US consultant charged with covert lobbying for Jho Low over 1MDB probe
- Prosecutors say Nickie Lum Davis was also involved in bid to arrange return of Chinese dissident living in US
- Dissident not named, though charging documents refer to news article about exiled tycoon Guo Wengui
Federal prosecutors say Nickie Lum Davis failed to disclose to the federal government that the lobbying effort was done on behalf of a fugitive Malaysian financier who has been charged in the US with conspiring to launder billions of dollars from the fund.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires individuals who are enlisted by foreign entities to lobby the US government to register that work with the Justice Department. A criminal case filed in federal court in Honolulu charges Davis with a single count of violating that act, known as FARA.
A lawyer who has represented Davis did not return an email and phone message seeking comment. The US Attorney’s office in Hawaii declined to comment.
The charge is the latest development arising from the complicated saga of 1MDB, a Malaysian wealth fund that was established more than a decade ago to accelerate the country’s economic development but that prosecutors say was actually treated as a piggy bank by associates of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The effort to wipe away legal troubles for the Malaysian financier who prosecutors say helped orchestrate the pilfering was ultimately unsuccessful.
The Justice Department in 2018 charged Jho Low, who remains at large, in connection with the alleged money laundering and last year reached a civil settlement to recover more than US$700 million in assets that officials say are traceable to the looted funds.
The latest case accuses Davis of working with a politically connected fundraiser with close ties to President Donald Trump to press the Justice Department and other administration officials to abandon forfeiture claims seeking the recovery of assets bought with laundered proceeds.
China denies sheltering 1MDB scandal fugitive Jho Low
Prosecutors say Low offered an US$8 million retainer fee for the illicit lobbying, and an additional US$75 million if the matter was resolved within 180 days.
During a May 2017 meeting in Bangkok, the fundraiser suggested that the money should not come from Low but should instead be “clean”, and Low identified a friend who could handle the payments, prosecutors allege.
The fundraiser is not identified by name, but his description in a court document filed last week matches that of Elliott Broidy, the former deputy chair of Trump’s inaugural committee.
The criminal case was filed last Monday, but court records do not show any activity since then. An email to a lawyer for Low was not immediately returned.
The lobbying campaign included helping facilitate a September 2017 meeting between Trump and Najib, which prosecutors say was in part to allow Razak to raise the 1MDB issue. An attempt to schedule a golf outing between the two leaders was unsuccessful.
The effort also included trying to arrange meetings with the Justice Department to lobby for the removal of a Chinese dissident who was living in the US on a temporary visa.
The dissident is not referred to by name by prosecutors, but the 39-page charging documents they filed refers to a Wall Street Journal article about the dissident with the headline: “China Cranks Up Heat on Exiled Tycoon Guo Wengui”.
Is this Chinese tycoon and member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago also a spy?
Chinese authorities have accused Guo of rape, kidnapping, bribery and other offences and have sought the return of the self-exiled tycoon.
