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Imaad Zuberi, a San Gabriel Valley businessman who was one of the country’s top fundraisers for both Democrats and Republicans, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for schemes to funnel foreign money into U.S. political campaigns and skim millions of dollars for himself.
The sentence sealed the downfall of a man whose donations bought him easy access to presidents, vice presidents, congressional leaders and top-tier candidates for public office.
Screening systems that Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and many others used to catch tainted donations failed for years to stop the flow of Zuberi’s illegal contributions. Zuberi used the name of his dead mother to make some donations, prosecutors say, while many others were secretly reimbursed by foreigners trying to disguise efforts to sway policymakers in Washington.