A judge has approved a $250 million bond for Thomas Barrack, a close adviser to former President Trump and chair of his inaugural committee, who has been charged with violating federal lobbying law after allegedly failing to disclose his work on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.
According to the terms of the bail agreement, Barrack is required to wear a GPS tracking bracelet, which will be put on Barrack by the end of Friday. Barrack also plans to forfeit his passport later on Friday, according to his lawyers. He is also required to refrain from transferring funds overseas and is banned from making domestic transactions over $50,000, with the exception of attorney’s fees. He’ll also have to stay within the Eastern District of New York, the Southern District of New York and the Central District of California.
Earlier this week, a seven-count indictment was unsealed in New York charging Barrack and two other men — Matthew Grimes and Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi — for alleged work between April 2016 and April 2018 acting as agents of the United Arab Emirates. The indictment claims Barrack tried to influence the foreign policy positions of then-candidate Donald Trump, as well as the incoming Trump administration.
He has been detained in a San Bernardino jail since his arrest Tuesday in Sylmar, California, his lawyers confirmed in court, today. Barrack’s co-defendant and colleague, Matthew Grimes, is also detained at the San Bernardino jail.
Barrack is expected to appear in court, in person, at noon on Monday in Brooklyn, in the Eastern District of New York, for arraignment charges.
According to the indictment, Barrack leveraged his relationships with Mr. Trump and top government officials to unlawfully worked to advance the interests of the UAE and failed to notify the attorney general he was lobbying on behalf of UAE officials, in violation of federal law.
