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| Imaad Zuberi and President Barack Obama |
Imaad Zuberi is vice chairman of private equity and venture capital firm Avenue Ventures. He has “closed over $15 billion in transactions” at the firm, according to his Linked-in profile. His firm's clients include start-ups, major corporations and sovereign wealth funds.
Prior to donating to the Trump campaign, Zuberi is known to have also donated to Democratic Party candidates including former President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In fact, Zuberi was a top fundraiser for President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, according to data from Open Secrets.
He was born in 1970 in Albany, New York to a Pakistani father and an Indian mother. He has an undergraduate degree in business and finance from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Stanford University which he earned in 2006. He has kept up with the Pakistani community in Los Angeles, his home base, and as early as 2004 was raising money from them for John Kerry’s presidential campaign that year, to which he made his first contribution, a modest $1,000 donation, according to a story in Foreign Policy magazine.
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| Pakistani-American Billionaire Shahid Khan |
There have been several Pakistani-American donors to US election campaigns in the news in recent years. Among them is Dr. Asad Qamar, a graduate of Lahore's King Edwards Medical College, who received $18.2 million in payments from US Medicare program in 2012, making him the second highest billing doctor in America. Dr. Qamar is a member of APPNA, Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent in North America. He was a candidate for the presidency of APPNA in 2013.
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| Asad Qamar M.D. |
Dr. Qamar has been subjected to lengthy reviews of his billing practices by US Department of Health and Human Services. He has complained to President Obama and other officials that the contractors conducting the reviews for the HHS were slow and unresponsive. Dr. Qamar told New York Times that his payments were high because his practice, which has 150 employees and a caseload of 23,000 patients, routinely handles complicated procedures like opening blocked arteries in the legs of older patients, which normally would be billed by a hospital.
Pakistani-American community is beginning to participate in the American political processes not only as donors but also as voters and candidates for public offices. In 2018 elections, Pakistani-American attorney Javed Ellahie was among 5 American Muslims elected to local office in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's a sign American voters are ready for diverse leadership despite troubling increases in hate crimes nationwide, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations. Across America, there are 55 American Muslim candidates who won election to public offices, 11 of them in California, according to CAIR. Two Muslim American women, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, were elected to the United States Congress in 2018.
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#Pakistani-#American Donor Imaad Zubari Jailed For 12 Years. #California #VentureCapitalist was sentenced after pleading guilty to charges of obstructing a federal investigation into a nearly $1 million donation to ex President #Trump's #Campaign https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/us/politics/imaad-zuberi-sentence.html?smid=tw-share
A California venture capitalist was sentenced on Thursday to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges that included obstructing a federal investigation into a nearly $1 million donation to former President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural committee.
The businessman, Imaad Zuberi, was sentenced by a federal judge in California and ordered to pay $1.75 million in criminal fines and $15.7 million in restitution.
Mr. Zuberi, 50, had pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice charge last year. It stemmed from a federal investigation into the source of $900,000 he had donated through his company, Avenue Ventures, to Mr. Trump’s inaugural committee in December 2016.
A lawyer for Mr. Zuberi declined to comment on Friday. He has acknowledged that his political donations were intended to gain access to politicians, public officials and business executives.
“To open doors, I have to donate,” he told The New York Times in 2019. “It’s just a fact of life.”
Mr. Zuberi had donated heavily to Democrats, including committees supporting President Barack Obama and then Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, before abruptly pivoting to Republicans after Mr. Trump’s victory. In Washington political circles, he was notable less for the scale of his giving than for its transactional nature.
Mr. Zuberi said in 2019 that his donation to Mr. Trump’s inaugural fund was at least partly intended to give him access to inaugural events where he hoped to talk business with Trump-backing investors and executives. But he said his attendance at the inaugural events did not yield any business — and backfired after his company’s donation was cited in a subpoena.
Mr. Zuberi was also sentenced on Thursday on a range of other charges to which he had pleaded guilty in 2019, and for which he could have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison.
Some of those charges relate to nearly $1 million in illegal campaign donations made from April 2012 through October 2016 as part of a scheme to gain access to American politicians for foreign clients. Some of those donations were funded by foreign sources.
Others related to his lobbying work in Washington for the government of Sri Lanka, whose image he was trying to repair in Washington amid concerns about the country’s treatment of Tamil minority groups.
Mr. Zuberi falsified records filed with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to conceal his lobbying for Sri Lanka, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday. That act, known as FARA, requires Americans to disclose detailed information about any lobbying or public relations work they do on behalf of foreign governments and political entities.
In addition, Mr. Zuberi failed to report and pay taxes on $5.65 million that he was paid for the Sri Lankan lobbying campaign, and diverted most of the money “to the benefit of himself and his wife,” the Justice Department’s statement said.
“This sentence should deter others who would seek to corrupt our political processes and compromise our institutions in exchange for foreign cash,” John C. Demers, assistant attorney general for national security, said in the statement.
