Robert Granieri, a founding partner of Wall Street trading giant Jane Street, claims he was deceived into funding an arms smuggling operation aimed at overthrowing the South Sudanese government, according to court filings reviewed by Bloomberg.
Granieri allegedly wired $7 million to two South Sudanese-born men: Peter Ajak, a Harvard fellow and prominent economist, and activist Abraham Keech.
The two were indicted in 2024 on charges of conspiring to illegally purchase and export millions of dollars’ worth of heavy weapons, including fully automatic rifles, grenade launchers, Stinger missile systems, and sniper rifles, from the United States to South Sudan.
The indictment alleges that after meeting Ajak at a Manhattan condominium in February 2024, Granieri transferred $7 million in two payments, believing the funds would support humanitarian efforts.
Prosecutors claim Ajak and Keech instead used the money to attempt to purchase fully automatic weapons, including PKM rifles, RPG-7s, FIM-92 Stinger missile systems, and M-67 grenades for a planned coup.
“Without the significant financing that Mr. Granieri could and agreed to provide, the alleged conspiracy would have been impossible,” Ajak’s legal team stated in a May court filing.
Granieri’s attorney maintains that his client, whose firm employed now-convicted fraudster and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in 2013, believed he was supporting a humanitarian mission, not financing a coup.
“Granieri is a longtime supporter of human rights causes,” his lawyer told Bloomberg. “In this case, the person Rob thought was a human rights activist defrauded Rob and lied about his intentions.”
South Sudan became the world’s newest country in 2011 after separating from Sudan following over 20 years of civil war. The fighting killed an estimated 400,000 people and displaced more than 2 million.
Despite gaining independence, South Sudan continues to face political instability and persistent violence. In March, a United Nations official warned that ongoing clashes between the government and opposition forces could push the country toward another civil war.
