The United Arab Emirates tried in 2017 to get a former Republican congressman appointed as U.S. ambassador, but the plan was scuttled after he was arrested on fraud charges, prosecutors said in a separate case against a onetime fundraiser for Donald Trump.
While the former congressman wasn’t identified by name in a court filing Friday, the U.S. government said he was arrested in March 16, 2017. That matches the arrest date for Stephen E. Stockman, a former U.S. representative from Texas.
Stockman was sentenced in 2018 to serve 10 years in prison after being convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for charity and using the money to pay for personal expenses and his political campaigns. Trump, before leaving office, commuted his sentence in December 2020.
