Consultant charged in covert lobbying of Trump officials

WASHINGTON (AP) — An American consultant has been charged in an illicit lobbying effort to get the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian state investment fund, and to arrange for the return of a Chinese dissident living in the U.S.

Federal prosecutors say Nickie Lum Davis failed to disclose to the federal government that the lobbying effort was done on behalf of a fugitive Malaysian financier who has been charged in the U.S. with conspiring to launder billions of dollars from the fund.

The Foreign Agents Registration Act requires individuals who are enlisted by foreign entities to lobby the U.S. government to register that work with the Justice Department. A criminal case filed in federal court in Honolulu charges Davis with a single count of violating that act, known as FARA.

Davis' Honolulu attorney, William McCorriston, declined to comment Monday. The U.S. Attorney's office in Hawaii declined to comment.

The charge is the latest development arising from the complicated saga of 1MDB, a Malaysian wealth fund that was established more than a decade ago to accelerate the country's economic development but that prosecutors say was actually treated as a piggy bank by associates of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

U.S. prosecutors allege that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, artwork, jewelry and other extravagances. Najib was sentenced in Malaysia last month to 12 years in prison.

The effort to wipe away legal troubles for the Malaysian financier who prosecutors say helped orchestrate the pilfering was ultimately unsuccessful.

The Justice Department in 2018 charged Jho Low, who remains at...