Mohammed “Moe” Diab has secured dismissal of his Allied Wallet indictment.

Allied Wallet was a payment processor the DOJ alleges provided financial services to scammers. Allied Wallet itself generated over $150 million in processing fees.

The FTC separately sued Allied Wallet in 2019, alleging $110 million in fraud.

Diab, COO of Allied Wallet, was indicted on conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud charges in 2021. Diab pled guilty in August 2024.

Following court rejection of a time-served plea deal, Diab’s case proceeded to trial on September 9th.

The trial had been playing out until September 20th, wherein Judge Young issued an order declaring a mistrial. The stated reason for the mistrial was a “family emergency” .

Judge Young had a grave family emergency that prevented him from continuing to preside over the trial and that he had concluded, after deliberation and based on his own prior experience, but without consulting the parties, that the case was too complex and too far along to ask another judge to take it up mid-trial.

In objection to the declared mistrial, Diab cited double jeopardy and requested his indictment be dismissed.

Under First Circuit precedent, double jeopardy precludes retrial under the circumstances — where a defendant does not consent, alternatives have not been explored on the record, counsel was given no opportunity to be heard, and the declaration occurred precipitously.

Mr. Diab respectfully notes his objection to the declaration of a mistrial and his lack of consent, and he moves that the indictment be dismissed under the Double Jeopardy Clause.

The court granted Diab’s motion on February 4th.

Diab argues that the Court’s declaration of a mistrial violated his rights to be present, to a public trial, and to the assistance of counsel; he also argues that it violated the Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause because it was not occasioned by manifest necessity.

The government counters that there was manifest necessity for the mistrial, and that the mistrial declaration did not violate Diab’s rights.

The Fifth Amendment’s Double Jeopardy Clause provides that no person “shall . . . be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.”

The Court indisputably did not consult with the parties before declaring a mistrial. Nor does it appear, based on the record, that the Court sufficiently explored alternatives to a mistrial.

Whatever alternatives the Court considered and ruled out, it did not do so on the record.

Considering all the circumstances, and bearing in mind the “high degree of necessity” required to justify a mistrial … the Court concludes that the government has not demonstrated that the mistrial declaration in this case was manifestly necessary.

Accordingly, the Double Jeopardy Clause bars the government from retrying Diab.

Just so we’re clear, Diab gets off on his Allied Wallet criminal charges the Judge presiding over the DOJ’s case had a family emergency mid-trial.

This is a difficult decision and a close call. Judge Young is a circumspect and committed jurist.

There is no doubt that even amid a personal crisis he reflected carefully on the decision to declare a mistrial. And it is very difficult to fault him for not taking the time to reconvene the parties or even to reach out to colleagues for assistance under the circumstances.

But despite his understandable and very human response, the Court concludes that, based on the record currently before it, it would violate Diab’s Fifth Amendment right to allow the government to retry him.

The Court recognizes that this may be perceived as unfair to the government and the alleged victims of the charged offenses as well as an undeserved windfall for Diab.

It is the Court’s job, however, to uphold the Constitution and, in this case, in the view of this Court at least, the Constitution requires that the indictment be dismissed.

Co-defendant Amy Rountree, Allied Wallet’s VP of Operations, was sentenced to time served in December 2024. Thomas Wells had a June 5th, 2024, sentencing date but there have been no further updates.

Allied Wallet owner Ahmad “Andy” Khawaja was picked up by Lithuanian authorities in 2020. In June 2023 LRT published an update on Khawaja;

Ahmad Khawaja, a former billionaire wanted by the United States, was detained in Lithuania in 2020. Released on a record-high bail, he is now living in a luxury hotel in Vilnius.

“Lithuanian law enforcement authorities have received a request from the US to extradite him to the US. The procedure is now ongoing,” says Gintaras Černiauskas, a lawyer representing Spectro Finance, the company that turned to Lithuanian court over Khawaja’s failure to provide information to the bailiff.

Approached by BNS, Lithuania’s Prosecutor General’s Office has refused to provide any information regarding Khawaja’s extradition to the US, his current status or the investigations into his activities.

On social media Khawaja describes himself as a “American patriot /Philanthropist/entrepreneur/ supporter of MAGA/ America first 🇺🇸”.

Over the past year Khawaja has been posting various photos of him with Charlie Kirk, Donald Trump and members of the Trump family. Many of the photos call back to Trump’s first term as President.

One video stands out however, in which an aged balding Khawaja can be seen attending what appears to be Donald Trump speaking at a private event:

I wasn’t able to pin down when this particular video was taken. What I can confirm is Khawaja still represents he is outside of the US in court filings.

Khawaja’s political access is explained by him donating over $6 million to both Trump’s and Hilary Clinton’s political campaigns.

In 2019 Khawaja was separately indicted on charges related to him

conspiring to make and conceal conduit and excessive campaign contributions, and related offenses, during the U.S. presidential election in 2016 and thereafter.

In 2020 Khawaja told a Spectator reporter, who travelled to Beirut, he was being “persecuted because of what he knows.”

And what he knows, he tells me, is that Saudi Arabia and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi bought the 2016 election for Donald Trump.

Moe Diab is also a defendant in the case, which as of February 2026 remains pending.

In June 2024 the court acknowledged Khawaja’s fugitive status. On July 18th the DOJ and Khawaja were ordered to file a Joint Status Report every two weeks, pertaining to Khawaja’s Lithuanian extradition proceedings.

The first Joint Status Report was filed on August 2nd, 2024;

Mr. Khawaja has nothing new to report regarding the ongoing extradition proceedings in Lithuania; however, Mr. Khawaja is currently discussing with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts issues touching upon resolution of Mr. Khawaja’s criminal case and, short of a complete resolution, whether procedural issues can be agreed upon with respect to bail, which could facilitate Mr. Khawaja’s return to the United States in a manner and time frame consistent with the trial date in the present matter.

The United States awaits the response from the Lithuanian authorities relating to the request to extradite Mr. Khawaja in this case.

The United States has no additional information concerning the status of those extradition proceedings or an expected timeline for its completion.

The latest Joint Status Report at time of publication was filed on February 2nd, 2026;

Mr. Khawaja has nothing further to report regarding the ongoing extradition proceedings or when Mr. Khawaja is likely to return to the United States. Mr. Khawaja anticipates having additional information regarding these topics within the next several weeks.

The United States awaits the response from the Lithuanian authorities relating to the request to extradite Mr. Khawaja in this case. The United States has no additional information concerning the status of those extradition proceedings or an expected timeline for its completion.

With respect to Khawaja’s extradition, the Joint Status Reports are identical as above dating back to August 16th, 2024.

For now, it seems the District of Columbia court is satisfied there have been no updates on Khawaja’s Lithuania extradition for a year and a half.