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Elliott Brody, a California businessman who was once Donald J. Trump’s top fundraiser, announced Monday that he ran a hack-and-leak operation that exposed a secret lobbying effort to shape the Trump presidency. Two lawsuits against people accused of collaborating with the government were dropped. administration’s foreign policy.
Brody pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws for the benefit of China and Malaysia. Trump pardoned him in January 2021, hours before he left office.
The hacking and dissemination of Mr. Brody’s records in 2018, and the ensuing lawsuit, were the latest in a bitter feud between Qatar and two regional rivals, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, from which Mr. Brody had sought favorable defense deals. It happened during the . From the beginning of the Trump administration, Mr. Brody has pushed Mr. Trump and his allies to take a tougher stance on Qatar.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Brody claimed that the Qatari government orchestrated the hack to defuse criticism of the country for funding groups linked to terrorism.
The New York Times published an article about Mr. Brody’s activities based on material provided by an anonymous group that criticized Mr. Brody for defending American foreign policy in the Middle East. The person responsible for the hacking operation remains unknown.
One of the lawsuits was against Kevin Chalker, a former CIA official who owns a New York-based technology security company. Mr. Broidy had alleged that Mr. Chalker and his company, Global Risk Advisors, orchestrated the email hack on behalf of the Qataris.
When Brody filed his lawsuit in 2019, the company had a contract with the Qatari government, which Choker’s lawyers said focused on providing security for the 2022 World Cup. However, Mr. Chalker has long denied that he played any role in the email hack. . He said in a statement Tuesday that the lawsuit’s dismissal “brings an end to nearly six years of fighting to clear my name.”
“As I have maintained from the beginning and for six years now, the accusations made about me were without merit,” he said.
Another lawsuit, also filed in 2019, was against three lobbyists working for Qatar. Joey Alaham, former New York restaurant entrepreneur turned international fixer. Gregory Howard is a former Democratic Congressional aide who went on to work at a public relations and lobbying firm.
The lawsuit alleges that the trio “intended to silence Mr. Brody, punish and suppress his political expression, distance him from U.S. diplomatic circles, and reduce his influence on U.S. foreign policy, all for the purpose of removing him from office as President.” He is accused of disseminating hacked material. This has hampered Qatar’s efforts to improve its public relations position in the United States and abroad. ”
Like Qatar, all three denied having any role in hacking or distributing the materials.
Mr. Broidy last year acknowledged knowing about the hack but recanted his allegations against Mr. Alaham, who claimed he was not involved. He began cooperating with Mr. Brody’s case.
Mujin did not respond to requests for comment.
Howard referred questions to his attorney, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Broidy’s lawyers did not provide a reason for dropping the case in Monday’s filing, writing that he, along with lawyers for Mr. Chalker and the lobbyists, had agreed to dismiss the case. Neither Brody nor his attorney responded to messages seeking comment.
Mr. Brody had also sued Qatar and a former U.N. diplomat in connection with the hack, but another federal judge ruled that the country and the diplomats were immune from compensation claims.
The hacked materials show Brody using his access to Trump and his administration to curry favor with foreign clients and prospective clients, including Angola, the Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Romania, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The method was shown.
He has steered White House policy toward friendly relations with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, and taken a more hawkish stance toward regional archrival Qatar.
Mr. Brody’s defense company, Circus, won a $200 million contract from Emirates Airlines and sought even bigger payouts from Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, lawyers representing Mr. Brody sent a letter to the Qatari ambassador in Washington stating that his legal team found “irrefutable forensic evidence linking Qatar to this unlawful attack and spying on prominent American persons on Qatari territory.” I have proof.” America. “
If Qatar is not responsible, he wrote, “we expect the government to hold accountable the Qatari wrongdoers who caused Mr. Brody so much harm.”
Seamus Hughes Contributed to the report.
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