www.FARA.us

On October 22, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Imaad Shah Zuberi, a Southern California venture capitalist, alleging violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) and other laws. Zuberi, who ran a venture capital firm called Avenue Ventures, has agreed to plead guilty to the charges.

The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) alleged that Zuberi used a portion of the funds he received through Avenue Ventures to attempt to persuade high-level U.S. public officials to take actions favorable to his clients. Specifically, DOJ alleged that ...

The Department of Education (DOE) appears to be stepping up scrutiny of American universities’ disclosures of foreign gifts and contracts. Several universities have received letters from the Department requesting information related to foreign gifts and contracts.

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires that institutions report to the federal government any gift or contract with a foreign source valued at $250,000 or more “considered alone or in combination with all other gifts from or contracts with that foreign source within a calendar year.” On September 26 ...

UPDATE: On March 18, 2021, Rafiekian’s FARA conviction was reinstated by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court opined that the circumstantial evidence and reasonable inferences were sufficient for the jury to rely on to convict Rafiekian.

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On September 24^th, Judge Trenga of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia set aside the conviction of former Michael Flynn associate Bijan Rafiekian. In July, a federal jury had convicted Rafiekian, who ran a consulting firm with Michael Flynn hired to advocate for the extradition of Turkish dissident cleric ...

A Department of Justice official confirmed yesterday that enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) is a “top priority” for the Department.  The remark was made by Brandon Van Grack, the Chief of the Department’s FARA Registration Unit, during a speech at the recent National Forum on FARA, a conference co-chaired by Caplin & Drysdale’s Matthew Sanderson.

Mr, Van Grack noted that “almost every single FARA statistic has risen exponentially since 2016,” including the number of FARA registrations filed and the number of FARA Advisory Opinions

Two federal cases charging violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) by Russian companies and individuals alleged to have acted as unregistered foreign agents to interfere in the 2016 and 2018 elections are still pending. The cases are part of a larger effort by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) to more aggressively enforce FARA.

Internet Research Agency

In February 2018, a grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an eight-count indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies, among them the Internet Research Agency, alleging that ...

On July 23, 2019, a federal jury convicted Bijan Rafiekian (also known as Bijan Kian), a former business partner of Michael Flynn, of conspiring to file a materially false statement under FARA and of violating a statute that is similar to FARA at 18 U.S.C. § 951. The conviction represents a key victory for the Department of Justice (DOJ) as it seeks to more aggressively enforce FARA. As Assistant Attorney General John Demers stated following the verdict, “Through misrepresentations in his FARA filing, Mr. Rafiekian attempted to deceive the public and influence key leaders on behalf ...

As part of a continuing push to address foreign influence in the United States, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) enacted on August 13, 2018, includes new disclosure requirements for foreign-affiliated media companies operating in the United States. A public notice issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on September 4, 2018, explained that the NDAA amends the Communications Act to add language requiring these outlets to submit to the FCC a report containing its name and relationship to its foreign principal.

The new law requires that U.S.-based ...

Prakazrel “Pras” Michel, a member of the 1990s musical group The Fugees, was indicted earlier this month for violating federal campaign finance and tax laws.  The charges stemmed from Pras allegedly making $865,000 worth of illegal “straw donations” through a network of 20 people to the 2012 Obama presidential campaign on behalf of disgraced Malaysian financier Jho Low.  Pras also allegedly gave more than $1 million of Mr. Low’s money to an independent expenditure committee in his name and in the name of his company.  The effort was, according to the indictment, intended to ...

On May 6, 2019, the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida ruled in favor of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in a proceeding that involved a Florida broadcasting company named RM Broadcasting, which contended it should not be required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”) as a result of its involvement in the U.S. distribution of the Russian radio channel Sputnik. The Sputnik radio channel is owned and produced by the Russian state-owned media corporation Rossiya Segodnya.

This case is the first civil enforcement case that DOJ has pursued since ...

A Florida-based broadcasting company filed suit last year against the Department of Justice (“DOJ”), claiming it should not be required to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (“FARA”). The company, RM Broadcasting, broadcasts the radio channel Sputnik, whose parent company, Rossiya Segodnya, is owned and operated by the Russian government. Sputnik registered as a foreign agent under FARA in 2017. RM Broadcasting has a deal with a D.C.-area radio station to broadcast Sputnik twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

In June 2018, DOJ advised RM ...