Guilty plea in Hawaii woman's lobbying of Trump officials

HONOLULU (AP) — An American consultant pleaded guilty Monday in an illicit lobbying effort to get the Trump administration to drop an investigation into the multibillion-dollar looting of a Malaysian state investment fund, and to arrange for the return of a Chinese dissident living in the U.S.

Federal prosecutors say Nickie Mali Lum Davis failed to disclose to the federal government that the lobbying effort was done on behalf of a fugitive Malaysian financier who has been charged in the U.S. with conspiring to launder billions of dollars from the fund.

Davis, 45, pleaded guilty to a single count involving a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act, which requires individuals enlisted by foreign entities to lobby the U.S. government to register that work with the Justice Department.

Davis said that she knew the government contacts she made would require registration but she “willfully failed to register.”

The charge arises from the complicated saga of 1MDB, a Malaysian wealth fund that was established more than a decade ago to accelerate the country’s economic development but that prosecutors say was actually treated as a piggy bank by associates of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

U.S. prosecutors allege that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates to finance Hollywood films and buy hotels, a luxury yacht, artwork, jewelry and other extravagances. Najib was sentenced in Malaysia last month to 12 years in prison.

The effort to wipe away legal troubles for the Malaysian financier who prosecutors say helped orchestrate the pilfering was ultimately unsuccessful.

The Justice Department in 2018 charged Jho Low, who remains at large, in connection with the alleged money laundering and last year reached...