Fundraiser for GOP investigated
Subpoena seeks records on Broidy, ties to foreign officials
NEW YORK — A federal grand jury in New York is investigating a top Republican fundraiser to determine whether he used his position to drum up business deals with foreign leaders, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press and people familiar with the matter.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn recently sent a subpoena to President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee. The wide-ranging subpoena seeks records related to 20 individuals and businesses that have connections to Elliott Broidy, his investment and defense contracting firms, and foreign officials he pursued deals with — including the current president of Angola and two politicians in Romania.
A statement released to the AP by attorneys for Broidy, who served as vice chairman of Trump’s inaugural committee, said that at no point did Broidy or his global security firm Circinus have a contract or exchange of money with “any Romanian government agency, proxy or agent.” It also said that while Circinus did reach an agreement with Angola in 2016, there was no connection whatsoever to the inauguration or Broidy’s role on the inaugural committee.
“Any implication to the contrary is completely false,” the statement said.
The Brooklyn office’s investigation appears to be distinct from an inquiry by Manhattan federal prosecutors into the inaugural committee’s record $107 million fundraising and whether foreigners unlawfully contributed.
The Brooklyn federal prosecutors and the president’s inaugural committee declined to comment on the grand jury proceedings, which are secret. But two people familiar with the matter told the AP that the committee has already complied with the subpoena, issued in April.
The people spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Broidy, a 61-year-old Los Angeles businessman, made a fortune in investments before moving into defense contracting. He has played prominent roles in GOP fundraising, including as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2006 to 2008 and vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee in 2016.
But in 2009, investigators looked into the New York state pension fund’s decision to invest $250 million with Broidy and found that he had plied state officials with nearly $1 million in illegal gifts. Broidy pleaded guilty to a felony, but it was later knocked down to a misdemeanor after he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and pay back $18 million in management fees.
Broidy stepped down as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee last year after reports that he agreed to pay $1.6 million as part of a confidentiality agreement to a former Playboy model who said she became pregnant during an affair with him. That payment was arranged in 2017 by Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime lawyer.
In the federal probe from the Brooklyn office, Broidy’s is the first name listed in the grand jury subpoena, followed by his Los Angeles investment firm and four limited liability companies linked to him.
Several of the names included in the subpoena also appeared in a cache of leaked emails anonymously distributed last year to several news organizations, including the AP. Broidy has contended the emails were hacked from his account and that several of the documents were altered or forged.
As provided to the AP, the emails show Broidy invited two Angolan leaders named in the subpoena to Trump’s inaugural, and that the invitation was accompanied by a multimillion-dollar contract for Circinus to provide security services in Angola that Broidy asked be signed ahead of the events.
In a follow-up note to one of the Angolans — then-Defense Minister and current President Joao Manuel Goncalves Lourenco — Broidy discussed a planned visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, and in the same correspondence he demanded a past-due payment for Circinus’ services.
“Many preparations have been made in advance of your visit,” Broidy wrote in February 2017, “including additional meetings at the Capitol and the Department of Treasury.”
The Angolan Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.