WASHINGTON: Kamran Faridi, a former prominent agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), has been released from a Florida prison after serving nearly four years of his 84-month sentence.
Faridi was sentenced to 84 months in prison on Dec 9, 2022, for his convictions related to “transmitting threats in interstate commerce, threatening to assault a federal officer, and obstruction of justice.”
On March 18, 2024, a New York federal judge, Cathy Seibel, reduced the sentence of the Pakistani-origin FBI agent and informant to 72 months.
Faridi’s release comes with conditions, including surrendering his US citizenship and agreeing to leave the United States permanently before August.
Now 60, Faridi grew up in Block 3, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Karachi. He was associated with the Peoples Students Federation (PSF) and was closely linked to PSF leader Najeeb Ahmed, who was assassinated in 1990.
Described as a ‘Karachi street hustler’ by the London-based Middle East Eye (MEE) news magazine, Faridi’s family sent him to Sweden after he was found involved in several violent acts.
In 1991, Faridi migrated to the US, and within four years, he purchased a gas station in Atlanta, Georgia. It was there that he encountered FBI agents impressed by his proficiency in Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi, and Spanish. In 1996, he was formally recruited as a full-time informant and agent.
Faridi’s trajectory from a street hustler to an FBI agent took a significant turn after his instrumental role in the arrest of Karachi businessman Jabir Motiwala in London in 2018.
Posing as a Russian mafia operative, Faridi orchestrated a plot to entangle Motiwala in illegal activities. However, a dispute arose between Faridi and his FBI handlers when he threatened to expose their manipulation of evidence against Motiwala.
Intent on testifying in favor of Motiwala, Faridi was arrested in London in 2020 after the FBI intercepted his conversations with Motiwala’s lawyers. Charged with threatening former FBI colleagues, Faridi was swiftly extradited back to the US.
