Elliott Broidy, major Trump and RNC fundraiser, is set to plead guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent

WASHINGTON — Major Trump and Republican Party donor Elliott Broidy is set to plead guilty Tuesday to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for Malaysian and Chinese government interests, accepting millions of dollars to secretly lobby the Trump administration.

A plea hearing for Broidy, who helped raise millions for President Donald Trump's campaign before serving as the Republican National Committee's national deputy finance chair, is scheduled for 2 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington.

Broidy, 64, was charged on Oct. 6 on one felony federal count of conspiring to defraud the United States. Prosecutors accuse him of secretly arranging to be paid a bounty of more than $80 million to end a U.S. investigation into a multibillion dollar embezzlement of a Malaysian state investment fund. Broidy also allegedly worked for a senior Chinese security minister to return outspoken Chinese exile Guo Wengui to his home country from the United States.

A plea is not official until it is accepted by a judge.

The allegations capped a yearslong investigation that ultimately focused on Broidy, according to court records, accusing him of orchestrating with "back-channel, unregistered campaigns" to influence the administration, though their efforts were largely unsuccessful.

» READ MORE: Prominent GOP fundraiser charged in covert lobbying effort

According to court filings and people familiar with the matter, Broidy made direct entreaties to high-level Trump officials or others close to the administration, including Trump's then-chief of staff, Reince Priebus; his former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates; and Trump himself.

Broidy, a Los Angeles-based investor, resigned from his RNC post in April 2018 in the wake of a report that he had paid a former Playboy model $1.6 million in exchange for her silence about a sexual affair. Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen — another RNC fund-raiser — helped arrange the settlement, Broidy acknowledged at the time.

Cohen, who also served as a deputy finance chair of the RNC, also resigned his party position in June 2018 before pleading guilty to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations committed on Trump's behalf. Former casino executive and Trump confidant Steve Wynn, who served as the RNC's first finance chairman under Trump, resigned in January 2018 after he was accused of sexual harassment and assault, accusations he has denied.

The investigation into Broidy stems from a massive probe of a multibillion dollar embezzlement from a Malaysian government development fund that has come to be known by the shorthand "1MDB." In previous civil and criminal cases, federal prosecutors have alleged that stolen money that made its way into the United States was used to buy pricey real estate and even fund the award-winning movie "The Wolf of Wall Street."

At the center of the case is a Malaysian businessman named Low Taek Jho, who was indicted in 2018 and accused of funneling tens of millions of dollars into the United States in part to get the investigation dropped. Low, who is facing multiple federal indictments, is believed to be in China, outside the reach of U.S. authorities. He has denied the allegations and said they are politically motivated.

According to court documents and people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation, Low was funding Broidy's lobbying efforts — both to get the 1MDB investigation dropped and to get Guo sent back to China. Guo is a vocal online critic of that country's government and is wanted by authorities in Beijing on charges of fraud, blackmail and bribery. He has denied those charges and said they are politically motivated.

In the past few years, Guo has been closely aligned with Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's former campaign chief and top White House strategist. Bannon was on Guo's yacht off the coast of Westbrook, Conn., when Bannon was arrested in August on charges he defrauded donors to a group that claimed to be building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a related case, Broidy business associate Nickie Mali Lum Davis pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. Davis admitted she, along with Broidy and former Fugees rapper Pras Michel, met with a Chinese official in Hong Kong in May 2017 and the official asked for Broidy's help persuading the United States to send Guo back to China.

Broidy then made entreaties to top-level Trump administration officials and enlisted the help of Wynn, according to the documents and the people with knowledge of the case. An attorney for Wynn has said his client is cooperating with investigators. Michel, who is charged in connection with separate dealings with Low, has denied wrongdoing.

Broidy, according to court documents, tried unsuccessfully to set up a meeting between the Chinese official — whom people familiar with the matter identified as Sun Lijun, then-vice minister of public security — and then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Broidy then sent a memo intended for Sessions drafted with information from Sun promising greater law enforcement cooperation if Guo were deported, court documents said. It’s unclear whether the memo was passed on to Sessions, according to court documents.

Broidy also sought to persuade officials to drop the 1MDB investigation, according to the documents and people familiar with the matter. Davis acknowledged that she was paid $1.7 million, that she helped route an $8 million retainer to Broidy for the influence campaign and that Low offered to pay a $75 million "success fee" as part of a contract with Broidy's wife's law firm if the 1MDB case was resolved within 180 days.

According to prosecutors, Broidy met with Trump at the White House in October 2017 and falsely told others that he raised the subject of the 1MDB investigation. In charging papers, prosecutors alleged that in a show of influence, Broidy in June 2017 personally asked Trump to play a round of golf with then-Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was later convicted on charges in Malaysia related to the 1MDB scandal and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Najib has denied wrongdoing.

No golf game ultimately took place, though Najib did meet with Trump at the White House, prosecutors said.

Overall, Malaysia and the United States have alleged that more than $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB. The U.S. government has sought the forfeiture of $2.1 billion in related assets and recovered nearly $1.1 billion.