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WASHINGTON: A former fundraiser for US President Donald Trump is expected to plead guilty next week to charges of illegally pressuring Trump to withdraw an investigation into a massive embezzlement scandal in Malaysia, documents show judicial filed Thursday.
Former fundraiser Elliot Broidy is due to appear in federal court in Washington, DC, on Tuesday for a hearing on a settlement with the prosecution.
Court documents filed earlier this month showed that Broidy was also charged with illegally lobbying to organize the return of a mainland Chinese dissident living in the United States.
Neither Broidy’s attorney nor representatives from the US Department of Justice immediately commented.
Court filings released earlier this month showed that Broidy was accused of agreeing to take millions of dollars in exchange for pressuring Trump and the Justice Department to end an investigation of a “wealthy businessman living in East Asia.” for the role of the person in the Malaysian 1MDB scandal.
The charges brought against Broidy did not name the person who hired Broidy to do the lobbying.
Broidy, a businessman who held top financial positions in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and on its inaugural committee, is the latest person with ties to Trump to be charged with a crime and comes when the president is lagging behind in polls. before the elections on November 3. .
The US Foreign Registration Act requires individuals who pressure the US government to register foreign entities.
Last year, the Justice Department stepped up enforcement of the rarely processed law on foreign lobbying.
The prosecution of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, involved violations of the act.
Manafort made tens of millions of dollars by covertly lobbying pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine.
– Reuters
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