Skip to main content

Million-dollar lobbying campaign against Kuwait suffers major setback

A Kuwaiti court has sentenced a Russian businesswoman to 15 years of hard labor despite pressure from former US officials. Here's who's behind the campaign to release Marsha Lazareva.
marsha.png

A massive lobbying campaign on behalf of a Russian businesswoman with US ties suffered a major setback over the weekend when a Kuwaiti court sentenced her to 15 years of hard labor on embezzlement charges.

Marsha Lazareva's former firm, Kuwait-based KGL Investment, retained a stable of well-connected former US officials this year to fight accusations that she and her former boss, Saeed Dashti, swindled government investors of proceeds from the sale of property at a former US air base in the Philippines. The pair were arrested in November 2017 but Lazareva was released on bail in May.

Crowell & Moring, the lead law firm representing her, vowed to appeal the sentence and continue its campaign to get the United States and the United Nations to “put additional pressure on Kuwait,” according to a statement. Several US lawmakers have joined calls for Kuwait to release her, but other sources knowledgeable about the case privately question the wisdom of threatening US human-rights sanctions against a US ally because of an adverse court ruling against a private citizen.

The lobbying saga began in 2018 when the Port Fund, a Cayman Islands-based product of KGL Investment, hired Squire Patton Boggs and several other firms to lobby for the release of $500 million in investor funds frozen by the United Arab Emirates amid a complaint from Kuwait. The funds were released in February and the lobbying contract with Patton Boggs ended in July. In all the Port Fund spent $2.8 million on its lobbying.

Following the release of the frozen funds, the lobbying campaign shifted to focus on fighting the embezzlement charges themselves. KGL Investment hired Crowell & Moring and former FBI Director Louis Freeh and his Washington law firm Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan in February to lobby Congress and the Donald Trump administration to levy human rights sanctions under the Magnitsky Act against Kuwait.

Get access to exclusive content on Middle East lobbying, including a weekly newsletter and our exclusive data-driven scorecards and rankings of lobbying effectiveness, by registering here.

To date, KGL Investment has hired six firms — plus three subcontractors — and spent almost $1.3 million on almost two dozen registered agents, including Republican Trent Lott, a former Senate majority leader who represented Mississippi, and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, a Trump ally. A number of others are also lending a hand but haven't registered, including Republican Ed Royce, the former House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman who represented California, and Neil Bush, a son of the late President George H.W. Bush.

Most recently, Washington-based Tricuro was hired by a London-based public relations company, Sanglier Media, working directly for Lazareva herself. The firm will “advocate for clearing Marsha Lazareva of all charges made against her by the Kuwaiti government, through public relations and media relations campaigns.”

To date, the high-profile lobbying effort appears to have had little effect. A handful of Republican lawmakers and Democratic Pennsylvania Rep. Madeleine Dean, whose district Lazareva once lived in, asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in recent months to investigate whether members of the Kuwaiti royal family and other officials should be sanctioned under the Magnitsky Act for their role in Lazareva's imprisonment — so far to no avail. Others such as Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., have declined to get involved.

Meanwhile, US right-wing media have focused their attention on Lazareva's Orthodox Christian background and the fact that her 5-year-old son has US citizenship, arguments advanced by her defenders that seem to have little to no bearing on the charges against her. The advocacy group In Defense of Christians, which advocates for persecuted Christians in the Middle East, has recently added its moral voice to the debate, calling the sentence a “miscarriage of justice.”

Correction: Nov. 19, 2019. The chart on lobbying by KGL Investment has been corrected to accurately reflect payments to different lobbyists on the account. An earlier version contained a mistaken legend.

Join hundreds of Middle East professionals with Al-Monitor PRO.

Business and policy professionals use PRO to monitor the regional economy and improve their reports, memos and presentations. Try it for free and cancel anytime.

Already a Member? Sign in

Free

The Middle East's Best Newsletters

Join over 50,000 readers who access our journalists dedicated newsletters, covering the top political, security, business and tech issues across the region each week.
Delivered straight to your inbox.

Free

What's included:
Our Expertise

Free newsletters available:

  • The Takeaway & Week in Review
  • Middle East Minute (AM)
  • Daily Briefing (PM)
  • Business & Tech Briefing
  • Security Briefing
  • Gulf Briefing
  • Israel Briefing
  • Palestine Briefing
  • Turkey Briefing
  • Iraq Briefing
Expert

Premium Membership

Join the Middle East's most notable experts for premium memos, trend reports, live video Q&A, and intimate in-person events, each detailing exclusive insights on business and geopolitical trends shaping the region.

$25.00 / month
billed annually

Become Member Start with 1-week free trial
What's included:
Our Expertise AI-driven

Memos - premium analytical writing: actionable insights on markets and geopolitics.

Live Video Q&A - Hear from our top journalists and regional experts.

Special Events - Intimate in-person events with business & political VIPs.

Trend Reports - Deep dive analysis on market updates.

All premium Industry Newsletters - Monitor the Middle East's most important industries. Prioritize your target industries for weekly review:

  • Capital Markets & Private Equity
  • Venture Capital & Startups
  • Green Energy
  • Supply Chain
  • Sustainable Development
  • Leading Edge Technology
  • Oil & Gas
  • Real Estate & Construction
  • Banking

We also offer team plans. Please send an email to pro.support@al-monitor.com and we'll onboard your team.

Already a Member? Sign in

Gulf Briefing Gulf Briefing

Gulf Briefing

Top GCC stories in your inbox each week

Trend Reports

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (4th R) attends a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (3rd L) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on February 22, 2019. (Photo by HOW HWEE YOUNG / POOL / AFP) (Photo credit should read HOW HWEE YOUNG/AFP via Getty Images)
Premium

From roads to routers: The future of China-Middle East connectivity

A general view shows the solar plant in Uyayna, north of Riyadh, on March 29, 2018. - On March 27, Saudi announced a deal with Japan's SoftBank to build the world's biggest solar plant. (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)
Premium

Regulations on Middle East renewable energy industry starting to take shape

Start your PRO membership today.

Join the Middle East's top business and policy professionals to access exclusive PRO insights today.

Join Al-Monitor PRO Start with 1-week free trial