WASHINGTON – Federal prosecutors have obtained records stating that John R. Allen, the retired four-star Navy general who commanded all U.S. troops in Afghanistan and now leads a venerable Washington think tank , who secretly lobbied the Qatari government, lied to investigators about his and tried to withhold evidence sought by a federal subpoena, according to court documents.
Judicial records are the latest evidence of an extensive investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI into the influence of wealthy Arab nations such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia in Washington.
Records of General Allen were filed in April in the Federal District Court in Central California in a request for an order to search General Allen’s electronic communications.
Other submissions of the case appear to have been sealed and the public publication of the order request may have been accidental. The archive provides evidence that General Allen joined the secret pressure plan along with Richard G. Olson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, and Imaad Zuberi, a business executive with ties to the East. Medium.
Mr. Zuberi is serving a prison sentence for violating foreign lobbying laws, campaign finance and taxation, as well as obstruction of justice. Mr. Olson has agreed to plead guilty to participating in Qatar’s lobbying effort in violation of a ban on the activity for the first year after leaving the diplomatic service.
A spokesman for General Allen, Beau Phillips, said in a statement: “John Allen voluntarily cooperated with the government’s investigation into the matter. John Allen’s efforts with regard to Qatar in 2017 were to protect the interests of the states. United States and military personnel stationed in Qatar. John Allen received no compensation for his efforts. “
The court documents were previously reported on Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Federal law requires that anyone who puts pressure on a foreign government register with the Department of Justice. The department has been cracking down on violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, or FARA, in recent years. There is no record that General Allen has been registered to put pressure on Qatar.
Federal prosecutors have expressed particular interest in possible violations by the Persian Gulf nations, which have developed close ties with business and political figures in the United States. Last month, the Justice Department filed a new indictment in an ongoing case against Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a friend and informal adviser to President Donald J. Trump, for working on behalf of the United Arab Emirates to lead politics foreign affairs during the Trump administration.
The plan described in the documents involving General Allen was developed around the start of the Trump administration five years ago, after he left the military and before he became chairman of the think tank. Brookings Institution. Qatar was frantically trying to avoid a campaign of pressure and an economic embargo on its rivals in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Rumors of a possible Saudi land invasion were circulating, it appeared that Mr. Trump supported the Saudis and the Emirates, and both sides of the dispute were spending a lot to win favor in Washington.
Mr. Zuberi, according to the presentation, “saw the diplomatic crisis as a business opportunity” and began conspiring to sell lobbying services in Qatar. He contacted Mr. Olson, who had recently left the government. Mr. Olson in turn took General Allen, according to the presentation.
“If we can do that, we will own half of Qatar,” Mr. Mr. Zuberi Olson in a WhatsApp message quoted in the presentation about his proposed plan with General Allen.
The court document provides a detailed account of several weeks in June 2017 when General Allen was recruited by Mr. Olson and Mr. Zuberi to meet with top Qatari and US officials to spread the Gulf crisis, and how General Allen saw the potential to make money from his involvement.
The document states that he agreed to travel to Doha, the capital of Qatar, in charge of Mr. Zuberi and negotiated a $ 20,000 payment, which he referred to as the “speaker fee.” The document cites a message from General Allen that shows his goal of making more money in the future: “working on a more complete agreement of a long-term relationship.”
Other messages cited in the document show that General Allen did other business with Qatar-affiliated companies, one of which would have provided him with a commission of more than $ 1 million. The document said the FBI has not determined whether he received the money.
During this period, General Allen met several times with U.S. officials, including members of Congress and HR McMaster, the retired three-star general who was then the White House national security adviser. But the document, citing an interview with General McMaster by federal agents, stated that General Allen never informed General McMaster that he was being paid for his work.
The paper also describes General Allen’s efforts to obstruct the investigation by lying to federal agents who asked him about his lobbying efforts during an interview last August, and withholding documents that showed his financial interest in his interactions with Qatari officials.
“Allen’s production was devoid of any documents revealing his financial interest in the diplomatic crisis and almost no documents showing the involvement of Zuberi and Olson,” the search warrant states.
General Allen is a former Deputy Commander of the United States Central Command, with responsibility for the Middle East and a large base in Qatar.
His time at Central Command helped him consolidate ties with Qatar’s top leaders, including Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the country’s emir. In 2011, he was awarded a fourth star and took command of all U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan until 2013.
In 2016, a year before the court document indicated his pressure effort for Qatar, General Allen was an adviser to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and spoke that year at the Democratic National Convention.
He took over as President of Brookings in November 2017.
Brookings once had a large campus in Doha. The campus was established years before General Allen became president of the think tank. In September, according to its website, Brookings ended its affiliation with the Doha Institute, now known as the Middle East Global Affairs Council.
The contemporary notes of Mr. Olson at a June 2017 conference call show that Mr. Zuberi agreed to pay for the group’s travel expenses and General Allen’s conference fare, but stressed the need for secrecy.
The presentation suggests that General Allen also sought other forms of payment. An Israeli security firm, Fifth Dimension, had agreed to pay him $ 10,000 a month, as well as a 1.5 percent commission for any new business it generated, and asked for credit to persuade Qatar to sign a contract. $ 72 million with the company over the same weekend. trip, which could earn him a share of more than $ 1 million.
His endorsement “would probably complete his decision-making,” he wrote to the company in an email quoted in the presentation.
General Allen was also on the board of a Texas-based artificial intelligence company, SparkCognition, and apparently also tried to sell a $ 30 million contract for his services in Qatar. “The document is in his hands,” General Allen wrote to the chief executive shortly after returning from his visit.
General Allen seemed to recognize that he was indeed working as a subcontractor in the pressure effort, especially after the Emir of Qatar and other senior officials insisted on excluding Mr. Zuberi of a meeting with the former general and the former ambassador.
“You should have stepped in and said you shouldn’t stay,” Mr. Zuberi in a WhatsApp message to the ambassador, and added: “Does General Allen know your place or position?”
In an email to amend, General Allen, according to court documents, thanked Mr. Zuberi “for his leadership” and expressed regret for his exclusion. “I think there are a lot of opportunities,” he added.
Mark Mazzetti reported from Washington, and David D. Kirkpatrick from New York. Seamus Hughes contributed to the report.