Prominent Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy has been criminally charged with evading foreign lobbying laws in his attempts to influence the Trump administration to drop charges against a Malaysian businessman.
Broidy is accused of one count of conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires those lobbying on behalf of a foreign interest to disclose it to the Justice Department.
Broidy, a high-profile fundraiser for President Trump, was deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee before his resignation in 2018.
According to the charging document, Broidy attempted along with several others to persuade the Trump administration to drop charges against Malaysian businessman Jho Low, who federal prosecutors in Brooklyn have accused of embezzling billions of dollars from a Malaysian state investment fund.
“Broidy agreed to lobby the administration and DOJ for a favorable result for [Low] while concealing the fact that he was working on [Low’s] behalf,” the charging document state.
Prosecutors said 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.”
Part of Broidy’s ultimately unsuccessful attempts on behalf of Low, who is still at large, included an attempt to arrange a golf outing between Trump and the Malaysian prime minister that never happened.