To whom it may concern,

Journalists, activists, friends, trans allies and onlookers: Hello.

We are friends of Eden Knight, who was a trans woman from Saudi Arabia living in America. She was tricked by financial support from "fixers", allegedly hired by her parents, into moving back to Saudi Arabia and detransitioning.

Eden was funny, sharp, well-read, and concerned with making the world a better place. She stood up for marginalized people and regularly critiqued the conservative, suffocating culture she had left back home.

On the morning of March 12, 2023, Eden posted her suicide note on Twitter. In it, Eden laid out how she was manipulated into depending on people hired by her powerful parents to pose as friends, but whose actual goal was to force her to detransition and move back to Saudi Arabia.

They succeeded. This morning of Monday, March 13th, 2023 Eden’s family confirmed both her passing in Saudi Arabia and their identity.

We are greatly disturbed by how she was treated. We believe that what happened to her was an unspeakable violation and there must be consequences. Justice must be served.

In this document, we have laid out some of the pieces of evidence that we believe tell Eden’s story and expose the ways she was failed and violated by her parents, by powerful American citizens willing to do anything for money, by a Saudi government official who posed as a friend and by the US justice and immigration systems that should have been there to offer her asylum and safety.

She deserved better in life and she deserves better in death.

With love and care,
Friends of Eden

Eden background

Eden was also known as Solaria or “@CYBERANGELFAERY”.

Eden started her journey on Twitter still living in the closet and hanging out with progressives and people who want to build a brighter, better world. Eden lived in the US while she was attending school. During the global COVID pandemic she came out as trans. Since then, she has been a light in the trans community. Everyone who speaks about her mentions her humor and her kindness. She possessed an inner strength that we admire and know deserves recognition.

Archived documents:

  • Note opens:
  • “hi. If you’re reading this, I’ve already killed myself. I have given life every opportunity, I have given myself every chance to get better. But I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t strong enough, I don’t think there was a universe where I was ever strong enough to survive this. Why? Sometime in the summer, I was contacted by Michael Pocalyko (Cybersecurity guy) through an IRL friend who claimed he was a “fixer” and wanted to “fix” the issue that was between me and my parents. I thought this was impossible, I’m transgender and they are strict conservative Muslims, but I decided I would give it a shot because it can’t hurt right lmao?”
  • Note middle:
  • “At a certain point, I realized I was entirely dependent on Bader for food and shelter, and that if I ran away, he could easily find my location, and since I was illegal, I would have just been deported to Saudi. I subconsciously gave up, I was too tired. I did everything he asked, I cut my hair, I stopped taking estrogen, I changed my wardrobe, I met my dad.”
  • Note ends:
  • “I wanted to be a leader for people like me, but that wasn’t written to happen. I hope that the world gets better for us. I hope our people get old. I hope we get to see our kids grow up to fight for us. I hope for trans rights world wide. goodbye <3”
  • Names of “fixers” mentioned: "Michael Pocalyko" ("cybersecurity guy"), "his associate Ellen", "Bader" ("Saudi lawyer")
  • Bailee writes of Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole:
  • “she got into contact with Pocalyko and Cole through a real life friend, claiming that they could help her with the situation, and possibly even achieve immigration status”
  • “One thing that I did find a little bit strange, however, was how I repeatedly asked eden to ask them if I could also be in contact with them, so that we were all on the same page as far as the plans went moving forward. This was very important to me, as I wanted to be sure that we clearly had a timeline of events and how things were going to work out, [what the options] really were, how we would achieve them, and if there was anything that my family could also be doing to help. Although she did ask for my involvement, they outright refused to allow me to be involved.”

Fahad Al-Shathri (her father) background

Summary: We had a long description here about the evidence we had that we wouldn’t publish publicly but would share with journalists that Dr. Fahad Al-Shathri, Deputy Governor for Supervision at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), was her father, however that’s no longer necessary as her family announced online today about her passing and a service to honor her. It deadnames and misgenders her, something we believe to be a callous continued violation.

