The US Justice Department on Monday unsealed arms trafficking and other charges violations charges against an Israeli professor and potential star witness who claims he has evidence of the Biden family’s corrupt businesses
Gal Luft, 57, was arrested in February on eight counts of working secretly 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.
He was detained in Cyprus but fled while free on bail.
His whereabouts are unknown, but on Monday the indictment against him was unsealed.
Luft claims he has information about the Biden family’s business with people linked to Chinese military intelligence. He was a potential witness for the US House committee investigating wrongdoings by Hunter Biden and his father, President Joe Biden.
The status of his potential testimony is not known now that Biden’s DOJ has announced new charges against the think-tank leader.
Gal Luft, an Israeli-American professor, claims he has information about members of the Biden family doing business with people linked to Chinese military intelligence
Luft is charged with willfully failing to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, arms trafficking, Iranian sanctions violations and making false statements to federal agents.
Luft last week told The New York Post, in a video filmed from an undisclosed location, he was being hunted by the Justice Department because he had 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.
The House Oversight Committee was preparing to interview Luft as part of their investigation into the Biden family, before he fled his extradition from Greece.
Luft claims he met with FBI agents in Brussels in 2019, and told them that relatives of President Joe Biden were receiving vast sums of money from Chinese officials.
Luft said the China state-controlled energy company CEFC was paying $100,000 a month to Hunter Biden, and $65,000 to his uncle, Joe’s brother Jim Biden.
Hunter and Jim Biden took the money in exchange for their FBI connections and use of the Biden name to promote China’s Belt and Road Initiative around the world, Luft claimed.
On Monday, prosecutors in Manhattan detailed the charges against Luft, which were filed earlier this year.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Luft worked illegally to advance Chinese interests in the United States and worldwide.
‘As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes,’ said Williams.
‘He subverted foreign agent registration laws in the United States to seek to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former high-ranking U.S. Government official; he acted as a broker in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.
‘As the charges unsealed today reflect, our Office will continue to work vigorously with our law enforcement partners to detect and hold accountable those who surreptitiously attempt to perpetrate malign foreign influence campaigns here in the United States.’
Luft is accused of attempting to broker the sale of Chinese weapons to Libya, Kenya, and the UAE, without the necessary permits.
Prosecutors claim he communicated in code, referring to weapons as ‘toys’ and the United States as ‘uncle’.
He also referred to the Iranian oil as being Brazilian, in an alleged attempt to hide the true origin of the fuel.
The indictment states that Luft voluntarily spoke to investigators, and lied to them repeatedly – insisting that he was not involved in trafficking arms or brokering trade of Iranian oil.
‘For years, Luft, a dual U.S.-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.
But Luft claims that the charges against him are politically-motivated, and designed to stop him sharing what he knows about Hunter Biden, Jim Biden and their businesses.
‘The chances of me getting a fair trial in Washington are virtually zero,’ he told The New York Post in a phone call from an undisclosed location in a foreign jail.
Explaining why he skipped bail, he told the paper: ‘I had to do what I had to do. I don’t want to get people in trouble.’
Cypriot police realized he had skipped bail after finding Luft’s car abandoned near the airport. He told the publication he was in a different country now.
The former Israeli Defense Force colonel claims he was ‘charged for a thought crime’ amid his weapons trafficking allegations
The accusations date from an email with an associate five years ago.
Luft told The New York Post: ‘I was asked by a bona fide arms dealer, an Israeli friend, to inquire with a company I knew if they had an item and what would be the price of an item.
‘This is where the conspiracy ended. No follow-up, no money, no brokering activity,’ he claimed.
Luft also said there was sinister intent behind his extraction order which was issued on November 1, 2020 – seven days before the midterms.
He claims that this was processed shortly before Democrats were expected to lose control of the House to Republicans who were wanting to investigate the Biden family over alleged corruption and abuse of foreign influence.
Luft is claiming that he was left with no option but to flee his bail as he believes his chances of getting a fair trial are ‘virtually zero’
‘When it was clear the Republicans are going to win the House or the Senate, all of a sudden comes [Republican Rep. James] Comer and [Republican Rep. Jim] Jordan and the game is changing,’ he told The New York Post.
‘There will be questions and subpoenas and investigations [so] they [the administration] have to discredit me. I never thought of coming forward. Through 2020 I sat quiet like a fish.’
He added: I didn’t want to get caught up in this game, but when they arrested me I had no choice but to blow it up.’
Luft made his claim earlier this year after he was detained at the Cyprus airport.
‘I’ve been arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request by the US,’ he tweeted on February 19.
‘The US, claiming I’m an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic. I’ve never been an arms dealer.
‘DOJ [Department Of Justice] is trying to bury me to protect Joe, Jim & Hunter Biden. Shall I name names?,’ he wrote.
The tweet was brought to the attention of House investigators.
Luft previously met with FBI officials and DOJ prosecutors in 2019, The New York Post reported, at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels.
Then-Vice President Joe Biden, left, with his son Hunter, right, at the Duke Georgetown NCAA college basketball game in Washington, January 30, 2010
Joe Biden and brother Jim Biden (right) choose their flavor at Ellen’s Homemade Ice Cream in Charleston, West Virginia, October 24, 2008
It comes after emails revealed earlier this year that Hunter Biden had been asked to use contacts in the FBI to help his Chinese business partner, who was arrested for bribery and money laundering.
It was also claimed that Hunter Biden used a top FBI official code-named ‘One Eye’ to funnel secret bureau information to his Chinese business partners.
Patrick Ho – convicted of bribery and money laundering in 2018 – was secretary general of CEFC, the Chinese oil giant Hunter partnered with, and which sent the Biden family more than $5 million.
Hunter Biden described Ho as the ‘f***ing spy chief of China’ in a May 2018 recorded conversation on his abandoned laptop, and court documents show Ho was under surveillance by federal law enforcement in an espionage-related investigation.
Hunter took a $1 million wire payment to represent Ho as his attorney before he was arrested in November 2017. He also agreed to speak to FBI agents to glean information on the case against his Chinese Communist Party-connected client.
On September 18, 2017, Ho retained Hunter with a $1million contract.
The agreement, obtained by DailyMail.com earlier this year in March from Hunter’s abandoned laptop, describes Ho as ‘Deputy Chairman and Secretary General of China Energy Fund Committee’ (CEFC) and says Hunter would provide ‘Counsel to matters related to US law and advice pertaining to the hiring and legal analysis of any US Law Firm or Lawyer’.
Two months later, Ho was cuffed by FBI agents who intercepted him at JFK Airport in New York on November 18, 2017 on charges of bribing African government officials for CEFC.
