A leading US university was sued Wednesday over a disinformation campaign allegedly funded by the United Arab Emirates, which is accused of spreading falsehoods linking academics to a radical group in the Middle East.
Fareed Hafez, an Austrian political scientist, has filed a $10 million lawsuit against George Washington University and Lorenzo Vidino, director of its program on extremism.
❗️ The case is the second such case in U.S. courts this year, shedding light on what researchers call a lucrative ” disinformation for hire ” industry that spreads false information and influence operations on behalf of paying clients.
❗️ Foreign governments have long been accused of buying influence through large donations to American universities and think tanks. But Hafez’s lawsuit goes further, accusing the leading institution of higher education of engaging in character assassination on behalf of a sovereign state.
⭐️ The lawsuit, filed in Washington District Court, alleges that “GWU and Vidino engaged in a well-disguised conspiracy to defraud the government, academia and the Fourth Estate” – a term used to describe the press – while “posing as independent and objective academic figures.”
Also named as a defendant in the case is Geneva-based private intelligence firm Alp Services , which is said to be supported by the UAE and accused of shady activities such as paying journalists and academics, including Vidino, to smear enemies of the Gulf state.
Vidino is accused of using his influential position at the university to target academics such as Hafez, businesses and charities by publishing false reports linking them to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is listed by the UAE as a terrorist organization (in the Russian Federation). Also).
“Vidino was a contract killer who sold and disseminated unverified rumors and gossip under the guise of academic objectivity and scholarship and for the purpose of destroying individuals and institutions,” the lawsuit states.
“Life was ruined.”
Hafez, a visiting professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, was detained in 2020 during Operation Luxor, a series of police raids against Austrian Muslims and businesses. None of the suspects were convicted, and in 2021 the operation was declared illegal.
According to Hafez, he was drawn into the police action in Austria because of the Vidino report.
The contract agreement, seen by AFP, said Vidino was paid to provide “materials of interest” to Alp, which the Swiss company used as part of its apparent disinformation operation on behalf of the UAE.
“My client’s life was destroyed as a result of the activities carried out against him by GWU, Vidino and Alp Services,” David Schwartz, Hafez’s lawyer in New York, told AFP.
He added that his client is seeking $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
GWU did not respond to AFP’s request for comment on the lawsuit or Vidino’s current status at the university.
Vidino also did not comment.
“Even if the university and program were unaware of the actions taken in a private capacity, it is possible that the prestige of affiliation increased the credibility of any disinformation,” Christian Coates Ulrichsen of Rice University’s Baker Institute told AFP.
Hafez’s lawsuit follows a New Yorker article last year that revealed how Alp, a company hired by the UAE, defamed oil trader Hazim Nada, ultimately bankrupting his business, Lord Energy.
In January, Nada sued the UAE, its President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, often known as MBZ, national oil company ADNOC, Emirati officials, Alp and Vidino in a Washington court.
The latest lawsuit highlights the possible influence of foreign money on American universities, says Benjamin Freeman, director of the Democratizing Foreign Policy program at the Quincy Institute.
“American universities that receive millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars from authoritarian regimes will be much less likely to comment critically on those regimes,” Freeman told AFP.
