A judge on Friday ordered Thomas Barrack, the private equity investor charged with illegally lobbying of former President Donald Trump on behalf of United Arab Emirates, to be released from jail on a $250 million bond secured by $5 million in cash.
According to CNBC, the order also mandates that Barrack be fitted with an electronic GPS bracelet, be subject to a curfew and surrender his passport. Additionally, he is barred from spending more than $50,000 on anything or transferring any funds overseas.
The nine-figure bail package was announced during Barrack and co-defendant Matthew Grimes’ hearing in Los Angeles federal court on Friday. Barrack, a close friend of Trump’s who led the president’s 2017 inauguration fund, has been accused of pushing policies that would benefit the UAE. At one point, prosecutors say he even talked to the former president about appointing himself as an ambassador to the country.
Grimes was ordered released on Friday on a $5 million bond. The two men will next appear in court on Monday in Brooklyn, where they will be arraigned. Barrack’s attorney did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment but previously stated that his client would plead not guilty.
Barrack, the former CEO of Colony Capital Inc., and Grimes were arrested Tuesday along with Rashid Sultan Rashid Al Malik Alshahhi in a seven-count indictment charging them with acting and conspiring to act as agents of the United Arab Emirates between April 2016 and April 2018. They are accused of unlawful efforts to influence Trump’s foreign policy at the direction of senior UAE officials.
Following Barrack’s arrest, prosecutors told the judge that he was a flight risk and should not receive bail.
Earlier on Friday, Falcon Acquisition, a special purpose acquisition company backed by Barrack, told the Securities and Exchange Commission it was withdrawing its registration statement with the agency “because the company has elected to abandon” planned transactions, which included an initial public offering of 25 million shares to raise $250 million for Falcon Acquisition, which was formed by Barrack’s family office Falcon Peak and TI Capital.
In March, Barrack stepped down from his post as executive chairman of Colony Capital, which rebranded itself as DigitalBridge last month.