Registered Foreign Agent Gave $200K to McAuliffe Campaign

Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe raked in a $200,000 donation from a registered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates, according to campaign finance and lobbying disclosure records.

The company registered as a foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates last year as part of a larger campaign to rehabilitate the country's image.

McAuliffe recently received a $350,000 contribution from a company owned by a Sri Lankan-British national-whose businesses are at the center of a money laundering case in France-in a potential violation of federal campaign finance laws, the Washington Free Beacon reported last week.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a government watchdog group, said it was concerned about foreign financial influences on McAuliffe.

Last week, ethics watchdogs raised questions about a $350,000 donation McAuliffe received from LycaTel, a company owned by a British national.

Ben Freeman, director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative at the Center for International Policy, told the Free Beacon that donations from foreign-owned companies are "Effectively a really easy way to launder foreign money into the U.S. political process."

In 2016, the FBI reportedly investigated a $120,000 donation McAuliffe received from a company owned by a Chinese businessman who was a delegate to China's national legislature.
 

https://freebeacon.com/elections/registered-foreign-agent-gave-200k-to-mcauliffe-campaign/