The story of Andy Khawaja’s success is the epitome of the American Dream. Khawaja legally immigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon and earned citizenship in 1999. He founded the payment processing company Allied Wallet in 2002 and grew it from a small start-up into an international powerhouse.
He became a billionaire because of his business prowess and was celebrated with public honors as a result.
In 2017, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom referred to Khawaja as “an outstanding entrepreneur and innovative leader in the state of California abroad,” calling Khawaja’s Allied Wallet “an exceptional business merchant that has streamlined market practices and modernized payment processing.” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti congratulated Khawaja for being a “leader of Los Angeles, a brother and a friend” in 2016.
Khawaja maintained a friendly rapport with Democrats even as his political leanings drifted to the right. After initially supporting Clinton’s presidency in 2016, Khawaja saw the light as many principled former liberals such as RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard have done and came aboard the Trump train. Khawaja donated $1 million through Allied Wallet to the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee for President Trump before following that up with substantial donations for Turning Point USA, America First Action and the Republican National Committee
Khawaja Joins The Ranks Of The Persecuted As A Result Of The Mueller Investigation
Khawaja maintained high levels of esteem across the political spectrum into Trump’s first term. He was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). As part of his USCIRF appointment, Khawaja was subjected to an FBI background test in which they determined he was “honest,” “trustworthy,” “dependable,” and “reliable.” The FBI “never had any reason to question Khawaja’s character” or his “personal or professional reputation.”
However, with the genesis of Robert Mueller’s overreaching Russian collusion investigation, Khawaja was soon caught up in the crosshairs. Due to an association with political consultant George Nader whom he met through business associations in the Middle East, Khawaja became collateral damage for Russia-gate. Nader was hit with child pornography charges unbeknownst to Khawaja. In a desperate effort to reduce his sentence in prison, Nader would cooperate with an equally desperate Mueller who needed sacrificial lambs he could hold up to justify his overarching unconstitutional probe into President Trump, his supporters and his associates.
Khawaja was indicted for the first time for campaign finance violations in Nov. 2019 after Nader hurled many baseless accusations his way. The Washington D.C. indictment against Khawaja claimed that he used Nader as a conduit to make roughly $3.5 million in illegal campaign contributions. Two of Khawaja’s co-defendants were ultimately acquitted of the charges while two other co-defendants who originally pleaded guilty under federal coercion tactics attempted to reverse their plea deals and plead innocent. These meritless charges were a Mueller gambit to intimidate, harass, threaten and assure guilty pleas to justify the ongoing Russia-gate farce.
The second indictment, filed in the District Court for the District of Massachusetts, accused Khawaja of participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment stated that Khawaja through his Allied Wallet company “earned” monetary “commissions” through processing payment card transactions. As this does not seem criminal in the slightest, the feds created a bizarre basis in which to charge Khawaja with wire fraud conspiracy. The indictment claims Allied Wallet processed payment card transactions that banks “would otherwise have refused to provide.”
A Chance To Make Things Right: Drop The Charges Against Khawaja, Or Grant A Full Pardon
Prosecutors were forced to admit that none of Allied Wallet’s supposedly fraudulent payment processing operations resulted in any financial losses. The prosecutor admitted to the Court that “the $150 million in transactions are not loss to the financial institutions or to the customers or to any of the banks that participated in the process.” Khawaja’s co-defendants Mohammad Diab and Amy Ringler were forced to plead guilty to bank fraud in Nov. 2024 involving no losses, getting no prison time and being able to avoid continuing to fight the case at great expense. Khawaja was arrested in Lithuania at the behest of the U.S. government in Sept. 2020 and has been under house arrest for nearly five years as his extradition is pending.
President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14147 on Jan. 30, 2025, declaring the following: “It is the policy of the United States to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the Federal Government related to the weaponization of law enforcement.” Khawaja’s case must be among those rectified by the Trump administration. A patriot who was attacked because of guilt-by-association and a fishing expedition by deep state operatives, Khawaja has endured a severe miscarriage of justice. Trump should either order the DOJ to drop the charges or grant a full pardon.
