Settle in...it's a long and winding journey

Eric Prince was investigated by his own Hong Kong-based company, Frontier Services Group (FSG) for possible violations of US weapons sales laws.

The FSG-hired lawyers [King & Spalding] briefed the Obama Justice Department’s National Security Division in February 2016 on Prince’s activities and, a month later, FSG’s CEO notified the State Department that FSG intended to voluntarily report its possible violations of U.S. defense export laws.

[...]

In their February 22, 2016 meeting with officials from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, FSG’s lawyers from King & Spalding “raised the possibility” that [Eric] Prince may have been illicitly brokering defense services to a foreign government without the necessary approvals from the U.S. government, according to the March 2016 letter from Smith, FSG’s then-CEO.

In the letter, Smith alleged that Prince modified the aircraft with weapons systems “without FSG management knowledge” to “prevent management oversight.” Smith alleged that Prince “for his own interests directed the aircraft modification and then promoted the sale of the modified aircraft to private buyers and governments.”

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The King & Spalding findings centered around a deal Prince tried to make with Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense for several American crop dusters that Prince had secretly modified into attack and surveillance aircraft. The deal was Prince’s last-ditch effort to realize a long-held desire to sell small offensive aircraft to governments around the world for small and low-intensity conflicts.

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The deal ultimately fell apart.

  The Intercept

To FSG's surprise, nothing came of reporting their concerns to the government.

At the time, Prince was being investigated by U.S. law enforcement and his communications were being monitored. What began as an investigation into Prince’s attempts to sell defense services in Libya and other countries in Africa widened to include allegations that Prince received assistance from Chinese intelligence to set up an account for his Libya operations through the Bank of China. FSG’s single largest shareholder is Citic Group, the Chinese government’s largest state-owned investment firm. Citic, which recently invested another $60 million in FSG, is the company’s largest single shareholder.

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“Based on the documents and information available, FSG’s review did not identify ITAR violations,” said the FSG/Prince spokesperson, adding “there has been no follow up whatsoever making it crystal clear that this matter has ended.”

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After Trump’s election, Prince emerged from the shadows he’d occupied for much of the Obama administration. He was one of the top contributors to the pro-Trump super PAC, Make America Number One Again. Prince was a frequent guest at Trump Tower and secretly advising Trump during the transition.

[...]

Prince seemed unconcerned about the investigations into his activities. He openly, though unsuccessfully, campaigned — through White House meetings, cable news interviews, and op-eds in major publications — to have the war in Afghanistan privatized by mercenary forces and effectively placed under his control. Prince pitched this and other intelligence operations to the CIA and senior administration officials.

And, in a twist whose implications are not entirely clear, the supervisor of the lawyersat King & Spalding who FSG hired to review their legal exposure was none other than the current FBI Director Chris Wray. Another of the lawyers was Robert Hur, who is now US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein's top lieutenant.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.