Agent recruited by GoSL to improve its image in US sentenced for 12 years – US DOJ

The USA has jailed a venture capitalist and a Political donor who was recruited by Sri Lanka in 2014 to reinstate the country’s image in the USA.

Imaad Shah Suberi (50) was sentenced to 144 months in federal prison for falsifying records to conceal his work as a foreign agent while lobbying high-level U.S. government officials, evading the payment of millions of dollars in taxes, making illegal campaign contributions, and obstructing a federal investigation into the source of donations to a presidential inauguration committee, the US Department of Justice stated.

In November 2019, Zuberi pleaded guilty to a three-count information charging him with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) by making false statements on a FARA filing, tax evasion, and making illegal campaign contributions. In June 2020, Zuberi pleaded guilty in a separate case to one count of obstruction of justice.

“He used foreign money to fund illegal campaign contributions that bought him political influence, and used that influence to lobby U.S. officials for policy changes on behalf of numerous foreign principals. He not only concealed his lucrative agreements with those foreign principals, but also made false statements about them in a FARA filing. After learning he was under investigation, Zuberi doubled down on his criminal conduct, obstructing justice by creating false records, destroying evidence, and attempting to purchase witnesses’ silence. This sentence should deter others who would seek to corrupt our political processes and compromise our institutions in exchange for foreign cash,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.

According to the US Justice Department, the Sri Lankan Government has hired him in 2014 to rehabilitate the country’s image in the United States, which had suffered because of allegations that its minority Tamil population had been persecuted. Sri Lanka has paid Zuberi a total of $6.5 millions.