US Seeks Foreign Lobbying Enforcement Lifeline After Wynn Case

A valuable US enforcement tool for exposing international influence campaigns was recently neutered, leaving the Justice Department in search of a lifeline from Congress or an appellate court.

For nearly a decade, prosecutors expanded their application of the Foreign Agents Registration Act to mandate transparency in lobbying for overseas interests. But they stand to lose investigative clout from a judge’s dismissal of DOJ’s suit against hotel magnate and Republican megadonor Stephen Wynn on grounds his advocacy ended years earlier.

Without intervention from Congress or a reversal by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, former DOJ officials and ...