Trump Crony Erik Prince Facing Potential Federal Indictment
Grand Jury Convened Over 2019 Attempt to Arm Libyan Warlord and Overthrow Libya's Government
Need To Know
Prince faces potential indictment for arms trafficking
Prince claims Trump will name him to a senior national security position in a second administration.
Charges threaten to expose the Prince’s secret relationship with the UAE government and Jared Kushner.
Prince traveled with a UAE government-issued passport as a secret military and intelligence advisor during the Trump Administration.
Erik Prince, an informal policy advisor to Donald Trump who has boasted of a potential role in a second Trump administration, is facing legal peril.
Federal prosecutors convened a grand jury in Washington D.C. in recent months to hear evidence against Prince for violating arms trafficking laws, three people with knowledge of the grand jury have told me. Witnesses have been giving testimony for several months, according to one of the sources familiar with the proceedings. The sources familiar with the ongoing proceedings requested anonymity because grand jury deliberations are secret. A person with knowledge of the government’s presentation of evidence told me an indictment was expected “soon” against Prince and one at least of his associates.
If indicted, it would mark the first time the Blackwater founder has faced charges in the U.S. In response to a query, Prince texted that he was unaware of grand jury proceedings against him.
At least part of the case against Prince involves his 2019 attempt to arm and support the overthrow of the US-recognized Libyan government by a renegade military commander who Prince has long supported. (Please see a story I published detailing Prince’s involvement in the operation and his efforts to fix it after it failed.)
A 2021 United Nations investigation concluded that Prince violated an arms embargo detailing his links to providing a mercenary force to a self-styled Libyan military ruler who controls the eastern portion of the fractured nation, which is also one of Africa’s biggest oil producers. Prince has repeatedly denied any role or involvement in the mercenary operation.
Last year, an Austrian court acquitted Prince of related but lesser charges.
Prince, a former Navy SEAL, is best known as the founder of the private military company Blackwater, which was once one of the U.S. government’s biggest contractors during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a longtime Trump donor and rightwing conservative who has been working behind the scenes as a foreign policy advisor to the Republican nominee during the 2024 election campaign. Prince is also an heir to a billion-dollar fortune, and his family has championed conservative causes for decades nationally and in Michigan, where they serve as an influential Republican political force. Since his time as the leader of Blackwater, Prince has peddled mercenary and private military proposals across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, often trying to trade an army for natural resources.
Why This Matters
An indictment would complicate Prince’s pursuit of a senior post in a second Trump term—or international business ventures. A federal indictment concerning the attempt to intervene in the Libyan conflict also threatens to expose his secret relationship with the Trump White House during the first term and his role as a national security asset for the United Arab Emirates.
Prince’s ambitions for a second Trump term have not been a secret. He has repeatedly told confidants that Trump told him that he would serve as the National Security Advisor — one of the most senior and consequential positions in government — in a second Trump White House, according to multiple sources who have spoken to Prince in recent months. Prince has also told others he would accept the role of the deputy director of the CIA. Neither position requires confirmation by the Senate, which Prince would likely be unable to secure.
In a text to The Cole Report, Prince denied discussing “any potential role” with Mr. Trump. The Trump campaign did not respond to an inquiry.
Prince has a history of privately boasting about his connection to President Trump. During Trump’s 2016 campaign, Prince told business colleagues in China that Trump would name him secretary of defense. Instead, Prince’s sister, Betsy DeVos, served as Trump’s Secretary of Education. Prince never served in the Trump Administration. Instead, he served as a shadow advisor to President Trump, advocating for private military contractors to replace U.S. forces in several parts of the world. Prince also maintained a secret relationship with Jared Kushner while Kushner was a senior White House official for his father-in-law, according to five people familiar with Kushner and Prince’s relationship.
At the same time he was working with Kushner, the UAE government issued Prince a passport, which he used to travel clandestinely in Africa and the Middle East for the Arab Gulf autocracy, according to three people familiar with his role in the UAE. In response to questions for this article, Mr. Prince denied that he was given a UAE passport.
He has been the subject of on-and-off federal investigations for two decades, beginning when he was the CEO of Blackwater. The investigations have covered topics ranging from weapons trafficking to his contacts and work with foreign governments and intelligence services. In 2007, Blackwater contractors killed 17 Iraqi civilians in what became known as the Nisour Square massacre, in what became a low point of the U.S. war in Iraq and led to Prince selling the company. Four of Prince’s contractors who fired indiscriminately during the massacre ultimately were convicted of various charges, including first-degree murder, and sentenced to prison. President Trump pardoned all four in the last days of his administration.
Recently, Prince called for the U.S. to “put the imperial hat back on” and “govern” nearly “all of Africa” and parts of Latin America because “they’re incapable of governing themselves.”
Note: This story was updated to include a detail about witnesses testifying. An editing error omitted the fact in the original post.
Good stuff on a bad actor! Keep us posted.
Please put this sociopath in prison!