Elliott Broidy

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Elliott Broidy
Broidy in 2025
Deputy Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee
In office
April 2017 – April 13, 2018
Finance Chairman of the Republican National Committee
In office
2005–2008
Personal details
Born1956 or 1957 (age 67–68)[1]
Political partyRepublican
SpouseRobin Rosenzweig
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Southern California (BS)
Websiteelliottbroidy.com

Elliott B. Broidy (born 1956 or 1957) is an American businessman and Republican political fundraiser. From 2005 to 2008, he served as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). He was deputy finance chairman of the RNC from 2017 to 2018.

Early life and education

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Raised in Westwood, Los Angeles, Broidy is the son of Sherman G. Broidy (1924–2014), an educator and property developer, and Dorothy Horowitz, a nurse.[2] He is Jewish.[3]

Broidy says he put himself through the University of Southern California "working as a commercial salmon fisherman" and that he "saved $10,000 and bought an East Los Angeles laundromat that he visited almost every day."[4] Broidy graduated from USC with a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance.[5] He was a Certified Public Accountant from 1982 to 1993.[6][7]

Career

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Business

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Broidy began his career in finance at Arthur Andersen in the tax department. One of his first clients was boxer Muhammad Ali, starting in 1979, not long before Ali retired from professional boxing in 1981.[8] Another of his clients, Glen Bell, the founder of Taco Bell, hired him to manage his personal investments. He was the managing director at Bell Enterprises from 1982 to 1991.[4] In 1991, he founded Broidy Capital Management, an investment firm, serving as its chairman and chief executive officer.[5][6][9]

In the early 2000s, Broidy established Markstone Capital Partners, which invested in Israeli firms. He met with Benjamin Netanyahu, then the Israeli finance minister.[4] Broidy raised $800 million for Markstone, primarily with the close cooperation of elected managers of government workers' pension funds in California, New York, and other states, as well as the city of Los Angeles, where he was on the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension fund's board of trustees.[4][10] Around 2014, after Markstone co-founder Amir Kess was killed in an accident in which he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle to work, Markstone closed.[11][12]

While in operation, Markstone's lead investor was the New York State Common Pension Fund.[5][6][13] The pension fund invested $250 million with Markstone.[14] In 2009, after falling under investigation by then New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, Broidy took a plea deal that resulted in a misdemeanor after having been charged with providing excess gratuity to the former New York State comptroller.[10][15][16][14][17] Broidy had provided gratuities to New York State pension authorities. The gratuities included luxury trips to Israel and an undisclosed investment in a film produced by the New York State Retirement Fund's chief investment officer's brother.[14][18] As part of the plea deal, Broidy paid $18 million in restitution of management fees paid by the state. He later resigned as chairman of Markstone.[10]

Broidy served as chairman of ESI Holdings, an event management firm. He served as commissioner and chairman of the Alternative Investment Committee of the Los Angeles City Fire and Police Pension Fund from 2002 to 2009.[5][6][10]

Circinus LLC

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In 2014, Broidy purchased the Virginia-based OSINT services provider Circinus LLC, which provided services to the United States and other governments. In October 2017, Broidy met at the White House with Jared Kushner and then with President Donald Trump to discuss Circinus. Broidy said Trump was "extremely enthusiastic" about the firm potentially signing a contract with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[4] He also suggested to Trump that he should fire United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.[19][20] By 2018, Circinus reportedly obtained defense contracts worth more than $200 million from the UAE.[21][22]

In March 2018, Broidy sued Qatar, alleging that its government hacked his emails and launched a smear campaign to discredit him because he was viewed "as an impediment to their plan to improve the country's standing in Washington".[23] In May 2018, the lawsuit named Mohammed bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, brother of the Emir of Qatar, and his associate Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, as orchestrating Qatar's cyber warfare campaign against Broidy.[24][25] Broidy accused diplomat Jamal Benomar of being a secret Qatari agent and sued him for the hacking. In the case, Broidy Capital Management LLC v. Jamal Benomar, it was determined that Benomar had diplomatic immunity that prevented him from facing litigation, and the appellate court dismissed the case.[26][27]

Politics

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Broidy became interested in politics after the 9/11 attacks. He joined the Republican Jewish Coalition[28] and ultimately became a member of its board of directors. Between 2002 and 2004 he donated more than $300,000 to the George W. Bush 2004 presidential campaign.[29] From 2004 to 2006 he raised campaign funds for numerous Republican candidates. In October 2006, he hosted a fundraiser for Bush, where $1 million was raised.[30] Later that year, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff appointed Broidy to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Terrorism Task Force, and the New Technology Task Force.[5][9][10]

Broidy led Republican fundraising efforts from 2005 to 2008 as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), including during the 2008 elections. In the 2016 elections, he was a top fundraiser for Trump, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio.[31] From April 2017 until April 13, 2018, he was a deputy finance chairman of the RNC.[32] Bruce Bialosky of the Republican Jewish Coalition said, "A lot of people talked a big game, but when he said he could raise big money, he actually did."[4]

