Liz Truss's chief of staff retains the Prime Minister's "full support", No10 has said, after it emerged he had been interviewed by the FBI as a witness as part of a bribery probe.
Downing Street faced questions over Mark Fullbrook's position following revelations that he had been interviewed by agents as a witness to an alleged criminal plot to bribe an American politician and influence a US election.
A spokesperson for Mr Fullbrook said he is "committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which he works and is confident that he has done so in this matter".
The political strategist, who ran Ms Truss's leadership campaign, has not travelled to New York with the PM for the UN General Assembly this week.
A spokeswoman for the PM said: “It’s actually not unusual for the chiefs of staff to remain in Downing Street.
"There’s a lot of government business taking place this week, in fact if anything it’s more unusual for them to attend and not remain at Downing Street to oversee that work.”
Asked if the PM was 100% behind her chief of staff after the revelations, the spokeswoman said: “Yes.”
Pressed on whether Ms Truss had misgivings about his previous activities, she said: “I’m not going to get into individuals.
"As this pre-dates his political role, a spokesperson for Mark has commented on those reports, I’m not going to add to that. But as I said, he has her full support.”
The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that the FBI is investigating an alleged conspiracy to subvert the democracy of Puerto Rico – a US-administered island in the Caribbean.
The probe centres upon Tory donor Julio Herrera Velutini, the London-based owner of a Puerto Rican bank, Bancredito.
The 50-year-old, and former FBI agent, Mark Rossini, 60, allegedly promised ex-Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vázquez Garced £260,000 for her 2020 re-election campaign if she sacked the island’s chief financial regulator.
Records reportedly show Velutini donated £650,604 to the Conservative Party between December 2019 and June 2022.
It is understood he was not eligible to donate to a US election while claimed in his indictment he did not want the deal to become known.
As such, he paid the money to CT Group, an Australian-British lobbying firm where Mr Fullbrook was boss and the company’s chief global projects officer at the time. . Mr Fullbrook never did any work for the Governor or the campaign, his spokesman said.
The Donald Trump-supporting Republican was unsuccessful in her re-election bid in 2020.
Last month, the US Department of Justice (DoJ) charged Garced, Rossini and Velutini with conspiracy, federal programs bribery, and honest services wire fraud that could see them face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
All deny any wrongdoing.
At the time of the arrests on August 4, Kenneth Polite Jr, an assistant attorney-general at the DoJ, said: “The alleged bribery scheme rose to the highest levels of the Puerto Rican Government, threatening public trust in our electoral processes and institutions of governance.”
In April, the FBI approached Britain’s National Crime Agency and the Metropolitan Police to help secure Mr Fullbrook's attendance for a formal interview.
He agreed after he was approached by Scotland Yard.
Mr Fullbrook's representatives said he had no knowledge of any alleged bribery or corruption when CT Group was contracted to provide service to Velutini.
A spokesman for Mr Fullbrook said: "As has been made repeatedly clear, Mr Fullbrook is committed to and complies with all laws and regulations in any jurisdiction in which he works and is confident that he has done so in this matter.
"Indeed, Mark Fullbrook is a witness in this matter and has fully, completely and voluntarily engaged with the US authorities in this matter, as he would always do in any circumstance in which his assistance is sought by authorities.
"The work was engaged only by Mr. Herrera and only to conduct opinion research for him and no one else. Mr Fullbrook never did any work for, nor presented any research findings to, the Governor or her campaign. There has been no engagement since.
"Mr Fullbrook understands that there are active legal proceedings against other individuals and entities. It would therefore be inappropriate to comment further."
