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.

• Indian High Commission issued attacker’s passport in 2022.
• Passport lists Hyderabad, Telangana as place of origin.
• Indian efforts aimed at maligning Pakistan internationally.

An Indian passport of the attacker, Sajid Akram, involved in the Sydney’s Bondi Beach attack during a Jewish Hanukkah celebration, which left at least 15 dead, has emerged, according to Filipino media.

Father and son duo, identified as Sajid Akram and Naveed, opened fire during the Jewish event on December 14, in an attack that shook the nation and intensified fears of rising antisemitism and violent extremism.

The 15 victims ranged from a rabbi who was a father of five, to a Holocaust survivor, to a 10-year-old girl named Matilda Britvan, according to interviews, officials and media reports. Two police officers remained in critical but stable condition in the hospital, New South Wales police said.

According to records obtained by the Philippines’ ABS-CBN News, Naveed had an Australian passport while his 50-year-old father, Sajid, entered the country with an Indian passport.

The Indian High Commission issued Sajid a 10-year passport on February 24, 2022.

The passport, which has now surfaced publicly, lists Hyderabad in the Indian state of Telangana as Sajid Akram’s place of origin and shows an expiry date of February 23, 2032.

Authorities were reportedly aware of the attacker’s Indian citizenship from the first day, yet the incident was allegedly portrayed otherwise, with claims attempting to link the attack to Pakistan, Geo News reported.

Further information revealed that Sajid’s son, Naveed Akram, also holds an Indian passport. Despite this, Indian officials allegedly concealed the facts, allowing local media time to circulate misleading reports that identified the attacker as a Pakistani national.

Following the attack, Indian media outlets were accused of running a disinformation campaign before it became clear the assailant was an Indian citizen.

The effort, according to sources, was aimed at maligning Pakistan internationally, a narrative that collapsed the following day when evidence of the attacker’s Indian nationality became public.

Last year, British newspaper The Guardian noted that Australia expelled two Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) operatives in 2020 over illegal activities, including profiling members of the Indian diaspora.

‘No evidence alleged Bondi gunmen received military training in Philippines’

Meanwhile, the Philippines’ National Security Adviser on Wednesday said there was no evidence indicating that the two suspects involved in the Bondi Beach attack received any form of military training while in the country.

In a statement, Eduardo Ano said that a mere visit to the country does not substantiate allegations of terrorist training, and the duration of their stay would not have permitted any meaningful or structured training.

Ano said the government was investigating the two men’s travel from November 1 to 28 and coordinating with Australian authorities to determine the purpose of the visit, dismissing media reports portraying the southern Philippines as a hotspot for violent extremism as “outdated” and “misleading”.

Immigration records show the pair landed in Manila and travelled to Davao City in Mindanao, a region long-plagued by militancy, before the attack that Australian police say appeared to have been inspired by Daesh.

Quoting the Bureau of Immigration, the Filipino media reported that the father-son duo arrived in the Philippines from Sydney, Australia, on November 1. “Both reported Davao as their final destination,” the BI said.

Based on BI records, the two left the country on November 28 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination.

Philippines’ regional police conduct probe

Separately, the Davao Regional Police said it was investigating reports that the father-son duo visited the region.

Speaking to journalists, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office 11, Maj Catherine Dela Rey, said the multi-agency investigation would try to determine “if ever they arrived in Davao, where did they stay, or the people they met… or if they only passed by Davao or indeed they did not arrive in Davao and stayed in another place.”

The police also assured the public that the Davao region remains peaceful despite being linked to an overseas terror incident. “Overall, the whole Davao region is very peaceful. And we have maintained this status all over the year,” she was quoted as saying.

— With additional input from Reuters

While New Delhi continues to make bold claims regarding the Pakistan-India war months after the May conflict, a politician from the neighbouring country has declared that his side completely lost the battle during the May conflict.

“Accept it or not, we were fully defeated in the half-hour aerial engagement that took place on May 7. On the first day (of Operation Sindoor), we were completely defeated,” Indian News Agency (ANI) quoted former Maharashtra chief minister and senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan as saying in a recent statement.

The ex-CM further said that the Indian Air Force was completely grounded during the battle and not a single aircraft of their flew due to the fear of being shot down as a result of Pakistan’s robust aerial combat tactics.

“If any aircraft had taken off from Gwalior, Bathinda, or Sirsa, there was a high probability of being shot down by Pakistan, which is why the air force was fully grounded,” Chavan said.

Pakistan, under the leadership of Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir, had given a befitting response to India in May.

In a major defensive success against the rival country, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down seven Indian aircraft, including Rafales, and destroyed an S-400 defence system.

The four-day war between the two nuclear-armed nations was triggered by India’s unlawful missile strikes inside Pakistan, which resulted in the martyrdom of several civilians and security personnel.

Pakistan, in addition to downing multiple Indian fighter jets, then launched a retaliatory strike, targeting over 20 Indian military sites across multiple regions.

The hostilities ended on May 10 after the two countries agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire agreement.

Months after the conflict, a report submitted to the United States Congress acknowledged Pakistan’s military success over India.

The report, submitted by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, noted that Pakistan deployed advanced Chinese weaponry during the conflict to enhance its military edge over India.

The report mentioned the successful use of China’s modern weapons systems in active combat for the first time, including the HQ-9 air-defence system, PL-15 air-to-air missiles, and J-10C fighter aircraft.

CDF Munir, earlier this month, warned India of a more “severe response” if it resorts to any aggression against Pakistan in the future.

“India should not be in any delusion [as] Pakistan’s response [in case of any aggression] will be even more swift and intense,” he said.