Former Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy charged with foreign lobbying violation
Elliott Broidy, a former top fundraiser for President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and the Republican National Committee, has been charged with failing to register as a foreign agent for work allegedly done from March 2017 to January 2018 to quash an investigation into the 1MDB Malaysian embezzlement scheme and to push for the deportation of Chinese dissident Guo Wengui.
McClatchy first reported on Broidy’s overtures to foreign governments in February 2018, detailing his efforts to win a lucrative defense contract in Romania after inviting top Romanian politicians as his guests to Trump’s 2016 inauguration, for which Broidy was a leading fundraiser.
McClatchy later reported that Broidy attempted to influence a visit to Romania in August 2017 by then-Rep. Ed Royce, a California Republican who was chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee at the time, to benefit his Romanian allies and his efforts to win business in Romania.
Broidy was also reportedly involved in influence efforts on behalf of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Neither the Romanian efforts, or Broidy’s Middle Eastern work, is mentioned in the federal charges, which were filed Tuesday and unsealed Thursday.
Broidy resigned from the RNC in April 2018 after reports emerged that he had paid a former Playboy Playmate he had impregnated $1.6 million after she said she would have an abortion.
Broidy is no stranger to political scandal. In 2009, he pleaded guilty in New York for his role in a pension pay-to-play scheme that sent former New York Comptroller Alan Hevesi to prison. At the time, Broidy had been a prominent fundraiser in the Republican Party, leading the RNC’s national finance team and serving as a top bundler for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Broidy and his firm each paid $18 million fines, but after cooperating with investigators, his charges were downgraded to a misdemeanor.
The 2016 presidential election had marked Broidy’s return to the inner circles of Republican politics. He helped raise money for the failed presidential campaigns of Sens. Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz before helping the Trump campaign.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 3:24 PM with the headline "Former Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy charged with foreign lobbying violation."
