Ex-Trump fundraiser charged with illegal foreign lobbying
Elliott Broidy, a former top political fundraiser for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, has been charged as part of a wide-ranging federal probe into back-channel efforts to influence the Trump administration on behalf of foreign interests.
Broidy participated in a scheme to illegally lobby the Trump administration to stop investigating the embezzlement scandal at the 1MDB Malaysian state investment fund, according to charging documents unsealed on Wednesday.
Jho Low, a Malaysian fugitive who was charged as the mastermind of the 1MDB fraud, initially paid Broidy $6 million to lobby the U.S. Justice Department to stop its investigation and promised an additional $75 million if the lobbying succeeded, the filing said. Broidy is accused of conspiring to serve as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal.
Broidy was charged in a document known as a criminal information, which often precedes a guilty plea and a defendant’s cooperation with prosecutors. [Continue reading…]