Twitter @robertanglen.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Prominent former prosecutor seeks investigation of Cyber Ninjas