Fai pleads guilty,admits to spying for ISI

Pleading guilty before the US Eastern District Court of Virginia,Fai agreed to the charges of federal prosecutors that he received at least $3.5 million from ISI between 1990 and 2011.

His sentencing is scheduled for March 9. Fai agreed before the court that he was in direct contact with the ISI officials including the head of its security directorate.

The guilty plea was announced by Neil MacBride,US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Fai conceded receiving talking points from ISI regarding what to say and write. He agreed that he received directions from ISI with regard to which specific individuals to invite for Kashmiri American Council (KAC) conferences.

Fai has consented to forfeit all four bank accounts in his name or in the name of KAC totalling about $140,000. He also agreed before the court that he had sent to the ISI annual budget of the KAC for approval.

“For the last 20 years,Mr Fai secretly took millions of dollars from Pakistani intelligence and lied about it to the US government,” said US Attorney MacBride. “As a paid operative of ISI,he did the bidding of his handlers in Pakistan while he met with US elected officials,funded high-profile conferences,and promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.”

“Syed Fai today admitted his role in a decades-long scheme to conceal the fact that the government of Pakistan was secretly funding his efforts to influence US policy on Kashmir,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco.

Fai was arrested on spying charges on July 19 and then put under house arrest.

A resident of Fairfax Virginia,an affluent suburb of Washington DC,Fai is the head of KAC and claimed to lobby on behalf of the people of Kashmir.

The FBI had arrested him for allegedly collaborating with ISI by “clandestinely” funnelling hundreds and thousands of dollars to change the view of American lawmakers on Kashmir.