The Swiss government has filed a criminal complaint over the US Central Intelligence Agency's alleged use of a cryptography company as a front to spy on various governments' secret communications, the Swiss attorney general's office said on Sunday.

The complaint against persons unknown for alleged breaches of the law governing export controls follows recent reports on "Operation Rubicon", which for decades involved the CIA and German BND spy services covertly reading other nations' secret messages encoded with technology sold by Swiss firm Crypto AG. The case of Crypto, which sold encryption devices and software while being secretly owned by US and German intelligence services that could freely read what it encrypted, is embarrassing for neutral Switzerland and could hurt its international reputation, particularly if it turned a blind eye.

Although the outlines of Operation Rubicon were known for years, new details about its scope and duration were made public last month by Swiss, German and US investigative journalists. "The Office of the Attorney General confirms it has received a criminal complaint by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) dated February 2, 2020 regarding possible violations of export control law," the attorney general's office said in a statement. SECO is part of the Swiss Economy Ministry.