KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — A top fundraiser for US President Donald Trump’s election campaign has been charged with lobbying allegedly on behalf of Low Taek Jho to get American authorities to end their 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) investigation.
According to the New York Times (NYT), Elliott Broidy was on the record as a significant fundraiser during Trump’s 2016 election campaign.
Broidy was indicted under his country’s Foreign Agents Registration Act for running an influence operation on behalf of Malaysian and Chinese interests.
US citizens lobbying the US government for foreign powers must declare this to their country.
According to court filings the NYT cited, Broidy allegedly accepted US$6 million from an unnamed foreign citizen to lobby US officials for an end to the country’s kleptocracy action linked to 1MDB, Malaysia’s controversial state investment fund.
He was also accused of trying to convince the US to agree to the extradition of a Chinese national in the country.
Broidy was unsuccessful in both attempts.
Although Low or Jho Low was not named in the filings, the NYT said sources with knowledge of the matter identified the fugitive Malaysian financier as Broidy’s client.
Low was also alleged to have dangled a US$75 million bonus if Broidy succeeded in getting the US to call off the 1MDB probe and to arrange a golf session between Trump and the prime minister of Malaysia.
Broidy is the second lobbyist allegedly acting on Low’s behalf to be charged in the US this year.
In August, Nickie Lum Davis was similarly charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act with failing to disclose he was acting on Low’s behalf to lobby the US government to abandon forfeiture claims of assets bought with misappreciated 1MDB funds.
Low has been represented as the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal by various parties including former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is on trial in Malaysia on dozens of related charges.
Low denies the allegations.
Malaysian police remain on the search for Low who is wanted here to face charges of money-laundering.