Archived documents:

  • On the morning of 13 March 2023, Eden’s family announced her passing.
  • Post from @shathri_family which contains Eden’s deadname: link, web.archive.org
  • User Eli Erlick posted, (archive) a redacted version on Twitter without deadname
  • Arabic text (redacted):
  • انتقل إلى رحمة الله تعالى الشاب [Eden Knight.]
  • و ستقام الصلاة عليه بإذن الله تعالى اليوم الاثنين بعد صلاة العصر في جامع الجوهرة البابطين و سيكون الدفن في مقبرة الشمال[.] والعزاء للرجال حي حطين من بعد صلاة العصر الى أذان العشاء[.] وللنساء في المسجد فقط[.]
  • English machine translation from Google Translate:
  • Go to the mercy of God Almighty young man [Eden Knight.]
  • Prayers will be held for him, God willing, today, Monday, after the Asr prayer, in Al-Jawhara Al-Babtain Mosque, and the burial will be in the North Cemetery[.] Condolences for the men are in Hittin neighborhood, from after the Asr prayer until the Isha call[.] Women in the mosque only[.]

Timeline of events with DM’s and tweets

“A timeline for Eden Knight”

Michael Pocalyko (fixer #1) background

Summary: Michael is an American man who worked through an IRL friend of Edens to make contact with her offering help and saying he worked as a “fixer” and could make her situation with her disapproving parents better. Eden believed him and opened a line of communication with him. Michael convinced her to leave the trans affirming home she was staying at and move back to the state he lived in and she had previously gone to school in. Through Michael she met his associate Ellen and a Saudi lawyer named Bader. Michael has run as a republican political candidate before, he has sat on the boards of pharmaceutical companies, he’s tied to investment banking and equity firms, JP Morgan, as well as the Heritage Foundation. Today he is the CEO of a company called “Special Investigations Limited”, a business that claims they do “cyber security”, “investigations” and have “global reach”.

  • SI - Special Investigations Limited Company SI - Special Investigations Limited Company 9 yrs 3 mos9 yrs 3 mos Washington D.C. Metro AreaWashington D.C. Metro Area CEO 2017 - Present
  • CEO of Monticello Capital. From their website: Among the investment bank’s most significant investments were its portfolio companies Advanced Environmental Resources (Reston, Virginia), Erdevel Europa (Luxembourg), and Erdevel Europa in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Riyadh).
  • Michael Pocalyko is CEO of SI.  He has been chairman and CEO of Monticello Capital, Advanced Environmental Resources, Inc., Erdevel Europa Sàrl, International Systems Srl, and Special Investigations Limited Company (SI); and non-executive chairman of the board of Erdevel Europa in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Envambien SA, TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Enterprise Applications, Inc. before its acquisition by SI.  An experienced corporate director, he was audit committee chairman at Herley Industries and at Challenger Corporation, and is a Sarbanes-Oxley audit committee financial expert.  He is an investigator, compliance agent, and certified fraud examiner.  His best-selling novel The Navigator was published by Macmillan.  He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors teaching faculty for corporate governance.  A retired commander, Navy pilot, and Beirut Veteran, he graduated from Muhlenberg College and received his MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School and his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Michael N. Pocalyko* is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Monticello Capital, an investment bank in Reston, Virginia, and New York. He also chairs Erdevel Europa S.a` r.l., a global corporation headquartered in Luxembourg that, as a private venture, he formed to build water infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East. He was a Naval aviator who commanded multinational operations in Beirut and the Persian Gulf and has served in both the Federal and Virginia government. Mr. Pocalyko is an active corporate director in high-technology industries and a Trustee of Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey.
  • My greatest achievement in business was the growth of Monticello Capital and its two portfolio companies, Advanced Environmental Resources in the United States and Erdevel Europa in the European Union and Saudi Arabia. I’m planning to repeat that success in SI with our special investigations and SI cyber business units. My other notable achievement was publishing a bestselling novel, ‘’The Navigator,’’ in which fraud across generations was a major theme.
  • He has been chairman and CEO of five corporations: Monticello Capital LLC, Advanced Environmental Resources, Inc., Erdevel Europa S.à r.l., International Systems S.r.l., and Special Investigations Limited Company (SI); and non-executive chairman of the board of four corporations: Erdevel Europa in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Envambien S.A., TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Enterprise Applications, Inc. before the company’s acquisition by SI.

