Trump Fundraiser Received Laundered Foreign Money, Prosecutors Say

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors cited the involvement of a onetime top fundraiser to President Donald Trump on Friday in a scheme to launder millions of dollars into the country to help a flamboyant Malaysian financier end a Justice Department investigation.

Elliott Broidy, a Los Angeles-based businessman who was a finance vice chairman of Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration committees, was paid to lobby the Trump administration to try to end an investigation related to the embezzlement of billions of dollars from a Malaysian state-owned fund, according to court filings made public Friday.

The filings were released in connection with a guilty plea entered by George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department employee. Higginbotham admitted to conspiring to lie to banks about the source of tens of millions of dollars he funneled into the United States from Malaysian financier Jho Low, who federal authorities say masterminded a scheme to loot the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad fund, also known as 1MDB.

Higginbotham, who left the Justice Department in August, was not involved in the department’s investigation of Low, and is cooperating with prosecutors.

In his guilty plea, Higginbotham admitted that he and entertainer and businessman Pras Michel, a former member of the Fugees, a defunct hip-hop group, arranged for millions of dollars of Low’s money to be transferred to a law firm owned by Broidy’s wife to pay them to try to end the 1MDB investigation.

The charging papers and supporting documents do not identify Broidy or his wife, Robin Rosenzweig, by name, and neither has been charged with a crime. But the facts of the case align with previous reporting on Broidy’s efforts related to 1MDB, as well as emails from Broidy that were stolen from Rosenzweig’s account and disseminated to news outlets that match emails cited in Friday’s court filings. The filings identify Broidy as “Person 1” or “Individual 1,” and characterize him as “a nonlawyer business owner” who “owns several businesses, including an investment firm.”

In a brief interview Friday, Broidy did not deny that the filings refer to him. But he referred specific questions to his lawyer, who did not respond to a request for comment.

Broidy, who pleaded guilty in 2009 in an unrelated pension fund bribery case, is one of several Trump associates whose business with foreign governments and figures has attracted scrutiny, including from investigators for special counsel Robert Mueller. A veteran Republican fundraiser who also owns a defense contracting firm, Broidy had seemed positioned to become a highly influential figure in a political hierarchy that was upended by Trump’s victory. Broidy had started raising money for Trump’s 2016 campaign at a time when most elite Republican donors were staying away. After Trump’s election, Broidy marketed his connection to the new administration to politicians, businessmen and governments around the world, including some with unsavory records, and won big contracts for his defense firm.

The continuing case of Low and 1MDB is complex, with federal prosecutors unsealing an indictment against him and an associate in November, and extracting a guilty plea from a former Goldman Sachs banker who was involved in bribes and kickbacks related to 1MDB bond work. Broidy’s involvement, which predates Low’s indictment, underscores both Low’s efforts to navigate the U.S. judicial system, and the far-flung nature of Broidy’s business pursuits in the early days of the Trump administration.

In March 2017, Low’s associates were looking to retain “someone with political influence,” according to a Friday filing. Their goal was to help him deflect efforts by American authorities to seize assets bought with money he was accused of siphoning from 1MDB, and to end the Justice Department investigation into his activities, according to the filings. They indicate that, after Low expressed interest in hiring Broidy and Rosenzweig’s law firm, Michel met with Broidy and an associate “and explained Jho Low’s situation in the 1MDB matters.”

Broidy “indicated to Michel that although he was willing to assist Jho Low, he would not take any compensation directly from Jho Low in exchange for his services,” according to the filings. They indicate that Broidy “wanted $15 million in compensation, but Michel negotiated the price down to approximately $8 million.”

At least $6 million was transferred to Rosenzweig’s law firm through various accounts set up to “disguise the true source, origin and purpose of the funds, and, specifically, to conceal from U.S. financial institutions Jho Low’s ownership, control and affiliation with these funds and transactions,” according to the filings.

A draft agreement called for a $75 million “success fee” to be paid to Broidy if the investigation was resolved within 180 days, or $50 million if it was resolved within 365 days.

Broidy traveled to Thailand in May 2017 to meet with Low and Michel, and he indicated “that he would sit down with Jho Low’s legal team and figure out the best way to get to a settlement on the 1MDB matters,” according to the filings.

Michel indicated that Broidy “agreed to try to influence a potential nominee for a federal position that would have authority over the 1MDB forfeiture matters,” according to the filings, which note that the potential office holder was not nominated.

The filings also detail a memo sent in August 2017 by Broidy’s assistant to him outlining talking points intended to ease concerns about the 1MDB scandal that were apparently intended for use by Najib Razak, then the prime minister of Malaysia, during a visit with Trump.

And the court filings indicate that Low’s allies talked with Broidy about using his “political connections to lobby United States government officials” to force the exit of a Chinese dissident from the United States.

Broidy did not register to lobby for Razak or Low, and on Friday, he said that his activities did not constitute lobbying.

He has claimed in a lawsuit that he is the victim of a cyberattack by people working for Qatar, who stole his emails in retaliation for his criticism of the country and disseminated them to the news media. Qatar has denied responsibility.

Friday’s court filings in Higginbotham’s case cite at least one email from Broidy that was disseminated to the news media. Prosecutors note that Broidy “has alleged that at least some of the stolen emails were manipulated and/or fabricated by the hackers.”

Broidy had also drawn unwanted attention because of the criminal investigation of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, which led to the revelation in April that Cohen had arranged a $1.6 million hush agreement with a former Playboy model who became pregnant during an affair with Broidy. That led to Broidy’s resignation as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.