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.

Feds Pressure Dems to Return Money From Convicted Financier

The Hassan Nemazee story has flown so far under the media radar ever since the Democrat fatcat was indicted last year and then copping a plea in March. If he were connected with Republicans he'd be a household name by now. Back when the Obama bagman was first popped by the feds Democrats rushed to claim they'd be returning his dirty money.

Well apparently not too many of them have done so.

Shocking, isn't it?

The Democratic pols who got campaign cash from crooked financier Hassan Nemazee are being asked to return the dirty money so it can be forfeited to the feds.

More than 100 political committees and charities have been sent letters "advising them that they received the proceeds of fraud," according to papers filed in Manhattan federal court.

"Some of these organizations have returned the donated funds; some no longer exist; some have advised that they donated the Nemazee funds to charity upon learning of the defendant's arrest; some have declined to return the funds; and some are in the process of reviewing their records and evaluating the government's request," prosecutors wrote.

The filing does not identify any recipients of Nemazee's loot, but the Harvard-educated con man was national finance chairman for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and also a big donor to leading liberals including President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, ex-President Bill Clinton and ex-Vice President Al Gore.

Prosecutors told the judge that they planned to "promptly provide a further update...with respect to this process."

The filing may not identify the recipients, but we will. According to the link, those who've returned Nemazee's money are the DCCC, Senator Russell Feingold, Hillary Clinton (at least two donations) and Joe Biden, dating back to 2006.

That's it. The rest of them apparently lied when they said they'd pay the money back. They include luminaries such as Bernie Madoff pal Chuckie Schumer, Schumer puppet Kirsten Gillibrand, Dingy Harry, Frank Lautenberg, Chris Dodd, Dick Durbin, John Kerry, Carl Levin, Barbara Boxer and Al Franken, among others.

The GOP would be wise to make an issue of this in campaigns this fall, in particular against those running who are holding on to Nemazee's stolen loot.

Oh, and there's also a check he wrote to the current occupant of the White House for $9,200 that hasn't been repaid.

Why are these Democrats so eager to hang on to stolen money?

Newsmeat also has another New York listing here that include a number of the aforementioned Democrats but curiously, dating back to the early and mid 1990's, Nemazee for some reason seemed to be very fond of one Jesse Helms, the late North Carolina Republican Senator.

Obama and Clinton Bagman Gets 20 Years

Maybe they can put him in a cell with fatcat Democrat donor Bernie Madoff or Hillary's other pal Norman Hsu.

Disgraced Democratic donor Hassan Nemazee has just six more weeks of freedom after pleading guilty this afternoon to a $292 million bank-fraud scheme that prosecutors say could send him to prison for nearly 20 years.

The Harvard-educated con man begged to remain free on bond until his June 30 sentencing so he can spend time with his wife and family before being tossed in slammer.

"I have never intended to flee. I've had ample opportunity," Nemazee, 60, said in Manhattan federal court.

Defense lawyer Paul Schectman also argued that "there really is nothing to run with," adding that Nemazee hadn't paid him a nickel beyond his original retainer and was living "very modestly" -- albeit in a plush Park Avenue apartment -- on handouts from friends and relatives.

But Judge Sidney Stein ordered the fallen fund-raiser -- who was national finance chairman for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign -- to surrender on April 30, citing his history of international travel and the possibility he may have stashed "tens of millions" in missing loot overseas.

"He certainly has had an extremely successful fraud up to now," the judge said.

Nemazee also donated money in 2009 to Charles Schumer, Harry Reid, Al Franken, Joe Biden and Kirsten Gillibrand, among others. According to records none of them have returned the money. Schumer, you may recall, also received massive amounts from Madoff.

Nemazee also raised money for Barack Obama.

Nemazee was 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.

He typically donated more than $100,000 annually to Democratic Party political candidates, including Obama and now-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Back in 2008 he hosted a lavish fundraiser for Obama and was also nominated by Bill Clinton as ambassador to Argentina.

Surely this will be as big as the Jack Abramoff scandal, right? Nah, probably not.

Major Democrat Fundraiser Charged With Fraud

Democrats and fraud, perfect together. And in what should be considered a stunning development, the word Democrat actually appears in the Reuters headline.

The U.S. attorney in New York on Tuesday charged a New York investor and major Democratic fund-raiser with a $74 million scheme to defraud Citigroup Inc (C.N).

Hassan Nemazee, 59, was charged with one count of bank fraud, and faces up to 30 years in prison plus a fine. His lawyer Marc Mukasey, a former federal prosecutor, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Nemazee was a national finance chair of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, and a supporter of John Kerry's run for the White House in 2004.

He typically donates more than $100,000 annually to Democratic political candidates, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Charles Schumer, and sits on the board of the Iranian American Political Action Committee .

Bill Clinton, when he was president, nominated Nemazee to be U.S. ambassador to Argentina.

Prosecutors said Nemazee, the chairman and chief executive of Nemazee Capital Corp, sought to induce Citigroup's banking unit to lend up to $74 million based on fraudulent and forged documents suggesting that he had hundreds of millions of dollars of accounts available as collateral.

They said Nemazee also provided Citigroup with fake references so that when the bank would try to confirm details about his accounts, it would actually be contacting him. The scheme lasted from December 2006 to this month, the prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said federal agents stopped him on Sunday at Newark Liberty International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Rome, and that he repaid a more than $74 million loan to Citigroup the following day.

Sounds like he was going to abscond like another Clinton pal, Marc Rich.

Chuckie Schumer ought to be pleased to find out another of his major fundraisers now faces prison, just like his pal Bernie Madoff.

In addition to Nemazee and the now-imprisoned Norman Hsu, I wonder how many other criminal fundraisers were helping Hillary Clinton?

Here's a rundown of Democrats Nemazee contributed to: Also included are Democrat Senators Barbara Boxer, Joe Biden, Kirsten Gillibrand, Frank Lautenberg, Dick Durbin, Carl Levin, and Jay Rockefeller.

I'll wait with breathless anticipation for all of them to comment and offer to return his dirty money.

Michelle Malkin already has material for a new chapter of her best-selling book.