Ellen Cole (fixer #2) background

Summary: Ellen Cole is an associate of Michael Pocalyko’s, she met with Eden and Michael in Virginia. Ellen currently is the Managing Director and a Partner at SPECINV with Michael and she previously worked as an office administrator and assistant to Michael at Monticello Capital, a boutique investment bank in Chantilly, Virginia.

  • “Ellen Cole is Managing Director of SI.  She was a corporate founder and the case manager of Special Investigations Limited Company and is an expert in investigative processes and controls, open-source intelligence, and information data systems.  She is an investigator and compliance agent.  She formerly headed administration for Monticello Capital; was CEO of an information systems professional services corporation; and was executive vice president and chief administrative officer for two Washington DC-based franchise development firms.  She was educated at St. John’s College, Annapolis.”

Bader Alomair (fixer #3) background

Summary: Bader Alomair is a Saudi national who met Eden at the train station in Virginia, along with Michael and Ellen. He told Eden he was a lawyer and got her an apartment in Washington D.C. He began to take care of her financially and over time she realized he was grooming her into de-transitioning + living in the closet and she was now an illegal immigrant who was financially dependent on him. Feeling she had no choices she acquiesced to his demands and changed her physical appearance, along with discontinuing her hormone therapy, she even met with her father and got back into contact with her mother. At this point Michael and Ellen had ceased all communication with her, she had an emotional breakdown and “repented” as she was asked to; Bader then booked her a flight back to Saudi Arabia.

There was little information provided on Bader past his actions but we have managed to find a man whose name and activities match this Bader’s, also living and working in D.C - a “point of contact” man working for the Saudi embassy who was in charge of flights, transportation and living arrangements for Saudi nationals in the United States to attend college. Bader has also been linked to several Saudi nationals that have been accused of crimes and subsequently fled the country. We do not know for a fact this is the person Eden mentioned, we believe it’s possible and something of value to look into.

  • WaPo article: “Saudi Embassy has helped its citizens facing criminal charges flee the United States”: link, archive.is
  • “When Saudis have found themselves in trouble with U.S. law enforcement, Bader Alomair has been one of the first people to hear about it. As a lawyer in the Saudi Embassy in Washington at the time Moore was killed, Alomair coordinated legal assistance for Saudi citizens in at least seven states, including North Carolina and Virginia, according to several people who have worked with him. Alomair did not respond to emails, text messages and phone calls seeking comment for this story, and embassy spokespersons did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with him. Alomair is not a senior official. People who have worked with him described him as a mid-level bureaucrat who answers to higher authorities, including a more senior lawyer in the embassy, as well as officials responsible for intelligence and national security issues.”
  • “But Alomair is the working-level point man in the Washington embassy. “He is chiefly responsible for finding legal representation for Saudi students who need criminal representation” in the states he oversees, one person who has worked with Alomair said. Alomair was involved in trying to find legal representation for Alsuhaymi and Hariri after they were initially questioned by police, said a second person who has worked with him. There is no indication the men were ever represented by a lawyer. Alomair has also been in charge of procuring airline travel, chauffeured ground transportation and hotel accommodations for Saudis in the United States, according to an embassy document shared with The Post. In the case of Hussam Aleidi, the Radford University student who is charged with violating his probation, Alomair instructed a driver working for the embassy to take him to Dulles Airport, this person said. In assisting Saudis in the United States, including with routine legal matters, Alomair has relied on a group of American criminal defense lawyers who specialize in drunken-driving and drug possession cases and immigration law. One of them is Edward Moawad, an immigration lawyer who has kept offices in Chevy Chase, Md., and McLean, Va., where Alomair frequently visited, said several of Moawad’s former co-workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution by their former boss and the Saudi government.”

SpecInv background

Summary: The company run by Michael Pocalyko. It was presented to Eden as a “Cybersecurity” firm but it’s clear they do significantly more, with their website presenting them as a sort of private contractor available for governments and corporations to do intelligence gathering.

  • ‘The SI Board of Directors is made up of the three Members of the firm—each of whom is a highly experienced corporate executive.  Jack Liebau is non-executive Chairman of the Board.  Michael Pocalyko and Ellen Cole are operating executives of SI.”

To come:

This will be a segment that will contain private messages from Eden that show for many months she was talking about these people along with the stress and fear they were putting into her life. We are going to release this document without them as her death has just been announced and we want to move quickly, hopefully by the end of the day this section will be amended and photos added