Ex-Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy charged with illicit lobbying on China and 1MDB scandal
- He is accused of asking US president to invite Malaysia’s Najib Razak to golf game in bid to end corruption investigation
- Broidy also spoke to Chinese official about Beijing’s wish to have businessman Guo Wengui deported from US
A former leading fundraiser for US President Donald Trump has been indicted on a charge that he illegally lobbied the US government to drop its probe into the Malaysia 1MDB corruption scandal and to deport an exiled Chinese billionaire.
Elliott Broidy was charged in Washington federal court with one count of conspiracy to act as an unregistered foreign agent after allegedly agreeing to take millions of dollars to lobby the Trump administration.
The indictment, made public on Thursday, said Broidy was recruited in 2017 by an unnamed foreign national, understood to be Malaysian Low Taek Jho, to pressure US officials to end their investigation of a scandal engulfing Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak.
The scandal involved the theft over US$4.5 billion from state investment fund 1MDB, and Low was allegedly central to moving and hiding some of the stolen funds.
At the time Broidy was national deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee after having been a major fundraiser for Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign.
After being recruited by Low, Broidy personally asked Trump to invite Najib to play golf during the Malaysian leader’s September 2017 visit to the United States, the indictment said. The goal was to give Najib a chance “to attempt to resolve the 1MDB matter” with the US leader, the document said.
