Jul 23, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Trump ally Tom Barrack pays $250 million bond to get out of jail

Tom Barrack speaking at a symposium in Tokyo in March 2019.

Tom Barrack speaking at a symposium in Tokyo in March 2019. Photo: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Real estate investor Tom Barrack paid a federal court a bond of $250 million to get out of jail on Friday while awaiting trial after he was arrested and charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent for the United Arab Emirates earlier this week, AP reports.

Driving the news: A federal judge also ordered Barrack, a longtime ally of former President Trump and chair of his inaugural committee, to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet at all times and barred him from transferring funds overseas.

The Department of Justice in court filings called Barrack a flight risk because of his vast wealth and asked that he be held in custody as he's transferred to New York for his arraignment in federal court in Brooklyn on Monday, according to CNN.

  • The filings also alleged that Barrack has connections with seniors leaders of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, two countries that do not have extradition treaties with the United States.
  • The federal judge restricted his travel to parts of Southern California and New York.

The big picture: The Justice Department said Barrack and his accomplices attempted to advance the interests of the UAE by influencing the foreign policy positions of Trump's campaign in 2016 and, subsequently, the positions of the U.S. government in the incoming administration.

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