Published 12:13 IST, October 9th 2020
Trump's former fundraiser charged for involvement in foreign lobbying
Justice Department found Brody was one-time client of Michael Cohen who had arranged for Malaysian PM and Trump's outing via National Security Council official.
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On October 8, Feds charged a prominent former GOP fundraiser to Donald Trump in covert lobbying efforts to drop the Justice Department probe. Elliott Broidy has been accused of an illicit lobbying campaign targeted at the Trump administration to botch the investigation into a sensational multibillion-dollar embezzlement scheme 1MDB that looted Malaysian state investment fund.
Justice Department found Brody to be a one-time client of Michael Cohen who had arranged for a top official on the National Security Council to try and arrange a golf outing between the Malaysian prime minister and President Donald Trump, a charging document accessed by the Associated Press confirmed. While Brody had through-and-through concealed that he operated on behalf of a Malaysian businessman named Jho Low, who had been charged by the federal prosecutors in Brooklyn in relation to the Malaysian government investment fund scam, he constantly “inappropriately” influenced the Trump administration.
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The charged document cites that Broidy conspired to manipulate administration in terms of foreign interest. He was involved with Fugees founding member Michel Pras and a Hawaiian businesswoman, from whom, he accepted millions of dollars to get the Justice Department to nullify the charges against Low, although his attempts were in vain. Brody formerly held senior finance posts in Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and it was found that he had failed to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act all this while, according to the charging paperwork cited by AP’s sources as ‘Information’.
“Broidy facilitated and attempted to facilitate meetings and other efforts to influence officials at the highest level of the United States government, including the President and the Attorney General,” AP quoted prosecutors as saying.
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[Elliott Broidy poses for a photo at an event in New York. Broidy, a fundraiser for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, has been charged in an illicit lobbying campaign aimed at getting the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian state investment fund. AP Photo/David Karp, File]
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Brody met Trump at White House
Further, prosecutors alleged that the conspirator held a high-level meeting at a Bangkok hotel suite in 2017, where he agreed to lobby the Trump administration and the attorney general, and the Jeff Sessions for about $8 million retainer fee. While Brody had held a position of deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee and a top fundraiser for US President Trump, he resigned in 2018 in relation to the Playboy Playmate scandal in which he paid $1.6 million. AP’s sources reveal that in 2017, in fact, Trump and the Malaysian prime minister did meet at the White House in September and Broidy met Trump himself that month. Brody’s separate lobbying effort involved a Chinese dissident’s removal on a temporary visa in 2014. Prosecutors suspected the Chinese to be Guo Wengui who left China in 2014 due to an anti-corruption crackdown.
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12:14 IST, October 9th 2020