|
U.S. prosecutors made the statement in a filing late on Thursday
in Brooklyn federal court ahead of next month's scheduled
criminal trial of Tom Barrack, a billionaire real estate
investor and fundraiser for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Barrack, charged with acting as a UAE agent without notifying
the U.S. attorney general as required, has pleaded not guilty.
The filing, partially redacted, stated that the UAE in early
2017 asked Barrack, who had chaired Trump's inaugural committee
and has described the former president as a close friend, to
advocate for Stockman's appointment as American ambassador to
the Middle Eastern country. An amended version of the filing
made on Friday redacted Stockman's name.
Stockman, a Republican who represented Texas in the U.S. House
of Representatives in the 1990s and from 2013 to 2015, was
arrested in March 2017, convicted the following year of using
charitable donations for campaign and personal spending and
sentenced to 10 years in prison. Trump, who took office in
January 2017, commuted Stockman's sentence in the final weeks of
his presidency in December 2020.
Prosecutors indicated in Thursday's filing that they want to
introduce evidence at Barrack's trial about Stockman's arrest to
explain why Barrack was "not able to fulfill this request,
despite agreeing to do so."
The UAE's embassy in Washington, Barrack's lawyers, Stockman and
his lawyers all did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Stockman was arrested on the fraud charges at a Houston airport
where he was preparing to board a plane to the UAE, the Houston
Chronicle newspaper reported at the time.
In a January motion to dismiss the charges against Barrack, one
of the defense lawyers said that prosecutors at that time had
not adequately made the claim that Barrack formally had
advocated for Stockman's appointment as ambassador.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
