A bail hearing for Thomas Barrack, the private equity investor criminally charged with illegally lobbying his close friend former President Donald Trump on behalf of the United Arab Emirates, was rescheduled to Friday in Los Angeles federal court.
Also Friday, a company backed by Barrack, Falcon Acquisition, told the Securities and Exchange Commission in a letter that it was withdrawing its company registration statement with the regulatory agency “because the company has elected to abandon” planned transactions.
Those transactions had included an initial public offering of 25 million shares to raise $250 million for Falcon Acquisition, a so-called blank check company formed by Falcon Peak, which is Barrack’s family office, and TI Capital. Falcon Acquisition, which had planned to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, had said it was targeting tech-driven businesses as candidates for mergers.
A lawyer for Falcon Peak did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Barrack, 74, has been jailed since his arrest Tuesday in Los Angeles. He originally was due to have his bail hearing next Monday, along with Thomas Grimes, a 27-year-old business associate of Barrack’s, who is charged in the same case.
But the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, New York, which is prosecuting Barrack and Grimes, said Friday morning that both men’s bail hearing now will take place at 1 p.m. EDT in California.
Prosecutors had asked at Barrack’s first court appearance in L.A. on Tuesday that he be detained until at least he appears in court in Brooklyn for another hearing because of the risk that he could flee to avoid facing the charges.
A Barrack spokesman declined CNBC’s request for comment on the bail hearing change.
Barrack is accused with Grimes and UAE national Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi of secretly advancing the interests of the UAE at the direction of senior officials of that country by influencing the foreign policy positions of Trump’s 2016 campaign, and continuing that effort during Trump’s presidency through April 2018.
Barrack also is charged with obstruction of justice and making multiple false statements during a June 2019 interview with federal law enforcement agents.
The indictment noted that Barrack at the same time informally advised American officials on Middle East policy, and also sought appointment to a senior role in the U.S. government, including as special envoy to the Middle East.
Alshahhi, 43, remains at large in the case.
– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger