Thread: Guilty Clinton Fundraiser Also Tampered With Witness at Tri

Joe the Plumber

Guilty Clinton Fundraiser Also Tampered With Witness at Trial (STORY)



Hillary Fundraiser Pleads Guilty: Witness Tampering, Unlawful Donations - Joe For America

Hillary Clinton takes illegal money from Chinese, CEO's of Healthcare Corporations, even "Uncle Earl" - so I must ask you:

JOEFORAMERICA.COM

Hillary Fundraiser Pleads Guilty: Witness Tampering, Unlawful Donations

Posted by Rodney Lee Conover on Apr 17, 2014 in Email Featured, Politics

A big-time Hillary fundraiser from who-knows-where has pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate campaign finance laws by reimbursing people who he convinced to donate large sums of money to Hillary’s primary campaign in 2008. And then when the crook is caught, the bastard goes on to commit witness tampering during the trial? Yep, sounds like a friend of the Clinton’s, all right..

.. Cankles theese big – it is so true..

Oh, be assured, he’s a buddy of Obama’s too — read the details below — but Hillary Clinton takes illegal money from the Chinese, CEO’s of Healthcare Corporations, even some lowlife named “Uncle Earl” – so I must ask you:
Does anyone really believe Hillary Clinton will be different during her 2016 campaign anymore than a leopard can change it’s spots?
Hat tip: CNBC

A hotel executive and Democratic fundraiser has pleaded guilty in New York to witness tampering and conspiracy to evade campaign finance laws. Hampshire Hotels chairman Sant Singh Chatwal appeared Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn. The candidates were not identified. Chatwal, whose firm runs hotels around the world, had raised at least $100,000 for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign against Barack Obama.

“Mr Chatwal deeply regrets his actions and accepts full responsibility for the consequences. He looks forward to resolving this personal matter,” a spokesperson for Chatwal told CNBC on Thursday. According to the Justice Department, Chatwal made more than $180,000 in donations to three candidates via straw donors, who were then reimbursed.

Back in June of 2008, rediff.com also reported this interesting tidbit:

Sant Chatwal, millionaire hotelier and close friend and fund-raiser for the Clintons for several years, has assured Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama that the Indian American community will raise over $10 million for his campaign to win back the White House.

I don’t care where you were born either..

Chatwal was introduced to Obama by Senator Hillary Clinton at a private meeting between them and Clinton’s top donors at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC on June 26.

Chatwal told rediff.com that at the meeting, “Obama, myself and Hillary spent five minutes together, and now we have all basically endorsed Obama. We will be doing the biggest fund-raiser for Obama.”

“Obama told me, ‘Mr Chatwal, my office has been trying to reach you, and I said, ‘I was waiting for the order from my boss (Senator Clinton), and now, I got it,’ and I said, ‘I am going to hold the biggest fundraiser you have ever seen in your life.’” .. So we are going to do it. We will raise over $10 million for the Obama campaign..”

Of course there was the obligatory disclaimer from Eric Holder to protect his overlord and overlordess: “There is no allegation that the candidates participated in, or were aware of, Chatwal’s scheme,” the DOJ said. In addition to the straw donors, the Justice Dept. said Chatwal tampered with a witness to try and interfere with a grand jury probe…
… Sounds to me like the checks stopped clearing..

-30-Sugar? No thanks, I’m sweet enough..

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http://joeforamerica.com/2014/04/hil...ful-donations/

Sant Singh Chatwal
Businessman
Sant Singh Chatwal is an Indian-American businessman, owner of the Bombay Palace chain of restaurants and Hampshire Hotels & Resorts.Wikipedia

Born: 1946, Punjab, India

Democratic Fundraiser And Hotel Magnate Sant Singh Chatwal Pleads Guilty

| by TOM HAYS
Posted: 04/17/2014

NEW YORK (AP) — A wealthy hotel executive and Democratic fundraiser who supported Hilary Clinton for president pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he secretly funneled more than $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions to three unnamed candidates and coached someone to lie about it.

