Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York hit Gal Luft, an Israeli professor who has been described as a key “missing” witness in the House Republicans’ investigation of Biden family corruption, with a litany of charges on Monday, July 10.

GAL LUFT

Luft, 57, who was arrested in Cyprus on Feb. 17, 2023 and is on the lam after being released on bail to avoid extradition to the United States, is accused of helping recruit a former high-ranking U.S. government official “to publicly support certain policies” favoring China.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged, Gal Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen and co-head of a Maryland think tank, engaged in multiple, serious criminal schemes. 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.”

While the official is not named in the indictment, The New York Post reported that details provided point to former CIA Director James Woolsey, who worked on Trump’s transition team in 2016.

Woolsey led (together with Robert McFarlane, a former national security advisor under Ronald Reagan), the board of directors of Luft’s think tank, the Institute for Analysis of Global Security (IAGS).

The eight-count indictment includes violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”), Iran sanctions, engaging in arms trafficking and lying to federal agents.

Luft claims that he is being hounded to prevent him from testifying to the House Oversight Committee that the family of U.S. President Joe Biden accepted payments from the Chinese military and had an FBI mole who agreed to transfer classified information to a Biden family member, who then transferred it to the Chinese.

“I, who volunteered to inform the U.S. 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,” Luft told the Post in an exclusive video.

Luft served for 15 years in the Israel Defense Forces before retiring as an artillery battalion commander. He moved to Washington, D.C. to study at the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he received doctorate in international security. He then formed his think tank.

Luft says that he is neither Republican nor Democrat. “I have no political motive or agenda,” he said, calling himself “patient zero of the Biden family investigation.”

“I did it out of deep concern that if the Bidens were to come to power, the country would be facing the same traumatic Russia collusion scandal—only this time with China,” he said.

The FBI has requested that individuals with information of Luft’s whereabouts contact a local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.  Tips can be reported anonymously and can also be reported online at tips.fbi.gov.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.