LATEST UPDATES Last updated on May 15, 2020
BCW
Formerly Burson-Marsteller
(for Ennahda Party)
Hired: Sept. 2014
2018 fees: $285,000
NEW Late supplemental
(Jan. 1, 2015 – June 30, 2015)
Tunisia’s Ennahda party paid Burson-Marsteller (now BCW) $100,000 in the first half of 2015. The firm also disclosed issues of Ennahda’s newsletter from early 2015.
America to Africa Consulting
(for politician Olfa Terras-Rambourg)
Hired: May 2019
Contract: $15,000/month
NEW Supplemental (termination)
(May 1, 2019 – Oct. 31, 2019)
America to Africa Consulting stopped working for Tunisian politician Olfa Terras-Rambourg on Oct. 31. The firm was paid $19,000 by Terras-Rambourg in the six-month period ending Oct. 31, and Jeannine Scott, the firm’s founder and principal, disclosed no lobbying in that time period.
Trip: Feb. 6, 2020 to Feb. 11, 2020
3 staffers; $8,200
Trip type: Privately sponsored
Sponsor: International Republican Institute
Destination: Tunisia
The International Republican Institute spent $8,200 on a Feb. 6 to 11 trip to Tunisia by three House staffers.
Dickens & Madson (Canada)
(for businessman and presidential candidate Nabil Karoui)
Hired: Aug. 2019
Contract: $1 million
NEW Contract
A leading Tunisian presidential candidate imprisoned on graft charges has retained a lobbyist ahead of the second round of voting on Oct. 23. Media mogul Nabil Karoui hired Montreal-based Dickens and Madson (Canada) to lobby the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in view of “attaining the presidency of the Republic of Tunisia.” Karoui was arrested on Aug. 23 on charges of money laundering and tax fraud, which he denies. The $1 million contract with Dickens and Madson is dated Aug. 19. In a filing with the Justice Department this week, the firm said it received an initial payment of $250,000 around Sept. 25. Karoui agreed to pay the remaining $750,000 by mid-October, according to the filing.
The contract calls for Dickens and Madson president Ari Ben-Menashe to “strive to arrange meetings” with US President Donald Trump and other senior US officials. The contract also calls on the firm to seek a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to obtain “material support for the push for the presidency.” Karoui placed second in the Sept. 15 election, behind conservative lawyer Kais Saied.
Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence operative and arms dealer, previously represented Libya’s Tobruk-based House of Representatives as well as Libyan strongman Khalifa Hifter. Earlier this year, the Canadian government asked the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to investigate Ben-Menashe for possible sanctions violations after he signed a $6 million contract with Sudan’s transitional military government.