In 2019, Erik Prince, founder of the mercenary firm Blackwater and a prominent Trump supporter, aided a plot to move U.S.-made gunships, weapons, and other military equipment from Jordan to a renegade commander fighting for control of war-torn Libya. interc.pt/3e2Q32H
The plan, known as Project Opus, would have seen an assault team of mercenaries use the helicopters to help the commander, Khalifa Hifter, a U.S. citizen and former CIA asset, defeat Libya’s U.N.-recognized and U.S.-backed government. 
But there was an urgent problem: Jordanian officials were holding up the $80 million arms deal, which would have violated U.N. sanctions and possibly U.S. law.
A confidential U.N. report issued last week concluded that Erik Prince and his business associate, Christiaan Durrant, violated the U.N. arms embargo for Libya. If the U.N. Sanctions Committee approves the report, Prince could face a travel ban and frozen bank accounts.
Prince, through his attorney, denied any involvement in a military operation and demanded the report be retracted “immediately.”
Durrant’s attorney said that Opus was an oil and gas logistics company and that Prince had no relationship with the company.
Durrant’s attorney said that Opus was an oil and gas logistics company and that Prince had no relationship with the company.
For more than a year, The Intercept has been investigating the failed mercenary effort.
This account is based on dozens of interviews, including with people involved in the ill-fated mission, as well as the U.N. report and other materials obtained exclusively by The Intercept.
This account is based on dozens of interviews, including with people involved in the ill-fated mission, as well as the U.N. report and other materials obtained exclusively by The Intercept.
After Jordanian officials held up an arms deal, Prince sought out an adviser to Jordanian ruler King Abdullah to help his associate with a shipment of humanitarian aid.
The adviser was troubled by Prince’s vagueness. “I didn’t know Prince as a humanitarian,” he later told The Intercept.
The CIA learned that Prince and Durrant were claiming the U.S. government had signed off on the arms deal.
The CIA sent a message to Abdullah making clear the agency wanted him to stop the transfer, according to two people familiar with the CIA’s outreach.
The CIA sent a message to Abdullah making clear the agency wanted him to stop the transfer, according to two people familiar with the CIA’s outreach.
When Prince and Durrant’s backdoor efforts failed to convince Jordan to approve the arms transfer, Prince called a senior member of President Trump’s National Security Council to request a meeting with Durrant.
As Prince sat silently, Durrant described a campaign to back Hifter.
As Prince sat silently, Durrant described a campaign to back Hifter.
“It wasn’t something I wanted to be involved in,” the official told The Intercept.
The U.N. report uncovered an $85 million contract for a geological survey of Jordan that it called “counterfeited with the deliberate intent to disguise the true purpose.”
The document led back to a company in which Prince had an ownership interest, according to the U.N. report.
The document led back to a company in which Prince had an ownership interest, according to the U.N. report.
The U.N. is continuing its investigation, and the FBI has been asking questions about Prince’s involvement in the Jordanian deal and his connections to the Libyan conflict.
The FBI would not confirm the existence of an investigation.
The FBI would not confirm the existence of an investigation.
Many questions about Project Opus remain unanswered, including who paid for the operation, which allegedly cost $80 million, or whether the architects of the mission had help from other governments, such as the United Arab Emirates.
At least four countries have also opened criminal investigations into the alleged plot as a result of the U.N. investigation, according to a Western official.
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