Andy Khawaja arrested

What does the financier know and what evidence does he have?

andy khawaja
Andy Khawaja in a photo from his Instagram
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From Lithuania comes news of the arrest of Ahmad ‘Andy’ Khawaja — dedicated party goer, ‘billionaire’ and Spectator ‘whistleblower’. Khawaja is being held in Lithuania pending extradition on charges of making illegal campaign contributions of $3.5 million in 2016. He and his lawyer accuse the US authorities of trying to silence him before the US presidential election, essentially for telling the story published in The Spectator’s March US edition. Back then, he denied doing anything illegal and claimed there was a cover up of something much bigger: hundreds of millions of dollars paid illegally by the…

From Lithuania comes news of the arrest of Ahmad ‘Andy’ Khawaja — dedicated party goer, ‘billionaire’ and Spectator ‘whistleblower’. Khawaja is being held in Lithuania pending extradition on charges of making illegal campaign contributions of $3.5 million in 2016. He and his lawyer accuse the US authorities of trying to silence him before the US presidential election, essentially for telling the story published in The Spectator’s March US edition. Back then, he denied doing anything illegal and claimed there was a cover up of something much bigger: hundreds of millions of dollars paid illegally by the Saudis and the Emiratis to get President Trump elected.

His lawyer in Lithuania, Vilija Viesunaite, told local journalists: ‘The arrest was made exactly two months before the US presidential elections and the detention period was also just the same two months…I would not rule out the possibility that several unusual factors had an impact on these decisions.When Khawaja spoke to The Spectator earlier this year, he claimed that the Department of Justice and the White House were trying to destroy him. He said they had already gone after his business, a payment processing company called Allied Wallet. ‘One day I might have to testify against them, so why not burn me first?’ The criminal charges of campaign finance violations were more of the same, he said. ‘The law has been manipulated. I see my case like a judgment time — when they brought Jesus Christ to the Romans. They just threw an accusation at him to crucify him. That’s how I see myself, Jesus Christ standing in a Roman court, being accused of things I never did.’

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Khawaja gave $3.5 million to help elect Hillary in 2016. (Then he gave $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.) Prosecutors say the $3.5 million came from the Emiratis, hoping to buy influence. Khawaja says it was his money. In the Spectator story he says that — far more importantly — he gave a middleman for the Saudis and the Emiratis the technology to make huge campaign contributions disguised as millions of micropayments from ordinary Americans. He claimed that most of the money was used to elect President Trump. The Trump campaign and everyone else involved denied these allegations. Nevertheless, Khawaja says that his silence is vitally important to those in charge in Washington. If his case does get to court, it’s quite possible that the story he gave to The Spectator will form part of his defense. The question is — does he have the evidence to back it up?