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- The US Department of Justice has investigated a lawyer for Jared Kushner as part of an alleged bribery-for-pardon program, The New York Times reported.
- As Business Insider reported, a US judge this week released documents showing that federal investigators were concerned about an alleged “corruption plot” to secure a presidential pardon.
- According to the Times reports, the alleged scheme involved billionaire real estate developer Sanford Diller seeking leniency for a man named Hugh Baras, who had been convicted of tax evasion.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
A billionaire real estate developer has enlisted a lawyer for Jared Kushner and a fundraiser for President Donald Trump in an alleged scheme to obtain a presidential pardon through corruption, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Earlier this week, a federal judge released documents showing that the Justice Department was investigating a “corruption plot” last summer. The names of the suspects have been redacted and no one has been charged with a crime.
The status of the investigation is unknown.
In a statement Wednesday, a DOJ official told Business Insider that “no government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation revealed in this case.”
According to the Times, the investigation began after billionaire Sanford Diller enlisted the help of Father Lowell, an attorney for the president’s son-in-law, and Elliott Broidy, a Trump campaign fundraiser. Diller was seeking clemency for a man, Hugh Baras, who had been convicted of tax evasion and social security fraud, the newspaper reported.
Diller died in February 2018, “and there is no evidence that the effort continued after his death,” the Times reported.
Court documents suggested that the effort, which included an appeal to the White House attorneys office, included an offer of a “substantial political contribution” in return for a pardon.
A lawyer for Lowell, however, told The Times that no bribes were ever paid. Baras did not receive leniency, the Times noted. A lawyer for Baras told The Times he was not representing him “for the purposes of a pardon.”
In 2017, Lowell made headlines after falling in love with a prankster impersonating his client, Jared Kushner. In an email exchange, Lowell offered the bogus-Kushner advice on how to obey the laws governing official correspondence in his role as a White House adviser.
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