Qatar-based firm sues two Trump backers for orchestrating anti-Qatar campaign

A lawsuit has been filed by Mosafer, Inc., in the United States District Court in Los Angeles against Elliott Broidy and George Nader for "illegally orchestrating and executing a sophisticated—and secret—assault against Qatar and Qatari businesses on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)."According to the lawsuit, this assault, which included a widespread disinformation campaign that targeted Qatar and Qatari-American businesses, was "in violation of numerous reporting and labeling obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act ("FARA"), 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq., and other federal and state laws."Mosafer, Inc. is a destination management company for foreign tourists from Asia, the European Union, the US, and the Middle East and North Africa ("MENA") region. Prior to 2015, Mosafer was a recognized global brand synonymous with luxury. The Mosafer brand had a presence in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkey, and South Africa. It has long been one of Qatar's leading tourism companies, has been recognized as the market leader on innovation.Broidy was the former finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC), vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee, and top fund-raiser for Donald Trump. Nader was the former adviser to Donald Trump's presidential transition team. Broidy pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws as part of a covert campaign to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests. He was later pardoned by President Trump. Nader is currently serving a 10-year sentence in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release.The lawsuit states, "As confirmed by prosecutors, Broidy's unregistered foreign lobbying efforts extended far beyond those that he pled guilty to. In March and April 2018, hundreds of pages of documents, which included emails, business proposals and contracts between Broidy and Nader were provided to various news sources, such as to the New York Times and the Associated Press (AP). Upon information and belief, these documents show that Broidy and Nader acted as unregistered agents of the UAE in violation of FARA.""In exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars, the lawsuit states, "Broidy and Nader yielded their tremendous political influence to lobby United States government officials to take anti-Qatari positions. Broidy and Nader's efforts did not stop at mere lobbying, however…Broidy and Nader's efforts went far beyond lobbying the White House on behalf of the UAE….Instead, they spearheaded a widespread disinformation campaign (the "Disinformation Conspiracy") which targeted Qatar and Qatari-American businesses—with the goal of inflicting catastrophic financial loss—using tactics remarkably similar to those employed by the Russians during the 2016 Presidential Election interference.""… They hired American companies (including Broidy's BCM and Circinus) and American actors to use conventional print media and social media to disseminate disinformation aimed at crippling Qatar businesses, including Qatar's then-thriving tourism businesses—and, principally, Mosafer. In essence, Defendants engaged in information warfare, intentionally deceiving the media and consumers through the use of internet trolls, fake websites and influencers to manipulate the US public into falsely thinking Qatari businesses were sponsors of terrorist groups, thereby rendering it impossible for Qatari businesses, including Mosafer, to maintain a customer base. "Through the Disinformation Conspiracy, Broidy and Nader conspired to represent to the public that: (1) Qatar and Qatari businesses were unstable and untrustworthy; (2) the political state of Qatar was extremely unstable, rendering travel to and through Qatar unsafe; and (3) boycotting Qatar businesses was necessary to counteract their terrorism funding activities."…As part of the Disinformation Conspiracy, on September 21, 2017, upon information and belief, Broidy orchestrated – through proxies – a full page advertisement run in the Washington Post. This advertisement, which used the same burgundy color found in both Qatar's flag and Mosafer's branding, stated in big bold letters "QATAR IS A SAFE HAVEN FOR TERRORISTS." The advertisement went on to claim that: "It is a well-known fact that Qatar has become a favored safe-haven for terrorists from around the world. Over 60 terrorist organizations, individuals or NGOs . . . are currently either based out of or supported by the government of Qatar." This advertisement was intentionally false and misleading—Qatar did not support terrorists or provide them with safe-haven.""…As a direct result of the Disinformation Conspiracy, the Mosafer entities—which were branded to be synonymous with Qatar, and included an integrated network of retail, e-commerce, distribution, and travel companies—lost existing and prospective customers, including many in California. Revenue declined precipitously—by hundreds of millions of dollars on a global scale, at least 20% of which is attributed to Mosafer's US entities." The lawsuit goes on, "To execute their Disinformation Conspiracy with these intended catastrophic effects, Broidy and Nader enlisted Broidy's two companies, Broidy Capital Management, LLC ("BCM") and Circinus, LLC ("Circinus")—as well as a network of contractors and mercenaries: The Iron Group Inc., doing business as Ironistic.com, ("Ironistic"), SCL Social Limited ("SCL"), Project Associates UK Ltd ("Project Associates"), Matthew Atkinson ("Atkinson"), and numerous others contractors, including a public affairs, advocacy, and strategic advisory groups (including, for example, Bullpen Strategy Group, Inc. doing business as, and formerly known as, Definers Corp. ("Definers")), as well as John Does 1-100 (collectively, "Defendants")."Hidden behind aliases, companies, contractors, mercenaries, and agents—and in violation of numerous reporting and labeling obligations under the Foreign Agents Registration Act ("FARA"), 22 U.S.C. § 611 et seq., and other federal and state laws—Broidy and Nader orchestrated and implemented a vast, sophisticated campaign against Qatar and Qatari-based businesses. "The goal of the Disinformation Conspiracy was simple—drive governmental and private actors away from doing business with Qatar and Qatari-related businesses in an effort to cripple the Qatari economy and usurp its business and political opportunities for the UAE and UAE-related businesses. To do so, their campaign employed conventional print media, internet websites, and social media accounts to publish false and misleading information regarding the safety, stability and nature of Qatar and Qatari-based businesses. Using these mediums, Defendants, along with their co-conspirators, created an ecosystem that funneled American consumers into a vortex designed to drive them away from Qatar and any business that was affiliated with it. The goal was to strangle and starve these businesses of consumers, so that in the end, they would crumble. "To accomplish this goal, Defendants ensured that, at each step on the path toward consuming information about Mosafer entities and like businesses, the individual seeking information would be steered directly out the door. Defendants implemented a series of steps to achieve this effect. "First, Defendants directly, aggressively and illegally lobbied members of the United States Government to sever all ties with anything Qatar and effectively boycott its economy. "Second, Defendants paid influencers to create conferences to further engrain falsehoods among influential US consumers. At the same time, Defendants directed influencers take to print media to toe the false narrative they had created in order to ensure that California residents and other consumers were again, misinformed. "And, third, Defendants relied on a vast internet network that utilized concocted maligning "hashtags" to ensure that, when a consumer in California, for example, decided to search the internet for information about Plaintiffs and like businesses, merely including the word "Qatar" in a search bullion would fast track that searcher into universe of fake news websites, Twitter accounts, YouTube accounts, and other social-media planted information—all of which were creatures of manipulation. "Through these coordinated means, Defendants' Disinformation Conspiracy achieved an extraordinary degree of success—creating, at the behest of the UAE, a toxic ecosystem of pervasive, inflammatory, false and misleading information about Qatar and Qatari-based businesses and in turn ensuring that this information was widely disseminated in conventional print and broadcast media, internet websites, and social media. "As a direct and intended consequence of this unlawful campaign, devised and executed by Defendants Broidy and Nader on behalf of their client UAE, innocent Qatari-related businesses—including Plaintiffs Mosafer entities—suffered catastrophic loss. Through this lawsuit, the Mosafer entities seek to hold Defendants accountable for their anticompetitive, deceptive, unfair, and unlawful conduct and to permanently enjoin them from continuing to perpetrate this conduct." Also named in the suit are Capital Management LLC, Circinus LLC, The Iron Group, Inc., Ironistic.com, SCL Social Limited, Project Associates UK Ltd., Matthew Atkinson and John Does 1-100.