TDFP Investigation: Saudi Arabia Tops 2026 FARA Payments to Washington Firms at $32.3 Million; UAE and Qatar Follow
Saudi Arabia's government and state-backed entities paid hired U.S. firms $32.3 million in reports filed with the Justice Department so far this year, more than any other country, according to a TDFP analysis of the 626 Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) supplemental statements filed from Jan. 1 through Nov. 7, 2026.
Three Gulf states sit at the top. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates ($23.8 million) and Qatar ($15.8 million) together account for $71.9 million, more than half of the $139.0 million reported by the top 15 countries.
The biggest surprise is No. 4. Nigeria's government ranks ahead of Mexico and Venezuela at $9.9 million, nearly all of it in two retainer payments to a single firm, DCI Group: $4.5 million received Dec. 12, 2025, and $4,712,702 received July 21, 2026, both listed as coming "through Aster Legal," according to DCI's filings.
The ranking counts money that foreign governments and state-linked entities, such as embassies, ministries, sovereign wealth funds and state companies, paid to U.S. firms and people they hired who registered as foreign agents. It does not count money governments sent to their own U.S. offices, tourism boards or state media outlets. TDFP tallied the largest of those separately below.
The Top 15
No. 1: Saudi Arabia, $32.3 million. Firms include Richard Attias & Associates, Capital K, Teneo, King & Spalding, FTI Consulting.
No. 2: United Arab Emirates, $23.8 million. Firms include Akin Gump, FGS Global, Camstoll Group, Edelman, Terakeet.
No. 3: Qatar, $15.8 million. Firms include Finn Partners, Prosek Partners, GRV Strategies, Cornerstone Government Affairs, ThirdCircle.
No. 4: Nigeria, $9.9 million. Firms include DCI Group, BGR Government Affairs.
No. 5: Mexico, $9.8 million. Firms include Knight Law Firm, Steve Shadowen.
No. 6: Venezuela, $9.6 million. Firms include Vinson & Elkins, Arnold & Porter.
No. 7: Republika Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), $7.5 million. Firms include Dickens & Madson Canada, RRB Strategies, McGinnis Lochridge.
No. 8: Japan, $6.5 million. Firms include Weber Shandwick (IPG DXTRA Japan), Continental Strategy, Akin Gump.
No. 9: Canada, $5.1 million. Firms include Hogan Lovells, Capitol Counsel, Nelson Mullins.
No. 10: Angola, $3.7 million. Firms include Squire Patton Boggs, BGR Government Affairs.
No. 11: South Korea, $3.5 million. Firms include Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Arnold & Porter, Akin Gump.
No. 12: Democratic Republic of the Congo, $3.4 million. Firms include Scribe Strategies & Advisors, Ballard Partners, 88 Dragons PR.
No. 13: Serbia, $3.0 million. Firms include Yorktown Solutions, Tactic COC, Valcour, KARV Communications.
No. 14: Azerbaijan, $2.6 million. Firms include Teneo, First International Resources, Friedlander Consulting Group.
No. 15: Bahrain, $2.4 million. Firms include FGS Global, GrayRobinson, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, DLA Piper.
Saudi Arabia: $32.3 Million
The largest single Saudi entry is not lobbying. The FII Institute paid Richard Attias & Associates $6,220,057 in three payments on March 5, March 17 and April 27, 2026, for "event services and expenses," the firm's statement for the period ending July 31 shows.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) paid Capital K $5.46 million in two reporting periods, mostly in quarterly "management fees" of $1,125,000 tied to Capital K Investment Fund I. The Public Investment Fund (PIF), the kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, paid Teneo $3,752,500 in the period ending Jan. 31, and the Ministry of Energy paid King & Spalding $3.52 million for "client representation" in the period ending Dec. 31, 2025. In all, 18 registered firms and individuals reported hired work for Saudi government or state-linked clients.
Not in the ranking: PIF also sent $47.6 million to USSA International LLC, a registrant working under a PIF services contract. Its latest statement lists three payments of about $11.5 million to $12.0 million each between May 6 and July 20, 2026, labeled "Payroll and Operating expenses." TDFP left that money out because the filing describes operating costs rather than fees for hired work. Counted in, Saudi Arabia's total would be about $80 million.
United Arab Emirates: $23.8 Million
The UAE Embassy's biggest outside firms were Akin Gump ($6.4 million) and FGS Global ($6.2 million). Camstoll Group reported $5.54 million from Outlook Energy Investments, which the filing lists as "wholly owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi," including one $3,247,500 "retainer for fees and expenses" received July 9, 2025.
That total does not yet include the embassy's newest deal. As TDFP reported in its first Foreign Influence Report, the embassy hired Guidepost Strategies through Akin Gump on Oct. 29 at $100,000 a month. Payments under that contract will appear in future supplemental statements.
Qatar: $15.8 Million
Qatar, like Saudi Arabia, spread its money across 18 registered firms and individuals. The largest checks came from Qatar Museums to Finn Partners ($4.36 million), the Qatar Investment Authority to Prosek Partners ($2.43 million) and Qatar's International Media Office to GRV Strategies ($1.59 million). The rest went mostly to firms working for the Embassy of the State of Qatar, including Cornerstone Government Affairs and ThirdCircle.
