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 found that Appin operated as a hack-for-hire company under Khare's co-directorship, 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."