FBI seizes electronic data of former US Marine General over alleged illegal Qatar lobbying

Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, on Wednesday seized the electronic data of the retired four-star Marine general of the United States Armed Forces, John Allen, for an investigation into an illegal lobbying campaign for Qatar. Allen, who led the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation [NATO] military forces in Afghanistan, lobbied the then-Republican National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster for the Trump administration to adopt a pro-Qatar tone, according to federal court filings obtained by the Associated Press on June 8. 

In a mail obtained from June 2017 that ex-US marine general sent to McMaster, he wrote that the Qataris were “asking for some help” as he urged the White House and the US State Department must issue a statement calling on all sides involved to “act with restraint” during the diplomatic boycott of Qatar by the UAE and other Gulf nations. 

The then-US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later came to the press call at the White House and issued a statement asking Gulf countries to “ease the blockade against Qatar” and asked, “that there be no further escalation by the parties in the region.” A deal was later struck by the Trump administration’s senior advisor Jared Kushner and other government officials.

Allen persuaded Tillerson to issue the statement, the FBI claims in its filing, adding that he lobbied for the Qatari counterparts and his mail had Tillerson “shift away from earlier statements by the White House.”

US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Credit: Associated Press

Ex-US Marine Gen part of an investigation that jailed US envoy to Pakistan and UAE 

Ex-Marine general is a part of the investigation that has seen the former United States Ambassador to Pakistan and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Richard G. Olson — go to prison. Olson was Coordinating Director for Development and Economic Affairs in the US Embassy, Kabul. 

Pakistani American Imaad Zuberi, an influential political donor based out of California, was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison and had to pay a criminal fine of $1.75 million for falsifying records concealing his work as a “foreign agent” while lobbying high-level US government officials. Pakistani American Zuberi had pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The court found that he laundered foreign money to fund illegal campaign contributions for Qatar. 

In its filing on June 8, the FBI claimed that United States’ ex-four star marine general made false statements and concealed information during the interviews held with law enforcement officers. He withheld “incriminating” documents to conceal his role in an illegal foreign lobbying campaigns on behalf of the wealthy Persian Gulf nation. Marine Gen. John R. Allen, who now works with a Washington based think tank, might face criminal charges for lobbying behind the scenes in order to influence US foreign policy in favour of the Persian Gulf nation. 

Multi-million dollar business deals with the government of Qatar

During the June 2017 Qatar diplomatic crisis, when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Egypt severed relations with Doha, the ex-US Marine general lobbied the US officials to help Qatar while also “simultaneously pursuing multi-million dollar business deals with the government of Qatar,” the court filing revealed. This was in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act [FARA] which prohibits advocacy work on behalf of foreign interests under the laws outlined by the United States Department of Justice. 

FBI agent Babak Adib, in a search warrant application accessed by the Associated Press, said that there was potentially enough evidence gathered to prove the suspected lobbying charges against former Marine Gen. John R. Allen. “There’s substantial evidence that these FARA violations were willful,” Adib wrote in the warrant. Allen, the FBI said, had also failed to disclose his business dealings with US officials, and provided a “false version of events” regarding his work on behalf of the Qatari officials during a 2020 interview that was held with the law enforcement officials. The ex-marine general who had led NATO had failed to produce email messages in response to a grand jury subpoena, the affidavit stated. 

A 77-page search warrant application accessed by reporters of the Associated Press was also found to be filed erroneously. It was quickly removed from the docket Tuesday after the agency reached out to the law enforcement authorities. Ex-US Marine General has denied lobbying charges, saying that his attempts were focused on preventing a military conflict in the region that would put United States military troops deployed in the Gulf region at risk. His spokesperson Beau Phillips told reporters that the former general “voluntarily cooperated with the government’s investigation into this matter.” 

It was found that the think tank Brooklyn Institute has been receiving significant funding from Qatar for years. A source who spoke on condition of anonymity, although, stated that the US think tank no longer accepts Qatari money. Allen is found to be linked with Olson and Zuberi who were working on separate cases during UAE and its allies' blockade against Qatar in mid-2017 for supporting terrorist organizations.

Ex-President Donald Trump, right, held a bilateral meeting with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Riyadh. Credit: Associated Press

Efforts to help Qatar influence US foreign policy

The then-Republican President Donald Trump had appeared to side against Qatar during the Gulf diplomatic crisis. Allen, and several other members of Congress, as well as military officials, have been interviewed as part of the lobbying investigation wherein they made efforts to help Qatar influence US policy in 2017. Former US Marine General played "an important role" in shifting the US’s response, the filing states. 

Allen provided advice to the top decision-makers and US officials on "how to influence" US policy in favour of Qatar, by the use of a “full-spectrum” of information operations, including “black and white” operations, the affidavit says. Ahead of his trip to Doha, Allen also wanted to “have a chat” with Olson and Zuberi, he demanded a $20,000 “speaker’s fee” for the trip. Pakistani American Zuberi paid Allen’s first-class airfare to Qatar, the affidavit said. He also spoke to Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat, who later told law enforcement officials he didn’t recall exactly what Allen had said.