TDFP Exclusive: Libyan Financier Sues George Clooney's The Sentry for Defamation Over Wagner, Counterfeit-Cash Claims
A Libyan financier sued The Sentry, the investigative group co-founded by actor George Clooney and activist John Prendergast, for defamation on Monday, saying the group falsely accused him of bankrolling a warlord's assault on Tripoli with $300 million in Libyan public money, paying Russia's Wagner Group and overseeing the printing of counterfeit currency in Russia, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Washington and reviewed by The Digital Free Press.
Ahmed Gadalla filed the 63-page complaint, with 20 exhibits, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Oct. 19, 2026. The case is Gadalla v. TheSentryOrg Inc., No. 1:26-cv-03632. The defendant is the organization, TheSentryOrg Inc., which does business as The Sentry. Clooney is not named as a defendant.
"The Sentry's entire narrative was false," the complaint says.
What Ahmed Gadalla Says The Sentry Got Wrong
The lawsuit targets two publications: a 25-page report titled "Eastern Libya's Top Money Man: Spotlight on Ahmed Gadalla," published on or about April 6, 2026, and a press release the next day that the complaint says The Sentry's director of communications sent to journalists.
According to the complaint, The Sentry "falsely told the world" that Gadalla "bankrolled a warlord's assault on his own country's capital with stolen public money, that he paid Russia's Wagner Group mercenaries, that he secretly controls three Libyan banks and uses them to commit fraud and launder money, that he oversaw the printing of counterfeit currency in Russia, and that he smuggles combat drones and military hardware in violation of a United Nations arms embargo."
The warlord is Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, whose forces attacked Tripoli in April 2019. The Sentry's press release said Gadalla used Emirati companies "to borrow $300 million from Abu Dhabi's al-Masraf bank, backed by a guarantee deposit from the Libyan Foreign Bank—public money from Tripoli—to help finance Haftar's April 2019 offensive on Tripoli," and that the operation "involved payments to Russian combatants from the Wagner Group."
It also said Gadalla "has overseen the printing of billions in unauthorized 50-dinar banknotes in Russia."
The complaint says The Sentry called on four governments, the European Union and the U.N. Security Council to sanction Gadalla, and urged Libyan prosecutors to charge him.
"It Is All False"
Gadalla's lawyers say the $300 million loan story is "the foundation of the entire narrative," and that "it never happened."
According to the complaint, al-Masraf, the lending bank, "has certified in writing that Mr. Gadalla's company 'has no liabilities toward Al Masraf.'" The complaint says a January 2024 internal investigation by the Libyan Foreign Bank found the guarantee documents were signed by the bank's own former acting general manager, and that Gadalla "is not mentioned anywhere in the twenty-two pages."
The complaint also says Libya's attorney general's office certified on April 15, 2026, that Gadalla's name does not appear in the guarantee document. "The Libyan Office of the Attorney General—the very authority The Sentry summoned to prosecute Ahmed Gadalla—is the authority that says there is nothing to prosecute," the complaint says.
It says registry records show Gadalla holds 2.5% of Wahda Bank and no shares of National Commercial Bank, and that the ship at the center of the arms accusations belongs to a Dubai company "wholly owned by another man," and that the maritime database The Sentry relied on had removed its entry before the report was published.
The complaint says The Sentry's only outreach before publication was "two emails sent in late February 2026 that drew no reply," and that Gadalla first learned of the accusations from a reporter for Canada's Globe and Mail.
Gadalla is a citizen of Libya, St. Kitts and Nevis and the United Arab Emirates, has lived in Canada since 2022 and chairs Alushibe Holding Group, according to the complaint. It says he has "lost transactions and relationships" and that his banking access "has been impaired."
The Sentry's Side
In its April report, The Sentry wrote that it "sought comment from Gadalla and his companies, as well as from al-Masraf bank and the LFB" before publication, and that "none of these parties responded."
The group's press release quoted its executive director, Justyna Gudzowska: "Ahmed Gadalla helps the Haftar family turn military force into cash and cash into weapons."
According to the complaint, The Sentry responded to Gadalla's records through outside counsel on May 19, 2026, refused to retract, and said it "remains confident in the accuracy of its reporting." The complaint says the group dismissed records from Libyan institutions because they are located in eastern Libya.
The Complaint Quotes Clooney
The lawsuit also turns Clooney's own words on the group he co-founded. It says that in July 2014, after a British tabloid published a story about his family that the complaint describes as false, Clooney condemned the "irresponsibility" of publishing it as "at the very least negligent and more appropriately dangerous."
"The Sentry holds itself out as an investigative organization," the complaint says. "Yet it does not meet even the standard of a tabloid."
What Gadalla Is Asking For
The complaint brings three claims: defamation over the press release, defamation by implication over the press release, and defamation over the report. The implication claim centers on a passage that followed the accusations: "Meanwhile, Gadalla lives lavishly," which the press release said included a private jet and a $3.7 million Toronto condominium.
Gadalla says he is a private figure who needs to show only negligence, but alleges The Sentry also acted with actual malice. He seeks compensatory damages, including presumed damages, and punitive damages, "in an amount to be determined at trial," and demands a jury trial.
He is represented by Thomas A. Clare and Mitchell J. Langberg of Clare Locke LLP.
The allegations in the complaint have not been tested in court.
TDFP has asked The Sentry and Gadalla's attorneys at Clare Locke for comment and will update this story.
Sources: Complaint, Gadalla v. TheSentryOrg Inc. d/b/a The Sentry, No. 1:26-cv-03632 (D.D.C., filed Oct. 19, 2026): https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.297743/gov.uscourts.dcd.297743.1.0.pdf ; The Sentry, "Eastern Libya's Top Money Man" (April 2026): https://thesentry.org/reports/eastern-libyas-top-money-man/ ; The Sentry press release (April 7, 2026): https://thesentry.org/2026/04/07/80943/eastern-libyas-money-man-new-investigation-exposes-the-haftar-familys-top-fixer/
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