In 2016, Broidy served as a vice chairman of the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee of the Donald Trump campaign and the RNC.[33] In addition, he served as a vice-chairman of the Presidential Inaugural Committee.[34] In April 2017, Broidy was named one of three national deputy finance chairmen of the RNC, along with Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen and the businessman Louis DeJoy.[35][36]

In March 2017, Broidy met with the former deputy head of China's Ministry of Public Security to discuss the extradition of Guo Wengui.[37] Guo was later arrested for defrauding followers and investors.[38]

In April 2017, Broidy was appointed deputy finance chairman of the RNC.[32]

On April 13, 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Broidy had an intimate relationship with Playboy Playmate Shera Bechard.[39][40] He resigned as deputy finance chairman of the RNC soon thereafter.[32][41] Michael Cohen arranged and made payments intending to keep the relationship private.[41][42][43][44][32] In response to the Journal article, Broidy issued a statement acknowledging that he had had a "consensual relationship with a Playboy Playmate", that Cohen had contacted him after being approached by the woman's attorney, Keith M. Davidson, and that Broidy had then hired Cohen to work out a non-disclosure agreement.[45][46][47] Broidy's lawyer, Chris Clark, said Broidy would withhold further payments to Bechard due to an alleged breach of the NDA on her part.[48] On July 6, 2018, Bechard sued Broidy and the attorney Michael Avenatti in relation to the cessation of the settlement payments.[49][50][51]

In 2019, Broidy filed lawsuits accusing a former CIA officer, Kevin Chalker, and three lobbyists of aiding Qatar in hacking and distributing his communications to damage his reputation. Broidy alleged that Chalker's firm, Global Risk Advisors, carried out the hack for Qatar, but Chalker, whose company was contracted for 2022 FIFA World Cup security, denied involvement. A separate lawsuit targeted lobbyists Nick Muzin, Joey Allaham, and Gregory Howard, claiming they disseminated the hacked information to undermine Broidy's political influence. All denied involvement.[52] In 2023, Broidy withdrew claims against Allaham, who admitted knowledge of the hack but denied participation. By April 2024, Broidy dropped both lawsuits following a settlement.[52][53]

In 2020, Broidy pleaded guilty to failure to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) for his work on behalf of a Malaysian individual.[54] On January 19, 2021, President Trump pardoned Broidy.[55]

In June 2020, Broidy submitted a legal filing in a New York federal court in which he accused Qatar of paying tens of millions of dollars to Global Risk Advisors (GRA), including its chief executive Kevin Chalker, to hack, surveil, and silence U.S. citizens who criticized Qatar.[56]

Trump pardon for Elliott Broidy, and 26 other individuals, on January 19, 2021

Philanthropy and boards of directors

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In 2006, President Bush appointed Broidy to the board of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.[10][57]

Broidy served on the board of governors and the endowment committee of Hebrew Union College and the board of trustees of the Hillel Foundation, as well as the Center for Investment Studies at the Marshall School of Business at his alma mater, the University of Southern California.[5] He served on the board of governors of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the board of trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.[6][9] The Raoul Wallenberg Committee of the United States gave Broidy the 2008 Raoul Wallenberg Award for his Jewish philanthropy.[15] After several stories arising from the hack by Qatar were published, Broidy resigned from several of these boards and philanthropic appointments.[32][46]

In 2025, Broidy was involved in the nonprofit Counter Extremism Project's (CEP) effort to purchase the home of Rudolph Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, which was featured in the movie The Zone of Interest, coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The property, known as "House 88", signifying the Nazi code for "Heil Hitler" (since H is the eighth letter of the alphabet), became famous in 2024 because of the movie's popularity. CEP announced that the home "will be converted into a center dedicated to combatting antisemitism, extremism, and hate."[58]

Films

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Broidy was the executive producer of the independent films Sugar and Snake & Mongoose, both released in 2013.[59]

Personal life

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Broidy is married to Robin Rosenzweig, a former senior executive of 20th Century Studios.[60] They have three children.[9] After residing in Holmby Hills, they moved to Bel Air in 2005. In 2001, they rented their Bel Air house to Angelina Jolie but later tore it down and built their dream home.[61] According to the Los Angeles Times, Broidy sold his mansion in 2012 and moved to Beverly Hills.[4]

Broidy collects and restores rare and high-end automobiles, including models by Ferrari and Lamborghini. According to the Los Angeles Times, Broidy was inspired by James Bond and specifically collected and restored an Aston Martin DB5 that as of 2023 was "undergoing a full nut-and-bolt restoration". Broidy also is said to own an Aston Martin V8 Vantage Le Mans V600.[62] The V600 is reportedly one of only 40 models ever made as part of a special run made to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1959 Aston Martin win of the 24-hour Le Mans race.[62]

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References

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