Imaad Zuberi, a Pakistani-American recently sentenced to 12 years in prison for working for foreign governments, also did intelligence work for the US government for over a decade, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Zuberi, 50, was sentenced in February to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, foreign-influence peddling and campaign-finance violations.
But WSJ reported that “a key aspect of the case” – that this American businessman was a longtime US intelligence asset – “played out in secret court filings and hearings”. WSJ claimed to have reviewed legal documents underlining his links to the US intelligence agencies.
Before his conviction, Zuberi lived a jet-setting lifestyle and was a major political fundraiser for American leaders like Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. He also arranged fund-raising dinners for senior Republican and Democratic members of the US Congress.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1617602
Experts say cooperation with the government, if proved, can reduce his sentence
In October 2019, the US Justice Department filed criminal charges against him and soon after he pleaded guilty to those charges. Now his lawyers are preparing to challenge the sentence in an appeal that they say might raise questions over how heavily a defendant’s cooperation with intelligence agencies should be weighed against criminal charges.
“As evidenced by the public docket, national-security issues may have been part of this case and those same issues may ultimately arise as part of the appeal,” his lawyer David Warrington told WSJ.
Other legal experts also told the newspaper that cooperation with the government, if proved, can reduce his sentence.
Prosecutors from the Justice Department declined to comment.
The report claimed that before sentencing Zuberi, US District Judge Virginia Phillips held a closed-door hearing where she considered a sealed document in which Zuberi’s team laid out his account of more than a decade of clandestine help he had provided to the government.
“The CIA relies on well-connected Americans to serve as conduits for information, occasionally tapping them for information, introductions, assistance in recruiting foreigners and even for tasks such as acting as international couriers or acquiring secret information,” WSJ added while commenting on Zuberi’s claim.
According to the report, Zuberi’s legal team compiled a history of their client’s cooperation with the government, which was sealed under a law designed to protect intelligence sources and methods during trials.
In a memo seeking leniency, Zuberi’s legal team wrote: “His cooperation and assistance to this country has spanned over a decade, as described in more detail in Mr. Zuberi’s … filing.” They referred to that record as the “most remarkable list of assistance to the country encountered by experienced counsel and the court”.
WSJ, which claims reviewing the document, said Zuberi’s history of secret help to the CIA continued for more than a decade, “depicting a relationship that started with debriefings about his interactions with foreign officials but grew to involve more formal tasks and missions”.
CIA spokesman Timothy Barrett, when contacted for comments, urged WSJ to contact the Justice Department.
WSJ reported that Zuberi has secured the assistance of two former CIA officials in his defence. Robert Eatinger, a former top lawyer at the agency has joined the defence team since his sentencing. Another, former CIA official Jose Rodriguez, has submitted a sealed affidavit in support of leniency to the judge.
Imaad Zuberi, an American businessman who hobnobbed with world leaders and the international business elite, was sentenced in February to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, foreign-influence peddling and campaign-finance violations.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/alleged-cia-ties-figure-in-case-of-convicted-political-donor-11617973201
A key aspect of the case, however, has played out in secret court filings and hearings: Mr. Zuberi was a longtime U.S. intelligence source for the U.S. government, according to legal documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal and people familiar with the businessman’s defense.
Mr. Zuberi, 50 years old, lived a jet-setting lifestyle and was a major political fundraiser at the highest levels of American politics, giving generously to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as well as many important members of Congress of both parties, according to campaign-finance records.
That life came to an end in October 2019, when he was criminally charged by the Justice Department and soon after pleaded guilty to tax evasion, foreign-lobbying violations, campaign-finance charges and obstruction of justice. His lawyers are preparing to challenge the sentence in an appeal that they say might raise questions over how heavily a defendant’s cooperation with intelligence agencies should be weighed against criminal charges.
“As evidenced by the public docket, national-security issues may have been part of this case and those same issues may ultimately arise as part of the appeal,” said David Warrington, a lawyer representing Mr. Zuberi.
Texas oil mogul Syed Javaid Anwar has emerged as a top oil and gas donor to candidates and parties during this midterm election season.
https://www.eenews.net/articles/major-texas-oil-donor-emerges-this-cycle-who-is-he/
Anwar, founder of Midland Energy Inc., has given more than $1.7 million to Texas Republicans, particularly Gov. Greg Abbott, who is expected to easily win re-election next Tuesday. That’s nearly double what Anwar gave last cycle, according to the National Institute on Money in Politics, a Montana-based nonprofit that tracks state-level campaign spending.
"If you are blessed, you share it," Anwar said in a telephone interview.
The number of oil businessmen who became major political donors after making their fortunes during the U.S. shale fracking boom has grown in the past several years. Since 2010, eight of those billionaires contributed more than $40 million to state-level political campaigns (Energywire, Aug. 13).
Oil businessmen tend to invest heavily in state races because that’s where they can have a seat at the table, political experts say. State energy and environmental regulators oversee exploration and development on private parcels, and local and state drilling bans can threaten the industry’s expansion.
