Efraim Diveroli
| Efraim Diveroli | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 20, 1985 Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. |
| Residence | Miami, FL |
| Occupation | Former arms dealer and author |
| Criminal penalty | 4 years in federal prison |
| Criminal status | Released August 2014 |
| Conviction(s) | Conspiracy, felon in possession of a firearm |
Efraim Diveroli (born December 20, 1985) is an American former arms dealer and author. His company, AEY Inc., was a major weapons contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. government suspended AEY for violating its contract after AEY provided 42-year-old substandard and unserviceable Chinese ammunition and attempted to re-brand and re-package it, thus violating the American arms embargo against China. As a result of the publicity surrounding the contract and the age of the arms dealers, the United States Army began a review of its contracting procedures.
Diveroli was sentenced to four years in federal prison. He is a subject of the 2016 Todd Phillips drama comedy film, War Dogs, in which he is portrayed by Jonah Hill.
Diveroli was born on December 20, 1985 in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Ateret and Michael Diveroli. The family was Orthodox Jewish, strictly observing all traditional Jewish laws. His grandfather, Yoav Botach, is one of the wealthiest property owners in Los Angeles, and his uncle is celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach.
Diveroli returned home in March 2001 at the age of sixteen. After an argument with his uncle, he told his father he wanted to open a business specializing in arms, ammunition trading, and defense contracts with the U.S. Government. He convinced his father to sell him a shell company, AEY, Inc., named after the first initials of him and his siblings, which his father had incorporated as a small printing business, but had not done anything with in years. Diveroli showed a penchant for arms dealing, and quickly made a name for himself within the industry. His young age and apparent talent led local media outlets to label him as an "arms wunderkind". Diveroli struggled with drug addiction, and was also labeled as a "stoner arms dealer" by the media.
During the Cold War, the world was locked in an arms race. Millions of weapons were stashed throughout Eastern Europe, ready for a war with the west. When the Cold War ended, and the immediate threat of violence subsided, arms dealers started moving these vast amounts of weapons. The sales that followed formed the "gray market" where legitimate government sanctioned buyers could procure arms illegally. "The Pentagon needed access to this new aftermarket in order to arm the militias it was creating in Iraq and Afghanistan. The trouble was, it couldn't go into such a murky underworld on its own. It needed proxies to do its dirty work — companies like AEY."
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