Trump ally Barack acquitted as UAE foreign agent

NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Tom Barrack, a former private equity executive and fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, was found not guilty by a jury on Friday. guilty of illegally acting as an agent of the United Arab Emirates, against the U.S. Department of Justice.

Barack was also acquitted in 2019 for obstruction of justice and for making false statements to FBI agents in 2019 about his interactions with Emirati officials and their representatives.

Barrack’s former assistant and co-defendant Matthew Grimes was also found not guilty of acting as a foreign agent and conspiracy to be a foreign agent.

The verdict follows a six-week trial in Brooklyn federal court.

After the verdict was read, Barack hugged his lawyer.

“These guys deserve to win,” Barack told reporters of the jury. “I was moved by them and the system,” he added.

Grimes, who left the courtroom, said he was “fortunate to live in the United States” and to receive a fair and impartial judge and jury trial.

Last year, prosecutors accused Barack of using his influence in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and administration to advance the UAE’s policy interests without notifying the US attorney general as required by law that he was an agent of the Middle Eastern country.

He faces a total of nine criminal charges in a case brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.

Barack, 75, testified during the trial, describing his interactions with Middle Eastern officials as part of his operation of Colony Capital, now known as DigitalBridge Group Inc. (DBRG.N).

OPEC members repaid Barrack by investing $374 million in Colony through their sovereign wealth funds in 2017 and 2018, prosecutors said.

Barack raised money for Trump during the 2016 campaign and chaired Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee.

Several Trump associates and allies were found guilty in recent criminal trials, while others have pleaded guilty. Trump pardoned some of them before leaving office.

Trump campaign and White House strategist Steve Bannon convicted In July, held in contempt of Congress for a subpoena from a congressional committee investigating a 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters and was arrested Sentenced He was jailed for four months last month.

Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone was pardoned in 2019 and sentenced to more than three years in prison after he was convicted under oath to U.S. lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was convicted of financial wrongdoing in 2018 and sentenced to 7-1/2 years in prison, was also pardoned.

During his testimony, Barack told jurors that he never agreed to become an Emirati agent and never asked for a pardon from Trump.

The defense said that while Barak, who is of Lebanese descent, wanted better relations between the United States and the Middle Eastern country, he never agreed to act under the “command or control” of the UAE because of the role of foreign agents under US law. government.

“I never did anything wrong,” Barack testified.

During the trial, prosecutors showed jurors hundreds of text messages and emails between Barrack and Grimes, as well as a businessman named Rashid Al-Malik who prosecutors said was between the pair and Emirati officials. middleman.

Prosecutors said the information showed that Barak received views of the Middle East from Emirati officials and intermediaries in TV interviews and passed on sensitive details about U.S. foreign policy and personnel appointments.

Prosecutors told jurors that Emirati officials were satisfied with Barak’s televised comments about the UAE and its leaders, adding that U.S. law was designed to ensure the government knew when someone was acting as a “mouthpiece” for a foreign government.

Barack’s lawyers acknowledged that he sometimes sought feedback from Emirati officials, but that any impact on U.S. policy or public opinion was negligible. They also said that investments in the UAE represent less than 1% of Colony’s balance sheet.

Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Will Dunham, Noeleen Walder and Alistair Bell

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