Federal prosecutors subpoenaed President Trump’s inaugural committee on Tuesday for documents regarding its funding and financial activity, writing that they are particularly interested in “the possibility of” donations made by foreign nationals.
The new investigation was opened by the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office in December and is separate from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe.
Prosecutors have requested a variety of documents related to who funded the committee, how it spent that money, and whether donors received inappropriate kickbacks. The committee raised a record $107 million from donors.
“We have just received a subpoena for documents,” a spokeswoman for the committee said. “While we are still reviewing the subpoena, it is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry.”
Prosecutors are investigating a laundry list of crimes, including conspiracy against the U.S., making false statements, mail and wire fraud, money laundering, disclosure violations, straw-donor violations, and illegal foreign donations. One point of interest is Imaad Zuberi, “a Los Angeles financier who gave $900,000 to the committee through his private-equity firm and once registered as a foreign agent working on behalf of the Sri Lankan government,” the subpoena said.
“It’s well known that after supporting President Obama and Hillary Clinton, that Imaad gave generously and directly to the Trump inaugural. But many others gave considerably more. For what it’s worth, Imaad, as always, gave only his own money from his own resources,” said a spokesman for Zuberi.
The subpoena also requests information on inauguration attendees and whether they were promised photos with Trump.
The lead prosecutor named in the subpoena, Tom McKay, was one of the top prosecutors in the case of Trump’s former attorney and longtime fixer, Michael Cohen.