WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has added Gobble and Waddle, two Thanksgiving turkeys, to his list of second-term pardons.
However, during his first year in this term, he has given clemency to 83 criminals. Among them is an American-Pakistani, Imaad Shah Zuberi, who appears on the list twice.
First, he was pardoned on May 28, 2025. According to the US Department of Justice, on February 18, 2021, Zuberi was sentenced to 144 months’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, a $1,750,000 fine, and $15,705,080.11 in restitution.
Zuberi’s offences were described as “violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act; tax evasion; foreign, conduit, and other illegal campaign contributions; and tampering with a witness, victim, or informant (obstruction of justice)”.
On October 1, 2025, Zuberi’s commutation was amended. Since then, Zuberi has been on the move and is planning overseas trips, claimed a trusted source in Washington, DC.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney has not provided a reason for President Trump’s decision to pardon Zuberi. However, another source claimed: “Zuberi is back, and he has high aims for his future.”
Who Is Zuberi?
Back on September 16, 2023, under the title “Who trapped disgraced US diplomat Richard Olson”, Geo News published an exclusive story about the role of Zuberi.
Zuberi’s family hails from Karachi. He positioned himself as a venture capitalist and power broker in Los Angeles, funding high-profile US politicians. He was considered a Democrat and was known to comfortably rub shoulders with top political leaders, including the Clintons, Obama, and Joe Biden, to name a few.
Before being sentenced, Zuberi contacted numerous foreign diplomats, offering to lobby for them while making high-level political contacts in many countries, including his native Pakistan. Showcasing his dazzling array of US political connections, he solicited business deals and access to powerful foreign officials.
In 2016, the fast-moving, glib-talking Zuberi — already on the radar for alleged criminal activity against a foreign consulate in Los Angeles — drew the focused attention of the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation when he abruptly ditched Hillary Clinton, for whom he had raised millions over the years, and crossed the aisle to support Republican Donald Trump with a $900,000 donation.
Credible sources confirmed that Zuberi was at the headquarters of then-Democratic presidential candidate Clinton, awaiting victory celebrations.
However, as surveys proved wrong and results showed Trump winning the presidency, Zuberi called a close associate of the Republican candidate and committed a huge sum of money. To the utter surprise of his Democrat colleagues, he immediately defected to Trump’s camp.
In June 2020, he pleaded guilty in a federal investigation to making a $900,000 donation through his shell company to the Trump presidential inaugural committee. It was revealed that some of the funds Zuberi donated had come from other people, including foreign sources and fake as well as concealed donors.
Before being imprisoned for 12 years, the high-flying Zuberi worked with a number of foreign entities, including the Qatari government, soliciting huge fees while claiming he could use his political contacts to lobby on their behalf.
Zuberi became close to Richard Olson, who at the time was considered close to then-President Barack Obama and was appointed US Ambassador to Pakistan (2012–2015) and US Ambassador to the UAE (2008–2011).
In 2016, after retiring from government service, Olson created an entity called Medicine Bear International Consulting LLC.
Olson was later criminally charged for his alleged role in an undisclosed lobbying campaign for the Qatari government while serving as a foreign service officer. He was also accused of failing to disclose a trip to London undertaken with, and paid for by, Zuberi. Olson pleaded guilty on June 3, 2022.
In court papers, Zuberi’s name was not revealed. However, it was stated that a naturalised US citizen born in Pakistan met Olson in Islamabad. This meeting took place in March 2013, when Olson was serving as ambassador.
From March 2013 through November 2016, this Pakistani American solicited Olson’s advice and assistance in his capacity as ambassador with respect to a variety of business matters. He also used Olson to complain against a Pakistani diplomat Zuberi was attempting to remove in Los Angeles in 2015.
The Pakistani diplomat formally complained to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the State Department that Zuberi was undermining his office and running a smear campaign after the diplomat refused to help Zuberi raise funds through the prosperous Pakistani-American community for Hillary Clinton.
Zuberi also attempted to bribe consulate staff to obtain information.
Towards the end of 2016, after Olson retired from government service, the Pakistani American agreed to retain Olson’s services for $20,000 per month, plus expenses. On or about December 2016, Zuberi sent Olson his first monthly cheque payable to “Medicine Bear” in the amount of $20,000.
Olson’s actions violated the “revolving door” prohibitions, which bar senior government officials from representing foreign entities during a one-year “cooling-off period” after retirement.
According to court papers, in January 2015, Olson—while still serving as US Ambassador to Pakistan—met the Pakistani American in Los Angeles and discussed the possibility of Olson working for Zuberi’s business associate, “Businessman 2”, a citizen of Bahrain.
A few days later, Olson agreed to meet Zuberi and Businessman 2 in London on January 31. Zuberi arranged first-class airfare from New Mexico to London, as well as a luxury hotel stay.
Within two months, Businessman 2’s company offered Olson a one-year contract after his retirement, including compensation of $300,000 per year. Despite being fully aware of the “revolving door” prohibitions, Olson illegally began working for Zuberi and his company in December 2016.
Zuberi also worked with the Qatari government, where Olson provided advice to facilitate lobbying US officials to establish US Customs preclearance facilities at Doha Airport. In an email to Zuberi, Olson advised that it would be important to secure the support of the US Ambassador to Qatar, writing: “I know her well but can’t do it… but (you) can charm her, she’s from LA.”
Zuberi sought Olson’s help again in June 2017, when the US Congress identified Qatar as providing financial aid to Hamas. In the following days, Olson, Zuberi, two other individuals, and a Qatari government official travelled to Doha.
They visited the royal palace to meet senior Qatari officials, though Zuberi was not permitted to attend the meetings. Upon returning to Washington, Zuberi and Olson met several US lawmakers to support Qatar.
Zuberi operated through a one-man shell company, Avenue Ventures LLC, falsely portraying it as a large venture capital firm. In reality, the company had one part-time employee, while his Chinese wife posed as his secretary.
He solicited foreign nationals and representatives of foreign governments, claiming he could use his political contacts in Washington, DC, to influence US foreign policy and create business opportunities.
Zuberi also worked with the government of Bahrain, attempting to lift sanctions on an indicted Bahraini citizen to allow him to develop a resort in the country. The scheme falsely created the impression that Avenue Ventures had made a major US investment in the project.
Citing this alleged investment, Zuberi lobbied members of Congress to apply political pressure on Bahrain to cease interference in the project, claiming it was adversely affecting him as a US investor. At Zuberi’s urging, at least a dozen congressmen sent letters to the Bahraini government requesting it stop interfering.
Zuberi undertook these efforts after charging a fee that violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Separately, he failed to report millions of dollars on his 2014 tax return that he had taken from the Sri Lankan government, claiming he could lobby on human rights issues.
Two American officials not authorised to speak on the record confirmed to Geo News that Zuberi, a Pakistani-American with an Indian mother, was behind those illegal payments.
