Monitor Group Admits Violating FARA Law Share This:

The Monitor Group, a business consulting firm run by Harvard professors, has admitted that they broke the Foreign Agents Registration Act in their work promoting Moammar Gaddafi’s Libya. The Examiner has the story:

Monitor Group, an international consulting firm headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, today admitted violating the Foreign Agent Registration Act regarding its lobbying for Libyan dictator Muammar Khadafy. The Harvard University-linked company also admitted breaking federal law regarding its 2010 media work for the Kingdom of Jordan but did not provide details. Monitor Group was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for failure to register as a foreign agent after details of multi-million dollar deals with Libya were earlier reported following disclosure of the company’s contracts by a Libyan opposition group. In a written statement Monitor Group said: “Monitor is committed to ensuring that we consistently live and manifest the values, ethics and standards that have characterized our Firm for more than 25 years.”

Sunlight was the first to question Monitor’s adherence to the FARA law in a post back on March 1. The post stated:

“Monitor is not a lobbying group.” That was the assertion in one of a series of memos between The Monitor Group and the Government of Libya that were leaked by the Libyan opposition to Muammar Gaddafi’s now-tenuous rule of Libya. The memos, leaked in 2009, detail an extensive plan to promote the Libyan view to government officials and the American public that may leave many wondering why the firm never registered as a foreign lobbying group under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Beginning in 2006, Monitor began work as a consultant for Libya to “Enhance the Profile of Libya and Muammar Qadhafi” and to help the country establish an economic strategy. Monitor stated that it charged the Government of Libya $250,000 a month along with an open expense account that would not total more than $2.5 million. … The Monitor Group memos outline a strategy that is based on the need to influence both government officials in relation to U.S. policy and public opinion in regards to the Government of Libya and its leaders.

CNN also did a story about Monitor and other lobbying groups working for Gaddafi that you can watch here: