GOP fundraiser Broidy under investigation for alleged effort to sell government influence, people familiar with probe say - The Washington Post
[{"sender": "Heberlig, Brian", "recipients": ["Weingarten, Reid", "Silverman, Nicholas"], "timestamp": "Friday, August 17, 2018 6:47 PM", "subject": "GOP fundraiser Broidy under investigation for alleged effort to sell government influence, people familiar with probe say - The Washington Post", "body": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-fundraiser-broidy-under-inyestigation-for-alleged-effort-to-sell-goyernment-influence-people-familiar-with-probe-say/2018/08/17/c9e55792-a185-11e8-8e87-c869fe70a721_story.html?utm term=.f7126cd4d51c  \nGOP fundraiser Broidy under investigation \nfor alleged effort to sell government \ninfluence, people familiar with probe say \nCarol D. Leonnig \nThe Justice Department is investigating whether longtime Republican fundraiser Elliott \nBroidy sought to sell his influence with the Trump administration by offering to deliver U.S. \ngovernment actions for foreign officials in exchange for tens of millions of dollars, \naccording to three people familiar with the probe. \nAs part of the investigation, prosecutors are scrutinizing a plan that Broidy allegedly \ndeveloped to try to persuade the Trump government to extradite a Chinese dissident back to \nhis home country, a move sought by Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to two of the \npeople. \nThey are also investigating claims that Broidy sought $75 million from a Malaysian business \nofficial if the Justice Department ended its investigation of a development fund run by the \nMalaysian government. The Malaysian probe has examined the role of the former prime \nminister in the embezzlement of billions of dollars from the fund. \nA Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. Christopher Clark, an attorney \nfor Broidy, declined to comment. \nBroidy's alleged activities were detailed in news reports earlier this year that cited hacked \nemails. The Los Angeles-based venture capitalist, who served as top fundraiser for the \nRepublican Party and President Trump, has said  that allegations against him are an effort by \nhis enemies to smear him. \nRudolph W. Giuliani, an attorney for Trump, said he had no knowledge of any request for \nrecords related to Broidy. The White House referred a request for comment to the \nRepublican National Committee, which declined to comment. \n[Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy sues Qatar alleging cyber smear campaign] \nIn recent weeks, prosecutors with the Justice Department's public integrity section___which \nexamines possible political and government corruption___have sought documents related to \nBroidy's business dealings. \nAmong the information sought by investigators are details about Broidy's work on behalf of \nand interactions with the Chinese and Malaysian officials, according to two people familiar \nwith the document requests. \nAs part of their efforts, prosecutors have subpoenaed casino magnate Steve Wynn, the \nformer RNC finance chairman and longtime Trump friend, for copies of records and \ncommunications related to Broidy. \nAn attorney for Wynn, Reid Weingarten, declined to comment, saying only that Wynn is \ncooperating with the Justice Department. \n\"Steve Wynn is completely cooperating with the investigation and he certainly has no reason \nto believe that anyone acted improperly in anything he knew about or was involved in,\" \nWeingarten said in a statement. \nWynn was tapped by Trump to serve as the RNC 's lead fundraiser after the election. Earlier \nthis year, he stepped down from that post and from his executive role at his resort company \nafter reports of sexual misconduct. Wynn has denied the allegations of inappropriate \nbehavior. \nThe public integrity probe is the latest legal challenge for Broidy, who helped corral big  \ndoners to support Trump's presidential campaign, throwing a lavish fundraiser for the then-\nnominee at his Los Angeles-area home during the 2016 campaign. After the election, he was \nappointed to serve as a national deputy chairman for the RNC. \nBroidy sought to parlay his party role and connections to the White House and on Capitol \nHill in pitches to foreign governments, according to a person with direct knowledge of his \nactivities. \nIn April, he resigned from his RNC position in the wake of a report that he had paid a former \nPlayboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair. Trump's \npersonal attorney, Michael Cohen___another RNC fundraiser___helped arrange the \nsettlement, Broidy acknowledged. \n[RNC deputy finance chair steps down after admitting Trump's lawyer negotiated settlement \nbetween him and pregnant Playboy model] \nCohen is under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan who are examining \nwhether he fraudulently obtained millions of dollars in loans and whether his efforts to \nsquash negative stories about Trump during the campaign violated election law. \nBroidy's business dealings captured the attention of investigators for special counsel Robert \nS. Mueller III, who asked at least one witness about Broidy's activities, according to a \nperson familiar with the matter. \nBroidy's attempts to solve high-level headaches for the Chinese and Malaysian governments \nwere first reported this spring by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, which \ncited in part a cache of hacked emails. \nBroidy has said the documents were stolen by enemies seeking to ruin his reputation. \n\"This whole narrative is a fabrication driven by hackers who want to undermine me,\" Broidy \nsaid in a statement to the Times. Earlier this year, he filed a lawsuit against the country of \nQatar, alleging that it hacked his email accounts in retaliation for his allegations that Qatar \nsupports terrorists. A spokesman for the Qatari government has called the suit \"without fact \nor merit. \n,1 \nThe Journal reported in March that, according to a draft contract, Broidy and his wife, Robin \nRosenzweig, were seeking $75 million from Malaysian businessman Jho Low if federal \nprosecutors dropped their investigation into a Malaysian state investment fund. \nThe Justice Department has filed civil suits claiming $4.5 billion in public money was \nmisappropriated from the fund, 1Malaysia Development Berhad, seeking to claim a portion \nof those assets. Last month, Malaysian authorities charged former prime minister Najib \nRazak with embezzling billions in public money from the fund. \nClark, the Broidy attorney, told The Journal that Rosenzweig's firm had been hired to \nprovide strategic advice to Low, adding that \"at no time did Mr. Broidy or Ms. Rosenzweig, \nor anyone acting on their behalf, discuss Mr. Low's case with President Trump, any member \nof his staff, or anyone at the U.S. Department of Justice.\" \nThe Times reported  in April that Broidy had explored ways to force Chinese exile Guo \nWengui to leave the United States. The billionaire businessman had fled China in 2014 as he \nwas facing arrest for a range of charges, including corruption. Guo has said the allegations \nwere fabricated by a government that wants to silence him. \nSince his arrival in the U.S., Guo has publicly detailed allegations of corruption in the \nChinese ruling party. \nThe Times reported that Broidy drafted a plan to enlist Emirati officials to pressure the U.S. \nto turn over Guo. In his statement to the newspaper, Broidy said he \"never had a strategy or \nplan regarding Mr. Guo nor was there any compensation given or even discussed.\" \nBroidy's alleged efforts to push for Guo's extradition came after Wynn separately helped \ndeliver a message from the Xi government seeking to have the dissident returned to China, \naccording to a person familiar with the effort. \nWynn, who has contacts with Chinese officials because of his business interests in Macau, \nhand-delivered a letter to Trump seeking Guo '5 deportation, The Journal reported  last year. \nA spokesman for Wynn Resorts has said that the report about Wynn's role was false. \nAt the time, the president expressed interest in assisting the Chinese, but was met with \nresistance by senior law enforcement officials, according to the person. \nWhite House officials did not respond to requests for comment."}, {"sender": "Weingarten, Reid", "recipients": ["jeffrey E. [jeevacation@gmail.com]"], "timestamp": "8/18/2018 4:51:06 PM", "subject": "Fw: GOP fundraiser Broidy under investigation for alleged effort to sell government influence, people familiar with probe say - The Washington Post", "body": ""}]