White Collar Crime: Federal and Ohio: Foreign Agent Registration Act

2/5/25

Registration of Foreign Agents

Exemptions to FARA include those agents of foreign principals who have already registered under the Lobbying Disclosure Act.

Lobbying Disclosure Act

18 U.S.C. § 951 provides criminal penalties for anyone, other than a diplomat, to operate as an agent of a foreign government without first notifying the Attorney General, unless the agent is engaged in legal commercial transaction. This statute is aimed at foreign government controlled agents engaged in non-political activities.

4/19/19

NBC News 2/18/21

Politico 3/18/21

LA Times 3/2/18

ADMINISTRATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN AGENTS REGISTRATION ACT OF 1938, AS AMENDED

NOTIFICATIONS TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL BY AGENTS OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS

US Dept. of Justice

Congressional Research Service Report 12/4/17

CRS Report 6/30/20

Law Library of Congress Report 2023

Just Security 4/2017

Just Security 7/19/24

10/16/25

The Hill 10/17/25

MSNBC.com 9/25/25

Forbes 10/8/25

CNN 8/21/18 - including bank fraud and tax fraud.

The transcript.

3/19

7/23/19 Bijan Rafiekian,was convicted of failing to register as a foreign agent.

Politico 9/5/2019

CRS Report 10/9/19

8/2020

CNBC 12/15/20

12/23/20

MSNBC 9/19/21 Has a good discussion of the elements of the crime of making a false statement to the FBI.

Michael Sussman found not guilty of lying 6/1/22

NBC News 10/18/22