But wealthy people can quickly become national players, noted Pete Quist, research director at the institute. "Anwar has jumped into the presidential elections the last couple of cycles, especially by making donations to single-candidate super [political action committees]," he said.
And he boasts a close friendship with former President George W. Bush, who calls him "J Daddy," Anwar said. Bush used to live in Midland, Texas, and the two connected through Don Evans, the Bush campaign chairman in 2000 and Bush’s former secretary of Commerce, who also has deep ties to the Texas energy industry.
"I have so much respect for that family," Anwar said of the Bushes.
In 2016, Anwar gave half a million dollars to a PAC supporting Jeb Bush’s presidential campaign. This cycle, he gave $50,000 to Jeb’s son, George P. Bush, a Texas land commissioner seeking re-election.
Anwar says he identifies with traditional conservative political values around self-determination and free markets. So when President Trump secured the Republican Party’s presidential nomination in spring 2016, Anwar went on Pakistani TV to declare his surprise.
Today, he believes Trump has done a "decent job."
"I think he has some good ideas," he said. "I just don’t like his tweeting." He defended Trump’s position to close the U.S. borders to foreign asylum seekers: "Think about it. If everyone could walk in, what a chaos it would be." Himself an immigrant, he said, "I am for legal immigration."
He also expressed doubts about climate change. "I’m not an expert," he said. "We need to conserve our environment, [but] we cannot go back to the Stone Age and ride on horses."
He is not opposed to renewable energy if it can make a profit. "Let it compete on the free market," he said. "Let’s see if they win."
‘We were very lucky’
In the ranks of the Texas Republican Party, Anwar has maintained a low-profile. Several members of the state’s GOP executive committee reached by phone said they had never heard of Anwar. Others said they knew him but declined to talk about him.
Anwar was born in Karachi, Pakistan, raised by a single mother who worked as a telephone operator there. His grandparents helped pay for him to go to private high school. There, the rich kids all wanted to go to America. Eventually, Anwar bought a one-way ticket to Wyoming, where he went to college and studied petroleum engineering. Soon, he landed a job in the oil fields in Texas, bouncing between Houston and Amarillo and Pampa.
Anwar was born in Karachi, Pakistan, raised by a single mother who worked as a telephone operator there. His grandparents helped pay for him to go to private high school. There, the rich kids all wanted to go to America. Eventually, Anwar bought a one-way ticket to Wyoming, where he went to college and studied petroleum engineering. Soon, he landed a job in the oil fields in Texas, bouncing between Houston and Amarillo and Pampa.
He quit his stable job to start his own oil drilling business in 1984, and his company has grown from just three employees to 28. He and his wife, Vicky Anwar, had two children who would grow up to work at the family business.
In the 1980s and ’90s, he accumulated several oil leases in the Permian Basin in West Texas. Oil prices were at rock bottom, and oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Texaco Inc. were selling off assets during a period of mergers and consolidation.
But he had happened to cross paths with Ali Al-Naimi, the Saudi Arabian oil minister, who told him: "Mark my word. It will be over $20 in the early 2000s."
Anwar took that to heart and started purchasing assets in the Permian ahead of other companies. "We are very lucky," he said. "The basin is booming. It has had a tremendous effect on our bottom line."
Anwar said he wasn’t interested in politics before the prices increased and the latest boom-bust-boom cycle took hold a decade ago. He had no money. He’s not a registered Republican, but he has always supported capitalism and rejected what he calls socialism. "I have seen where there are people who depend on socialism," he said.
Over the years, he has also given large sums to public universities and charities. The morning Hurricane Harvey hit, he wrote a $50,000 check to the Islamic Society of Greater Houston. He has donated to a host of high-powered conservatives, ranging from members of the Texas Railroad Commission to state district court judges to the governor. His contributions ranged from $1,000 to a quarter of a million dollars this cycle, state records show.
Topping the list of recipients is Abbott, whom he gave more than $1 million in checks and airplane rides. When asked, Anwar said simply that he supports his free-market approach. "[Texas] has grown tremendously," he said. "You just cannot believe how lucky we are to have these Republican governors."
Anwar ranked first on a list of Abbott donors who gave hundreds of thousands to the governor, according to a Texas Tribune report last year. In 2015, Abbott appointed Anwar to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.
Anwar also donated this cycle to the campaigns of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar and state legislators Angela Paxton and Kel Seliger, all Republicans.
On occasion, he has donated to politicians outside of Texas, and on rare occasions, he has donated to Democrats. This year, he gave about $5,000 to U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, according to the National Institute on Money in Politics. He is not opposed to supporting a Democrat "if he has the same philosophy as mine."
As for the 2020 presidential race, Anwar said it is too soon to tell whom he would support. He gave to Trump’s PAC ahead of 2016 but declined to say how much.
In fact, he expressed surprise at the large amount he has doled out this cycle. "I was shocked," he said.
https://www.eenews.net/articles/major-texas-oil-donor-emerges-this-cycle-who-is-he/
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