An informant caught Sant Singh Chatwal on tape in 2010 explaining that he believed his illegal fundraising bought him access to people in power.

Without the contributions "nobody will even talk to you," Chatwal said. "That's the only way to buy them, get into the system."

Chatwal entered the plea to evading contribution limits and witness tampering in federal court in Brooklyn as part of a plea deal. He faces a maximum of nearly six years in prison at sentencing on July 31 and must forfeit $1 million. He free on $750,000 bond secured by property in Manhattan.

Chatwal, 70, was not required to describe his crimes in court. After the plea, his spokesman passed out a written statement saying he "deeply regrets his actions and accepts full responsibility for the consequences."

U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement that Chatwal "sought to buy access to power through unlimited and illegal campaign contributions, funneling money from the shadows of straw donors."

In court papers, the three people who received the donations were described only as candidates for federal office. There's no allegation that they knew about the scheme, the papers add.

Chatwal, an Indian-born U.S. citizen, is the founder of Hampshire Hotels Management LLC. The company owns and manages hotels in New York, Miami, the United Kingdom, Thailand and India. His son, Vikram, operates the Dream Hotels, including one in Manhattan that's a popular night spot where he's been photographed with models and celebrities, including Lindsay Lohan.

The elder Chatwal raised at least $100,000 for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign against Barack Obama and was among the celebrities, major Democratic fundraisers and businessmen invited to Obama's first state dinner.

Chatwal also was a guest at then-President Bill Clinton's state dinner for India in 2000 and helped arrange an earthquake-relief visit by the former president to India in 2001.

Court papers allege that between 2007 and 2011, Chatwal used his employees, business associates and contractors who worked on his hotels to collect contributions from straw donors in Queens, Long Island and elsewhere. He then arranged to pay the donors back, a violation of the election laws.

As part the scheme, an unnamed business associate submitted a bill to Chatwal for $104,745 in 2011 for purported work done for one of Chatwal's companies. Prosecutors allege that $69,000 of the total actually was reimbursement for money the associate had raised via straw donors.

In a conversation recorded in 2012, Chatwal instructed the associate that if he were asked if Chatwal gave him the money back, he should respond, "Never."

Chatwal directly backed several Democratic candidates with his own money — at least $31,200 since 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Among them were New York Reps. Joe Crowley and Gary Ackerman, along with California Rep. Howard Berman and Florida Rep. Robert Wexler. He also gave money to Montana Sen. Jon Tester, Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner.

The FEC records also indicate in 2004 he gave $2,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, House Democrats' campaign committee.

A spokesman said the campaign committee declined to comment on the plea deal.

Spokesmen from the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Clinton did not respond to an email message seeking comment.

The Republican National Committee said Chatwal was just the latest Clinton fundraiser to be caught up in scandal.

"It's troubling that yet another of Hillary Clinton's top moneymen is embroiled in scandal and illegal activity," RNC spokesman Jahan Wilcox said. "The last thing our country needs is to go back to the Clinton days where money was constantly being traded for access."

FEC records also show Chatwal attempted to give money to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 and 2013. Aides refunded the donation each time.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...p_ref=politics

Why is Sant Singh Chatwal famous?

| Updated: Feb 27 2005, 00:00 IST

Sant Singh Chatwal jumps at the offer of kichdri and jeera aloo for lunch at the Taj Palace. So what if he’s the owner of the $750 million hotel chain Hampshire Hotels and Resorts Bombay Palace and has lived in America for 25 years? “My tastes remain the same and I feel strongly rooted to my land of birth.”

Mr Chatwal’s visit to India last week had a fascinating purpose: to facilitate Senator Hillary Clinton’s visit to India. “Though private, the visit’s significance cannot be underestimated,” says Mr Chatwal. “It could give a boost to the economic growth of the country.”

