Trump Ex-Fundraiser Targets Qatar’s US Law Firm in Hack Lawsuit

Elliott Broidy, a past top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump, has subpoenaed Covington & Burling for documents as part of his lawsuit alleging a Qatari-backed plot to hack and smear him.

The Washington law firm in a filing last week revealed Broidy’s subpoena, which it received in June. Covington objected to the subpoena based on privilege and sovereign immunity grounds, the firm said in the filing.

Covington, which has represented Qatar in several US court proceedings, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The subpoena shows an aggressive strategy by the Broidy legal team to target a US law firm for Qatar. Subpoenas of law firms are rare, as communications between lawyers and their clients are generally shielded by attorney-client privilege.

Broidy stepped down as a Republican National Committee deputy finance chairman in 2018 after it was revealed he had agreed to pay $1.6 million to a former Playboy model to keep quiet about their affair. In 2020 he also pleaded guilty to illegal lobbying on behalf of a Malaysian businessman, though Trump pardoned Broidy before leaving office.

Broidy and his Los Angeles investment firm four years ago filed a lawsuit alleging the existence of a Qatari-led plot to discredit him because he said the Persian Gulf nation funded terrorist organizations. The alleged scheme included sharing hacked information with journalists, he said.

The suit targets consulting firm Stonington Strategies, its partners Nicholas D. Muzin and Joseph Allaham, and the media strategist Gregory Howard, all of whom have done work for Qatar.

While Qatar is not named as a party in Broidy’s suit, he claims the country and Covington played a role by working to conceal evidence in the case. He asked the US District Court for DC on Sept. 1 to order a forensic examination of discovery conduct from Qatar and the defendants in his 2019 complaint.

Court-ordered forensic examinations often involve evaluating document production from a party’s systems or devices to find any missing data.

`Hide the Truth’

Broidy claims that Qatar should have no expectation of confidentiality in its communications based on documents one of the defendants, Allaham, produced as part of a settlement with the Trump ex-fundraiser. Allaham also claimed in a declaration that a London lawyer for Qatar said he could not produce any documents that would be embarrassing to the regime.

“Qatar, through its US counsel, has gone to extraordinary lengths to frustrate discovery from the defendants and hide the truth,” Broidy’s counsel argued.

The defendants and Qatar are scheduled to respond by Sept. 8. Counsel for Allaham and Howard declined to comment. Attorneys for Stonington Strategies and Muzin did not immediately return requests for comment.

Covington in an Aug. 30 brief called Broidy’s claims of discovery misconduct “unfounded” and argued that much of Allaham’s declaration conflicts with earlier sworn statements.

“While Broidy casts these documents as ‘shocking,’ they in fact reinforce Qatar’s privilege claims,” the firm said, citing Allaham’s acknowledgment that he assisted Qatar’s diplomacy efforts in 2017 and 2018.

The firm also said that Allaham’s settlement agreement shows that Qatar demanded representations that he had never engaged in any hacking of Broidy in order to ensure “it would not be in the position of paying or indemnifying an agent for the improper behavior.”

The case is BROIDY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC et al v. MUZIN et al, D.D.C., 1:19-cv-00150, 9/5/23