Correction: In a May 10, 2018, article, TYT reported that two sources said that Circinus, a private security firm owned by Republican fundraiser Elliott Broidy’s company, Threat Deterrence, LLC, operated in Florida without a license after the company purchased it. At the time of publication, the Circinus website listed Florida as one of the company’s locations. In addition, a Circinus representative told TYT on background at the time that the company still operates in Florida. Now, an attorney for Broidy is disputing aspects of the article and the two sources have been unable to provide TYT with sufficient additional information for us to continue to rely on some of their prior statements.
Broidy’s attorney contacted TYT after the story appeared and said, “Circinus does not operate a private security service in Florida, and the company has not, as your article falsely states, ‘had multiple armed employees operating in Florida without a proper license.’ Instead, it provides only security consulting services.” The article has been amended to reflect this new information. TYT regrets the error.
After the article’s publication, the Circinus website was taken down, including its listing of Florida as one of its locations. The two sources stand by their claim that Circinus operated as a security service prior to Broidy’s purchase and have shared with TYT documentation that lists two “executive protection specialists” as being paid to perform work in Florida in 2013.
Image Credits: broidycapital.
A private security firm now owned by a company owned by Elliott Broidy, a top fundraiser and associate of President Trump, conducted business illegally in the state of Florida prior to Broidy’s purchase of the company, sources with direct knowledge have told TYT.
The Virginia-based security firm—Circinus, LLC—was acquired in 2015 by Threat Deterrence, LLC, another company owned by Broidy, a spokesman for Circinus told TYT. Broidy is a controversial L.A.-based venture capitalist who has served in various fundraising roles for Trump, including his position as deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Broidy resigned from the RNC in April after a report that he paid $1.6 million to a former Playboy model he reportedly had impregnated. Broidy also has close ties to United Arab Emirates adviser George Nader, who is now cooperating with the Mueller investigation.
Broidy reportedly has promoted Circinus in meetings with President Trump, reportedly once praising its work developing a paramilitary force for the UAE. He has also been a guest of Mr. Trump’s at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Now, two sources with direct knowledge of the company’s operations at the time tell TYT that Circinus had multiple armed employees operating in Florida without a proper license in 2013, before Threat Deterrence purchased the company. In a letter to TYT, Broidy attorney Filberto Agusti called it “manifestly false . . . that Circinus has used armed security guards in the state of Florida without proper state security licensing and has thus operated illegally in the state.”
According to a records department official at the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Circinus application was denied because it did not provide a physical address or articles of incorporation. The application was denied in July of 2014; Circinus did not apply again for any other license, the official said.
One source told TYT that Circinus did not provide a proper business address on its application because it did not have one in Florida. A spokesperson for Circinus told TYT that the firm “has new leadership that started in July of 2015 when Threat Deterrence purchased the company, and they do not have visibility into this issue.”
In his letter responding to an earlier version of this article, Agusti wrote, “Circinus does not operate a private security service in Florida, and the company has not, as your article falsely states, ‘had multiple armed employees operating in Florida without a proper license.’ Instead, it provides only security consulting services, consisting generally of recommending and installing security systems and training. The security services contemplated by the 2013 license application referenced in your story were never undertaken by Circinus in Florida.”
A 2013 Circinus invoice obtained by TYT lists payments due to two contractors described as “executive protection specialist,” industry terminology for bodyguards assigned to corporate executives or other VIPs. The application listed the customer’s location as Florida, with a Florida zip code.
As of May, 2018, Circinus’s website still listed Florida as one of its domestic locations. The company posted at least two Florida job listings on its Facebook page in February 2016; one in Tampa and one in Homestead.
GOOGLE MAPS IMAGE OF DOMESTIC ADDRESS CIRCINUS USED ON ITS BUSINESS-PERMIT APPLICATION—THE CHARLESTON AT BOCA RATON, AN APARTMENT COMPLEX.
