The top five foreign influence fails of 2024

2024 was a big year for foreign influence in the U.S., in all the worst ways.

Hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the nation’s top lobbying and public relations firms from foreign powers in 2024. The final numbers aren’t in yet, but we’re already seeing 8-figure spending from America’s allies (like Japan and Australia), adversaries (like China), and whatever Turkey and Saudi Arabia are these days.

Though my colleagues and I at the Quincy Institute continued to write story after story about all this foreign lobbying, most mainstream media outlets paid little heed to this perfectly legal system that allows foreign powers to mold U.S. foreign policy as they see fit.

Illicit foreign influence operations, however, really had a banner year (congratulations corruption, you did it!) and garnered immense media attention. There was rampant evidence of attempted foreign meddling in the 2024 elections and at least a dozen people were either convicted, indicted, or reached prosecution agreements related to violating the U.S.’s preeminent law for regulating foreign influence in America, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

In the biggest stories of all, several prominent political figures faced accusations of covertly doing the bidding of foreign governments. Plus, we’re still waiting to see if former Fugees star Pras Michél, who was convicted in 2023 of engaging in an illicit foreign influence campaign on behalf of Chinese interests, will face the maximum 22-year sentence or if it will get reduced to something shorter and perhaps he’ll just be “Gone till November.”

Needless to say, there was heavy competition to make it into the top 5 foreign influence fails of 2024, but here they are:

5. A think-tanker got some expensive handbags and the Justice Department was NOT having it.

In July, DOJ indicted long-time think tanker and Korean Peninsula expert, Sue Mi Terry, for acting as an unregistered foreign agent for South Korea. Terry’s alleged transgressions included doing favors for South Korean spies in exchange for $37,000 in a think tank “gift” account she controlled and some pretty swanky handbags from Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton that cost around $3,000 each.

Greg Craig — who served as White House counsel during the Obama administration, is a prominent FARA critic, and was also previously accused of violating FARA — raised objections to Terry’s indictment, referring to the handbags as “trinkets,” without explaining exactly how much foreign corruption he would be okay with. But, if he’s willing to excuse gold bars, piles of cash, and luxury cars from foreign governments, some of our other top 5 contenders might be off the hook too. Stay tuned!

The lesson: buy your own $3,000 “trinkets.”

4. The Israeli government ran big, illicit foreign influence campaigns in the U.S … and nobody cared.

The New York Times and The Guardian reported this summer that Israel attempted to covertly silence critics and influence key members of the U.S. Congress on issues related to the war in Gaza. What was the U.S. government's response to these $10 million+ illicit influence ops? Nothing. Well, next to nothing.

A couple members of Congress raised concerns, most notably, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who sarcastically wondered what prominent pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC thought of the whole ordeal (“Not something allies should do, right? Right, ⁦@AIPAC? ⁦@AIPAC?”) Despite Pocan’s protests, the Israeli government got exactly what it wanted from the U.S. — namely $17.9 billion in military aid. So, the fail here isn’t Israel’s, it’s that the DOJ hasn’t announced any investigation into Israel’s illicit influence ops and, in fact, no Biden administration official has even bothered to wave a finger at Israel for this brazen attempt to meddle in America.

The lesson: Apparently, it’s perfectly fine for America’s friends to meddle in its democracy.

3. A sitting member of Congress was indicted for allegedly taking bribes from Azerbaijan.

“Bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering,” are words probably no elected official wants mentioned in the same sentence as their name, but those were exactly the charges levied by the DOJ against the sitting Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) on May 3, 2024. Cuellar allegedly accepted bribes from a state-owned Azerbaijani oil company and a Mexican bank to push U.S. foreign policy in their favor. Cuellar — referred to as “boss” by his Azerbaijani handler — is still in Congress and just won re-election.

The lesson: if you’re a member of Congress and you’re going to take bribes from a foreign government, well, don’t. But, if you must, maybe don’t make it so obvious by co-chairing the congressional caucus that focuses on the bribing government.

2. Mayor introduces trash cans … and unprecedented foreign bribery scandal to New York City.

In the summer of 2024, New York City Mayor Eric Adams nearly broke the internet when he introduced the next step in the Big Apple’s “Trash Revolution” — a trash can. The mayor was eviscerated by internet trolls for seemingly discovering trash cans in 2024. But Adams' year would get much, much worse just two months later, when the Justice Department indicted him for illicit ties to the government of Turkey and Turkish companies. The indictment includes allegations of wire fraud, bribery, and receiving illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals. Adams now holds the ignominious title of being the only NYC mayor to be charged with a crime while in office. And, Adams' legal woes may not be over, as he is also allegedly under investigation for illicit ties to five other countries: China, Israel, Qatar, South Korea, and Uzbekistan.

The lesson: trash cans are pretty awesome! For the low cost of $1.6 million, McKinsey agrees.

1. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman is convicted of foreign bribery.

Gold bars, piles of cash, a Mercedes — the conviction this summer of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) truly had it all. “This case has always been about shocking levels of corruption…This wasn’t politics as usual; this was politics for profit,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said following Menendez’s conviction.

That conviction ended up being something of a slam-dunk for the U.S. attorneys due in no small part to Menendez himself seemingly bumbling through the whole corruption scheme (he literally googled, “kilo of gold price,” after receiving a gold bar as a bribe). And, Menendez wasn’t just any senator — he was the most powerful person in the Senate when it comes to U.S. foreign policy, as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which oversees war powers, treaties, troop deployments, military aid, and many other foreign policy issues.

Lesson: if you accept a gold bar as a bribe — again, please don’t accept bribes — but if you must, DO NOT immediately google the value of a gold bar. It’s not a good look…and it can land you in jail.