Obama and Clinton Bagman Gets 12 Years in Prison

He'll be missed. Especially by Democrats around election time.

A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats has been given 12 years in prison for bank fraud.

Hassan Nemazee was sentenced Thursday.

He reached a plea deal in March. He admitted to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud.

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.

We so helpfully provided some of that long list here.

More here.

A New York businessman and onetime prominent Democratic fund-raiser was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday after he admitted in March to bilking three banks out of $292 million in loans.

Hassan Nemazee, chairman and chief executive of Nemazee Capital Corp., also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan to pay more than $292 million in restitution and forfeiture.

"Pride, ego, arrogance, self-image, self-importance. All of these and more are the reasons why I traveled down this destructive path," Mr. Nemazee said prior to sentencing. "I assure the court, I take full responsibility for these actions."

Pride, ego, arrogance, self-image, self-importance.

Geez, I thought he was talking about Obama.

Prosecutors had alleged Mr. Nemazee used the proceeds from the loans to make donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates; to make donations to political action committees; to make donations to charities; to purchase property in Italy; to make monthly maintenance payments on properties in Manhattan and Katonah, N.Y.; and to purchase part of a yacht.

"This crime is breathtaking in its brazenness and its scope," Judge Stein said.

I'll predict right now Nemazee's name will not be mentioned on CBS, NBC, ABC, MSNBC or CNN today.