The Art of the StealA project of the Save America Movement
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★ Private Action

Imaad Zuberi routes $900K to Trump inaugural via shell company

Donor Influence and AccessTrump Pardons

Filed January 2017$900,000

★ The Brief

What happened

In late 2016 and early 2017, Imaad Zuberi routed a $900,000 donation through a shell company to the committee funding Donald Trump's first inauguration, hiding the money's true source. Federal prosecutors charged it as an illegal straw-donor contribution, and Zuberi pleaded guilty in 2019 to that along with a wider set of fraud, foreign-lobbying and tax crimes.

Who enabled it

Who benefits

Deal or steal?

Zuberi was serving a 12-year federal sentence in that case when, in May 2025, Trump commuted it — clemency for a donor who had illegally funneled money into Trump's own inauguration.

In late 2016 and early 2017, Imaad Zuberi — a Pakistani-American venture capitalist who had been a top Obama 2012 fundraiser and a "Hillblazer" for Clinton 2016 — routed a $900,000 donation through a shell company to the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee, which funded Donald Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration and related events.

Actors

Who pushed it · 1

Who initiated, paid, or pushed the action.

  • Imaad Zuberi

    Routed a $900,000 donation through a shell company to the 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee — the conduit-contribution offense he later pleaded guilty to in 2019. The donation was disguised to evade federal source-disclosure requirements. Eight years later, in May 2025, Trump commuted the 12-year federal sentence Zuberi was serving for this and related offenses.

Beneficiaries

Who gained · 2

Who stood to gain.

  • Donald Trump
    Donald Trump

    Indirect beneficiary as the inaugural committee funded Trump's inauguration and inaugural events. Eight years later, as president, Trump commuted Zuberi's 12-year federal sentence (a companion action).

  • 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee

    Received the $900,000 conduit donation that federal prosecutors later identified as illegally disguising its true source. The 58th Presidential Inaugural Committee funded Trump's January 20, 2017 inauguration and related events.

Sources

Further reading