Besides, she could be the next US president. A recent American survey revealed that her people are finally ready to accept a woman president and Senator Clinton’s name tops the list of probable women candidates.


Meanwhile, in her three days in New Delhi, she met the Prime Minister, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other senior leaders besides corporate kahunas like Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra.

“Senator Clinton’s visit is not for any personal purpose,” he clarifies. “I wanted her to see the changes India was undergoing. Anyway, it’s not a secret that the Clintons feel much for India and are emotionally attached to this country. My only selfish motive is to see India grow stronger, as it will give us a better image,” adds Mr Chatwal, one of the biggest fundraisers for the Democrats. “Senator Clinton came to my home in New York last week and declared she was on a diet. But it didn’t seem so. She ate the chicken tikka and also the rasmalai, her favourite dessert,” he chuckles fondly.

Mr Chatwal clearly remains undaunted by the defeat of the Democrats in the presidential elections. He concedes humbly, “If it hadn’t been for Bush Senior — the seasoned politician and strategist — George Bush would have never made it. Also, John Kerry did not have the charisma to pull it through.”

His White House connections apart (besides the Clintons, he is close to many other congressmen and senators), his hotel business is also sitting pretty. The ‘king of Indian curry’ boasts of hotels in major metros around the world — Montreal, Toronto, New York, Washington DC, Beverly Hills, Houston, Budapest, Hong Kong and Kaula Lumpur — and now plans to open two in India, in Mumbai and Jaipur. “We’ll be kickstarting the project in a couple of months,” he says.

His sons Vikram and Vivek Chatwal are with him. Vikram, for one, has upgraded the old chain and opened new boutique hotels.

Mr Chatwal’s journey began in 1967 when he left Faridkot, Punjab, for Ethiopia. The hotel business was not what he had planned for, but by chance a local restaurant-owner recognised his flair for business. “He left me in charge for a few months and I upgraded it to a roaring business,” he recalls. “I also recognised my own potential.”

It was a political coup in Ethiopia that changed his life forever. He fled to Canada and then moved on to the US.

“Proper planning, passion for my work, having the right people around me and having lady luck with me always are my business mantra. They say wise men learn from others’ mistakes but I’ve learnt from my own.”

What does he think of his bahu-to-be, Priya Sachdev? “I am so pleased. In my heart I had a desire that my sons who have been born and brought up in America should find girls from India and Vikram has made me so happy,” beams a happy father.

http://www.financialexpress.com/news...mous-/128020/1

When Controversy Follows Cash

From left, Sant Chatwal, Bill Clinton, Renu Mehta and Michael Douglas at an event in London in 2006. Chatwal, a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton, raised money for their campaigns and causes even as he faced legal and financial difficulties. Mehta, a philanthropist, founded Fortune Forum. (By Dave M. Benett -- Getty Images)By John Solomon and Matthew Mosk

Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, September 3, 2007

Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents to escape bankruptcy and millions of dollars in tax liens.

The founder of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, Chatwal is one of a growing number of fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign whose backgrounds have prompted questions about how much screening the candidates devote to their "bundlers" while they press to raise record amounts.

Chatwal's case reached from his native India to New York City. The IRS pursued him for approximately $4 million in unpaid business taxes, while New York state placed a lien seeking more than $5 million in taxes. He forfeited a building to New York City on which he was delinquent on property taxes and was sued by federal regulators seeking to recoup millions of dollars in loans from a failed bank where he served as a director.

Across the ocean, three Indian banks forced him into U.S. bankruptcy, and he was charged with bank fraud. He was out on bond when he showed up in India in 2001 during a visit by his longtime friend Bill Clinton.

Yet none of the legal and financial woes -- occasionally touched on in American or Indian newspapers or highlighted by political opponents -- raised red flags inside Hillary Clinton's fundraising operation. Chatwal recently said he plans to help raise $5 million from Indian Americans for Clinton's presidential bid.

