Prosecutors looking into Dem donor who switched to Trump after win: report

Los Angeles venture capitalist and political donor Imaad Zuberi was mentioned in a subpoena issued by federal prosecutors from New York on Monday that sought information regarding President Trump’s inauguration ceremony in 2017, The New York Times reported.

According to the newspaper, Zuberi, who supported former President Obama and then Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016, abruptly pivoted his support to Trump after his victory. 

{mosads}Zuberi reportedly donated more than $1.1 million in the three months following Trump’s election to committees associated with the president and the GOP. In the process, he gained access to dinners celebrating Trump’s inauguration, photos with Trump and other top officials in his administration, according to the Times.

The newspaper reported that Zuberi’s $900,000 donation to Trump’s inaugural committee, which was paid through his California-based firm Avenue Ventures, is being scrutinized by federal prosecutors in New York as part of an investigation into Trump’s inauguration and its financing.

Zuberi and Avenue Ventures were reportedly the only donors named in the subpoena issued on Monday.

According to the Times, the subpoena asked for records related to donations that were “made by or on behalf of foreign national” in addition to the inaugural committee’s procedures for prevention of such big-money donations.

Steve Rabinowitz, a spokesman for Zuberi, told the Times the donations made by the venture capitalist, who is an American, was “all his money, his personal money, certainly not foreign money.”

He “has no business with the U.S. government, and there is nothing that the U.S. government can be particularly helpful to him with,” Rabinowitz added.

Zuberi also said that the donations were “more of a networking thing” that he hoped would help him meet more people that could help him with a real estate investment fund in New York. 

“To open doors, I have to donate,” Zuberi told the Times. “It’s just a fact of life.” 

“Not only did it not yield any business, but it actually backfired” due to the attention he has garnered because of the subpoena, Zuberi added.

However, according to the newspaper, Zuberi was able to still come into contact with a number of people in Trump’s orbit who discussed business opportunities with him.