The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a former fundraiser for President Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Elliott Broidy was a fundraiser for Trump’s 2016 campaign and part of his inaugural committee, reported Jurist.
Broidy made the guilty plea before federal Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who did not immediately impose a sentence. Broidy was
accused of attempting to lobby high government officials, including the
president and attorney general, to drop an investigation into the embezzlement
of billions of dollars from 1Malaysia
Development Berhad (1MDB), an investment fund owned by the Malaysian
government. As part of his plea, he admitted to receiving $9 million from an
unnamed architect of the embezzlement scheme. FARA requires individuals who
lobby the US government on behalf of foreign entities to register with the DOJ,
which Broidy admits he did not do.
In addition to his attempts to get the government to
drop the 1MDB investigation, he also attempted to persuade the administration
and the DOJ to return a dissident Chinese national living in the US to Chinese
authorities. Broidy expected to receive many more millions of dollars in fees
for that effort, which was ultimately unsuccessful, as was his lobbying
regarding 1MDB.
Of the $9 million he received, Broidy paid $2.4
million to Nickie Lum Davis, his co-conspirator, who has already pleaded guilty
for her role in the lobbying effort. Broidy agreed to forfeit the remaining
$6.6 million. He could face up to five years in prison at his sentencing
hearing, set for next February.
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