Trump Adviser Barrack’s Motive in Foreign-Agent Case Was UAE Investments, US Says

Zijia Song and David Voreacos
·4 min read
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(Bloomberg) -- Colony Capital LLC founder Tom Barrack had no motive to act as an unregistered foreign agent to help the United Arab Emirates influence his friend Donald Trump, a defense lawyer argued to federal jurors at the end of a six-week criminal trial.

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Barrack attorney Randall Jackson assailed the argument by prosecutors that Barrack, 75, acted under the “direction and control” of the UAE because its sovereign wealth funds invested $374 million in his firm. Jackson said that claim was flawed because Barrack had limited roles in a $74 million deal in 2017 and a $300 million deal in 2018.

“Any reasonable person looking at this case has to be saying what could possibly be the motive for an extraordinarily successful businessman at the end of his career, after a lifetime of doing good work to decide for my final chapter I’m going to engage in serious international crimes,” Jackson told jurors in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. He added, “Tom had limited involvement in these deals. These deals were a tiny, tiny part of the Colony balance sheet.”

Jackson said Barrack, a longtime friend of Trump, is unfairly paying the price for his role as an informal adviser to the former president before and after the 2016 election.

“The reason that Mr. Barrack was involved with the campaign is because he’s loyal to his friends, maybe to a fault,” Jackson said. “But that’s not what he’s charged with.”

Barrack and his assistant, Matthew Grimes, 29, are accused of helping the oil-rich UAE promote its agenda with Trump’s campaign and early presidential administration without registering with the attorney general. Barrack also is charged with obstruction of justice and lying repeatedly to the FBI during a June 2019 interview. A UAE businessman, Rashid Al Malik, also was indicted and is considered a fugitive.

Leveraging Access

“The defendants believed that if they leveraged any access to the Trump campaign, the media and the Trump administration for the UAE,” they “might enter into a long-term financial relationship with sovereign wealth funds,” prosecutor Ryan Harris said in his summation.

Harris cited a text message that Barrack sent after a friend teased him about his work for Trump. “I am running for the money,” Barrack said.

“If you’re running for the money, the UAE is where you run,” Harris said.

In his summation, Jackson countered that prosecutors had “no real proof whatsoever” his client operated subject to the direction and control of a foreign power.

“Instead of direction and control, what they have given you through this entire case is misdirection and control,” Jackson said. “Misdirection means an attempt to distract someone from the truth. This whole prosecution has been an act of misdirection.”

Help Explain Trump

Rather, Jackson said, Barrack was nearing the end of his business career and was trying to explain Trump to Middle East leaders.

“He is just trying to execute on his business duties and at the same time letting the Arab world know that America still loves them,” Jackson said.

Jackson mocked the government’s theory that Barrack furthered his secret agreement during a bicycle ride in the Moroccan desert with Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed, the UAE’s national security adviser and an influential business figure.

“It’s logic-less, it makes no sense, and there’s no evidence to support the theories they came up with,” Jackson said.

Barrack testified in his own defense during the trial, claiming Trump’s presidency proved “disastrous” for him and his business.

‘Not a Joke’

In his summation, Grimes attorney Abbe Lowell said his client never should have been charged and didn’t come close to acting as a foreign agent.

“This is not a joke,” Lowell said. “These are serious, life changing felonies lodged against a person who was 22 years old at the time and just doing his job legally, as he always did.”

While Grimes was an analyst and also vice president at Colony, he performed menial duties for Barrack such as taking photos, fetching coffee and ordering gifts, Lowell said.

“He is the person who tracks down Tom for people calling or writing or cannot get through,” Lowell said. “He’s the person who people ask to get comments, to review or approve something. He’s the person to keep the office back home up to date with where the travels are taking them.”

The case is US v. Al Malik Alshahhi, 21-cr-00371, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

(Updates with defense arguments throughout)

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