Recent Cases

FARA Cases

• In September 2024, in the Southern District of New York, Russian nationals Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva were indicted for violating FARA and conspiring to commit money laundering.  The indictment alleges that Kalashnikov, Afanasyeva, and their employer, RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet formerly known as Russia Today, spent nearly $10 million to finance an online content-creation company in the United States.  The indictment further alleges that Kalashnikov and Afanasyeva operated under covert identities and that RT made wire transfers from shell companies in multiple countries to finance the effort.  The content-creation company allegedly published over 2,000 videos across multiple social media channels, garnering over 16 million views on YouTube alone.  These videos contained commentary reflecting the publicly stated goals of the Government of Russia and RT.
   
• In September 2024, in the Eastern District of New York, former New York State official Linda Sun was indicted for violating and conspiring to violate FARA, among other charges. In exchange for millions of dollars, Sun allegedly acted on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while serving as Deputy Chief of Staff in the New York State Executive Chamber. The indictment alleges that Sun engaged in numerous political activities at the request of PRC officials and CCP representatives in her official position. Sun allegedly did not register as a foreign agent with the Attorney General and took steps to conceal her relationship with the PRC and CCP. Sun’s husband, co-defendant Chris Hu, was also charged with money laundering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and misuse of means of identification. According to the indictment, Sun and Hu laundered the millions of dollars they received from the PRC and CCP to purchase real estate, automobiles, and other luxury items.
   
• In July 2024, in the Southern District of New York, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez and businessmen Wael Hana and Fred Daibes were convicted on all charges for their participation in a years-long bribery and foreign influence scheme.  The indictment alleged that Menendez and his wife, defendant Nadine Menendez, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes from the businessmen in exchange for Menendez’s agreement to use his official position to protect and enrich them and to benefit the Government of Egypt.  Among other things, the indictment alleged that Menendez agreed and sought to pressure a senior official at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in an effort to protect a business monopoly granted to one businessman by Egypt, disrupt a criminal case undertaken by the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office related to associates of another businessman, and disrupt a federal criminal prosecution brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey against the third businessman.  The indictment further charged that Menendez, his wife, and Hana conspired to have Menendez act as an agent of a foreign principal—the government of Egypt and Egyptian officials—required to register under FARA, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 219.
   
• In July 2024, in the Southern District of New York, Sue Mi Terry was charged with substantive and conspiracy violations of FARA for allegedly acting as an unregistered agent of the Republic of Korea (“ROK”).  From approximately 2001 to 2011, Terry served in multiple U.S. government positions focused on ROK affairs.  After leaving the government around 2011, Terry continued to work on ROK affairs at academic institutions and think tanks.  The indictment alleges that Terry performed numerous actions as an agent for the ROK intelligence service, including publicly advocating for policies favorable to the ROK, providing the ROK with access to U.S. government officials, and disclosing non-public U.S. government information to the ROK.  The indictment further alleges that Terry hosted a happy hour for Congressional staff at the request of her ROK intelligence handlers.  In exchange for these actions, ROK intelligence officers allegedly provided Terry with luxury goods, dinners, and over $37,000 in funding for a Korean affairs think tank program controlled by Terry.
   
• In May 2024, in the Southern District of Texas, U.S. Congressman Enrique Roberto “Henry” Cuellar, and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, were indicted for bribery and violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal required to register under FARA, among other charges.  The indictment alleges that Cuellar and his wife received approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: an oil and gas company owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan that allegedly paid Cueller to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan, and a bank located in Mexico City that allegedly bribed Cueller to influence U.S. government activity in favor of the bank.  The indictment further alleges that the bribe payments were laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen to shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar.
   
• In January 2024, lobbyist Barry Bennett and political consultant Douglas Watts entered into Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPAs”) to resolve the government’s investigation into FARA violations at Bennett’s lobbying firm, Avenue Strategies.  In 2017, a foreign government hired Avenue Strategies to perform lobbying services, and Avenue Strategies registered under FARA. However, as part of his lobbying strategy for his foreign government client, Bennett directed Watts to establish a separate company, which Bennett operated covertly.  As directed by Bennett, managed by Watts, and separately financed by the foreign government, this unregistered company ran a lobbying and public relations campaign designed to disparage the foreign government’s regional rival and thereby improve its standing with the U.S. government and public relative to this rival.  Through the DPAs, Bennett and Watts agreed to amend Avenue Strategies’ FARA filings and pay fines of $100,000 and $25,000, respectively.
   
• In October 2023, a judge in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania issued a default judgment against a FARA registrant, Federación de Alcades Pedaneo (“FDAP”), for multiple violations of the Act.  The Department of Justice repeatedly notified FDAP that its registration was deficient because it had failed to file required supplemental statements, pay associated filing fees, file its bylaws or charter, and file a statement disclosing the organization and control of each foreign principal.  When the defendant failed to remedy these deficiencies, the Department filed a civil lawsuit seeking to compel FDAP to perform these statutory obligations and an injunction prohibiting it from acting on behalf of its foreign principals until it had done so.  The court subsequently issued a default judgment granting the government’s requested relief.
   
