(Bloomberg) -- A group of US lawyers and journalists sued the Central Intelligence Agency and former director Michael Pompeo on Monday, arguing that their electronic devices were illegally copied and the data later shared with the Trump administration when they visited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK. 

The plaintiffs allege that their information was stolen between 2017 and 2018 when they turned over their laptops and mobile phones to a security firm during visits to Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he sought refuge for about seven years. They argued that the actions violated their Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure.

The lawsuit claims that the CIA under Pompeo worked with the security firm, identified as Spain-based UC Global, to gather extensive digital surveillance on Assange while he sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. That same firm also secretly provided copies of their digital devices to the CIA, according to the complaint, filed in federal court in Manhattan.

Richard Roth, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said many of the details about the alleged surveillance are based upon information emanating from a separate Spanish criminal case. “It’s very outrageous conduct,” he said at a press conference Monday.

A CIA spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit. Representatives for Pompeo did not immediately return an email inquiry seeking comment.

Assange has been detained in the UK since early 2019 and is scheduled to be extradited to the US, where he faces 18 federal charges relating to obtaining and disclosing classified information. His organization, WikiLeaks, has published government secrets that included video of a US helicopter killing civilians in Iraq.

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