After the September 11th terrorist attacks, hundreds of U.S. military contractors flooded into the Middle East to profit off America's new conflict in Iraq. Erik Prince, then the founder of the now-defunct mercenary firm Blackwater, was one of them. After growing up with a billionaire father, he joined the U.S. Navy Seals on his own accord and made himself a sort of indispensable piece in the American "War on Terror." 

Blackwater became a household name back in 2004. At the time, Americans watched in horror when four of the company's contractors were attacked and their corpses were mutilated and dragged through the Iraqi city of Fallujah. 

Litigation against the company followed, and it eventually assumed a different name before being acquired by a group of private investors in 2010. But Erik Prince continued his mission to profit and win in the War on Terror. 

Jeremy Scahill is an investigative journalist and co-founder of The Intercept. He and his colleague Matthew Cole reported this week that Prince is now under investigation by the Department of Justice for attempting to broker military services to foreign governments, and for possible money laundering. The crimes were allegedly committed while he served as chairman of his latest venture, Frontier Services Group.

The Department of Justice has not officially confirmed that Prince is under investigation, and it has refused to offer any comment to Scahill and Cole. But comprehensive reporting reveals that Prince's efforts to provide defense services in Libya and other parts of Africa have been made partly possible by assistance from the Chinese.

Many of the Intercept's sources — including current and former business partners of Prince's, four former U.S. intelligence officers, and others familiar with the DOJ investigation — have chosen to remain anonymous.

The anonymity suggests that it's a familiar story that's only now being told with more clarity, and evidence suggests that Prince's post-9/11 entry into the mercenary market has brought him a great deal of success. And a great deal of trouble.