Foreign Political Influence, Manafort, and FARA Enforcement

FARA, or the Foreign Agents Registration Act, is a law that was originally passed in 1938. It essentially requires that people who represent foreign interests in a political capacity register with the Department of Justice and publicly disclose certain transactions. From the NY Times:

Lobbyists that register under FARA must report specific meetings, phone calls and other details of contacts with members of Congress or federal officials to the Justice Department, which then posts the material online.

FARA is administered and enforced by the FARA Registration Unit under the Department of Justice's National Security Division's (NSD) Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES).

Over the course of its enactment, the law has only been lightly enforced, with the emphasis being on voluntary compliance.

Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, has been the most prominent FARA case to be prosecuted in five decades. During the previous five decades, only 7 people have been criminally charged under the law.

Manafort has represented the interests of many foreign government and political group clients over his career. In more recent years, he reportedly received $60m from Ukraine oligarchs to help promote their political interests, one of those was helping to bring Ukraine's now former pro-Russian president to office. Though Manafort had been investigated many years before and told to correct his filings under FARA he never did.

In addition to light enforcement, FARA has some further shortcomings. Again from the NY Times:

Congress is also considering whether to strengthen the statute. A bill sponsored by Senator Charles E. Grassley, the Iowa Republican who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, would close a major loophole by requiring lobbyists hired by foreign commercial interests to file FARA reports. 

Currently, lobbyists representing foreign commercial interests register only with Congress, which requests minimal information, while those who represent foreign “principals” working for the benefit of foreign governments or political parties register with the Justice Department. The dual disclosure regimes create a huge gray area because in many countries, including Russia and Ukraine, the line between commercial and government interests is heavily blurred.

Some privacy, non-profit, and pro-business groups are opposing the bill saying the original bill is still too vague and needs to be cleaned up before new legislation makes sweeping and possibly politicized investigations easier.

Due in part to the recent activity with Manafort and Mueller’s Special Counsel investigation, there have been 50% more new FARA registrations this year from last.