• In July 2023, in the Southern District of New York, Gal Luft was indicted for willfully failing to register under FARA.  While serving as the-director of a Maryland-based nonprofit think tank, Luft allegedly conspired with others in an effort to act within the United States to advance the interests of the People’s Republic of China.  As part of this scheme, Luft agreed to covertly recruit and pay, on behalf of principals based in China, a former high-ranking U.S. government official who was an adviser to the then-President-elect, to publicly support certain policies with respect to China.  Luft, working with an individual in China, created a dialogue between the former official and the Chinese individual, which was published in an online Chinese newspaper and distributed to a journalist, professor, and other individuals in the United States.  Luft faces eight counts and could face up to five years in prison for violating FARA and up to twenty years for several of the other charges. 
   
• In April 2023, a federal jury in the District of Columbia convicted U.S. rapper and businessman Prakazrel “Pras” Michel of serving as an unregistered agent of a foreign power, conspiracy, concealment of material facts, making false entries in records, and witness tampering.  At the direction of Malaysian fugitive Jho Low and components of the Government of the People’s Republic of China, Michel conspired with Elliot Broidy—who pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate FARA in 2020—and others to lobby the Justice Department to drop an embezzlement investigation and forfeiture proceedings involving Low.  Michel faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the most substantial counts.
   
• In November 2022, in the Southern District of Florida, former Miami congressman David Rivera and an associate, Esther Nuhfer, were indicted for willfully failing to register under FARA, conspiracy, and money laundering.  According to the indictment, the defendants sought to influence U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela and to conceal their efforts by not registering under FARA and by creating the false appearance that they were providing consulting services to a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.  Among other things, the indictment alleges that the defendants sought to garner political support in the United States for a normalization of relations between the United States and Venezuela, to include resolving a legal dispute between a U.S. oil company and Venezuela and preventing the United States from imposing additional economic sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other members of his government.  For these efforts, the indictment alleges that the defendants received over $20 million.
   
• In March 2022, in the Southern District of New York, Elena Branson was charged with willfully failing to register under FARA, acting and conspiring to act in the United States illegally as an agent of the Russian government, and making false statements to the FBI.  The criminal complaint alleges that, at the direction of Russian officials, Branson—a dual Russian and U.S. citizen—operated a website that made postings in support of Russian political positions and set up meetings between Russian government officials and U.S politicians, among other activities.  The complaint further alleges that after obtaining approval from the highest levels of the Russian Government, Branson started a U.S.-based organization called the Russian Center New York, which sought to spread Russian influence in the United States.  Branson allegedly wrote to a Russian Embassy email account inquiring about the legal obligations concerning registration as a foreign agent, but ultimately never registered under FARA.
   
• In May 2022, in the District of Columbia, the Justice Department sued Stephen A. Wynn to compel him to register under FARA.  The Justice Department had previously advised Wynn to register but he declined to do so.  The complaint alleges that Wynn relayed to then-President Trump the People’s Republic of China’s wish to remove a Chinese national from the United States, and also reached out to Trump Administration officials regarding the same Chinese national.  According to the complaint, Wynn later followed up with then-President Trump about status of the Chinese national.  The Justice Department sent Wynn a letter advising him of his obligations under FARA, but he failed to register.  In October 2022, a federal district judge dismissed the complaint, but the case is now pending on appeal.
   
• In January 2021, in the Eastern District of New York, Kaveh Lotfolah Afrasiabi was charged with acting and conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in violation of FARA.  Since at least 2007, Afrasiabi was secretly employed by the Iranian Government and paid by Iranian diplomats.  In the course of this employment, Afrasiabi lobbied a U.S. congressman and the U.S. Department of State to advocate for policies favorable to Iran, counseled Iranian diplomats concerning U.S. foreign policy, made television appearances to advocate for the Iranian Government’s views on world events, and authored articles and opinion pieces espousing the Iranian Government’s position on various matters of foreign policy. Afrasiabi faced a maximum of 10 years in prison but was pardoned by President Biden as a part of a prisoner swap with Iran.

18 U.S.C. § 951 Cases

• In September 2024, a jury in the Middle District of Florida convicted four U.S. citizens, Omali Yeshitela, Penny Joanne Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus C. Romain Jr., with conspiring to act in the United States as illegal agents of Russia.  The superseding indictment also charged a Russian national, Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, and two intelligence officers with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksey Borisovich Sukhodolov and Yegor Sergeyevich Popov, all of whom remain fugitives in Russia.  According to the indictment, from at least November 2014 to July 2022, Ionov engaged in a foreign malign influence campaign targeting the United States in conjunction with the FSB.  As a part of the campaign, Ionov allegedly recruited members of separatist political groups within the United States, including the four U.S. citizen defendants, to act as agents of Russia in the United States.  Among other conduct, the superseding indictment alleged that the Russian defendants recruited, funded, and directed these political groups to sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda.  In partnership with Ionov, the indicted intelligence officers—Sukhodolov and Popov—conspired to directly and substantially influence democratic elections in the United States by clandestinely funding and directing the political campaigns of a particular candidate for local office in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 2019.
   
