Bloomberg, the American news website, quoted sources described as familiar with the fact that members of the ruling family in the Emirates - led by Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed - were mentioned in the indictment of Tom Barrack, adviser to former US President Donald Trump, who is being tried for work. For the benefit of a foreign country (the UAE) during his tenure as Chairman of the Trump Inauguration Committee.
The website stated that these Emirati officials - and their number 5 - were referred to in the indictment with numbers from 1 to 5, stressing that informed sources revealed that number 1 is Mohammed bin Zayed, number 2 is his brother and National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed, and number 3 is Director of the UAE intelligence service Ali Mohammed Hammad Al Shamsi.
As for the number 4, it is Abdullah Khalifa Al Ghafli, who supervised the humanitarian efforts of the UAE in Pakistan, and the official number 5 is Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States.
These Emirati officials dedicated a "royal reception" - according to the website's description - to Tom Barrack during a meeting with them just weeks after Trump took office in 2016.
The warm welcome with high-ranking Emirati officials at the time showed - as the site says - how much they appreciated him as a guest, while he encouraged his hosts to think about what the next four years in the Trump era could bring for them.
US prosecutors say that this meeting was part of a covert effort behind the scenes to influence the foreign policy positions of the Trump campaign and his next administration and increase the political influence of the Gulf state.
Barrack was charged last July by US federal authorities with working as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, and pleaded not guilty, while none of the Emirati officials who met him or worked with him were charged with any wrongdoing in the case.
According to the indictment, Barack helped the Emiratis arrange several files, helped arrange a meeting in the White House with President Trump, and pushed preferred candidates in Abu Dhabi to fill positions in his administration.
The list also indicates that President Trump met on May 15, 2017, "Emirati Official 1", the same day he met Mohammed bin Zayed publicly and discussed - according to press reports - the convergence of their interests in confronting Iranian influence in the region and fighting terrorism, and then 4 Days Mohammed bin Zayed helped Trump prepare for his visit to Saudi Arabia.
Immediately after the election - as the indictment adds - "Official No. 5" asked Tom Barrack to inform him of Trump's potential appointments to key positions, such as the secretaries of state and defense, the director of the CIA and the national security adviser, to which Barak replied, "Our regional interest is in my sights." .
By the spring of 2017, the indictment indicated that the UAE had lobbied for the appointment of an "unidentified" US congressman as ambassador to Washington in Abu Dhabi, but it failed, and then Barak's name emerged as a candidate to fill the position or to take over the task of the United States' special envoy to the Middle East, but he did not take over. Neither of the two positions, and an Emirati businessman accused in the case, Rashid Al Malik, told that his appointment to one of the two positions would "give Abu Dhabi more power and influence."
Prosecutors said Barak also provided "inside information" about how Trump administration officials view the UAE-led blockade of neighboring Qatar.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government media office declined to respond to Bloomberg's requests to comment on what he disclosed of the information, and a spokesman for the UAE embassy in Washington refused to respond to a phone call and a text message seeking a comment, which is the same position that Barak's representatives and American prosecutors also adhered to.