Tom Barrack
Tom Barrack | |
---|---|
Born | Thomas Joseph Barrack, Jr. April 28, 1947 |
Education | University of Southern California (BA) University of San Diego (JD) |
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Rachelle Barrack (divorced) |
Children | 6 |
Thomas Joseph Barrack Jr. (born April 28, 1947)
In 2021 and 2022, Barrack was indicted on nine charges stemming from his alleged lobbying for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as an unregistered foreign agent.[17][18] In November 2022, he was found not guilty on all charges.[18][19]
Early life and education
Barrack's grandparents were
In 1969, Barrack earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California (USC), where he participated on their varsity rugby team.[23][24] He then attended the USC Gould School of Law, where he was an editor of the Southern California Law Review, before receiving a Juris Doctor from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1972.[23][21][25]
Early career
Barrack's first job was at the law firm of Herbert W. Kalmbach, President Richard Nixon's personal lawyer.[11] In 1972, the firm sent him to Saudi Arabia, where he soon became the squash partner of a Saudi prince.[20][22] He then worked in the kingdom for the Fluor Corporation,[11] and worked for Saudi princes. Shortly after, he helped open diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Haiti, then ruled by Jean-Claude Duvalier, at the request of investor Lonnie Dunn.[11]
In 1982, Barrack served as deputy undersecretary of the United States Department of the Interior under James G. Watt in the Reagan administration.[10][13][20] The Secret Service would board its horses at Barrack's ranch when President Ronald Reagan was at his nearby Rancho del Cielo.[20] Watt made his resignation announcement at Barrack's ranch.[20] Barrack says he became disillusioned with government service after he was required to testify before a congressional committee due to a gift Barrack had paid to the purchaser of then-Attorney General Edwin Meese's house.[20]
Business career
In 1987, Barrack was later a principal with the
In 1990, Barrack founded
Colony American Homes was criticized for treating tenants poorly during the Great Recession, raising rents, evicting people in large numbers and failing to maintain properties.[26][27]
Barrack has previously negotiated drilling rights with
In 2010, Barrack bought $70 million of
As of September 2011, Barrack was the 833rd richest person in the world, and the 375th richest in the United States, with an estimated wealth of US$1.1. billion.[21] However, he was no longer a billionaire in 2014.[28]
In 2012, Barrack sold the
In 2010, Barrack partnered with the
Colony NorthStar merger
On June 3, 2016, Barrack's
However, regulator
On March 1, 2018, management delivered 2017 full year financials which were significantly below previous guidance highlighting the difficulty in its fundraising business. Colony NorthStar not only reported core FFO at $1.16 per share, or 22% below previous midpoint management guidance, but also announced that it would cut its dividend by 60% to $0.44 per share and write down the Investment Management by $375 million.[34] Upon announcement, the share price dropped 23% to close at $6.00 per share leaving the company with a market capitalization of approximately $3.2 billion, or a third of its pro-forma capitalization.[33] On March 10, 2020, Colony Capital's share price closed at $3.41 giving the company a market capitalization of approximately $1.7 billion.[36]
Other
In 2017, Barrack sold a $70 million stake in
Barrack used Cayman Islands entities to invest pension fund money in distressed real estate and send money towards the Colony parent company, according to an organization chart that surfaced in the Paradise Papers documents leaked from the Appleby law firm[37]
Barrack is a trustee at the
Political activity
Barrack endorsed
Barrack recommended that Trump hire Paul Manafort as his campaign manager. Barrack first met Manafort in the 1970s when they were both working for the Saudis and living in Beirut.[22] In 2007, Barrack had loaned Manafort $1.5 million to refinance a home in the Hamptons.[20]
On April 26, 2016, Barrack began an email correspondence with one of his business partners, UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, reassuring him that Trump had investments in the UAE. "The emails were the beginning of Mr. Trump's improbable transformation from a candidate who campaigned against Muslims to a president celebrated in the royal courts of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi," according to New York Times writer David D. Kirkpatrick, who characterized this as a testament to Barrack's "unique place in the Trump world".[22] On May 26, Barrack wrote to Otaiba to introduce Jared Kushner, and the two met later that month.[22] On July 13, Barrack conveyed to Otaiba that Trump had removed from the Republican party platform the plank calling for the release of the 28 pages of redacted information from the 9/11 Commission Report.[22]
On
Barrack served as chairman of the committee overseeing the 2017 Trump inauguration, for which he raised over $100 million, doubling the previous record.[20] Barrack hired Rick Gates, first to help run the inauguration and, following that, as a consultant for his company. Gates was fired from the latter position in October 2017, the day he was indicted.[22]
In a 2017 article in The Washington Post, Barrack commented on Trump's inflammatory rhetoric and proposals to ban immigrants from certain Muslim countries and put up a border wall with Mexico. "He's better than this," he said.[20] He denies a quote attributed to him in the 2018 book Fire and Fury, that Trump was "not only crazy" but "stupid".[45]
Barrack was interviewed during the
In
Throughout the election campaign, transition period and inauguration process, Barrack is said to have had been in touch with people having ties in the ruling family of the
In 2021, Barrack denied involvement in
Barrack was allegedly directed by the UAE officials to meet former congressman Steve Stockman. Between February and 15 March 2017, the Emirates also asked Barrack to endorse the appointment of Stockman as the US Ambassador to the UAE. The Emirati plans were, however, interrupted after Stockman was arrested for stealing and using charity money for personal expenses.[52]
Indictment for foreign lobbying and acquittal
On July 20, 2021, Barrack and his business protege Matthew Grimes were indicted as an agent working at the direction of a foreign power, obstructing justice, and making false statements to law enforcement.[53][54][55] He was jailed for two days before being released on $250 million bond secured by $5 million in cash.[56] The indictment was broadened in May 2022 to include alleging Barrack sought hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from the United Arab Emirates while illegally lobbying the Trump administration on its behalf.[17]
In October 2022, in an interview with a
On November 4, 2022, Barrack and Matthew Grimes were both found not guilty.[19]
Personal life
In 2014, Barrack married Rachelle Roxborough until they divorced in 2016. He has six children.[58] In 2023, it was revealed Barrack had been in a relationship with Hadley Gamble.[59]
His family is based in
Barrack was reportedly a friend of
Awards and honors
- 2000, Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[68]
- 2005, Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies’ Entrepreneur of the Year Award[69]
- 2010, Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur, an award bestowed by the French government for citizens and foreigners
See also
References
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