Ex-congressman’s arrest ended UAE push to get him named U.S. envoy, prosecutors say

UAE flag flies over a ship at Dubai Marina, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Might 22, 2015. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah/File Photograph/File Photograph

NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) – An effort by the United Arab Emirates to persuade the USA with the assistance of a rich actual property investor to call former congressman Stephen Stockman as U.S. ambassador to that nation throughout Donald Trump’s presidency unraveled with the lawmaker’s 2017 arrest on fraud prices, prosecutors stated.

U.S. prosecutors made the assertion in a submitting late on Thursday in Brooklyn federal courtroom forward of subsequent month’s scheduled felony trial of Tom Barrack, a billionaire actual property investor and fundraiser for Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign. Barrack, charged with performing as a UAE agent with out notifying the U.S. legal professional common as required, has pleaded not responsible. learn extra

The submitting, partially redacted, acknowledged that the UAE in early 2017 requested Barrack, who had chaired Trump’s inaugural committee and has described the previous president as an in depth pal, to advocate for Stockman’s appointment as American ambassador to the Center Jap nation. An amended model of the submitting made on Friday redacted Stockman’s identify.

Stockman, a Republican who represented Texas within the U.S. Home of Representatives within the Nineties and from 2013 to 2015, was arrested in March 2017, convicted the next yr of utilizing charitable donations for marketing campaign and private spending and sentenced to 10 years in jail. Trump, who took workplace in January 2017, commuted Stockman’s sentence within the last weeks of his presidency in December 2020.

Prosecutors indicated in Thursday’s submitting that they wish to introduce proof at Barrack’s trial about Stockman’s arrest to elucidate why Barrack was “not capable of fulfill this request, regardless of agreeing to take action.”

The UAE’s embassy in Washington, Barrack’s attorneys, Stockman and his attorneys all didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Stockman was arrested on the fraud prices at a Houston airport the place he was making ready to board a aircraft to the UAE, the Houston Chronicle newspaper reported on the time.

In a January movement to dismiss the costs in opposition to Barrack, one of many protection attorneys stated that prosecutors at the moment had not adequately made the declare that Barrack formally had advocated for Stockman’s appointment as ambassador. learn extra

Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Enhancing by Will Dunham

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