Ex-Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy pleads guilty to illegal lobbying over Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal

As part of plea deal, he agreed to forfeit US$6.6 million, and faces up to five years in prison

Broidy is said to be cooperating with investigation of alleged effort by fugitive businessman Jho Low to squelch US civil forfeiture probe into 1MDB

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Elliott Broidy poses for a photo at an event in New York in February 2008. Photo: AP

Published: 6:51am, 21 Oct 2020Updated: 6:51am, 21 Oct 2020

Elliott Broidy, once a top Republican fundraiser, pleaded guilty to illegally lobbying President Donald Trump’s administration to help a Malaysian businessman end a federal investigation into the 1MDB scandal and to seek the extradition of a Chinese dissident from the US.

Broidy’s plea on Tuesday in federal court in Washington came ahead of an expected criminal settlement with Goldman Sachs. The bank has agreed to pay more than US$2 billion for its role in helping the 1MDB Malaysian development fund raise billions of dollars, according to people familiar with the matter. Much of that money was later illegally diverted.

The bank’s deal with the US Justice Department, which could be announced as early as this week, would allow the parent company to avoid a conviction, the people said.

Broidy is cooperating with prosecutors in their investigation of efforts by fugitive businessman Jho Low to squelch a US civil forfeiture investigation into 1MDB and Low’s push on behalf of China for the US to extradite Guo Wengui, a wealthy exile who criticised China’s government, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Protesters hold portraits of Jho Low depicted with a pirate hate and eyepatch during a protest in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in April 2018. Photo: AP

Prosecutors say that Broidy, a top fundraiser for Trump and the Republican National Committee in 2016, illegally cashed in on his connections by plotting to help Low in 2017. Low initially paid US$6 million to Broidy and promised US$75 million more if he succeeded in persuading the Justice Department to walk away from its civil forfeiture case.