The United States Department of Justice accuses two Republican operatives of hiding foreign lobbying attempts with a wealthy Persian Gulf nation.
The two defendants are allegedly preparing to admit trying to evade foreign lobbying laws in 2017 and 2018. The development would end a long-running probe into whether or not the two individuals surreptitiously ran a DC-based advocacy group on behalf of Qatar.
Foreign Lobbying Case
One of the individuals that the Justice Department charged is Barry Bennett, who served as an unpaid adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of former President Donald Trump. An associate of Bennett, Douglas Watts, was also charged in separate court papers.
The two had previously worked for the campaign of Ben Carson, a former GOP presidential candidate. Court documents charge that Bennett's firm, Avenue Strategies, submitted false information to authorities enforcing the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
This law requires people lobbying on behalf of foreign entities to declare that work to the United States government. As per the Washington Post, Bennett and Watts have already agreed to enter deferred prosecution agreements.
The two defendants agree to a statement of facts about their conduct and pay fines about them and after a year, the charges will be removed from their record. On Tuesday, charging documents noted that Watts violated the FARA law by not registering with the Justice Department.
He also allegedly made false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about his work. Watts is accused of denying knowledge that Avenue Strategies created a separate company to act on behalf of Bennett's foreign clients.
The two men were charged in federal court in Washington via a document that is called criminal information. It is typically used in that jurisdiction when a person plans to admit to the charges against them.
While the country involved in the case was not named in the charging documents, the descriptions match that of Qatar. In 2017, Bennett's company received payment from Gulf nations worth $2.1 million for lobbying work, according to the Associated Press.
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Deferred Prosecution Agreement
The Justice Department also issued a subpoena identifying Qatar in 2020 that sought records related to Bennett's foreign lobbying actions. In the latest case, the prosecutors said it would be dismissed after the defendant complied with the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.
The development comes as another American official, Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, is in a similar position as he is accused of acting as a foreign agent for Qatar. There was no clear connection between that case and the one against Bennett and Watts.
However, the simultaneous unveiling of the charges against the officials hints at the extent to which the oil-rich nation may have harnessed political allies in both parties to advocate for its interests in Washington.
Under the deal, Bennett must pay a $100,000 fine while Watts must dish out $25,000. The two defendants have agreed to abstain for a year from engaging in any lobbying or public relations work covered by the FARA law, said Politico.
