Former top GOP fundraiser 'to plead guilty' after being charged for covertly lobbying Trump administration and DOJ in foreign influence operation to help Malaysian and Chinese interests
Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for President Donald Trump, was charged Thursday by federal authorities for violating foreign lobbying laws – and sources familiar with the matter say he intends to plead guilty.
Prosecutors have accused the former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee of conspiring with others to unsuccessfully lobby the Department of Justice to drop a probe into the $4.5 billion embezzlement scandal involving Malaysia's state-owned investment fund, 1MDB.
The documents say that Broidy also unsuccessfully lobbied the Trump administration and DOJ to arrange for the 'removal and return' of a Chinese national - and a critic of the Beijing regime - who was seeking asylum in the US.
Broidy was charged in the US District Court in Washington DC Thursday with conspiring to act as unregistered agent for a foreign principal.
He is expected to plead guilty on October 20 in a deal with the Justice Department, according to Reuters.
Major Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, pictured with wife Robin, was charged Thursday by federal authorities for violating a foreign lobbying law – and sources familiar with the matter say he intends to plead guilty
Broidy was a top fundraiser for Trump, and served as finance chair of the Republican National Committee
Broidy was charged in the US District Court in Washington DC Thursday, with an instrument know as a criminal information, which is often used when a defendant intends to plead guilty
Charging documents say Broidy agreed to lobby the Trump administration and the Justice Department to drop or favorably resolve an investigation into fraud at 1MDB on behalf of a Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman.
Jho Low was indicted two years ago by the Justice Department for allegedly conspiring to launder $4.5 billion that had been embezzled from 1MDB.
The Justice Department said that Broidy and Nickie Lum Davis, another person involved in the case, failed to disclose to them or to the Trump administration that he was acting on behalf of the foreign national.
Davis, an American consultant, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the foreign lobbying act as part of the DOJ’s probe involving 1MDB back in August.
During her plea, Davis said that she helped and abetted two other people, identified in documents as Person A and Person B.
Citing sources familiar with the matter, the Washington Post identified Person A as Pras Michael, a former rapper with the hip-hop group Fugees, and Person B as Broidy.
In May last year, the DOJ charged Michael and Lo with conspiracy to defraud the US government and for making foreign and conduit campaign contributions during the 2012 election. Michael has denied all charges.
Both Broidy and Davis, along with ‘Person A’, have been accused of trying to arrange a meeting between Malaysia’s then prime minister Najib Razak and Trump back in September 2017. The purpose of the meeting was to ‘raise the resolution of the 1MDB matter with’ Trump, Broidy’s charging documents say.
Broidy is said to have also sought the meeting in hopes that it could help bring his firm new business from Malaysia, the document said. He was reportedly paid $6 million for his part in the scheme.
The documents state that Broidy, Davis and Person A were ‘unsuccessful in their efforts to have the 1MDB matters dropped or otherwise favourably resolved for Foreign National A’.
Razak was later sentenced to 12 years in prison last year for his role in the 1MDB scandal.
Charging documents say Broidy agreed to lobby the Trump administration and the Justice Department to drop or favorably resolve an investigation into fraud at 1MDB on behalf of a Jho Low , a Malaysian businessman. He also reportedly try to push for the extradition of Guo Weng , a Chinese National
Fugees rapper Pras Michel (pictured left with Wyclef Jean) has also been charged
Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon greets fugitive Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui before introducing him at a news conference on November 20, 2018. Bannon was arrested last month aboard Guo's mega-yacht
The filing also said that the trio met with a minister of the People’s Republic of China and agreed that Broidy, with the help of two others, would lobby the Trump administration to return an unidentified Chinese national back to China.
Shera Bechard, the Canadian-born former girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner, is seen in this handout photo taken in October, 2011. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2018 that Broidy used Trump lawyer Michael Cohen to help negotiate an NDA with Bechard, who had a sexual relationship with Broidy
That national is understood to be the billionaire Guo Wengui, according to CNBC, a critic of China’s government who has sought asylum in the United States.
Broidy is charged with conspiring to act as unregistered agent for a foreign principal. He is expected to plead guilty to the charge on October 20 in a deal with the Justice Department, according to Reuters.
At the time of his alleged work for Mr. Low, Mr. Broidy was deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
He resigned from his position as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee in 2018, after it was stunningly revealed that he agreed to pay $1.6 million to buy the silence of a former Playboy model he impregnated during an affair. Broidy hired longtime Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen to negotiate the hush payment and non-disclosure agreement.
In 2009, Broidy pleaded guilty in New York state court to a misdemeanor charge after giving out nearly $1 million in gifts to state pension fund officials in exchange for his private equity firm being handed $250 million in pension funds to manage.
Another of Trump associates, former senior advisor Steve Bannon, was arrested in August and charged with defrauding thousands of donors through the ‘Build the Wall’ fundraising campaign.
The 66-year-old was arrested by authorities while on a yacht that was owned by Guo.