• In July 2024, in the Southern District of New York, John Chen and Lin Feng, citizens of the People’s Republic of China, pleaded guilty various crimes in connection with a plot to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.  Chen pleaded guilty to acting as an agent of the PRC and bribery, and Feng pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering.  As alleged in the indictment, Chen and Feng furthered a PRC government-directed scheme to manipulate the IRS Whistleblower Program to strip the tax-exempt status of an entity run by Falun Gong practitioners.  To carry out the scheme, Chen filed a false whistleblower complaint and attempted to bribe an IRS agent, who was, in fact, an undercover officer, to advance the false complaint.  Chen and Feng admitted to paying the undercover officer bribes on multiple occasions and to receiving direction from the PRC government on the scheme.
   
• In May 2023, in the District of Massachusetts, Litang Liang was indicted for acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) without providing notification U.S. Attorney General.  The indictment alleges that from in or around 2018 through at least 2022, Liang acted within the United States as an agent of the PRC government by allegedly providing PRC government officials with information on Boston-area individuals and organizations, organizing a counter-protest against pro-democracy dissidents, providing photographs of and information about dissidents to PRC government officials, and providing the names of potential recruits to the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security.
   
• In April 2023, in the District of Columbia, Natalia Burlinova was charged with acting as an illegal agent of Russia.  The criminal complaint alleges that Burlinova conspired with an FSB officer to recruit U.S. citizens to travel to Russia to participate in a public diplomacy program called Meeting Russia.  As part of these efforts, Burlinova met with individuals at U.S. universities and research institutions and allegedly shared résumés, passport information, photographs, and analyses of the individuals she had recruited to the FSB.  Burlinova never notified the Attorney General or disclosed to the public that her recruitment efforts were supported and funded by the FSB.
   
• In January 2022, in the Southern District of New York, the government charged Pierre Girgis with acting and conspiring to act as a foreign agent of the Egyptian Government.  Girgis allegedly tracked and obtained information regarding political opponents of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, leveraged his connections with local U.S. law enforcement officers to collect non-public information at the direction of Egyptian officials, arranged benefits for Egyptian officials who were visiting Manhattan, and coordinated meetings between U.S. and Egyptian law enforcement in the United States, including by arranging for Egyptian officials to attend police trainings.    In August 2024, Girgis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of FARA and the court dismissed the Section 951 charge on the government’s motion.
   
• In April 2022, in the Southern District of New York, Aleksandr Babakov was charged with conspiring to act in the United States as an illegal agent of Russia, conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions, and conspiring to commit visa fraud.  Babakov is a Russian legislator who, along with two of his staffers, allegedly used a nonprofit organization based in Russia to attempt to weaken U.S. partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions, and promote Russia’s illicit actions designed to destroy the sovereignty of Ukraine.  Babakov allegedly schemed to affect U.S. policy towards Russia through staged events, paid propaganda, and the recruitment of at least one American citizen.  These activities allegedly commenced in 2012 when Babakov began contacting members of Congress to seek meetings and arrange free travel.
   
• In July 2021, in the Eastern District of New York, the government charged businessman Thomas Barrack and others with engaging in a scheme to act as illegal agents of the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) in violation of § 951.  As alleged in the indictment, the defendants used Barrack’s status as a senior outside advisor to a presidential campaign, and, subsequently, to senior U.S. government officials, to advance the foreign policy interests of and provide nonpublic information to the UAE.  Among other things, Barrack inserted language praising the UAE into a campaign speech to be delivered by the candidate, emailed an advance draft of the speech to a coconspirator for delivery to senior UAE officials, and sought and received direction—including talking points—from senior UAE officials in connection with national press appearances Barrack used to promote the interests of the UAE.  Barrack was acquitted at trial in November 2022.
   
• In July 2019, a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Bijan Rafiekian of conspiring to act as an agent of a foreign government, conspiring to make false statements and willful omissions in a FARA filing, and acting as an agent of a foreign government.  Rafiekian, with others, attempted to covertly influence U.S. politicians and public opinion against a Turkish national, Fethullah Gulen, who is living in the U.S.  The goal was to delegitimize Gulen to facilitate his extradition to Turkey.  After the jury convicted Rafiekian, the District Judge set aside the conviction citing insufficient evidence.  In 2021, the Fourth Circuit reinstated the conviction, finding the evidence sufficient for a reasonable jury to convict Rafiekian.  On remand, the district court provided additional justifications and ordered a new trial.  The Fourth Circuit affirmed this order in 2023.  On the Department’s request, the court then dismissed the case against Rafiekian with prejudice.