Thread by @nimkef

Tom Barrack Charged

A seven-count indictment was unsealed today in a New York federal court relating to the defendants’ unlawful efforts to advance the interests of the UAE in the US at the direction of senior UAE officials

justice.gov/opa/pr/former-…

Thomas Joseph Barrack, 74, of Santa Monica, Ca

Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Co

Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi, aka Rashid Al Malik and Rashid Al‑Malik, 43, UAE national

are accused of acting and conspiring to act as agents of the UAE between April 2016 - April 2018.

The indictment also charges Barrack with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 20, 2019, interview with federal law enforcement agents.

Barrack directly and through Alshahhi and Grimes – was regularly and repeatedly in contact with the senior leadership of the UAE government. On multiple occasions, Barrack referred to Alshahhi as the UAE’s “secret weapon” to advance its foreign policy agenda in the United States.

May 2016, Barrack inserted language praising the UAE into a campaign speech to be delivered by the candidate about U.S. energy policy in May 2016 and emailed an advance draft of the speech to Alshahhi for delivery to senior UAE officials.

After one appearance in which Barrack repeatedly praised the UAE, Barrack emailed Alshahhi, “I nailed it. . . for the home team,” referring to the UAE.

Barrack and Grimes also solicited direction from senior UAE officials in advance of the publication of an op-ed authored by Barrack and published in a national magazine in October 2016 and removed certain language at the direction of senior UAE officials, as relayed by Alshahhi.

Dec 2016, Barrack attended a meeting with Grimes, Alshahhi and senior UAE gov officials, he advised them to create a “wish list” of US foreign policy items that the UAE wanted in the first 100 days, six months, year and four years of the incoming administration

March 2017, Barrack and his co-defendants agreed to promote the candidacy of an individual favored by senior UAE officials for the position of U.S. Ambassador to the UAE.

May 2017, Barrack agreed to provide Alshahhi with non-public information about the views and reactions of senior U.S. government officials following a White House meeting between senior U.S. officials and senior UAE officials.

Sept 2017, Alshahhi communicated with Barrack about the opposition of the UAE to a proposed summit at Camp David to address disputes between Qatar, UAE and other Middle Eastern govs, after which Barrack sought to advise Trump against holding the summit. The summit never happened.

In furtherance of the alleged criminal conspiracy and conduct, Barrack and Grimes, with the assistance of Alshahhi, acquired a dedicated cellular telephone and installed a secure messaging application to facilitate Barrack’s communications with senior UAE officials.

Neither Alshahhi nor Barrack nor Grimes provided the required notification to the U.S. Attorney General that they were acting in the United States as agents of a foreign government.

20 June 2019, Barrack voluntarily met with FBI special agents. During the interview, Barrack allegedly made numerous false statements, including falsely denying that Alshahhi had ever requested that he take any actions on behalf of the UAE.

Barrack and Grimes were arrested this morning and are scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in the Central District of California. Alshahhi remains at large.

19 Aug 2019

Barrack’s role as chairman of the 2017 inauguration fund, which is under investigation

Trump was “really upset” about Barrack’s making it easy for some foreigners and others to try to spend money to get access to Trump and his inner circle

politico.com/story/2019/08/…

A report by Democrats on the House Oversight and Reform Committee showed that Barrack worked with well-connected UAE businessman Rashid Al-Malik to make suggestions for an energy speech Trump gave in 2016 to be more favorable toward the Middle East

Early in Trump’s presidency, Barrack brought Gates to the WH several times and also kept paying him even after Trump urged his friend to fire Gates

Gates admitted during Manafort’s trial last summer that he might have stolen money from the inaugural committee

Several sources said Trump’s falling out with Barrack, who hasn’t yet donated to Trump’s re-election campaign, began even before the damaging reports about the inaugural committee.

"questioned entirely on two officials indicted by Mueller: Paul Manafort, and Manafort’s longtime deputy, Rick Gates. Gates agreed to plead guilty to federal conspiracy and false-statement charges in February and began cooperating with investigators"

apnews.com/6dd33b42346340…

"After the inauguration, Gates began receiving consulting payments from a company headed by Mr. Barrack, Colony NorthStar, which paid Mr. Gates $20,000 a month, and one owned by Mr. Broidy, which paid Mr. Gates $25,000 a month"
nytimes.com/2018/07/24/us/…

DC consultants were puzzled by the willingness of clients to hire Gates or Manafort at a time when it seemed that the looming investigations would limit their effectiveness and access to Trump’s advisers, some of whom had tried to bar Mr. Gates from working with the admin

Gates maintained at least some access, in part because he was seen as having the blessing of Barrack, a close friend and business associate of Trump

Broidy also has past business dealings with several Trump insiders. He worked closely – though he says with no direct financial tie -- with well-connected Lebanese-American businessman George Nader, who has worked with UAE.

abcnews.go.com/Politics/oil-r…

Nader organized and attended a meeting in the Seychelles in Jan 2017. Attendees were Erik Prince, Kirill Dmitriev, Russian oligarch who heads Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the defacto ruler of his country

A Broidy-owned security contracting company called Cirnicus, which he acquired in 2015, signed a $200 million contract with the UAE government for defense contracting services in Jan 2018

Between Trump’s nomination and June 2019, Barrack’s Colony Capital received about $1.5B from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Mr. Barrack’s aides said. That included $474M from Saudi and Emirati sovereign wealth funds, out of $7B that Colony raised in worldwide

nytimes.com/2019/07/28/us/…

Jared Kushner, blocked Barrack from becoming a special envoy to the ME. A role as a kind of superambassador to Central and South America did not materialize either.

At the same time, a troubled merger drove down Colony Capital stock and forced management changes