DOJ Charges Former Think Tank Official With Sanctions Violations

DOJ this week indicted Gal Luft, former co-director of a Maryland think tank, on charges related to “multiple international criminal schemes,” including arms trafficking and violating U.S. sanctions against Iran. The agency said Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen who worked at the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, for “years” worked as a Chinese agent to “advance the interests” of the Chinese government, including by acting as a middleman in a range of illegal weapons and oil deals.

Luft helped to broker illegal arms deals between Chinese companies and people in Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Kenya and Qatar, DOJ said, and worked to complete those deals without licenses required by the Arms Export Control Act. He also helped to broker Iranian oil deals by soliciting buyers and passing on pricing information, the agency said, and helped to set up meetings between Iranian officials and a Chinese energy company. He also made “multiple false statements” during an interview with U.S. law enforcement about his role in these deals, telling authorities that he “tried to prevent oil deals with Iran and had not been present during meetings with the Chinese energy company and Iranians,” DOJ said.

Luft was charged with conspiracy to violate the AECA, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence; three counts of violating the AECA, each of which carries a 20-year maximum sentence; conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which carries a 20-year maximum sentence; and more.