Gal Luft, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Maryland, was charged by Manhattan prosecutors for allegedly recruiting and paying an unnamed former U.S. government official on behalf of principals based in China, without registering as a foreign agent, in 2016.
The former official was an adviser to Donald Trump and was reportedly paid to publicly support policies relating to China. Prosecutors have accused Luft of trying to broker illicit arms deals to sell weapons to Libya, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates, among others, without having a legal license to do so.
Luft also allegedly set up meetings between Iranian officials and a Chinese energy company to discuss oil deals, though he denied his participation in these deals when interviewed by U.S. law enforcement.
Luft is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel who was arrested in February in Cyprus. He has since claimed that he was taken into custody to prevent him from testifying about alleged business dealings within the Biden family. He has become a central witness in the House GOP probe into the business dealings of Hunter Biden.
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He was released on bail but remains a fugitive.
“As alleged, the defendant engaged in multiple schemes to evade sanctions and laws intended to protect our national security,” said FBI acting assistant director Christie Curtis in a press release. “The FBI is determined to defend our nation by enforcing laws designed to promote transparency of foreign influence within the United States.”
Should he be indicted on all counts, Luft faces more than 100 years in prison, though this sentence is unlikely.
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