KEY QUOTES: “Broidy’s success, however, hasn’t followed a typical trajectory: In 2012, he was convicted in a New York “pay to play” pension scandal that cost him millions and forced him to the political sidelines. […]

“A McClatchy investigation shows that Broidy, who has re-emerged as a valuable deputy RNC finance chair, is linked to controversial figures, at home and abroad, with their own recent legal troubles.

“A small defense contractor Broidy owns opened an office last year in Romania just months after Broidy helped introduce a top Romanian politician facing corruption charges there to Trump. At home, the firm has seen a big spike in business since Trump took office – and after it lobbied the office of Vice President Mike Pence.”

McClatchy: GOP leans on rainmaker who courts controversy on two continents

By Ben Wieder and Peter Stone

February 7, 2018

WASHINGTON – As a top fundraiser for the Republican Party under President Donald Trump, investment manager Elliott Broidy has had a seat at some of the most exclusive GOP money bashes at the Trump International Hotel and Mar-a-Lago.

It might seem like a pinnacle moment in the career of a big-money harvester. Broidy’s success, however, hasn’t followed a typical trajectory: In 2012, he was convicted in a New York “pay to play” pension scandal that cost him millions and forced him to the political sidelines. `

It was a steep fall. The Los Angeles-based Broidy had earlier done a stint as finance chair of the Republican National Committee and had been a top fundraiser for GOP presidential candidates in 2004 and 2008.

It’s been an equally sharp rise back to the top echelons of Republican financing, too. In 2016, just four years after his conviction, Broidy, chairman of Broidy Capital Management, played a major role in providing key backing to several contenders for the nomination, then scored big donors for Trump in the fall campaign against Hillary Clinton.

But Broidy’s comeback isn’t an altogether feel-good story.

A McClatchy investigation shows that Broidy, who has re-emerged as a valuable deputy RNC finance chair, is linked to controversial figures, at home and abroad, with their own recent legal troubles.

A small defense contractor Broidy owns opened an office last year in Romania just months after Broidy helped introduce a top Romanian politician facing corruption charges there to Trump. At home, the firm has seen a big spike in business since Trump took office – and after it lobbied the office of Vice President Mike Pence.

And a few years before Trump took office, Broidy, a longtime board member of the hawkish Republican Jewish Coalition, headed up a national security-focused nonprofit group set up – and partially funded – by two movie producers who have been charged by federal prosecutors with defrauding investors of millions. Despite a showy debut, the nonprofit soon vanished from the scene, never filing required tax forms.

All of which raises a key question for Republicans planning to lean on him for funds in the 2018 and 2020 elections: Can Elliott Broidy be counted on to drum up dollars without also bringing controversy or embarrassment?

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