Thomas Barrack: Trump ally arrested and charged with acting as foreign agent
Mr Barrack and two other defendants ‘are accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018,’ the Department of Justice says
Thomas Barrack, left, with Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, greet Donald Trump in front of the US Capitol on the day of his inauguration as president, on 20 January, 2017
Longtime Trump confidant Thomas Barrack has been arrested in Los Angeles and charged with acting as a foreign agent of the United Arab Emirates, the Department of Justice has announced.
According to the DOJ, Mr Barrack and two other defendants “are accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 and April 2018”.
In addition, Mr Barrack has been charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements to federal law enforcement at an FBI interview in June 2019.
Mr Barrack, the 74-year-old former CEO of Colony Capital, was an informal adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and served as the chairman of Mr Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. Prosecutors say he exploited those connections to advance the UAE’s interests.
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That's the screen capture. [UPDATE: link] Unfortunately, the item later says -
The other two defendants are Matthew Grimes, 27, and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, 43, a UAE national. All three are accused of lobbying for the Arab country without registering as foreign agents, as they would be required to do by law.
“The defendants repeatedly capitalized on Barrack’s friendships and access to a candidate who was eventually elected President, high-ranking campaign and government officials, and the American media to advance the policy goals of a foreign government without disclosing their true allegiances,” DOJ Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark Lesko said in a statement. “The conduct alleged in the indictment is nothing short of a betrayal of those officials in the United States, including the former President.”
According to the Justice Department, Mr Barrack was “regularly and repeatedly in contact with the senior leadership of the UAE government” during and after the 2016 election, and repeatedly referred to Mr Alshahhi as the UAE’s “secret weapon” for pushing its agenda within the US government.
So, whatever, secret weapon and all, it appears the Adelsons are not, NOT, the other two acting as UAE agents. Not UAE agents, if anyone's.
UPDATE: Local LA media outlet KTLA carried the AP feed of the story; where it ended with this paragraph - either it's own, or the way AP wrapped things up:
Barrack is the latest in a long line of Trump associates to face criminal charges, including his former campaign chair, his former deputy campaign chair, his former chief strategist, his former national security adviser, his former personal lawyer and his company’s longtime chief financial officer.
Dominoes falling. Last in line, after all the others have fallen, . . . guess.
FURTHER: LA Times ends its report -
A spokeswoman for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Barrack — who has a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes — has been friends with Trump for the last three decades and he planned the president’s inauguration in early 2017.
Barrack’s Los Angeles-based Colony Capital is a publicly held investment firm with $44 billion of assets under management that often bets on distressed assets. In 2008, for instance, Colony bailed out Michael Jackson when the late singer’s Neverland Ranch was on the brink of foreclosure.
The grandson of Lebanese Christian immigrants, Barrack also has business ties to the Mideast — and a deep knowledge of its politics and cultures — dating to the early 1970s, when as an attorney he worked on a project in Saudi Arabia and then spent the next four years there as an advisor to the royal family.
At Colony Capital, Barrack also has tapped various Mideast investors to help fund the firm’s operations.
With partners from Qatar, Barrack was part of an investment group that bought Miramax Films in 2010, later selling the studio to investors in Qatar. However, his dealings have been complicated since a blockade of Qatar started in 2017 by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
This IS bigger than chopping little guys without a pot, who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6. This is an attention grabber. However, nobody's gone to jail over the indictment, and there are many a slip twixt cup and lip. Anyone want to bet against the guy drawing a wrist slap, no jail time?