Asked whether anything in Chatwal's background caused concerns about his activities on behalf of the campaign, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer answered, "No." He declined last week to be more specific, saying only that major fundraisers are routinely vetted "through publicly available records."

Rajen Anand, a longtime friend of Chatwal and another Clinton fundraiser, said the campaign encourages strict vetting for fundraisers. "They advise me to be very careful not to associate the campaign with people where there is something wrong," he said.

Anand said, however, that Chatwal may have slid through any vetting, no matter how vigorous, because of his longtime friendship with the Clintons. The Clintons maintained a close association with Chatwal; both attended one of his sons' weddings in 2002, and the former president attended another son's wedding in 2006.

While Chatwal raised money for Hillary Clinton's Senate and presidential campaigns and Bill Clinton's charitable efforts, he settled the regulatory and tax cases one by one, mostly by working out plans to pay portions of the debts. He resolved the last of them this spring.

"The man came to this country, accumulated an empire, lost it during the time of real estate [softness], and has struggled and worked to try to pay off his debts," said A. Mitchell Greene, Chatwal's lawyer for 25 years. "It has been a long battle, but he has cleared up all of his obligations, and in the process he is trying to accumulate his wealth again."

Ordinarily, campaigns have their legal, finance or research staffs run the names of major fundraisers -- also called "bundlers" because they deliver checks to candidates in bunches -- through public records such as newspaper clips, court filings and government databases to identify problems. Some controversies still slip through.

Former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) faced such questions last week when federal prosecutors in Michigan indicted Geoffrey Fieger, the lawyer famous for defending assisted-suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian, accusing him of channeling $127,000 in illegal contributions into Edwards's 2004 presidential campaign. Edwards's aides said, and prosecutors confirmed, that the activity was concealed from Edwards and that the candidate cooperated once he learned of problems.

Similarly, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) gave to charity more than $30,000 in donations from Illinois fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko and his associates after Rezko was indicted in a federal corruption case. "We do our best to go through the hundreds of thousands of people who give to make sure there aren't problems," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. "I wouldn't say it's a perfect process, but we are as vigilant as possible."

On Friday, another major 2008 Clinton fundraiser generated fresh headlines: Norman Hsu surrendered to authorities in San Mateo, Calif., on an outstanding warrant in a 15-year-old California criminal case involving allegations of grand theft. A judge ordered him held on $2 million bail until a hearing next week. On Wednesday, Clinton's campaign gave to charity $23,000 in donations from Hsu himself, though not the $96,000 or more he had raised for the candidate.

The Clinton campaign relied on the businessman to raise money and said it had no way of knowing about the warrant, which was not listed in publicly accessible records.

Chatwal, after making his millions in the restaurant business, saw his fortunes sour when he began dabbling in New York real estate just as the market softened.

He was forced into bankruptcy in 1995 by three Indian banks that claimed he owed them millions from business loans.

During the 1990s, the IRS and New York City and state tax authorities also pursued liens, and Chatwal worked out deals to pay them back. When the rents from one apartment building he bought no longer covered the real estate taxes, Chatwal turned over the building to New York City to resolve a reported $2 million tax lien, his lawyer said.

In 1997, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sued Chatwal over his role as a director and a guarantor of unpaid loans at the failed First New York Bank for Business. The government alleged that his loans had "resulted in losses to the bank in excess of $12 million," and it questioned his claims that he could not repay the debts.

The regulators also questioned why Chatwal continued to rent a spacious penthouse apartment in New York in the midst of his financial turmoil. "The debtor has managed to continue living in luxurious style in the same penthouse apartment he resided in at a time he claimed a net worth of tens of millions of dollars without adequate explanation of how his family's limited income is able to support such a lifestyle," the government said in a 1997 filing.

In September 2000, Chatwal hosted a half-million dollar fundraiser at that Upper East Side penthouse for Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign.

A few months later the FDIC abruptly settled the case, agreeing on Dec. 18, 2000, to let Chatwal pay $125,000 for the loans that it had said caused at least $12 million in losses.

