The Justice Department on Monday unsealed allegations of arms trafficking and sanctions violations against an Israeli professor who claims to have information about the Biden family’s affairs with people associated with Chinese military intelligence.
Gal Luft, 57, was arrested in February on eight charges of secretly working for China, attempting to broker arms sales to Libya, Kenya and the UAE without necessary U.S. permits, and selling Iranian oil to China in violation of sanctions.
He was detained in Cyprus but fled while on bail.
His whereabouts are unknown, but charges against him were unsealed on Monday.
Gal Luft, an Israeli-American professor, claims to have information about members of the Biden family doing business with people associated with Chinese military intelligence
Luft faces charges of willful failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, arms trafficking, violations of Iranian sanctions and making false statements to federal agents.
Luft told last week The New York Postin a video filmed from an undisclosed location, that he was being hunted by the Justice Department for having information on the Bidens.
“I, who voluntarily informed the U.S. government of a potential security breach and of compromising information about a man vying to be the next president, am now being hunted by the same people I informed — and may have to live on the run for the rest of my life,” he said.
The House Oversight Committee prepared to interview Luft as part of their investigation into the Biden family, before he fled extradition.
Luft claims he met with FBI agents in Brussels in 2019 and told them that relatives of President Joe Biden received huge sums of money from Chinese officials.
Luft said China’s state energy company CEFC paid $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 the use of the Biden name to promote China’s Belt and Road Initiative around the world, Luft claimed.
On Monday, Manhattan prosecutors detailed charges against Luft filed earlier this year.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Luft was working illegally to advance Chinese interests in the United States and globally.
“It is alleged that Gal Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, was involved in multiple, serious criminal schemes,” Williams said.
“He undermined foreign agent registration laws in the United States to promote Chinese policies by acting through a former senior US government official; he acted as a go-between in deals for dangerous weapons and Iranian oil; and he told multiple lies about his crimes to law enforcement.
“As evidenced by the indictments unsealed today, our agency will continue to work vigorously with our law enforcement partners to track down and hold accountable those who are covertly attempting to perpetrate malicious foreign influence campaigns here in the United States.”
Luft is accused of trying to broker the sale of Chinese weapons to Libya, Kenya and the UAE without the necessary permits.
Prosecutors allege he communicated in code, referring to guns 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 fuel’s true origin.
The indictment says Luft voluntarily spoke to investigators and repeatedly lied to them — insisting he was not involved in arms trafficking or brokering Iranian oil.
“For years, Luft, a dual US-Israeli citizen who serves as co-director of a Maryland-based think tank, was involved with others in multiple international criminal schemes,” the indictment says.
But Luft claims the charges against him are politically motivated and are designed to prevent him from sharing what he knows about Hunter Biden, Jim Biden and their companies.
“The chances of me getting a fair trial in Washington are virtually zero,” he said The New York Post in a phone call from an undisclosed location in a foreign prison.
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 into trouble.’
Cypriot police realized he had skipped bail after finding Luft’s car left at the airport. He told the publication that he was now in a different country.
Former Israeli Defense Force colonel claims he has been ‘charged with a thought crime’ amid his arms trafficking allegations
The allegations date back to an email with an employee five years ago.
Luft said 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 the price of an item would be.
“Here the conspiracy ended. No follow-up, no money, no middlemen,” he claimed.
Luft also said there were sinister intent behind his extraction order issued on Nov. 1, 2020 — seven days before midterms.
He claims this was processed shortly before Democrats were expected to lose control of the House to Republicans seeking to investigate the Biden family for alleged corruption and abuse of foreign influence.
Luft claims he had no choice but to flee his bail as he believes his chances of a fair trial are ‘virtually zero’
“When it was clear that the Republicans are going to win the House or the Senate, it suddenly came [Republican Rep. James] Come 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] she [the administration] must discredit me. I never thought about coming forward. By 2020 I’ve been sitting still 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 filed his claim earlier this year after being detained at Cyprus airport.
“I was arrested in Cyprus on a politically motivated extradition request from the US,” he tweeted Feb. 19.
“The US claims I am an arms dealer. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic. I’ve never been an arms dealer.
DOJ [Department Of Justice] 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 detectives.
Luft met with FBI officials and DOJ prosecutors earlier 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 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 at the FBI to help his Chinese business partner, who had been arrested for bribery and money laundering.
It was also alleged that Hunter Biden used a top FBI official codenamed “One Eye” to send secret agency 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 worked with, sending the Biden family more than $5 million.
Hunter Biden described Ho as the “damned spy chief of China” in a May 2018 taped conversation on his abandoned laptop, and court documents show that Ho was under surveillance by federal law enforcement in an espionage-related investigation.
Hunter took a $1 million wire transfer to represent Ho as his lawyer before his arrest in November 2017. He also agreed to talk to FBI agents to gather information about the case against his Chinese Communist Party client.
On September 18, 2017, Ho retained Hunter with a $1 million contract.
The agreement, obtained by DailyMail.com from Hunter’s abandoned laptop earlier this year in March, describes Ho as “deputy chairman and secretary general of the China Energy Fund Committee” (CEFC) and says Hunter would be “an adviser on matters related to regard to US law and advice regarding the hiring and legal analysis of a US law firm or attorney’.
Two months later, Ho was handcuffed by FBI agents who intercepted him at New York’s JFK Airport on November 18, 2017 on charges of bribing African government officials for CEFC.