A Pakastani-born American businessman secretly paid for two representatives of the Trump Administration to travel to Qatar in 2017 to help ease tension between the emirate and its regional foes, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which had begun a blockade of Qatar, Mother Jones reports.

The arrangement–in which Imaad Zuberi arranged for, paid for and accompanied John Allen, a retired US Marine Corps four-star general, and Richard Olson, a retired State Department official and onetime ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, to travel to Doha, Qatar–is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice.

Allen and Olson were dispatched by then-Trump National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster to meet with Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss the ongoing tension in the region, which some analysts considered a prelude to a war.

Zuberi worked as a lobbyist and was a major fundraiser for the campaigns of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  Prior to the 2016 election, he frequently supported Democrats, but after Trump’s November 2016 election victory, he has worked nearly exclusively for Trump and Trump-supporting Republicans.  After Trump’s election, he donated $900,000 to Trump’s inaugural fund.

He’s serving a 12-year prison sentence for violations of foreign lobbying and campaign finance laws, along with tax evasion and obstruction of justice.  In the charging documents, prosecutors state that Zuberi was working as an unregistered lobbyist for Qatar.

Zuberi’s connection to Trump raises questions about Zuberi’s influence in obtaining the diplomatic mission to Qatar, how he came to pay for the travel of two US emissaries traveling on official business, and whether he influenced US policy in the region because of his access.