Former DOJ lawyer faces disbarment for entanglement in ‘one of the largest kleptocracy schemes in history’

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Former DOJ lawyer faces disbarment for entanglement in ‘one of many largest kleptocracy schemes in historical past’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

April 17, 2025, 3:07 pm CDT

A lawyer who labored for the U.S. Division of Justice is dealing with disbarment after pleading responsible for his position in an unlawful overseas affect scheme that allegedly stemmed from his friendship and authorized work for hip-hop artist Prakazrel “Pras” Michel.

Lawyer George A. Higginbotham, a former senior congressional affairs specialist on the DOJ, ready pretend mortgage paperwork, funding agreements and consulting agreements to cover the supply of tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} meant for use to foyer the U.S. authorities, in line with the April 16 opinion by the Appellate Division’s Second Judicial Division of the New York Supreme Court docket.

The Authorized Occupation Weblog printed highlights.

Higginbotham’s work was meant to facilitate lobbying for the extradition of a political dissident to China and to resolve an investigation of a overseas nationwide who orchestrated a multibillion-dollar embezzlement scheme involving a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Higginbotham was engaged on behalf of Michel, who needed assist along with his dealings with the overseas nationwide, Jho Low, in line with Higginbotham’s testimony, as reported by Reuters, at Michel’s trial in April 2023.

Higginbotham entangled himself in a conspiracy to keep away from prosecution “in a single of the most important kleptocracy schemes in historical past,” the appeals courtroom stated. “Something lower than a disbarment is unwarranted.”

Higginbotham pleaded responsible to at least one depend of conspiracy to make false statements to a financial institution in November 2018, in line with a press launch. He didn’t affect any facet of the DOJ investigation involving the funding firm often called 1MDB.

Higginbotham was sentenced to probation in November 2023 and ordered to forfeit $70,000, the amount of cash that he was paid after submitting invoices for work within the scheme.

Michel was convicted of conspiracy and different fees in April 2023 for utilizing straw donors within the lobbying marketing campaign.

Low was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 10 years in a Kuwaiti jail, the New York Publish reported in March 2023.

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