Recent Cases

FARA Cases

• In 2024, lobbyist Barry Bennett and political consultant Douglas Watts entered into Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPAs”) to resolve the government’s investigation into FARA violations at Bennett’s lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies.  In 2017, a foreign government hired Avenue Strategies to perform lobbying services, and Avenue Strategies registered under FARA.  However, as part of his lobbying strategy for his foreign government client, Bennett directed Watts to establish a separate company, which Bennett operated covertly.  As directed by Bennett, managed by Watts, and separately financed by the foreign government, this unregistered company ran a lobbying and public relations campaign designed to disparage the foreign government’s regional rival and thereby improve its standing with the U.S. government and public relative to this rival.  Through the DPAs, Bennett and Watts agreed to amend Avenue Strategies’ FARA filings and pay fines of $100,000 and $25,000, respectively.
   
• In 2023, in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, his wife, and three businessmen were indicted for their alleged participation in a years-long bribery and foreign influence scheme.  The indictment alleges that Menendez and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes from the businessmen in exchange for Menendez’s agreement to use his official position to protect and enrich them and to benefit the Government of Egypt.  Among other things, the indictment alleges that Menendez agreed and sought to pressure a senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an effort to protect a business monopoly granted to one businessman by Egypt, disrupt a criminal case undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to associates of another businessman, and disrupt a federal criminal prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey against the third businessman.  The indictment further charges that Menendez, his wife, and one of the businessmen conspired to have Menendez act as an agent of a foreign principal—the government of Egypt and Egyptian officials—required to register under FARA, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 219.
   
• In 2023, a judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a default judgment against a FARA registrant, Federación de Alcades Pedaneo (“FDAP”), for multiple violations of the Act.  The Department of Justice repeatedly notified FDAP that its registration was deficient because it had failed to file required supplemental statements, pay associated filing fees, file its bylaws or charter, and file a statement disclosing the organization and control of each foreign principal.  When the defendant failed to remedy these deficiencies, the Department filed a civil lawsuit seeking to compel FDAP to perform these statutory obligations and an injunction prohibiting it from acting on behalf of its foreign principals until it had done so.  The court subsequently issued a default judgment granting the government’s requested relief.
   
• In 2023, in the Southern District of New York, Gal Luft was indicted for willfully failing to register under FARA.  While serving as the-director of a Maryland-based nonprofit think tank, Luft allegedly conspired with others in an effort to act within the United States to advance the interests of the People’s Republic of China.  As part of this scheme, Luft agreed to covertly recruit and pay, on behalf of principals based in China, a former high-ranking U.S. government official who was an adviser to the then-President-elect, to publicly support certain policies with respect to China.  Luft, working with an individual in China, created a dialogue between the former official and the Chinese individual, which was published in an online Chinese newspaper and distributed to a journalist, professor, and other individuals in the United States.  Luft faces eight counts and could face up to five years in prison for violating FARA and up to twenty years for several of the other charges.  
   
• In 2023, a federal jury in the District of Columbia convicted U.S. rapper and businessman Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, conspiracy, concealment of material facts, making false entries in records, and witness tampering.  At the direction of Malaysian fugitive Jho Low and components of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, Michel conspired with Elliot Broidy—who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate FARA in 2020—and others to lobby the Justice Department to drop an embezzlement investigation and forfeiture proceedings involving Low.  Michel faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the most substantial counts.
   
• In 2022, in the Southern District of Florida, former Miami congressman David Rivera and an associate, Esther Nuhfer, were indicted for willfully failing to register under FARA, conspiracy, and money laundering.  According to the indictment, the defendants sought to influence U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela and to conceal their efforts by not registering under FARA and by creating the false appearance that they were providing consulting services to a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.  Among other things, the indictment alleges that the defendants sought to garner political support in the United States for a normalization of relations between the United States and Venezuela, to include resolving a legal dispute between a U.S. oil company and Venezuela and preventing the United States from imposing additional economic sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other members of his government.  For these efforts, the indictment alleges that the defendants received over $20 million.
   
• In 2022, in the Southern District of New York, Elena Branson was charged with willfully failing to register under FARA, acting and conspiring to act in the United States illegally as an agent of the Russian government, and making false statements to the FBI.  The criminal complaint alleges that, at the direction of Russian officials, Branson—a dual Russian and U.S. citizen—operated a website that made postings in support of Russian political positions and set up meetings between Russian government officials and U.S politicians, among other activities.  The complaint further alleges that after obtaining approval from the highest levels of the Russian Government, Branson started a U.S.-based organization called the Russian Center New York, which sought to spread Russian influence in the United States.  Branson allegedly wrote to a Russian Embassy email account inquiring about the legal obligations concerning registration as a foreign agent, but ultimately never registered under FARA.
   
