U.S. Mercenaries

Former members of the U.S. armed forces, who have years of specialized training by the U.S. military, are selling their expertise and experience to authoritarian regimes with little to no oversight from the U.S. government. CJA is bringing suit against members of the Spear Operations Group—a for-profit American company made up of former members of the U.S. military—who were hired to carry out a targeted assassination program in Yemen by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In 2015, the UAE intervened in the Yemeni civil war as part of a regional coalition and backed by the United States. The coalition, including the UAE and United States, have faced accusations of contributing to the deaths of civilians and potential war crimes. The U.S. has provided critical support to the coalition throughout this conflict, including intelligence sharing, targeting assistance, arms sales, and logistical support. Since 2015, the U.S. has sold over $141 billion in arms to coalition members.

As alleged in our complaint, under the guise of counter-terrorism and as part of its intervention in the Yemeni civil war, the UAE has targeted groups and individuals opposed to its interests in Yemen. To do so, the UAE hired Spear to assassinate individuals it deemed as political opponents. The UAE paid Spear $1.5 million a month for these services. CJA represents Anssaf Ali Mayo, a Yemeni parliamentarian, who survived Spear’s attempt to kill him.  Spear members have publicly acknowledged conducting this targeted assassination program in Yemen, including the attempt on our client’s life.

Despite calls for criminal accountability and investigations, to date no investigation has been done by the U.S. government into Spear’s targeted assassination-for hire activities. Meanwhile, there is limited regulation of the type of “security” services that former members of the U.S. military can engage in for foreign governments.

On December 18, 2025, Mr. Ali Mayo filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of San Diego against former Spear CEO Abraham Golan, former Spear COO Isaac Gilmore, and Dale Comstock, the former head of operations for the Spear assassination team. The complaint alleges that Defendants Golan, Gilmore, and Comstock met in San Diego where they agreed to carry out targeted killings in Yemen. From the U.S., the Defendants then proceeded to recruit approximately a dozen additional members to Spear, including other former members of the U.S. military, whose U.S. military training and experience were key selling points in Spear’s pitch to prospective clients. In December 2015, they assembled the rest of the assassination team in New Jersey to discuss and plan the assassination program and the next day they flew to Aden, Yemen.

Mr. Ali Mayo was their first target. The assassination team surveilled him to track his daily movements. On December 29, they planted explosive devices at his office building. The explosion was intended to kill everyone in the building, including Mr. Ali Mayo. The plan was to kill any survivors with small arms.

The assassination team triggered the explosion, but unbeknownst to them, Mr. Ali Mayo had been warned there would be an attempt on his life. He fled the building minutes before the explosives went off.

The complaint alleges that Golan, Gilmore, and Comstock committed war crimes and attempted-extrajudicial killing, and aided and abetted the UAE’s persecution of its political opponents in Yemen, including Mr. Ali Mayo.