Imaad Shah Zuberi

Imaad Shah Zuberi, a venture capitalist based in Arcadia, California, who served as a major political fundraiser for both Democratic and Republican candidates, was convicted on multiple charges arising from a years-long scheme involving unregistered foreign lobbying, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, and witness tampering. Zuberi acted as an unregistered agent of the Sri Lankan government, receiving $6.5 million from Colombo to engage in lobbying and public relations activities targeting US officials — while concealing his role on required Foreign Agents Registration Act filings and pocketing more than $5.65 million of those funds personally, which he also failed to report as taxable income. He similarly acted on behalf of interests connected to Bahrain. Zuberi also funneled approximately $900,000 in illegal contributions — including money sourced from foreign nationals — through his shell company to Donald Trump's 2017 presidential inaugural committee, using political access gained through those donations to lobby US officials on behalf of foreign principals. When investigators began examining the inaugural committee, Zuberi tampered with a witness to impede the probe. He pleaded guilty in November 2019 to FARA violations, tax evasion, and illegal campaign contributions, and in a separate plea in June 2020 to witness tampering.