The head of a District lobbying group has been sentenced to two years in prison for concealing millions of dollars in funds funneled from Pakistan’s government.
Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, 62, was sentenced Friday in federal court in Alexandria. Fai, who ran the Kashmiri American Council — a lobbying group that focuses on Kashmir, a disputed area on the India-Pakistan border — pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and corruptly endeavoring to impede the Internal Revenue Service.
His plea agreement says that he concealed at least $3.5 million sent from Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence spy agency to the lobbying group between 1990 and 2011. Prosecutors had sought a four-year prison term for Fai, arguing in court papers that the KAC was “a front” for the ISI and Fai “acted as an agent” for that organization.
Fai “lied to the Justice Department, the IRS and many political leaders throughout the United States as he pushed the ISI’s propaganda on Kashmir,” Neil MacBride, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said in a statement after Fai’s sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady also ordered Fai to serve three years of supervised release.
Fai’s attorney had argued for a sentence of probation, writing in a sentencing memorandum that his dedication to peace and Kashmir — not criminal intent — led to his crimes.
