Efraim Diveroli

Efraim Diveroli (born December 20, 1985) is an American former arms dealer, convicted fraudster, and author. Diveroli controlled AEY, Inc., a company that secured significant contracts as a major weapons contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense. AEY was suspended by the U.S. government due to contractual violations.

AEY had supplied Chinese ammunition to Afghanistan, attempting to conceal its origin by repackaging it as Albanian. Although this did not violate the American arms embargo against China, because the ammo was manufactured pre 1989, it was a violation of their contract with the government which said no Chinese ammo at all. Concealing its origin then became an act of fraud. This incident prompted the United States Army to initiate a review of its contracting procedures.

Diveroli's story became the focal point of the 2016 Todd Phillips film, War Dogs, in which Jonah Hill portrayed Diveroli, and Miles Teller portrayed Packouz. Additionally, a memoir co-authored by Diveroli and Matthew Cox was published in 2016.

Early life Diveroli was born on December 20, 1985, in Miami Beach, Florida, the son of Ateret and Michael Diveroli. His family was Orthodox Jewish, strictly observing all traditional Jewish laws. He studied at Hebrew Academy in Miami Beach. His Iranian-born grandfather, Yoav Botach, was one of the wealthiest property owners in Los Angeles, and his uncle is celebrity rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

AEY Inc

Formation of AEY Inc Diveroli returned home to Miami Beach, Florida in March 2001 at the age of fifteen. 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 for years. Millions of weapons were stockpiled throughout Eastern Europe. When the Cold War ended, and the immediate threat of violence subsided, arms dealers started moving some of these weapons. The Pentagon wanted access to this gray market to arm the militias it was creating in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US government therefore required intermediaries, or proxies, to undertake the more covert and intricate facets of arms-related activities. Companies such as AEY emerged as entities facilitating these operations, playing a role in executing tasks that were considered sensitive or clandestine in nature.

The United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ruled the ammunition "unserviceable". AEY had also failed to perform on numerous previous contracts, including sending potentially unsafe helmets and failure to deliver 10,000 Beretta pistols to Iraq.

Convictions and lawsuits Ammoworks, a company owned by Diveroli, continued selling arms while he awaited trial for conspiracy. In late August 2008, he pleaded guilty on one count of conspiracy, and was sentenced to four years in prison on January 4, 2011. He was further sentenced for possessing a weapon while out on bond and had his overall sentence reduced for assisting in the investigation of the prosecution. Diveroli's former partner David Packouz was sentenced to seven months house arrest.

Debarment termination In 2022, Diveroli opted into an exhaustive government review of his qualifications, following which the U.S. Army formally terminated his debarment and confirmed that he was fully qualified and fit to contract with the federal government once again.

War Dogs

The story of Diveroli's arms deals is the subject of the Todd Phillips comedy/drama film War Dogs, starring Jonah Hill as Diveroli and Miles Teller as his partner, David Packouz, Diveroli's suit against Warner Bros. claimed that the basis for the film was taken from his self-published memoir Once a Gun Runner, which Matthew Cox claims to have written while in prison with Diveroli, himself having been convicted of real estate fraud.