Wednesday, September 30, 2009

ACORN, now this. Culture of Corruption? Hmm . . .

HSBC sues accused Democratic fund-raiser in New York

NEW YORK, Sept 18 (Reuters) - A fund-raiser for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other Democrats who was charged last month with defrauding Citigroup Inc (C.N) is being sued by HSBC (HSBA.L) for deceiving it into lending him $100 million.
The lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court in early September accused private equity firm head Hassan Nemazee, 59, of engaging in an elaborate scheme to make HSBC Bank USA believe that its loan was secured by collateral in the form of U.S. Treasury Notes when it was not.

Nemazee, who sits on the board of the Iranian American Political Action Committee, typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates.

He is listed as one of the top "bundlers" of contributions to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, according to OpenSecrets,org, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics research group.

Nemazee was charged on Aug. 25 of one count of bank fraud for seeking a $74 million loan from Citigroup's banking unit under false pretenses.

He was arrested at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Aug. 23 as he was checking in for a flight to Italy, according to court papers.

U.S. prosecutors accused him on Sept. 2 of defrauding other banks. In a letter to a magistrate judge in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said he repaid the Citibank loan by defrauding another bank, but did not identify it.

The bank was HSBC, according to the civil lawsuit. The bank sued Nemazee for breach of contract and fraud. Nemazee's lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

The HSBC lawsuit, dated Sept. 2, said that "to accomplish the fraud, Nemazee represented to HSBC that he had $89 million in Treasury Notes, with a current market value of more than $125 million, in a specified brokerage firm account; submitted a supposed agreement from the brokerage firm with forged signatures, false addresses, and false telephone numbers; used a mail drop; and submitted fabricated brokerage statements."

And, oh, by the way, he paid for Obama's inauguration.

1 comment:

twest said...

Everywhere you turn.....