Ex-Trump Fundraiser Broidy to Plead Guilty to Lobbying Plot

(Bloomberg) -- Elliott Broidy, a former top political fundraiser for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, plans to plead guilty to participating in an illegal foreign lobbying scheme and cooperate with investigators in the matter, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Broidy was charged on Oct. 8 with illegally lobbying the Trump administration to stop its investigation of the embezzlement scandal at the 1MDB Malaysian state investment fund and to advocate for the removal of a Chinese dissident from the U.S.

Jho Low, a Malaysian fugitive who was charged as the mastermind of the 1MDB fraud, initially paid Broidy $6 million to lobby the U.S. Justice Department to stop its investigation and promised an additional $75 million if the lobbying succeeded, prosecutors said. In 2017, Broidy also met with Low and a Chinese minister in a hotel suite in China to discuss a plan to seek the return Guo Wengui, a wealthy exile who has been a vocal critic of his home country’s government, according to a charging document that doesn’t refer to Low and Wengui by name.

Low, who hasn’t appeared in U.S. court, has denied wrongdoing.

Two other people involved in the scheme have already pleaded guilty: George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department official, and Nickie Mali Lum Davis, a Broidy business associate.

Broidy is scheduled to be arraigned at a virtual hearing in Washington on Oct. 20.

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