Tiny Red HandsBack

A $900,000 inaugural donor obstructed the donation probe; Trump later commuted his sentence

Date
Date not published
Entry type
campaign-finance-clemency
Current status
Convictions affirmed; prison term commuted in 2025 with conviction and financial penalties intact.

Imaad Zuberi routed $900,000 through his company to Trump's inaugural committee, then obstructed the federal investigation into that donation. His broader convictions covered illegal conduit contributions, unregistered foreign-agent work, tax evasion, and obstruction. Trump commuted his prison sentence in 2025 without erasing the convictions.

Entities and roles

Relationships in this file

  1. Donald J. Trumpcommuted prison sentence ofImaad Zuberi
    legalpoliticaldocumented2 sourcesSuperseded evidenceCited claim 1
  2. Donald J. Trumphad inaugural committee receive $900,000 fromImaad Zuberi

Recorded outcomes

  1. otherNon-cash outcome

    Presidential commutation of Zuberi's remaining prison term; the conviction and financial penalties were not pardoned.

Money trail

  1. paymentDonation routed to Trump inaugural committee$900,000
    Paid by / source
    Imaad Zuberi and other contributors
    Received by
    58th Presidential Inaugural Committee
    realized · 2016-12-31 · observedPopulation The single late-2016 donation DOJ described as made by Zuberi through his company to the presidential inaugural committeePeriod 2016-11-09 to 2016-12-31Basis Amount stated in DOJ's sentencing release and obstruction-case description.Limits DOJ stated that some of the $900,000 came from other people, including a $50,000 check; this observation does not classify the full sum as foreign-government money.Open cited evidence

Claims and evidence

  1. factdocumented
    Superseded · open corrected record

    Trump commuted Zuberi's prison sentence on May 28, 2025 while leaving the conviction and financial penalties intact; the Ninth Circuit later affirmed the convictions while ordering only a limited sentencing remand.

  2. factconvicted

    Zuberi pleaded guilty to FARA, illegal campaign-contribution, tax-evasion, and obstruction offenses and was sentenced in 2021 to 12 years in prison, a $1.75 million fine, and $15.7 million in restitution.

  3. factconvicted

    Zuberi made a $900,000 donation through his company to Trump's presidential inaugural committee in late 2016; DOJ said some money came from other people and his later backdated refund of $50,000 formed part of the obstruction case.