MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: A 57-year-old Israeli professor who allegedly provided the FBI with information regarding the Biden family's corruption has been charged by the Department of Justice with arms trafficking, acting as a foreign agent for China, and violating Iran sanctions. Gal Luft is also accused of employing and compensating a former senior US government official in 2016 on behalf of principals in China, without registering as a foreign agent.
Luft was detained in Cyprus in February but fled after being released on bail while awaiting extradition. At that time, he was charged with eight counts of secretly working for China, attempting to broker the sale of arms to Libya, Kenya, and the UAE without the necessary US permits, and selling Iranian oil to China in violation of sanctions. Although Luft's whereabouts are still unknown, the indictment against him was unsealed on Monday, July 10. In the court documents, he is charged with intentionally failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, arms trafficking, violating Iranian sanctions, and lying to federal officials, according to Daily Mail.
Who is Gal Luft?
Luft, who is a citizen of both the United States and Israel, serves as the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. He is also a co-author of several books, including Energy Security Challenges for the 21st Century (2009), Turning Oil into Salt: Energy Independence Through Fuel Choice (2009), and Petropoly: The Collapse of America's Energy Security Paradigm (2012). Luft has previously claimed to possess information on the Biden family's dealings with individuals connected to Chinese military intelligence.
He was a prospective witness for the US House committee investigating allegations of impropriety involving President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. In a video shot from an unidentified location, Luft admitted to The New York Post that the Justice Department was pursuing him because he possessed information about the Bidens. "I, who volunteered to inform the US government about a potential security breach and about compromising information about a man vying to be the next president, am now being hunted by the very same people who I informed — and may have to live on the run for the rest of my life," he said.
'He subverted foreign agent registration laws'
The leader of the think tank asserted that he met with FBI investigators in Brussels in 2019 and informed them that relatives of President Joe Biden were receiving substantial sums of money from Chinese authorities. According to Luft, Hunter Biden receives $100,000 per month from the China state-controlled energy giant CEFC, while his uncle Jim Biden, Joe's brother, receives $65,000. The House Oversight Committee had been preparing to interview Luft as part of its investigation into the Biden family before he fled to evade extradition from Greece.
On Monday, prosecutors in Manhattan outlined the charges against Luft, stating that he "engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes." Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, asserted that Luft participated in criminal activities to advance Chinese interests both domestically and internationally. "He circumvented US foreign agent registration laws to promote Chinese policies by utilizing a former high-ranking US government official. He acted as a broker in deals involving dangerous weapons and Iranian oil, and he provided false information about his crimes to law enforcement," stated Williams.
‘I don't want to get people in trouble'
Luft is accused of attempting to facilitate the sale of Chinese weaponry to Libya, Kenya, and the UAE without the required authorizations. Allegedly, he utilized coded communication to refer to the weapons as "toys" and the United States as "uncle." Prosecutors claim that he also referred to the Iranian oil as Brazilian in an apparent effort to conceal its true origin. According to the indictment, Luft cooperated with investigators but repeatedly provided false information, denying involvement in the trading of Iranian oil or the transportation of weapons.
"For years, Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen who serves as the co-director of a Maryland-based think tank, engaged, along with others, in multiple international criminal schemes," the indictment states. In his defense, Luft contends that the accusations leveled against him are politically motivated and intended to prevent him from disclosing what he knows about Hunter, Jim Biden, and their companies. "The chances of me getting a fair trial in Washington are virtually zero," he said. Explaining why he skipped bail, he added, "I had to do what I had to do. I don't want to get people in trouble."
