With Daniel Lippman WHAT DOES DOJ’S NEW YEAR FARA BURST TELL US?: Two separate U.S. Attorney’s offices revealed a flurry of new illicit foreign influence cases within minutes of each other on Tuesday — a clear sign that cracking down on FARA violations will be on the Justice Department’s “In” list once again in 2024. — The action included new allegations against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), who now stands accused of accepting bribes in exchange for taking steps to benefit the Qatari government in addition to the corruption and foreign agent charges he already faces for allegedly acting for the benefit of the Egyptian government. — Filings in federal court in D.C., meanwhile, confirmed the existence of a second illicit Qatari influence campaign involving Trump-world lobbyist Barry Bennett and political strategist Doug Watts. The Ben Carson 2016 campaign alums entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the DOJ that will allow charges of concealing their Qatar-funded advocacy campaign and misleading investigators about the work to be dismissed if the men abide by the terms of their agreements. — It’s unclear whether the timing of the cases’ disclosure was intentional. They originated from different offices, and and involve activity that took place at different times, but “it is a relatively small team working on FARA related matters” within DOJ, noted Matt Sanderson, a lawyer at Caplin & Drysdale who advises clients on FARA compliance. — At the same time, it could be a coincidence stemming in part from the sheer volume of influence activity emanating from that corner of the globe. “There are certain regions and areas where I think there is heightened concern,” where there is “more funding flowing from those countries,” said Tessa Capeloto, a FARA expert at Wiley Rein. — In the cases of Bennett — whose now-defunct lobbying firm Avenue Strategies was registered as a foreign agent of the Qatari Embassy — and Watts, DOJ may be signaling new enforcement tactics after meeting roadblocks in court and facing inaction in Congress. Former FARA chief Brandon Van Grack wrote on the platform formerly known as Twitter that he believes this is the first time a FARA case has been resolved by a deferred prosecution agreement. — “It's another example of the department getting creative to achieve the goals of FARA without having to go to a jury,” Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock’s Josh Rosenstein told PI. It also serves as a boon to DOJ’s insistence that its main objective in cracking down on foreign influence is disclosure rather than retribution. — By securing fines from Bennett and Watts as part of their agreements, the deals also offer the department a workaround for its lack of civil penalty authority for FARA violators, something DOJ has long asked for from Congress. — What else can we glean from the new cases? FARA practitioners also took note that the charges against Bennett and Watts center less around a failure to register foreign lobbying work than providing insufficient detail about that work. — “This is the first time that I can recall, in an actual enforcement action,” the Justice Department saying explicitly that payments to separate entities or sub vendors “have to be disclosed — not only by the non-registered entity, but also by Avenue Strategies, in this case, which was which was registered and left those disbursements off its filing,” Rosenstein said. — “The department seems to be paying closer attention to the substance of the actual FARA filings as opposed to just taking as good enough that someone has registered,” Sanderson told PI. “This should have been specifically described.” Happy Wednesday and welcome to PI. What should be on K Street’s In/Out List this year?: coprysko@politico.com. And be sure to follow me on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @caitlinoprysko. ANTI-ESG GROUP RAKES IN CASH: A Republican dark money group pushing state treasurers to punish companies with environmentally and socially conscious investment strategies has seen its revenues soar as the right steps up its opposition movement against ESG investing, according to tax returns obtained by PI. — The State Financial Officers Foundation, a nonprofit representing Republican state treasurers, more than doubled its annual revenues in 2022 with nearly $2 million in contributions, compared to $911,000 the year before, the filings show. That’s nearly four times the $523,000 the group brought in in 2018. — Much of the foundation’s 2022 haul came from 11 anonymous donors, some of whom PI has been able to identify through other dark money groups’ tax filings. The group’s top donor in 2022 was Consumers’ Research, another conservative nonprofit that, like SFOF, has ties to conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo. — SFOF cashed a $317,500 check from Consumers’ Research in 2022, according to tax filings. Other top donors include the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, which gave $100,000, and Donors Trust, a conservative dark money conduit group, which contributed $105,000. — The foundation didn’t report issuing any grants of its own in 2022, but spent $1.1 million putting on two national conferences and previewed 2023 research projects to “educate legislators and citizens about the risks associated with ESG and what can be done to stop it.” Those conferences attracted the ire of congressional Democrats, who in late 2022 called on major lenders JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, who were listed as attendees at at least one of the events, to cut ties with the foundation. — According to the foundation’s filing, SFOF put another $20,000 toward the publication of a “Smart Women Smart Money” online magazine aimed at providing “financial education and empowerment to women,” and paid the nonprofit consultancy American Philanthropic $69,000 for fundraising expenses that netted the group $695,000. FIRST IN PI: The House-focused Democrats at public affairs firm Subject Matter are hosting their 17th annual fundraiser for the DCCC on Jan. 17, and the event's invitation says it's hosted by Steve Elmendorf, Stacey Alexander, Cedric Grant, Sandra Alcala and Jimmy Ryan, Daniel reports. — Special guests include DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene (D-Wash.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Donations range from $5,000 to be a supporter to $15,000 to be a PAC host. "Majority or minority, we always want to be the first event of the year for the DCCC and this year should be one of our best events," Elmendorf told PI in a statement. ANNALS OF FUNDRAISING: “When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s former communications director started a Political Action Committee to kill the Senate filibuster, he mostly pocketed the six figures he raised. Now he wants more dough to compel President Joe Biden to step aside from the 2024 election,” The Daily Beast’s William Bredderman reports. — “Last year, The Daily Beast exposed how Corbin Trent, co-founder of the Squad-adjacent Justice Democrats organization — and Ocasio-Cortez’s first communications director when she joined Congress — had soaked up most of the money that his No Excuses PAC raised for the stated purpose of pressuring Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) to eliminate the 60-vote threshold in the Senate. The PAC ultimately spent a paltry $14,831.88 of the $197,239.61 it raised on ads pestering the centrist lawmakers.” — “Meanwhile, No Excuses PAC’s latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, which date to the end of September, show it has paid Trent nearly 10 times as much—roughly $140,000, accounting for more than 70 percent of all the funds the committee ever amassed. Almost the entire remaining balance has gone toward credit card processing fees, hotels, and accounting firms associated with Amy Vilela, a failed Justice Democrats-backed House candidate from Nevada.” AIPAC’S MONEY MOVES: “The American Israel Public Affairs Committee delivered more than $3.7 million in November to the campaigns of U.S. lawmakers, the most it has ever doled out in a single month,” per Sludge’s Donald Shaw. — “The largest recipient of AIPAC’s campaign support in November, which came by way of its PAC, was New York Democrat Rep. Ritchie Torres, who was profiled by the New York Times in November as an example of a young Democratic politician who has sided firmly with Israel, as opposed to those in the so-called ‘squad’ of progressives who have spoken critically of the country’s military actions. AIPAC sent Torres more than $201,000 in donations from its PAC in November, according to the filing.” MCCARTHY LIEUTENANT LANDS AT HARBINGER: John Leganski, a top adviser to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, is joining GOP lobbying firm Harbinger Strategies as a partner following his former boss’ retirement. Leganski spent the past decade with McCarthy’s office, eventually working his way up to deputy chief of staff in 2022. — Leganski served as a key player in last year’s negotiations for a debt ceiling deal, and in a press release announcing his hiring Harbinger provided glowing endorsements from top House Republicans including McCarthy, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
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