Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck has registered to advocate in the United States for former Libyan Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha on financial industry anti-corruption efforts and the promotion of fair elections, newly disclosed U.S. Justice Department records show.
The Denver, Colorado-founded law firm on July 2 reported its work for Bashagha under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which requires disclosure of certain matters for foreign clients beyond traditional court-based litigation.
Bashagha has been widely reported as a candidate for an upcoming presidential election in Libya.
Brownstein Hyatt’s $50,000 monthly contract said the firm would “assist with promoting free and fair elections in Libya” and support anti-corruption efforts there. The firm said it planned outreach with U.S. government officials, but the contract did not define the scope of that work.
Marc Lampkin, managing director of Brownstein Hyatt in Washington, did not return a message seeking comment on Thursday.
Washington-based Brownstein Hyatt policy directors Ed Royce, Doug Maguire and Samantha Carl-Yoder were named in the registration as the supervisors on the firm’s advocacy for Bashagha. Royce is a former Republican U.S. congressman from California.
The lobbying engagement with a U.S. law firm was a first for Bashagha, according to FARA records.
In February, Bashagha, then the interior minister, told Reuters he faced an assassination attempt in the Libyan capital Tripoli. Bashagha earlier lost a bid to serve as prime minister of a unity government in Libya.
The firm’s registration documents said Bashagha “is a foreign national who is not supervised, subsidized, directed, or controlled by a foreign government or foreign political party.”
Brownstein Hyatt’s other FARA-registered clients have included the Liberia Maritime Authority; South Korea’s U.S. embassy in Washington; Egypt’s ministry of foreign affairs; and Chinese chipmaker Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit Co. Ltd.
The law firm recorded nearly $4 million in revenue in 2019 and 2020 from advocacy for FARA-registered clients, according to data compiled by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics. The firm is regularly at or near the top in quarterly lobbying revenue from U.S. clients.