Luft, who holds a dual US-Israeli citizenship, is facing eight counts of failing to register as a foreign agent, lying to investigators, illicit arms trafficking, and evading sanctions.
According to a BBC report, the Israeli professor is accused for acting as a Chinese agent, brokering arms deals on behalf of the communist state, and trying to bypass Iran sanctions.
Federal prosecutors allege that Luft also attempted to broker arms deals with customers in China, Libya, the UAE, and Kenya, circumventing US sanctions by instructing an associate to tell officials that oil Iran was trying to sell was actually from Brazil.
Luft is further accused of attempting to procure anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers, and mortars to Libya on behalf of China.
He also allegedly attempted to sell "aerial bombs and rockets" to the UAE and drones to Kenya.
Luft, the co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, a Washington-based think tank, that claims to advance US security and the energy sector, purportedly "agreed to covertly recruit and pay" an unnamed ex-US official to publicly support Chinese policies under former President Trump.
If convicted of all counts, Luft faces a sentence of up to 100 years in prison.
In his defense, Luft is claiming that he has fallen victim to US President Biden's attempt to "cover up" his son Hunter's corruption scandal.
In a video published in the New York Post, Luft can be seen saying: "I, who volunteered to tell the government about a possible security breach and provide important information about the US president, am now being hunted by the same people and may have to live on the run for the rest of my life."
"I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat. I have no political motive or agenda. I did this out of deep concern that if the Bidens came to power, the country would face the same traumatic scandal as it did with (Russian collusion), only this time with China. Because of the Justice Department's cover-up, that's exactly what happened.
I warned the administration against putting the legitimacy of the 2020 elections on the line. Who is the real criminal in this story?" Luft concluded.
