FBI interviews associate of top fundraiser for Trump's 2016 campaign: report

On Thursday, The Daily Beast reported that the FBI has questioned Lisa Korbatov, a Los Angeles GOP activist and former business associate of key Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy.

Korbatov was reportedly questioned by Justice Department investigators in Washington about her work with Broidy, as well as about President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Broidy, a major fundraiser for Trump's campaign and inaugural committee, previously served as deputy finance chair of the Republican National Committee. He resigned from the RNC last April amid allegations that Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen brokered a $1.6 million payoff to a Playboy Playmate who claims to have had an abortion after he impregnated her. Broidy categorically denies this accusation.

It is unclear exactly what the Justice Department's interest in Broidy is, but a Washington Postreport last August suggested that prosecutors were looking into whether Broidy offered to facilitate official Trump administration actions on behalf of foreign entities in return for tens of millions of dollars.

Broidy is at least tangentially associated with multiple entities at the heart of criminal investigations. The Trump inaugural committee, which Broidy helped fund, is currently under investigation by federal prosecutors who are trying to determine whether any of its donors sought quid pro quo arrangements, or whether any of its funding was improperly diverted into the Trump Organization.

Meanwhile, one of the prosecutors investigating Broidy is also involved in the DOJ probe of 1MDB, the Malaysian wealth fund. 1MDB is at the heart of a massive international scandal, in which fund managers allegedly embezzled $4.5 billion and engaged in widespread bribery and money laundering to conceal it. An anonymous associate named in a civil forfeiture complaint against indicted 1MDB financier Low Taek matches Broidy's description, and the Wall Street Journal has also reported Broidy was in talks to earn millions of dollars if the Justice Department stopped investigating Low.

There is currently no confirmation that Broidy has engaged in any criminal activity, and Broidy has denied wrongdoing. His spokespersons declined to speak to The Daily Beast on the record.