A Virginia lobbyist and a New Jersey political consultant each have entered into Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPAs) to resolve allegations that they failed to comply with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) and committed related offenses while representing the government of Qatar.
Barry P. Bennett, 60, of Alexandria, Va., owned and operated Avenue Strategies, LLC and Avenue Strategies Global, LLC, a pair of consulting firms in Washington D.C.
Through the DPA, Bennett consented to the filling of a two-count criminal information charging him with a scheme to falsify, conceal, and cover up material facts from the Department of Justice’s FARA Unit and false statements and material omissions in FARA filings.
The information will be dismissed with prejudice after Bennett complies with the DPA’s terms, which include amending his FARA filings and payment of a $100,000 fine.
Douglas Watts, 73, of Jersey City, N.J., is a former presidential campaign consultant who also founded and ran a lobbying and public relations company.
Through the DPA Watts signed, he consented to the filing of a three-count criminal information charging him with acting as an agent of a foreign principal without registering under FARA and with making false statements to the FBI. The information will be dismissed with prejudice after Watts complies with the DPA’s terms, which include a payment of a $25,000 fine.
In 2017, Bennett signed a contract for Avenue Strategies to perform lobbying services for the embassy of Qatar. As part of his lobbying strategy on behalf of, and for and in the interest of Qatar, Bennett covertly operated Yemen Crisis Watch, a Limited Liability Company (LLC) founded by Watts at Bennett’s direction.
As directed by Bennett and managed by Watts, Yemen Crisis Watch ran a public relations campaign designed to cast Qatar’s rivals, Saudia Arabia and the U.A.E., in a negative light, and thereby to improve Qatar's standing with the U.S. government relative to these rivals.
Qatar paid Bennett’s Avenue Strategies $2.1 million between September 2017 and December 2017 for lobbying services, and approximately 27% of those funds (i.e., approximately $773,000) financed the operations of the advocacy group: Yemen Crisis Watch. In return, Yemen Crisis Watch. conducted a social media campaign, published opinion articles in major newspapers, produced a documentary that was distributed through a national television network, sent direct mailings to American citizens, and lobbied Congress and former President Trump.
Yemen Crisis Watch. took credit for directing 3,000 phone calls to members of the U.S. House of Representatives encouraging them to discontinue U.S. involvement in a coalition of Qatar’s rivals. The House eventually voted overwhelmingly to “deauthorize” U.S. involvement with the coalition.
Neither Watts nor Yemen Crisis Watch. was registered under FARA.
FARA was enacted in 1938 to counter propaganda and promote transparency and disclosure. The Department of Justice recently described the purpose of the law to Congress as means of ensuring “that the American public and our lawmakers know the source of information that is provided at the behest of a foreign principal, where that information may be intended to influence US public opinion, policy, and laws.”
Bennett’s consulting company, Avenue Strategies, failed to disclose in its FARA filings its creation of Yemen Crisis Watch.. In addition, Avenue Strategies failed to disclose Bennett’s and Avenue Strategies’ affiliation with Yemen Crisis Watch., Avenue Strategies’ disbursements to Yemen Crisis Watch., and Watt’s work on behalf of Yemen Crisis Watch. and Qatar. The omissions of information thwarted FARA’s disclosure requirements.
During two separate interviews in February 2020, Watts made false and materially misleading statements to the FBI about his knowledge of Yemen Crisis Watch formation, its purpose and activities, and its connection to Qatar.
If the case had gone to trial, the government would have sought to prove that Bennett engaged in a scheme to falsify, conceal, and cover up material facts from the Department of Justice’s FARA unit. The government also would have sought to prove that Bennett made false statements and material omissions in filings under FARA.
In addition, the government would have sought to prove that Watts acted as an unregistered agent of a foreign principal and made false statements or representations to a department or agency of the United States.
Prior to opening Avenue Strategies, Bennet and partner Cory Lewandowski worked on former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaingn. "We're your sherpa through turbulent times," Mr. Bennet told the New York Times when he and Mr. Lewandowski opened their firm.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2021 that in Avenue Strategies’ federal lobbying disclosure forms, one of the firm’s first moves was to request a DOJ investigation of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee, which Mr. Bennett argued improperly failed to register as a foreign agent.
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