Rajat Khare

Rajat Khare is an Indian entrepreneur and investor who co-founded Appin, a New Delhi-based technology company, in December 2003. Now based in Switzerland, he runs Boundary Holding, a Luxembourg-based venture capital firm, with his wife Shweta Khare.

Investigative reports by Reuters, The New Yorker, and SRF Investigativ reported that Appin operated as a hack-for-hire company under Khare's co-directorship, allegedly stealing data from executives, politicians, and military officials worldwide. Criminal investigations in Switzerland, the Dominican Republic, and by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) linked Khare and Appin to hacking but did not result in charges against him. Through his U.S. law firm Clare Locke, Khare has denied any involvement, stating he "has never operated or supported, and certainly did not create, any illegal 'hack for hire' industry" and that his career has been dedicated to "cyber-defence and the prevention of illicit hacking."

Khare and entities associated with Appin have also pursued extensive legal action against media coverage of the company; Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the effort as "an offensive on an unprecedented global scale." Khare's Swiss lawyer, Nicolas Capt, said his client took "legitimate legal action—civil and criminal—to protect his honour, which has been damaged by false accusations."

Career

Appin

Khare co-founded Appin in December 2003 as a technology training startup; he was a 20-year-old computer science major at the time.

Boundary Holding's portfolio has included Cerbair, a French anti-drone company; Cysec, which organised a bug bounty programme for the European Space Agency; and the big data geolocation firm Kido Dynamics. RSF found that at least 15 media outlets had content modified or withdrawn following strategic lawsuits or legal notices from Khare or associated entities.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) responded on behalf of Techdirt and MuckRock, arguing that the Indian court order was unenforceable in U.S. courts under the First Amendment.

The AOATC, which describes itself as an entity supporting Appin franchise training centres, was created in 2022; during the lawsuit against Reuters, the Indian court questioned its legitimacy, noting that it was created after the events described in the Reuters article. Khare's lawyer, Capt, told RSF that his client "has no links with this association." Clare Locke has stated that the accusations against Khare are "categorically false" and "have been rejected by courts and regulatory bodies and debunked by experts."