A federal judge in California sentenced a venture capitalist on Thursday who donated nearly $ 1 million to ex-President Donald Trump’s inaugural committee to 12 years in prison for falsifying records to hide his job as a foreign agent while lobbying with senior US officials.
Imaad Zuberi was also fined $ 1.75 million and ordered to pay $ 15.7 million in restitution.
Zuberi, 50, agreed to plead guilty in 2019 to tax evasion, presenting false foreign agent registration records and providing nearly $ 1 million in illegal campaign contributions to various presidential election campaigns and other candidates for elective office, according to with the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.
Previously, he donated to a number of Republican and Democratic politicians, including former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2015, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., in 2014, then California Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2015. and former President Barack Obama’s 2011 presidential re-election campaign.
“The violations were part of a larger surreptitious effort to direct foreign money to elections in the United States and use it to corrupt the United States’ policy-making processes,” federal prosecutors said in a lawsuit. They added that “the court must reject Zuberi’s characterization that illegal foreign interference and channeling money to influence US policymaking and elections is the ‘way America works”.
Prosecutors say Zuberi has summoned foreigners and representatives of foreign governments, saying he could use his influence in Washington to alter US foreign policy and open up business opportunities for his clients.
Zuberi did everything to put his scheme into practice – hiring lobbyists, retaining public relations professionals and making campaign contributions – and in the process, he gained access to senior US officials, according to federal prosecutors.
Illegal money was channeled from foreign entities over five years between 2012 and 2016, prosecutors said. Authorities did not reveal the source of the $ 900,000 that Zuberi donated to Trump’s inaugural committee in December 2016.
Zuberi not only asked for help from members of the House of Representatives, but also from members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and other powerful politicians, prosecutors said.
In one case, using money provided by a person described in the lawsuit as “Person J”, Zuberi paid a former US military officer more than $ 150,000 to travel twice to Bahrain, to meet with Bahrain officials to demonstrate Person J’s influence in the United States and participate in an advertising ploy on April 29, 2013, in which Avenue Ventures allegedly acquired a 35% stake in Al Areen. The acrobatics consisted of an event in Los Angeles at which Person J and an Avenue Ventures representative reportedly attended.
In addition to the other schemes, prosecutors say Zuberi received a $ 1 million payment from accused Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash in March 2015.
“Sir. Zuberi has violated federal laws that restrict foreign influences on our government and prohibit the injection of foreign money into our political campaigns. He has enriched himself by defrauding his clients and avoiding paying taxes,” said Tracy Wilkinson, acting district attorney for the Central District. of California. “Today’s ruling, which also explains Mr. Zuberi’s attempt to obstruct an investigation into his criminal conduct, underscores the importance of our continued efforts to maintain transparency in the US elections and policy-making processes. “
Zuberi’s lawyers declined to comment on Thursday’s sentence.