Khalifa Haftar, who is facing several lawsuits in the United States for war crimes and crimes against humanity, has hired New York law firm, Tucker Levin PLLC to represent him in the Eastern District Court of Virginia, according to a statement by the Libyan American Alliance (LAA).

The LAA added on Tuesday that it is not clear whether the same firm will represent Haftar in other lawsuits filed against him in Virginia and Washington DC.

"Faisal Gill, the lawyer retained to represent families of Haftar's victims in Libya, said Monday that he received communication from the office of Tucker and Levin PLLC, indicating that Haftar retained them to defend him against charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity." The LAA added.

Gill said that after ignoring the courts for months, Haftar finally got the message that the people filing the lawsuits are serious about pursuing justice for the victims of his egregious and violent actions.

"Killing innocent civilians will not go unpunished." The lawyer added, saying Haftar was facing a default judgment and in light of the evidence against him, we anticipated a judgment in our favor.

“After the recent defeats of Haftar in his war in Libya, Haftar realized that he needs an exit strategy and possibly a place to escape to, and that explains why he retained a law firm now after months of not answering the charges leveled against him." The Head of the LAA, Esam Omeish, said.

Omeish added that Haftar chose to hire a law firm specializing in criminal matters, money laundering, and fraud, in anticipation of other legal troubles due to US investigations of his criminal collaborations with Venezuelan leaders in laundering Libyan state assets.

"The US government has increasingly condemned Haftar for his harmful dealings with Russian mercenaries and the Wagner Group, made illegal by the CAATSA Act of 2017, as well as his dealings with the bloody Assad regime, recently criminalized by the CAESAR Act of 2020." Omeish added.