A former Justice Department employee pleaded guilty on Friday to helping funnel tens of millions of dollars into the U.S. for the alleged mastermind of the multibillion-dollar fraud involving Malaysia’s sovereign-wealth fund, the Wall Street Journal reported. Some of the $74 million allegedly brought into the U.S. on behalf of Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman, was used to pay a prominent Republican fundraiser, court documents show. Low sought to use the funds to influence the Justice Department investigation into the fund, 1Malaysia Development Bhd, and other foreign lobbying activities, the documents said. George Higginbotham, who worked at the Justice Department as a senior congressional affairs specialist until August, pleaded guilty Friday to conspiring to make false statements to banks about the source and purpose of the funds to move them into the U.S. The Justice Department said Higginbotham played no role in the U.S. investigation, which led earlier this month to charges against two senior Goldman Sachs Group Inc. bankers along with Mr. Low. In addition, the Justice Department has filed civil-forfeiture lawsuits seeking to recover more than $1.5 billion in illicit assets accused of being tied to the alleged fraud. Higginbotham “failed to influence any aspect of the Department’s investigation of 1MDB,” the agency said.
