Trump friend Tom Barrack arrested on charges of lobbying in the UAE

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Thomas Barrack, Chairman and CEO, Colony Capital Inc. , points out while speaking during the closing reception at the Milken Institute Japan Symposium in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, March 25, 2019. The conference brings together business leaders and government officials to discuss the geopolitical, economic and social issues facing Japan. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota / Bloomberg via Getty Images

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Thomas Barrack, a private equity investor and close friend of former President Donald Trump, was arrested Tuesday morning in Los Angeles on federal charges related to illegally lobbying Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

Barack, who was indicted along with three other men in a seven-count indictment in Brooklyn, New York, was chairman of the inaugural Trump Fund for 2017.

Santa Monica, California, accuses Resident Barrack, and the other defendants of illegal efforts to advance the interests of the UAE under the direction of senior officials of that country”, by influencing the foreign policy positions of a candidate’s campaign in the 2016 US presidential election, and then the foreign policy positions of the US government in next administration.

Matthew Grimes, 27, of Aspen, Colorado, Rashid Sultan Rashid al-Malik al-Shehhi, and Rashid al-Malik, a UAE national, were charged with acting and conspiracy to act as agents of the United Arab Emirates from April 2016 through April 2018.

Barrack, who founded the large private equity firm Colony Capital, is also accused of obstructing justice and making multiple false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal law enforcement agents.

“The defendants repeatedly took advantage of Barak’s friendships and access to a candidate who was eventually elected president, high-ranking campaign and government officials, and the US media to further a foreign government’s policy goals without revealing their true allegiances,” the acting aide said. Attorney General Mark Lesko of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

“The alleged conduct in the indictment amounts to nothing less than treason to those officials in the United States, including the former president,” Lesko said in a statement.

A Trump spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Matthew Herrington, Barack’s attorney, told CNBC that his client was arrested in Los Angeles “despite the fact that we cooperated with this investigation from the start.”

Barrack resigned as CEO of Colony Capital in 2020. He resigned as CEO of the company in April.

Federal prosecutors have been investigating Barak’s alleged work on behalf of the United Arab Emirates for at least two years.

One event that caught their attention was a speech on energy policy that Trump gave as a presidential candidate in May 2016.

The indictment said Barak “inserted language praising the UAE” in the letter, and “e-mailed a pre-draft of the letter to Al Shahi for delivery to senior Emirati officials.”

Over the next two years, prosecutors allege, Barak “sought and received guidance and feedback, including talking points, from senior Emirati officials regarding the national journalistic appearances that Barak used to advance UAE interests.”

“During this time, Barak never registered as a lobbyist in the UAE, as required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act,” the indictment reads.

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