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]
In 1987, Barrack was later a principal with the Robert M. Bass Group.[10][12][13][20] In 1985, Barrack first dealt with Donald Trump when he sold Trump a one-fifth stake in the Alexander's department stores.[22] In 1988, Trump agreed to pay Barrack $410 million for total ownership of the Plaza Hotel.[22] He later lost both properties in bankruptcy.[22]
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]
In 2010, Barrack bought $70 million of Jared Kushner's debt on 666 Fifth Avenue.[22] Kushner later avoided bankruptcy when Barrack agreed to reduce his obligations after a request by Trump.[22]
In 2010, Barrack partnered with the Qatar Investment authority to purchase the film production company Miramax for $660 million.[20] In 2016, Barrack sold Miramax to the Qatari beIN Media Group at a fourfold profit.[22] In October 2017, Barrack's Colony Capital agreed to invest in The Weinstein Company to keep it afloat in light of the sexual misconduct allegations against the company's co-founder, Harvey Weinstein.[30]The New York Times reported that the preliminary agreement with Weinstein fell apart and the acquisition broke down.[31] Colony Capital later withdrew from the deal after being unable to structure the purchase in a way that would enrich Weinstein.[31]
Colony NorthStar merger
On June 3, 2016, Barrack's Colony Capital announced an all-stock three-way merger of equals with two NorthStar affiliates combining his firm with NorthStar Realty Finance and NorthStar Asset Management.[32] The new entity, renamed Colony NorthStar, would have managed $58BN in assets, making it the 5th largest real estate manager globally at that time.[33] Management disclosed in regulatory filings that the newly formed Colony NorthStar would have a pro-forma equity market capitalization of $7 billion and total capitalization of $17 billion.[33] On February 28, 2017, management gave full year guidance which estimated that core funds from operations ("FFO") would be between $1.40 – 1.58 per share while targeting dividends payments of $1.08 per share.[34]
However, regulator FINRA had just passed legislation modifying fee disclosures for REITs.[35] The new legislation forced Colony NorthStar to disclose details regarding the fees it charged clients. The success of the merger relied on fees the company expected to earn from newly raised capital. In particular, retail management fees from Investment Management companies NorthStar/RXR NY Metro Real Estate and NorthStar Real Estate Capital Income Fund, which were raising a combined $5.2 billion, had been discussed throughout management presentations of the merger.[33] The new legislation complicated Colony Capital ability to grow its capital fundraising business as clients balked at fee levels once FINRA/NASD passed the new disclosure rules.
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]
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 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 Republicanparty platform the plank calling for the release of the 28 pages of redacted information from the 9/11 Commission Report.[22]
On July 21, Barrack spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention.[44] In September 2016, Barrack helped set up a meeting between Trump and the Emir of Qatar in Trump Tower, although, as Kilpatrick noted, none of the investments brought in from the gulf by Barrack's firm in the two years following that meeting came from Qatar.[22] After Trump became president, Barrack continued to act as a middleman between him and Arab princes.[22]
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]
In May 2019, it was reported that the Eastern District of New York had "raised questions" about inaugural committee donations, including committee chairman Barrack's ties to the Middle East.[48]
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 United Arab Emirates, including Rashid al-Malik, a friend and business associate of Barrack and Yousef al-Otaiba UAE's ambassador to the US. According to a New York Times report published in July 2019, Barrack also exchanged emails with Malik, sharing with him a draft of Trump's energy policy speech to seek approval on the 'pro-gulf region language'. Malik, as per the emails, "circulated the draft among Emirati and Saudi officials" to seek further approval, followed by Barrack incorporating the language suggested by Malik in the draft sent to Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman at the time.[49]
In 2021, Barrack denied involvement in Trump's pardon of Robert Zangrillo, a developer and investor who was charged in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal for his alleged role in getting his daughter accepted into USC. The White House had listed Barrack as a supporter of the pardon.[50][51]
Barrack was allegedly directed by the UAE officials to meet former congressman Steve Stockman. Between February and March 15, 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 State Department investigator, which was conducted to determine if or not Barrack would be a threat to the national security as an ambassador, he failed to provide names of the four Emiratis, who on behalf of the UAE government assigned Barrack to influence the Trump campaign. Barrack only mentioned the names of Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, Nacho Figueras and Roberto Hernandez Ramirez.[57]
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 Los Angeles, California.[28] He also owns a 1,200-acre mountain ranch near Santa Barbara, California,[11][21] as well as Happy Canyon Vineyards in the Happy Canyon of Santa Barbara AVA, and a tasting room in downtown Santa Barbara.[60] He is Roman Catholic.[22][61] In 2014, Barrack bought a house in Santa Monica for $21 million, which he later sold for $35 million, the highest price for a residence in that area.[62][63] In 2017, he purchased a $15.5 million home in Aspen, Colorado.[64]