Reuters: Former Obama fundraiser Rezko gets 10-year sentence

[stockholmer]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/22/us-usa-crime-rezko-idUSTRE7AL22X20111122


(Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Tuesday sentenced Antoin "Tony" Rezko, a former Chicago fundraiser for President Barack Obama, to 10-1/2 years in prison for corruption and extortion.

Rezko's conviction was among a slew of guilty pleas that led to the conviction in two trials of former Democratic Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and several of his aides. A Syrian immigrant who earned millions in the real estate and restaurant businesses, Rezko has been imprisoned since his 2008 conviction on 16 fraud and attempted bribery counts.

"Enough is enough. Corruption in Illinois has to stop," U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve in handing down sentence to the now-gaunt, 56-year-old Rezko.

Rezko became a minor campaign issue for Obama during the 2008 presidential race. The two had become close friends and Rezko had raised tens of thousands of dollars for the then-Illinois state senator's successful U.S. Senate and presidential campaigns.

snip

[DCBob]

1. Got any news on Bill Ayers or Jeremiah Wright?

or perhaps the "Whitey Tapes"?

[Liberal Veteran]

2. I remember a time when the claim was Rezko would sink Obama's primary....

....and that Edwards would be the eventual nominee.

[frazzled]

3. Yes, and former Hillary Clinton/John Kerry fundraiser got 15 years last year

Just in case you're keeping score. It happens to politicians. They can't control everything. Now if ALL their fundraisers were crooks, that would be different.

A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats pleaded guilty Thursday to bank fraud.

Hassan Nemazee, 60, was arrested last year on charges that he used fake collateral to obtain more than $290 million in loans from major banks.

An indictment accused him of forging signatures, concocting bogus account statements and establishing "virtual offices" to conceal a scam in which he was using proceeds from new loans to pay off older ones - a maneuver prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme....


Nemazee was the national finance chairman of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. He also raised money for President Barack Obama and a long list of other prominent Democrats. He was Sen. John Kerry's New York finance chairman during his failed 2004 presidential run. ...

Prosecutors suggested a more corrupt motive. Investigators said he used some proceeds of the fraud to buy property in Italy and New York and to make sizable donations to charities, political action committees and election campaigns.

The businessman had "projected the illusion of wealth ... so that he could lead a lavish lifestyle and play the part of heavyweight political fundraiser," U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said at the time of the indictment last summer. ...

Nemazee's guilty plea comes six months after another prominent Clinton fundraiser, Norman Hsu, was sentenced to 24 years in prison for fraud and breaking campaign finance laws.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011377334_apusinvestmentbankerfraud.html