Company led by Republican fundraiser pardoned by Trump wins $106m federal contract

The day before Donald Trump ’s first term ended in 2021, he inked a pardon for Elliott Broidy, a scandal-plagued Republican fundraiser and former Republican National Committee official who had pleaded guilty three months earlier to trying to illegally lobby Trump and his administration. Last month, a company headed by Broidy won a $106m contract from the Department of Justice, according to federal contracting records. Under the contract, awarded by the Bureau of Prisons to LEO Technologies, the company will use artificial intelligence to translate, transcribe and monitor prison phone calls. Broidy lists himself as the founder and CEO of LEO. In a letter to the Guardian, LEO’s attorneys said Broidy sets the strategy of the company but does not run the day-to-day operations. The company has previously won awards in state and local prison systems, but the new contract with the Bureau of Prisons marks the first time it is doing business with the federal government. On its website , the Texas-based company says that prisoners’ phone calls “ represent the world’s largest concentration of criminally-minded activity – all on recorded lines, all legally accessible”. Broidy is a longtime businessman, Republican backer and pro-Israel philanthropist. …