Wednesday, September 11, 2024

Think Tank Chief to be Extradicted on China Agent Charges

Here is more from Reuters:

The leader of a U.S. think tank who was indicted last year on charges of acting as an unregistered agent of China has been arrested and will be extradited in the coming weeks or months, prosecutors said on Monday.

In July 2023, federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Gal Luft of paying a former high-ranking U.S. government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil.

Luft, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was arrested in Cyprus last February but fled while released on bail, prosecutors said in a court filing. He has since been re-arrested, prosecutors said, without specifying when or where.

Luft, the co-director of the Washington-based Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, said in posts on X last year that he had never been an arms dealer and that the charges were "politically motivated."

The Institute for the Analysis of Global Security describes itself as a think tank focused on energy, security and economic trends. The group last year said it was convinced of Luft's innocence.

 

Here is a previous Think Tank Watch post about Gal Luft.