Thomas Barrack Set for Release on $250M Bond in Trump Lobbying Case
The close friend of former President Donald Trump was charged with illegally lobbying on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
By Nicholas Rizzi July 23, 2021 3:57 pm
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Update: Thomas Barrack was acquitted of all charges in November 2022.
Thomas Barrack, the private equity investor and close friend of former President Donald Trump, will be released on a $250 million bond after being charged with allegedly illegally lobbying the ex-president on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
A Los Angeles judge ordered on Friday that Barrack be freed on the bond — among the highest ever set — which will be secured by $5 million cash and require him to wear a GPS electronic monitor, follow a curfew and surrender his passport, CNBC reported.
Barrack, founder of private equity firm Colony Capital, was arrested on Tuesday and hit with a seven-count indictment in Brooklyn federal court, claiming that he and two other men conspired to work as agents for the UAE from April 2016 until April 2018, court records show.
Prosecutors accused Barrack, who was chairman of Trump’s 2017 inaugural fund, of illegally influencing the foreign policy positions of the Trump 2016 campaign and, later, the U.S. government on behalf of the UAE.
Barrack was also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements during an interview with federal law enforcement in June 2019, according to the indictment.
He was charged alongside Matthew Grimes of Aspen, Colo., and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi (also known as Rashid Al-Malik), a UAE national.
Nicholas Rizzi can be reached at nrizzi@commercialobserver.com.