• In 2022, in the District of Columbia, the Justice Department sued Stephen A. Wynn to compel him to register under FARA.  The Justice Department had previously advised Wynn to register but he declined to do so.  The complaint alleges that Wynn relayed to then-President Trump the People’s Republic of China’s wish to remove a Chinese national from the United States, and also reached out to Trump Administration officials regarding the same Chinese national.  According to the complaint, Wynn later followed up with then-President Trump about status of the Chinese national.  The Justice Department sent Wynn a letter advising him of his obligations under FARA, but he failed to register.  In October 2022, a federal district judge dismissed the complaint, but the case is now pending on appeal.
   
• In 2021, in the Eastern District of New York, Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi was charged with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of FARA.  Since at least 2007, Afrasiabi was secretly employed by the Iranian Government and paid by Iranian diplomats.  In the course of this employment, Afrasiabi lobbied a U.S. congressman and the U.S. Department of State to advocate for policies favorable to Iran, counseled Iranian diplomats concerning U.S. foreign policy, made television appearances to advocate for the Iranian Government’s views on world events, and authored articles and opinion pieces espousing the Iranian Government’s position on various matters of foreign policy. Afrasiabi faced a maximum of 10 years in prison but was pardoned by President Biden as a part of a prisoner swap with Iran.
   
• In 2021, in the Central District of California, Imaad Shah Zuberi was sentenced to 12 years in prison—including the statutory maximum five years on the FARA charge—and ordered to pay $15.7 million in restitution and a total criminal fine of $1.75 million, which included a $1 million fine for the FARA count. Zuberi had pleaded guilty in 2019 to violating FARA, tax evasion, and making almost $1 million in illegal campaign contributions, including money from foreign entities used to influence U.S. elections. Zuberi subsequently pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in 2020 in the Southern District of New York. Between 2013 and 2017, Zuberi solicited foreign nationals and representatives of foreign governments with claims he could use his contacts to change U.S. foreign policy to benefit his clients. As part of his efforts to influence public policy, Zuberi hired lobbyists, retained public relations professionals, and made campaign contributions that gave him access to high-level U.S. officials, whom Zuberi then lobbied to act in support of his clients. In relation to the FARA charge, Zuberi admitted to submitting false registration statements that concealed his role in a lobbying effort on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, his political contributions, and millions of dollars he received.
   
• In 2020, in the District of Columbia, Elliott Broidy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate FARA. In exchange for millions of dollars, Broidy and his co-conspirators agreed to secretly do the bidding of foreign principals by lobbying senior U.S. Government officials on pending matters at the Department of Justice. Broidy admitted to his role in a covert campaign to influence the U.S. Government on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests. Broidy sought to lobby the highest levels of the U.S. Government to deport a dissident of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) living in the United States, and to drop proceedings related to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), one of the largest fraud and money laundering prosecutions ever brought – all while concealing the foreign principals he represented. Among other actions, Broidy tried to arrange meetings for a PRC Minister with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and other high-level officials during the PRC Minister’s visit to the United States; provided talking points to the Secretary of State referencing the 1MDB investigation in advance of a meeting with the Malaysian Prime Minister; and pushed the White House Chief of Staff for a golf game between the U.S. President and the Malaysian Prime Minister to discuss resolution of the 1MDB matter. Despite Broidy’s and his co-conspirator’s efforts, the lobbying campaign was unsuccessful as to the individuals mentioned above. Of the $9 million Broidy was paid for his role in the conspiracy, he paid roughly $2.4 million to co-conspirator Nickie Lum Davis, who pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting violation of FARA in 2020, in the District of Hawaii. As part of their plea agreements, both Broidy and Davis agreed to forfeit proceeds realized by their offensive conduct.
   
• In 2019, the U.S. law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP entered into a settlement agreement resolving its liability for violations of FARA.  According to the agreement, Skadden acted as an agent of the Government of Ukraine by contributing to a public relations campaign directed at select members of the U.S. news media in 2012.  In response to inquiries from the FARA Unit about its role in that campaign, a partner then at Skadden made false and misleading statements to the FARA Unit, which led the FARA Unit to conclude in 2013 that the firm was not obligated to register. The facts, when uncovered, showed that Skadden was required to register in 2012. The firm registered, admitted it made false and misleading statements in response to inquiries from the FARA Unit, disgorged over $4.6 million in fees, and agreed to ensure it has formal, robust procedures for responding to inquiries concerning its conduct from any federal government entity and ensuring FARA compliance as to its engagements on behalf of foreign clients.
   
