Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy on Monday sued a former high-ranking United Nations official, alleging he was an unregistered agent of Qatar who participated in a campaign against Broidy as part of an operation by the Persian Gulf state to silence its critics and influence U.S. policy.
Broidy alleges that at the direction of Qatari officials, former U.N. Under-Secretary-General Jamal Benomar, who served as special envoy to Yemen and a special adviser to former Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, orchestrated the dissemination of materials stolen from Broidy’s computers to U.S. media organizations.
Neither Benomar, a British citizen, nor a lawyer for him could be reached for comment Monday.
Since March, Broidy has sued Qatar and several U.S.-based lobbyists and consulting firms in federal court in California, accusing Qatar and its agents of trying to discredit him by stealing and leaking emails that detailed his contacts with the Trump administration and Qatar’s rival, the United Arab Emirates. Broidy owns a security company that has done business with the U.A.E.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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