A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a businessman who sued a Republican fundraiser, alleging the man has lobbied the U.S. government to send him back to China.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lia Martin ruled Thursday that Miles Kwok’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, filed last May, did not state sufficient facts and details to move forward. The suit named as defendants Elliott Broidy; his company, Capital Management LLC; Broidy’s wife, Robin Rosenzweig; and her law firm, Colfax Law Office Inc.
The suit’s allegations included intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and interference with prospective economic advantage. The suit sought unspecified damages.
Attorneys for Broidy stated in their court papers in support of dismissing the suit that the case involved constitutional issues.
“First, the alleged conduct at the core of (Kwok’s) complaint, lobbying and publicity, is not an act of wrongdoing; it instead would be an exercise of unalienable Constitutional right,” the Broidy lawyers stated in their court papers. “Plaintiffs’ causes of action cannot breach that constitutional barrier.”
The complaint dubbed Kwok, whose real name is Wengui Guo, as “one of the world’s foremost advocates for the rule of law and democracy in the People’s Republic of China.”
Kwok’s criticisms of the lack of democracy in China has made him a target of the communist regime and he has applied for asylum in the U.S., the suit stated.
“(Kwok’s ) life will be in grave danger if he is returned to China,” according to the suit.
Kwok believed that Broidy — by means of “concealment and fraud” — has secretly worked as an unregistered foreign agent for the Chinese government, which wants to silence Kwok, the suit stated.
Broidy lobbied U.S. government officials, including former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to persuade them to have Kwok sent back to China, the suit states.
“(Kwok) … believes that Broidy did this while lying about his own interests and by concealing that he was acting on behalf of China and other foreign governments and persons,” the suit stated.
Broidy’s alleged lobbying campaign against Kwok was discovered after some of Broidy’s emails became public in March 2018, when they were published in the media,’ the suit stated.
“Prior to this time, (Kwok) had no knowledge or any way of knowing of the secret campaign engaged in by Broidy and others to injure him,” the suit stated.
The suit further alleged that Broidy and Rosenzweig worked together to destroy Kwok’s public image by “creating and publishing propaganda hit pieces disguised as news stories.”
Some of the allegedly phony articles presented Kwok as a rapist and someone who engaged in bribery and fraud, the suit stated.
Broidy served as a vice chairman of both the Trump Victory Committee and of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the suit stated.
In October 2006, Broidy hosted a fundraiser for then-President George W. Bush, where $1 million was raised, according to the suit.