• In 2018, Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova, a Russian national, was charged by criminal complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia for her alleged role in a Russian conspiracy to interfere in the U.S. political system, including the 2018 midterm election. The complaint alleges that Khusyaynova conspired to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the U.S. Department of Justice to administer and enforce FARA, among other offenses.
   
• In 2018, after being convicted at trial in the Eastern District of Virginia on bank fraud and tax charges, Paul J. Manafort, Jr., pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to two counts: (i) conspiracy to commit multiple offenses, including violating FARA by failing to register and by providing false statements in a document filed with FARA, and laundering money; and (ii) conspiracy to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses. Manafort failed to register under FARA as an agent of the Government of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Party of Regions, and former Ukrainian President Yanukovych. Manafort was sentenced to 73 months’ imprisonment, including the statutory maximum 60 months for the conspiracy to violate FARA (Manafort is due to serve an additional 17 months stemming from his conviction in the Eastern District of Virginia).
   
• In 2018, W. Samuel Patten pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to violating FARA by engaging in lobbying and political consulting in the United States on behalf of the Opposition Bloc, a Ukrainian political party, without registering under FARA. Patten contacted members of Congress, the executive branch, and the news media; drafted talking points for a Ukraine oligarch for meetings with members of Congress and congressional staff; and helped the oligarch draft articles targeted at the U.S. press. Patten cooperated with and provided substantial assistance to the government, and was sentenced to 36 months of probation.
   
• In 2018, Nisar Ahmed Chaudhry pleaded guilty in the District of Maryland for failing to register under FARA as an agent for the Government of Pakistan, including its military, intelligence and diplomatic officials.
   
• In 2018, Richard Gates pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to two counts: (i) conspiracy to commit multiple offenses, including violating FARA by failing to register and by providing false statements in a document filed with FARA; and (ii) providing false statements to the FBI. Gates participated in a scheme with Paul Manafort to lobby on behalf of the Government of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Party of Regions, and former Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych, without registering as an agent under FARA. Gates has been cooperating with the government and is awaiting sentencing.
   
• In 2018, a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an eight-count indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies (the Internet Research Agency LLC, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, and Concord Catering) for committing crimes while seeking to interfere in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election. Count One charges the defendants with, among other things, conspiracy to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing and defeating the lawful functions of the U.S. Department of Justice to administer and enforce FARA. The indictment alleges that the “Defendants and their co-conspirators, while concealing their Russian identities and [Internet Research Agency] affiliation through false personas, began to produce, purchase, and post advertisements on U.S. social media and other online sites expressly advocating for the election of then-candidate Trump or expressly opposing Clinton.” The indictment also alleges “Defendants and their co-conspirators organized and coordinated political rallies in the United States.”
   
• In 2017, Michael T. Flynn pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to making false statements to the FBI pertaining to his communications with the Russian Ambassador to the United States.  In the Statement of Offense filed with his plea agreement, Flynn admitted to making materially false statements in multiple documents filed pursuant to FARA in conjunction with work performed by him and his company for the principal benefit of the Republic of Turkey. 
   
• In 2014, Prince Asiel Ben Israel pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Illinois to failing to register under FARA as an agent for a foreign government. Ben Israel lobbied as agent of Zimbabwe for lifting sanctions on Robert Mugabe and other top Zimbabwean government officials.  Ben Israel was sentenced to seven months in prison.
   
• In 2011, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, director of the NGO Kashmiri American Council, was charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with conspiring to act as an agent of the Government of Pakistan without registering under FARA.  The FARA charge was later dropped as part of Fai’s agreement to plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S Government and tax offenses.
   
• In 2010, former U.S. Representative Mark Deli Siljander pleaded guilty in the Western District of Missouri to obstruction of justice and acting as an agent of a foreign principal without registering under FARA, relating to his work for the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), an Islamic charity with ties to international terrorism.  His co-defendant Abdel Azim El-Siddig pleaded guilty to conspiring with Siljander and others to violate FARA by hiring Siljander to lobby for IARA’s removal from a Senate Finance Committee list of charities suspected of having terrorist ties, while concealing this advocacy and not registering.  Siljander was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison without parole; El-Siddig received two years’ probation.
   
