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Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja and Hillary Clinton



Men Who Funneled Cash For Clinton Go To Trial


by Jeff Miller
February 25, 2022


OPINION:
This article contains commentary which may reflect the author's opinion




A California businessman who donated more than $3 million illegally to Hillary Clinton’s campaign
provided an explanation for his decision: he feared Donald Trump’s promised ban on Muslim visitors
to the U.S. would destroy his travel-oriented business.

“He believed that his contribution to Hillary Clinton’s campaign would save his business,”
said Megan Church, defense attorney for Los Angeles luxury transport provider Rani El-Saadi.
“His company catered to clients who were travelers from Muslim-majority countries in the
Middle East — the same people Mr. Trump intended to ban from the U.S. A Trump presidency
posed a fatal threat to Mr. El-Saadi’s business. That’s why he donated.”

Nevertheless, as El-Saadi’s trial in Washington began on Thursday, the prosecution offered an
equally simplistic explanation for the $150,000 El-Saadi paid to attend a Clinton fundraiser in
October 2016: Andy Khawaja, a much wealthier man who is in the payments business,
gave El-Saadi the cash.

“This is a case about a large-scale conspiracy to funnel well in excess of $1 million into the
U.S. political system — money that came from the United Arab Emirates,” prosecutor Michelle Parikh
told the jury during the trial.

The case is far from simple in reality. What jury members heard on Thursday was enticing,
but they aren’t being given many of the eye-catching details.

Khawaja, the founder of Allied Wallet, is believed to be a multibillionaire. Private jets, luxury hotels,
and fancy cars characterized his lavish lifestyle as a Lebanon-born American. Jurors are aware that
he is not present in court, but they are unsure why. Having fought extradition to the U.S. for over
2 years, he is currently in Lithuania. He has been declared a fugitive by Judge Randy Moss.

“Khawaja wanted very badly to gain power and influence in the U.S.,” Parikh stated.

In addition to the men who have pleaded guilty, five others are cooperating with the prosecution.
One of them is George Nader, who has worked closely with the Trump White House on Mideast issues
but has been charged with child pornography and received a 10-year sentence for sexual assault in 2020.

Nader’s cooperation with federal authorities, including Special Counsel Robert Mueller, appears to
have led to the indictment. But Nader’s credibility has been tainted to the point that prosecutors
won’t call him at the current trial. It is expected that four other men who have pleaded guilty
will testify, Parikh said.

Parikh disclosed Thursday to jurors that millions donated to Clinton and almost $1 million directed to
Republicans after Trump’s victory originated in the United Arab Emirates, but she did not bring up
the more explosive allegation she aired in court earlier this week: that the money actually originated
with the UAE government.

In Parikh’s words, both the Clinton and Republican campaigns were unaware that the money
contributed by donors with no prior record of political giving originated from other sources.

The jury in other cases has sometimes had trouble understanding why straw campaign donations
are important without evidence similar to a quid pro quo. Yet Parikh said there were “good reasons”
why donating someone else’s money under your name is against the law. “Our political system is
premised on transparency,” she asserted.

Diane Hamwi, the former Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser, was the prosecution’s
first witness who testified Khawaja hired her for $7,500 a month in the spring of 2016 to help him
cultivate relationships with American politicians and to seek appointment to a Mideast-related
government post or commission.

“He hired me to help him develop more relationships in the political sphere,” Hamwi revealed.

“I was ensuring that when he made the large contributions he was making that he was getting
the most for that,” Hamwi concluded.

Hamwi said she explained to Khawaja how U.S. campaign finance rules work: how foreigners are
not eligible to donate unless they are permanent U.S. citizens and how people can only donate their
own money. Khawaja reportedly asked her how some countries, including Israel, donate a great
deal of money to the U.S. political establishment. Her response was that foreign governments
cannot fund campaigns, but can fund other players in the political scene, such as think tanks
and lobbyists.

Mohammad Diab, a resident of Las Vegas and a cousin of Khawaja who worked for Allied Wallet in
America, is also on trial with El-Saadi.

The lawyer for Diab, Harland Braun, suggested briefly to the jurors that the prosecution was the
outcome of a political vendetta against Hillary Clinton. Moments later, however, the defense lawyer
seemed to back off of this statement.

Prosecutors have to prove that the men knew they were breaking the law in addition to the fact
that they made illegal donations in order to win convictions.

Khawaja’s attorney has been given a reserved seat in court, despite his status as a fugitive.

The jury assembly has been reconfigured to accommodate the 16 jurors and alternates in the gallery
that normally hosts the press and public due to the Coronavirus pandemic. As the witnesses testified
from the corner of the jury box, a law clerk sat on the stand near the judge, usually reserved for
witnesses. Although lawyers and the judge typically remove their masks when they speak, transparent
plastic shields were scattered throughout the room.