CONNECTIONS

Ex-Trump Legal Team Spox Registers as a Foreign Agent—10 Years After the Fact

He was acting on behalf of a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire.

A former spokesperson for Donald Trump’s private legal team in the Russia probe registered as a foreign agent acting on behalf of a foreign national fined in connection to an alleged political donation scheme. Mark Corallo had acted as a spokesperson on behalf of Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, since at least 2010, and promoted a Nigerian president’s re-election campaign in 2015 at Chagoury’s behest, according to OpenSecrets.org—but he only registered retroactively as a foreign agent in 2020. The Justice Department announced Wednesday it had reached an agreement with Chagoury, who is a foreign national and therefore barred from political contributions, to pay a $1.8 million fine to resolve allegations that the billionaire conspired to funnel illegal donations to congressional and presidential candidates.