• In 2007, Tongsun Park was convicted at trial in the Southern District of New York for conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended, 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq. (“FARA”), 18 U.S.C. § 951 (acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notice to the Attorney General), and money laundering in connection with a scheme to lobby for easing United States and United Nations sanctions on Iraq and to corruptly influence the award and conditions of Oil for Food contracts.  Park was sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment.

18 U.S.C. § 951 Cases

• In 2023, in the Middle District of Florida, the government filed a superseding indictment charging a Russian national, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov; two intelligence officers with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov; and four U.S. citizens, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of Russia.  According to the indictment, from at least November 2014 to July 2022, Ionov engaged in a foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States in conjunction with the FSB.  As a part of the campaign, Ionov allegedly recruited members of separatist political groups within the United States, including the four indicted U.S. citizen defendants, to act as agents of Russia in the United States.  Among other conduct, the superseding indictment alleges that the Russian defendants recruited, funded, and directed these political groups to sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda.  In partnership with Ionov, the indicted intelligence officers—Sukhodolov and Popov—conspired to directly and substantially influence democratic elections in the United States by clandestinely funding and directing the political campaigns of a particular candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019.
   
• In 2023, in the District of Columbia, Natalia Burlinova was charged with acting as an illegal agent of Russia.  The criminal complaint alleges that Burlinova conspired with an FSB officer to recruit U.S. citizens to travel to Russia to participate in a public diplomacy program called Meeting Russia.  As part of these efforts, Burlinova met with individuals at U.S. universities and research institutions and allegedly shared résumés, passport information, photographs, and analyses of the individuals she had recruited to the FSB.  Burlinova never notified the Attorney General or disclosed to the public that her recruitment efforts were supported and funded by the FSB.
   
• In 2022, in the Southern District of New York, the government charged Pierre Girgis with acting and conspiring to act as a foreign agent of the Egyptian Government.  Girgis allegedly tracked and obtained information regarding political opponents of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, leveraged his connections with local U.S. law enforcement officers to collect non-public information at the direction of Egyptian officials, arranged benefits for Egyptian officials who were visiting Manhattan, and coordinated meetings between U.S. and Egyptian law enforcement in the United States, including by arranging for Egyptian officials to attend police trainings.  Girgis is charged with conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the Attorney General, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison.
   
• In 2022, in the Southern District of New York, Aleksandr Babkov was charged with conspiring to act in the United States as an illegal agent of Russia, conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions, and conspiring to commit visa fraud.  Babakov is a Russian legislator who, along with two of his staffers, allegedly used a nonprofit organization based in Russia to attempt to weaken U.S. partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions, and promote Russia’s illicit actions designed to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine.  Babakov allegedly schemed to affect U.S. policy towards Russia through staged events, paid propaganda, and the recruitment of at least one American citizen.  These activities allegedly commenced in 2012 when Babakov began contacting members of Congress to seek meetings and arrange free travel.
   
• In 2021, in the Eastern District of New York, the government charged businessman Thomas Barrack and others with engaging in a scheme to act as illegal agents of the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) in violation of § 951.  As alleged in the indictment, the defendants used Barrack’s status as a senior outside advisor to a presidential campaign, and, subsequently, to senior U.S. government officials, to advance the foreign policy interests of and provide nonpublic information to the UAE.  Among other things, Barrack inserted language praising the UAE into a campaign speech to be delivered by the candidate, emailed an advance draft of the speech to a coconspirator for delivery to senior UAE officials, and sought and received direction—including talking points—from senior UAE officials in connection with national press appearances Barrack used to promote the interests of the UAE.  Barrack was acquitted at trial in November 2022.
   
• In 2019, a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Bijan Rafiekian of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, conspiring to make false statements and willful omissions in a FARA filing, and acting as an agent of a foreign government.  Rafiekian, with others, attempted to covertly influence U.S. politicians and public opinion against a Turkish national, Fethullah Gulen, who is living in the U.S.  The goal was to delegitimize Gulen to facilitate his extradition to Turkey.  After the jury convicted Rafiekian, the District Judge set aside the conviction citing insufficient evidence.  In 2021, the Fourth Circuit reinstated the conviction, finding the evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to convict Rafiekian.  On remand, the district court provided additional justifications and ordered a new trial.  The Fourth Circuit affirmed this order in 2023.  On the Department’s request, the court then dismissed the case against Rafiekian with prejudice.