Julian Hessenthaler is a private investigator and a former security consultant known for so-called Ibiza-affair and subsequent fall of the Austrian government headed by the far-right FPÖ and whose leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, was vice-chancellor.

In 2017, he filmed then-FPÖ leader Heinz Christian Strache and his party colleague Johann Gudenus meeting the alleged niece of a Russian oligarch in a villa on the Spanish island of Ibiza. The video documented their willingness to engage in corruption, circumvent party financing laws, and covertly take control of independent media outlets. The release of the video two years later triggered corruption investigations that ended the political career of former Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz and continue to occupy the Austrian judiciary and politics to this day. In 2022, Hessenthaler was sentenced to three and a half years of imprisonment. The charges he faced had nothing to do with the production of the Ibiza video, which itself was not punishable. Time and again, doubts about the validity of evidence presented arose, and this case impressively illustrated the mechanics of discrediting individuals uncovering corruption by means of contrived accusations. Hessenthaler was conditionally released in March 2023 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.