UAE sued in $2.8bn US lawsuit over ‘dark PR’ disinformation op

WASHINGTON: The United Arab Emirates and its powerful ruler were sued in a Washington court on Wednesday, accused of bankrolling a “dark public relations” operation that falsely linked an American oil trader to terrorist financing.

The lawsuit filed by the trader Hazim Nada in the District of Columbia alleges that starting in 2017 the UAE paid a Swiss private intelligence firm, Alp Services, to “seriously damage” his reputation and business in a sweeping smear campaign.

The alleged operation against Nada, first reported by The New Yorker last year, spotlights a booming industry of what security analysts call “disinformation-for-hire” enterprises that seed false narratives and peddle influence operations on behalf of governments and other paying clients.

Nada is suing dozens of parties including the UAE, its President Sheikh Moha­med bin Zayed Al Nahyan — often known as MBZ — its national oil company ADNOC, Emirati officials and Alp Services.

Nada is seeking damages worth $2.77 billion over the campaign that tipped his commodities trading firm Lord Energy into bankruptcy, his lawyers said.

“The United Arab Emirates and some of its top officials managed, directed, and bankrolled a years-long ‘dark’ public relations campaign through the Swiss private investigative firm, Alp Services,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit claimed that the UAE, along with the Geneva-based Alp, paid “journalists” and a professor at George Washington University among others to smear dozens of people including Nada.

There was no immediate comment from the UAE embassy in Washington, Alp Services or the professor, Lorenzo Vidino.

The lawsuit, based on over 8,000 documents procured by hackers from Alp’s internal servers, stated that the Swiss firm approached the UAE in 2017, offering to use “offensive viral communications” to defame Nada and dozens of other parties seen as hostile to the oil-rich Gulf state.

The plan relied on sowing doubts about Nada, who was born in the US state of Maryland, by saying Lord Energy was a front company for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Malign influence operations

Alp boasted of its ability to conduct “disinformation operations” on companies and individuals, saying its clients included nation states and the wealthy, according to court filings, audio recordings and other documents seen by AFP.

In one exchange with a representative of the UAE government, Alp declared that its actions, which included fraudulently posing as Nada to illegally obtain phone records and other confidential information, managed to bankrupt Lord Energy in less than two years.

The lawsuit claimed Lord Energy was seen as a serious business threat by the UAE and ADNOC, an incentive to eliminate the growing rival.

“MBZ had ultimate approval authority over the enterprise’s disinformation operations,” the suit alleged.