According to the Florida government website that lists business permits, the rejected Circinus application included an address that appears to be a residential apartment complex called The Charleston at Boca Raton. The phone number given is in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where Circinus has its headquarters.
CIRCINUS’S DENIED BUSINESS-PERMIT APPLICATION.
The denied application names Circinus CEO Alan Blaine Stone and Chief Operating Officer Carson Edmondson among the company’s principals.
TYT granted anonymity to both sources, due to what they described as fear of retaliation from the “aggressive” and “very, very intimidating” company. Some employees, including former military and law enforcement, are armed.
Circinus declined to answer questions about its operations, including its role in Florida. The Circinus spokesperson, who spoke to TYT on the condition they not be named, said in an email that, “The former CEO [Alan] Blaine Stone is no longer with the company and it is being operated by Chief Operating Officer Stan Manning.”
As of May, Circinus’s website still listed Stone as its CEO in its “leadership” section; a LinkedIn page bearing Stone’s name lists him as CEO of Circinus Defence, SRL—reportedly an offshoot of Circinus registered in Romania. McClatchy reported in March that Broidy has been trying to gin up business in Romania.
The Circinus website also listed former Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska as a board member. In an email, Kerrey told TYT, “Although it has been reported that I am on the board, I am not.”
Kerrey added, “I have asked them to take that down. I have been providing very limited advice to some of their team as they develop and implement strategies to help allies deal with an array of new risks. From my limited exposure, I am confident they are building important capabilities that will save lives.”
Florida requires a variety of permits for companies and employees to operate a private security agency with armed security officers. Noncompliance is subject to penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment. Circinus apparently applied only for a Type B license, which covers security agencies. No other applications appear to be on file for licenses permitting operation of a security branch office, or for any individual license, such as manager or security officer.
The permits are required to conduct operations such as personal security or guarding property. According to the sources, Circinus was employed to provide personal security within Florida before Broidy’s company purchased Circinus.
Broidy in recent months has come under scrutiny for pitching access to President Trump as a reward for potential clients of Circinus, although TYT has not confirmed this.
During the 2016 campaign, Broidy served on the Trump Victory Committee, the joint fundraising committee of Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC). After the election, he served on the Presidential Inaugural Committee; and as deputy national finance chairman of the RNC until April. Broidy’s access to Trump reportedly stems from the fact that he was a top fundraiser for Trump at a time when other top Republican donors were reluctant to contribute.
Today, Circinus operates around the world. After Trump’s inauguration, Circinus’s business appeared to grow. Circinus began lobbying the U.S. government for the first time in 2017. From July 17 through September 30 of last year, Circinus paid $60,000 to a lobbying firm for the sole purpose of lobbying the office of Vice President Mike Pence for “opportunities for government contracts.” Circinus paid another $20,000 in October for the same purpose.
On August 18, 2017, Circinus began work on a one-year contract potentially worth almost $17 million from the Department of the Army for the DoD. The company also reportedly signed contracts with the United Arab Emirates collectively worth several hundred million dollars.
In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Broidy at one point discussed a deal in which he would seek to help get the Justice Department to drop its investigation into a Malaysian government-owned investment fund’s multibillion-dollar graft scandal. Broidy potentially stood to gain tens of millions of dollars in fees from one of the figures at the scandal’s center if he got the investigation dropped.
Broidy now stands to become embroiled in an investigation of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. The Wall Street Journal reported that Broidy paid Cohen to negotiate a nondisclosure agreement with the model Broidy allegedly impregnated. Cohen used the same shell company that he used for Trump’s hush money for pornographic-film actress Stormy Daniels. Cohen is currently under investigation for bank and wire fraud in relation to the payments to Daniels.
In years past, Broidy was a top bundler for other national Republican campaigns, until his 2009 guilty plea for bribing a New York government official in a case involving state pension funds.
Ken Klippenstein is a freelance journalist who can be reached on Twitter @kenklippenstein or via email: [email protected].
Follow TYT Investigates on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to stay on top of exclusive news stories from The Young Turks.