Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon was the target of a bizarre bribery plot by the Qatari government, rapper Ice Cube and his business partner have claimed in a lawsuit, DailyMail.com can disclose.

The rapper and Jeff Kwatinetz claim that a Qatari investor in their BIG3 basketball league tried to get access to Bannon when he was Trump’s White House chief strategist – and that the investor was a front for the Qatari government.

Kwatinetz and Bannon had worked together in the past and remain ‘friends’, he said in legal papers.

And Kwatinetz claims that after Bannon had been fired by Trump and left his Breitbart website, the Qatari wanted to set up a meeting with him to offer to ‘underwrite all of his political efforts in return for his support’.

The suit claims that the Qatari, Ahmed al Rumaihi, also boasted about bribing several ‘Washington politicians’, including Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Advisor who is now a convicted felon.

The bombshell claims were made in a declaration as part of a $1.2bn lawsuit filed last month by rapper Ice Cube and his business partner, the founders of basketball league BIG3, against multiple Qatari investors.

Target: Ice Cube and his BIG3 co-CEO claim Qatar used an investment in their league to try to get access to Steve Bannon when he worked for Donald Trump, then to bribe him after he had been fired from the White House

Big names: Ice Cube (center) and Jeff Kwatinetz (right) set up BIG3 and have Clyde Drexler as Commissioner along with other Hall of Famers involved. Kwatinetz worked for two years with Bannon and still considers him a friend despite differing political views

Bribery claims: In court documents, BIG3 CEO and friend of Steve Bannon Jeff Kwatinetz claims that Mohammed al Rumaih wanted to use him to tell Bannon that the Qatari government would pay for his political activities. When Kwatinetz turned him down, the Qatari investor said: ‘Do you think [Michael] Flynn turned down our money?’

The basketball businessmen claim the Qataris failed to follow through on promises to invest millions of dollars in the league. Kwatinetz and Ice Cube are represented in the lawsuit by leading Los Angeles civil rights attorney Mark Geragos.

They claim that the Qataris, al Rumaihi and Ayman Sabi, signed an agreement to invest a total $20.5m in BIG3 saying they were on the board of Qatar Investments, the country’s sovereign investment vehicle in the U.S.

But they only paid $7.5m, making excuses and dodging calls when the founders asked for their money.

Ice Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, and Kwatinetz, allege in their lawsuit that the Qataris’ real aim was ‘to get positive public relations for Qatar’ and ‘about perceived influence in America’.

The court documents, filed in Los Angeles, name defendants Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud al Thani, the CEO of the Qatari Investment Authority; al Rumaihi, a former Qatari diplomat and – the rapper and his partner say – a member of the royal family; and two other men linked to the Qatari royal family.

In a declaration filed with his lawsuit, lodged in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Kwatinetz claims that al Rumaihi saw an opportunity when he found out Kwatinetz was ‘friends’ with Trump’s former aide Bannon.

Kwatinetz is close to the former Trump advisor, after being in business with Bannon for two years in TV production company The Firm.

Despite describing himself as a ‘liberal’ in interviews, Kwatinetz publicly pledged his support for Bannon, defended him against claims of racism and describing him as ‘brilliant’ businessman and a ‘great character’. In the court papers he calls Bannon a friend.

Kwatinetz claims that in June, July and August last year, after making a partial payment of the promised $20.5m, al Rumaihi repeatedly raised Bannon’s name and ‘persistently inquired about wanting to meet with Mr. Bannon’, who was then Trump’s chief strategist.