Posted on 10/16/2003 11:17:06 AM PDT by Paul Rodriguez
Peter F. Paul, the flamboyant Hollywood entrepreneur who says Hillary Rodham Clinton has hidden almost $2 million of in-kind contributions he made to her campaign in 2000, is back from Brazil and promising to raise a ruckus about the New York senator as he fights bizarre securities and bank-fraud charges on which he's been indicted.
Aaron Tonken, a political operative in Hollywood and a former protégé of Paul under indictment for a variety of alleged sharp deals with the rich and famous, also is promising to tell everything he knows about behind-the-scenes shenanigans of Clinton and many others.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the IRS have embarked on extensive civil and criminal probes involving a cast of Damon Runyon characters and securities, tax and bank frauds that appear to center on a now-bankrupt company called Stan Lee Media Inc. (SLM).
That company is in turn at the epicenter of charges brought against Stephen and Jonathan Gordon, Paul and at least two stockbrokers/advisers and alleged mob figures who helped to perpetrate government-alleged frauds that were used to finance political fund raising for Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Professionals at the Justice Department in Washington, along with prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York and the Western District of California (Los Angeles), also are pursuing ongoing investigations stemming from their probes of Paul, the Gordons and others.
At least that's what government officials tell Insight when asked about the status of this battery of criminal cases triggered by the Paul et al. indictments issued almost three years ago.
First a recap: Paul and the Gordons were alleged in the indictments to have bilked SLM, Merrill Lynch, U.S. Bank and others out of millions of dollars by floating checks on margin accounts holding SLM stocks for various personal perfidies, with which he says he financed the Clinton fund raising. According to prosecutors, as much as $25 million was stolen or otherwise looted.
(Excerpt) Read more at insightmag.com ...
The Clinton's always bump up in approval ratings in the polls anytime they are portrayed as being under attack in the press, especially when the charges against them are either weak or come from some sympathetic Democrat who can be "turned" at the right moment in the election run up. Sadly, their same old sympathy trick fools people on the Left into supporting them as well as fools people on the Right into falling for the same stunt again and again...
John O. Edwards, NewsMax.comA former Hillary Clinton fundraiser who has just been extradited from Brazil is promising blockbuster revelations against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton -- revelations that could throw a monkeywrench into Hillary's presidential ambitions.
Monday, Sept. 29, 2003
Peter Franklin Paul, who has accused Hillary Clinton of failing to declare $2 million in campaign contributions to the Federal Election Commission, is just back in the U.S. after being extradited from Brazil and is promising to reveal fresh details of how he financed Clinton.
Paul made some blistering criticisms of the Clintons to Brazil's Epoca magazine just before he was extradited.
Paul was returned to the U.S. on charges of stock fraud connected with bankrupting a publicly traded company he co-founded with Marvel Comics’ Stan Lee, the creator of famous cartoon heroes such as Spider Man, the X-Men and the Hulk.
Just two days before his departure from Brazil where he spent two years, Paul revealed to Epoca:
“I can prove everything. It was the biggest Senate campaign contribution in history and she didn’t declare it. The events I organized to raise money for her are demonstrated in my account statements from Merrill Lynch. I have letters from both Clintons thanking me for my help as well as a fax dated August 20 from David Rosen (National Finance Director for Hillary Clinton’s campaign) asking Gordon (Vice President of Stan Lee Media) to transfer shares from the company to their campaign account.”
A colorful character, Paul’s life as a roguish millionaire lawyer could inspire a Hollywood thriller. Paul participated in a plot against Fidel Castro in 1978, managed boxer Muhammad Ali and was a friend of celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Paul describes his prison time in Brazil as “difficult."
He was kept in a cold, hole-ridden cell and witnessed scenes of torture. Paul considers himself “very, very satisfied” with his extradition to the U.S. “I am being unjustly accused and want to tell everything I know.”
Paul’s story mixes business, international intrigue and political fundraising for the Clintons. “I am going to show that I was right about the Clintons,” says Paul.
Paul met Marvel Comics’ icon Stan Lee in the 1980s and co-founded an Internet company called Stan Lee Media in 1999.
When he was approached by Hollywood fundraiser Aaron Tonken to raise money for the Clintons, he cut a deal. Paul offered help raising money for Hillary and offered Bill Clinton a seat on the board of Stan Lee Media after the President left office.
Paul reveals:
'I Made a Deal'
“I made a deal with the Clintons and the Democratic Party. If I financed the campaign campaign, Bill Clinton would agree to join the board of my company after he left the White House. He would receive $ 15 million: $10 million in stock and $5 million in cash.”
With then Democratic National Committee Chairman Ed Rendell’s support, Paul organized a series of events for Hillary, as well as then Presidential candidate Al Gore.
Among his biggest accomplishments, Paul organized a Hollywood celebrity filled gala tribute to President Clinton.
“I performed a miracle. I organized a mega fundraising-event in just a few weeks”. The party cost $1.9 million featuring artists like Toni Braxton, Michael Bolton and Paul Anka. Paul paid for everything with loans from Merrill Lynch using his Stan Lee Media shares as collateral.
At first, Paul claims he planned to donate $525,000 but Hillary Clinton’s National Finance Director demanded more. “He told me: ‘If you don’t contribute more money, it’s all over.’ I was about to get Bill Clinton on board. I couldn’t give up.”
Stan Lee Media went bankrupt in January 2001, and Paul and the company’s Executive Vice President Stephen Gordon were accused of stock fraud and causing losses of $25 million to investors.
Paul blew the whistle on the Clintons a month after Stan Lee Media went bankrupt.
He says the accusations against him were a smokescreen to distract attention from the Clinton’s fundraising scandal and blames Merrill Lynch and Paine Webber for Stan Lee Media’s troubles.
Peter Paul was jailed while living in Brazil at the request of the Clinton Justice Department.
He was accused of stock manipulation but claims innocence and says the accusations are part of a plot that involves the Clintons as well as investment firms his company dealt with.
Paul claims he blew the whistle on Merrill Lynch and Paine Webber to FBI agent Stanley Myatt.
Paul denies ever having fled from justice.
“I was doing business in Brazil. I wasn’t fleeing from anything.”
In fact, Paul started doing business in Brazil in 1997 where he started a company called 112 Interactive to teach English using tapes and CD-ROMs that sold 4 million copies and regularly vacationed in Brazil with his family.
Paul now plans to release a DVD as well as a tell-all book about his experience as a Clinton fundraiser that includes spicy new revelations about the former President.
Paul revealed to Brazil’s “Epoca” magazine that Bill Clinton snuck pop singer Chaka Khan into the Oval Office at 1 o’clock in the morning.
Now that Paul is back in the U.S., he plans to reveal all of this and much more. Says Paul:
“I have many plans. I plan to start an organization to inform and protect the American public from abuses of power. I want to help prevent the powerful from compromising democracy. I also plan to sell a DVD with images of one of the fundraising events I organized for Hillary.”
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