EXCLUSIVE: Morocco's Foreign Ministry Paid for Indicted Ex-Ambassador's U.S. Pardon Bid, Filing Shows

Morocco's Foreign Ministry sent about $80,000 to the U.S. law firm seeking a presidential pardon for Abdeslam Jaidi, a former Moroccan ambassador to the United Nations who was charged in a federal visa fraud case in New York in 2019, according to a federal filing reviewed by The Digital Free Press.

The payment is disclosed in a supplemental statement that Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C. filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The statement, signed by Mintz attorney Peter Chavkin, covers the period ending Sept. 30 and was received by the Justice Department's FARA unit on Oct. 27, 2026.

POLITICO Influence first reported the pardon bid on May 8, 2026, after Mintz registered under FARA for Jaidi. POLITICO reported then that, according to the registration, Morocco's Foreign Ministry had paid Jaidi's legal bills around the time of his indictment and might pay for the pardon effort as well. The Anti-Corruption Data Collective (ACDC) also listed the pardon application in its July 2026 report, "The Leniency Lobby." The new filing is the first to report that the ministry actually paid for the 2026 work. The Digital Free Press found no news coverage of the Oct. 27 filing before publication.

FARA registration is a legal disclosure requirement for people and firms that act for foreign principals. It does not by itself indicate wrongdoing.

What the Filing Shows

Mintz reported $110,000 in receipts for Jaidi during the period. In an entry dated May 26, 2026, the firm wrote that "Abdeslam Jaidi sent approximately $80,000 for invoiced work. Months later, the Foreign Ministry of Morocco sent approximately $80,000 to replace monies sent by Abdeslam Jaidi earlier." It lists a second payment from Jaidi of about $30,000 on July 30 "for additional invoiced work."

The firm's disbursement records show that on July 30 it sent $50,000 back to Jaidi, which the filing describes as "the money he had earlier sent that the Foreign Ministry replaced net of additional money owed by foreign principal for invoiced work subsequently done." The filing says the dates are approximate.

The statement also lists the firm's contacts with the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney: a pardon application letter filed on May 12, 2026, then emails, letters and possibly a call on or about July 15, July 27 and Aug. 6. The later contacts concerned an application form the office sent, "pertinent information" from it, and the office's "official website." The filing does not say whether the application has been decided.

In its May 7 registration, the firm wrote that, "based on our understanding," Jaidi "was directed by the government of Morocco to return to Morocco from the United States and not to return to the United States while the indictment is pending." It added that the Foreign Ministry had paid the firm's invoices for past work on the indictment and that it anticipated "the possibility" the ministry would pay for the pardon application. The registration says Jaidi is retired but is occasionally asked "to perform special projects at the Palace's request."

The 2019 Charges Against Abdeslam Jaidi

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Dec. 12, 2019, that Jaidi, his ex-wife Maria Luisa Estrella Jaidi and her brother, Ramon Singson Estrella, had been charged in White Plains federal court with conspiring to defraud the United States, make false statements and commit visa fraud, and with conspiring to induce aliens to enter and remain in the United States illegally.

Prosecutors alleged that from about 2006 through 2019, the three brought at least 10 domestic workers from the Philippines and Morocco into the U.S. on fraudulently obtained diplomatic visas. The indictment alleged that Jaidi and his then-wife paid the workers less than the legal minimum, made them work far more than 40 hours a week and required them to surrender their passports at a home in Bronxville, New York, and a farm in Ancramdale, New York.

The Justice Department said at the time that Jaidi and Singson "remain at large." The charges are allegations, and Jaidi is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Where the Case Stands

Court records available for free online do not show Jaidi appearing as a defendant in the case, United States v. Jaidi, 19 Cr. 890, before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel. A January 2021 order referred to him as a "non-appearing co-defendant," though a lawyer attended an April 2021 hearing on his behalf.

Prosecutors dropped the case against Maria Luisa Estrella Jaidi in July 2021, filing a notice with a certificate of death attached. POLITICO reported that she died in 2021 while awaiting trial and that Singson, who lives in the Philippines, was never arrested.

The public docket available through the free RECAP archive shows no dismissal of the charges against Jaidi, and Mintz's filings describe the indictment as pending. The docket shows two new entries this month, a letter motion filed Oct. 14 and a stipulation and order entered Oct. 15. Their contents are not available in the free archive.

Mintz attorney Peter Chavkin, the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Washington and the Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs did not respond to a request for comment by publication time. The Digital Free Press emailed all three on Wednesday with questions about the filing, the pardon application and the status of the case. TDFP will update this story with any response.

Hold Everyone Accountable.

Sources: Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C., FARA supplemental statement for the period ending Sept. 30, 2026 (received Oct. 27, 2026): https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7722-Supplemental-Statement-20261027-1.pdf ; Mintz FARA registration statement (May 7, 2026): https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7722-Registration-Statement-20260507-1.pdf ; Mintz FARA Exhibits A and B (May 7, 2026): https://efile.fara.gov/docs/7722-Exhibit-AB-20260507-1.pdf ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, press release, Dec. 12, 2019: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/former-moroccan-diplomat-and-two-others-charged-white-plains-federal-court-visa-fraud ; United States v. Jaidi, No. 7:19-cr-00890 (S.D.N.Y.), docket via CourtListener: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16584861/united-states-v-estrella-jaidi/ and https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16641503/united-states-v-estrella-jaidi/ ; POLITICO Influence, May 8, 2026: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2026/05/08/former-moroccan-ambassador-seeks-pardon-00912695 ; Anti-Corruption Data Collective, "The Leniency Lobby" (July 2026): https://acdatacollective.org/work/the-leniency-lobby-how-the-u-s-lets-global-corruption-off-the-hook/ ; Cover photo: Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco, Washington, D.C., by APK via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Embassy_of_Morocco_Washington,_D.C.jpg