Greene, Chatwal's lawyer, said he believed that the actual losses caused by the loans were smaller but agreed that the bankruptcy resulted in a much smaller settlement. "He fully intended to pay the bank until the Indian banks involuntarily forced him into bankruptcy," Greene said.

The lawyer also said there was nothing wrong with Chatwal raising political money even as he worked to clear up the legal and financial matters. "I see no reason why an individual cannot support a political campaign in which he believes," Greene said.

Just as Chatwal's U.S. cases were being resolved, Indian authorities in December 2000 charged him with bank fraud. On April 30, 2001, he appeared in a Mumbai court and posted a $32,000 bond, according to court officials there. Chatwal was not under travel restrictions, though, and he went back to New York.

He returned to India a month later and made headlines in Indian newspapers by appearing with Bill Clinton during a visit with earthquake victims. The trip was underwritten by the American India Foundation, where Chatwal's son was a board member. Aides to the former president said Chatwal was one of about 100 members of the Clinton delegation.

Eventually, Indian authorities "discharged" Chatwal from the bank case and closed the matter, Greene said.

Chatwal's allegiance to the Clintons never wavered. Earlier this year, he promised to raise $5 million for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid, creating a group called Indian Americans for Hillary 2008.

Donors who gathered at least $25,000 were promised a "private VIP meeting" with the candidate, fundraising letters show.
Research editor Alice Crites and special correspondent Indrani Ghosh Nangia contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...090201436.html

Govt. defends Padma Bhushan to Sant Singh Chatwal

NetIndian News Network
New Delhi, January 27, 2010

The Government today strongly defended its decisionto confer the Padma Bhushan award on New York-based non-resident Indian (NRI) hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal, saying he had been discharged by a court in Mumbai and there was nothing adverse on record against him.

Mr Chatwal was among the 43 people chosen by the Government for the prestigious Padma Bhushan on the eve of Republic Day earlier this week.

The decision sparked off a controversy with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) objecting to the move because of cases launched by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the hotelier and restaurateur some years ago.

Reacting to these objections, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs also made it clear that the Padma Awards were conferred only after consideration interms of the guidelines regulating the award and after observance of established and elaborate procedures.

"A ‘due diligence’ exercise is undertaken in respect of each awardee in consultation with appropriate agencies before announcement of the award. No Padma award is conferred except on the recommendation of the Awards Committee constituted for the purpose and after the due diligence has been done," the Ministry said in a statement.

Referring to the allegations against Mr Chatwal, the Ministry clarified that, between 1992 and 1994, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered five cases against him and some [COLOR=#009900 !important]bank[/COLOR] officials for allegedly conniving with the intention to defraud the Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, both public sector banks .

It said three of these cases were closed by the CBI itself while chargesheets were filed by the CBI in two cases before the court of Special Judge, CBI, Mumbai. It said that, in these two cases also, the court had discharged Mr Chatwal.

"As per available reports, there is nothing adverse on record against Mr Chatwal," the statement said.

The Ministry also said that Mr Chatwal was a tireless advocate of India’s interests in the United States and had been working relentlessly for strengthening bilateral relationships between India and the United States.

It said he was a Trustee of the William J. Clinton Foundation which focuses on critical global issues such as health care, climate change ] and economic empowerment of the underprivileged in the world community. He is also founder trustee of the American India Foundation and has made frequent trips to India to provide relief to victims of tsunami and AIDS. He is also a prominent leader of the Indian-American community, it said.

The statement said Mr Chatwal had distinguished himself in the hospitality sector and been an active member of the NRI community in the US in securing support for the nuclear deal among the members of the Congress of the United States. He is a recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Award 2005. He was honoured by the National Jewish Outreach Programme in New York in 2001 and with the "Order of the Khalsa" by the Government of Punjab in 1999, it added.

http://netindian.in/news/2010/01/27/...-singh-chatwal







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