By Alexandra Alper and Jarrett Renshaw

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Tony Podesta, a Democratic lobbyist for the Biden Administration, was paid $1 million by Chinese telecom giant Huawei to lobby on its behalf. This is twice what Tony Podesta has publicly disclosed, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

A prominent Washington lobbyist reported this month that he received $500,000 from Huawei as part of a third-quarter lobbying report. According to people familiar with the matter, Podesta did actually receive $1 million in installments over the two months of June and September. The information was not made public.

According to one of these people, the $500,000 additional payment was to be included in Podesta’s January fourth quarter filing for lobbying activities in the October – December period.

Huawei has not yet responded to my request for comment.

John Podesta’s brother, Podesta was the chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and a top White House advisor to Barack Obama (also a Democrat).

As negotiations between Huawei and the Justice Department heated up, Meng lobbied for the White House. Last month’s agreement to stop a bank fraud trial against Meng was reached.

Reuters consulted lawyers to confirm that the Lobbying disclosure Act requires payments for quarters in which they were made. If Podesta lobbyizes for Huawei within the last three months, he will comply.

They also said that it is unusual for companies to pay outside lobbyists for work in the future, like Huawei.

Washington is furious at Huawei for allegedly spying on U.S. customers, allegations of theft trade secrets and violations of sanctions. Trump’s Republican Administration placed Huawei on a blacklist trade, making it difficult to source advanced technology from U.S. vendors.

Podesta resigned from the lobbying company Podesta Group after investigators examined the company’s ties with Paul Manafort (Trump’s ex-campaign manager), who was convicted for tax and bank fraud. Manafort was later pardoned. Podesta was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing.

In his third quarter lobbying reports for Huawei, Podesta highlighted “issues relating to telecommunication services or impacted trade matters” as the topics he addressed in meetings with the White House.

According to Federal disclosures, Huawei spent approximately $3.42 Million on lobbyists this year.

Additional Reporting by Karen Freifeld