Hawaii woman appeals sentence for illegally lobbying Trump
A Hawaii businesswoman is appealing her two-year federal prison sentence and the $250,000 fine she received Jan. 19 after she pleaded guilty to working with a former hip-hop star and a rich Republican donor to illegally lobby former President Donald Trump to drop the prosecution of a Malaysian fugitive and send an exiled businessman back to China.
Nickie Mali Lum Davis, 47, pleaded guilty Aug. 31, 2020, to a single count of aiding and abetting in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act for her work on behalf of Jho Low, a foreign fugitive responsible for one of the “largest embezzlement schemes in history,” involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad, according to a sentencing memorandum from U.S. Department of Justice Principal Deputy Chief John D. Keller.
Davis, who did not register as a lobbyist for foreign interests, tried to “use back channel influence” to persuade Trump to drop a federal investigation into Low and to “agree to the extrajudicial removal of a Chinese exile,” Guo Wengui, living in the U.S.
