# Tom Barrack Billionaire real estate investor, Colony Capital (now DigitalBridge) founder, Trump inaugural committee chairman, and the UAE's primary backchannel to the [[Trump White House]]. Charged in 2021 with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the UAE; acquitted at trial in November 2022. ## UAE Backchannel Role Prosecutors alleged Barrack: - Inserted pro-UAE language into Trump campaign speeches - Influenced Trump's position on the 2017 [[Qatar]] blockade to favor UAE interests - Debriefed [[Jared Kushner]] on Gulf dynamics, advising that Israel-Gulf normalization was achievable (testimony that helped catalyze the Abraham Accords) - Served alongside [[George Nader]] and [[Elliott Broidy]] as part of the UAE's informal influence network ## Inaugural Committee Barrack chaired Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, which raised a record $107 million. The committee faced scrutiny over foreign donations and spending, though no charges resulted from that investigation specifically. ## Acquittal After a nearly two-month trial in Brooklyn, a jury found Barrack and co-defendant Matthew Grimes not guilty of acting as unregistered foreign agents, obstruction of justice, and making false statements. The acquittal hinged on the prosecution's inability to prove Barrack was acting "at the direction" of UAE officials versus pursuing his own business interests that happened to align with the UAE's. The acquittal illustrates the difficulty of [[FARA]] prosecution: the line between legitimate business relationship and unregistered foreign agent work is murky enough that juries struggle to convict even when the conduct appears damning. ## See Also - [[UAE]] - [[Jared Kushner]] - [[George Nader]] - [[Elliott Broidy]] - [[Yousef Al Otaiba]]