Nigeria, Mexico and Venezuela
Nigeria: Beyond DCI Group's two retainers, BGR Government Affairs reported $150,000 a month on behalf of the Government of Nigeria, paid by Maton Engineering Nigeria Limited, according to BGR's statement for the period ending May 31.
Mexico ($9.8 million): Almost all of it went to Knight Law Firm, which reported funds "for running Mexican Capital Legal Assistance Program, including compensation," received from Mexico's consulate in Tucson, according to its statement for the period ending Dec. 31, 2025. The program is legal work, not lobbying, but it is registered and reported under FARA.
Venezuela ($9.6 million): The ad hoc board of state oil company PDVSA paid Vinson & Elkins $9.11 million in two reporting periods. The payments came from PDV Chalmette and are labeled "Paying V&E invoices." V&E's most recent statement, filed Aug. 28, says its connection with the board ended.
The Rest of the Top 15
Republika Srpska ($7.5 million), one of the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina, paid Dickens & Madson Canada a $4 million retainer in three payments between Sept. 12 and Oct. 23, 2025. FARA lists the country as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Japan ($6.5 million): The Tokyo Metropolitan Government paid Weber Shandwick, registered as IPG DXTRA Japan, $1.66 million, the largest single Japanese government account on file.
Canada ($5.1 million): Most came from Ontario's Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade to Hogan Lovells, about $4.4 million in two periods.
Angola ($3.7 million), South Korea ($3.5 million), the Democratic Republic of the Congo ($3.4 million), Serbia ($3.0 million), Azerbaijan ($2.6 million) and Bahrain ($2.4 million) round out the top 15. Azerbaijan's largest payment came from its COP29 operations company to Teneo, and Bahrain's from the Bahrain Economic Development Board to FGS Global.
The Bigger Numbers Left Out of the Ranking
Some of the largest numbers on FARA forms are not payments to hired firms at all. China's state broadcaster CCTV sent $63.1 million to MediaLinks TV, LLC to "defray MediaLinks operating expenses," including $22,588,871 on June 29, 2026. The five U.S. offices of JETRO, Japan's government trade agency, reported about $74.7 million in receipts.
The Marshall Islands' ship and corporate registry, run by International Registries, Inc., reported $50.4 million. That is registry revenue, not influence spending, so TDFP did not count it.
How We Did This: 626 FARA Filings
TDFP pulled the Justice Department's FARA eFile list of registrant documents and downloaded every supplemental statement date-stamped from Jan. 1 through Nov. 7, 2026: 626 filings from 394 registrants. TDFP read each filing's Item 14(a), "Receipts-Monies," which lists money received from or for each foreign principal. Sixty-three scanned filings were read with text-recognition software. Two filings were not available on the Justice Department site and are not counted.
Supplemental statements cover six-month periods, so filings received in 2026 include some payments made in late 2025. Every figure is what registrants reported. TDFP did not independently confirm any payment. Countries are the "country represented" the Justice Department lists for each foreign principal.
The ranking includes governments, embassies, ministries, regional governments, sovereign funds, state companies and state-linked institutions. It leaves out private companies, individuals and political parties, tourism promotion, governments' own U.S. offices and state media outlets, ship and corporate registries, and payments one registered firm passed to another, to avoid counting the same money twice. When a firm reported clients from several countries, TDFP split its reported total using the filing's line items, so country totals are rounded and may differ slightly from the sum of individual payments. TDFP could not cross-check the figures against OpenSecrets' FARA database tonight.
Sources: Justice Department FARA eFile bulk data (https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_RegistrantDocs.csv.zip and https://efile.fara.gov/bulk/zip/FARA_All_ForeignPrincipals.csv.zip); supplemental statements from Richard Attias & Associates (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7528-Supplemental-Statement-20260929-3.pdf), Capital K (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7456-Supplemental-Statement-20261025-4.pdf), Teneo (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6698-Supplemental-Statement-20260302-13.pdf), King & Spalding (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6501-Supplemental-Statement-20260130-17.pdf), USSA International (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7252-Supplemental-Statement-20261029-7.pdf), Akin Gump (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/3492-Supplemental-Statement-20260130-46.pdf), FGS Global (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/5666-Supplemental-Statement-20260830-47.pdf), Camstoll Group (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6144-Supplemental-Statement-20260129-26.pdf), Finn Partners (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6212-Supplemental-Statement-20260430-26.pdf), Prosek Partners (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7435-Supplemental-Statement-20260227-4.pdf), DCI Group (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6278-Supplemental-Statement-20260531-23.pdf and https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6278-Supplemental-Statement-20261031-24.pdf), BGR Government Affairs (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/5430-Supplemental-Statement-20260612-59.pdf), Knight Law Firm (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7604-Supplemental-Statement-20260115-1.pdf), Vinson & Elkins (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7498-Supplemental-Statement-20260130-2.pdf), Dickens & Madson Canada (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6200-Supplemental-Statement-20260130-24.pdf) and MediaLinks TV (https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6633-Supplemental-Statement-20260928-15.pdf); TDFP Foreign Influence Report, Nov. 6, 2026 (https://www.thedigitalfreepress.com/post/tdfp-foreign-influence-report-uae-embassy-guidepost-okinawa-mercury-2026-11-06).
Comments