Non-DOJ Individual Charged with Conspiracy to Serve as an Unregistered Agent of a Foreign Principal in a Criminal Scheme Involving a Former DOJ Employee and Seeking to Influence DOJ Matters

On October 6, 2020, a non-DOJ individual was charged in a Criminal Complaint with one count of conspiracy to serve as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal.  Elliott Bryan Broidy was charged in the District of Columbia.  According to the Information, from in or about March 2017 to in or about January 2018, Broidy knowingly and willfully, without registering with the Attorney General as required by law, assisted in a back-channel lobbying campaign to favorably resolve the DOJ’s investigation into 1Malaysia Development Berhad and to return a Chinese National to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), all on behalf of the foreign national and the Government of the PRC.  Former DOJ employee George Higginbotham pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make false statements to a bank in November 2018 in connection with the same alleged criminal scheme, and the criminal scheme allegedly sought to influence other DOJ officials and ongoing official matters at the DOJ.  If convicted, Broidy will be required to forfeit monies derived from proceeds traceable to the violation.  This investigation is being conducted by the OIG’s Cyber Investigations Office and the FBI.