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Convicted con man R. Allen Stanford (now in jail) used offshore corporate money to become a big man at the Democratic convention in Denver.
A video posted on his onetime firm's web-site shows Stanford, being hugged by then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi....... and praised by former President Bill Clinton .......for helping to finance a Democrat convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute.
BILL CLINTON: "I would like to thank the Stanford Financial Group for helping to underwrite this," Clinton said to the crowd at the event. Stanford Financial was listed as the "lead benefactor" for the gathering, and Stanford was permitted to address the audience of several hundred.
The SEC charged that Stanford was running a fraudulent offshore investment scheme that may have bilked customers out of as much as $8 billion. Over the last decade, Stanford has spent more than $7 million on lobbyists and campaign contributions to Washington politics in both parties, although the vast majority of the money has gone to Democrats.
"We had no reason to believe that a very public company that was also engaged in philanthropic work might be suspect," said a spokesperson for the National Democratic Institute, Amy Dudley. (Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
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STANFORD ALSO CONNECTED TO VP BIDEN.
"Hi there, Americans. Obama put me in charge of the trillion dollar stimulus.
My son and brother are gonna help me disperse the money. "
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Offshore Fraudster had links to offshore fund run by VP Biden's relatives
Reuters on Yahoo | 2/23/09 | BY Ajay Kamalakaran
(Reuters) – A fund of offshore hedge funds run by two members of VP Joe Biden's family was marketed exclusively by offshore firms controlled by Texas financier Allen Stanford, charged by regulators with an $8 billion fraud, the Wall Street Journal said.
The Bidens $50 million fund was jointly branded between the Bidens' Paradigm Global Advisors LLC and the offshore Stanford Financial Group entity headquartered in Antigua, and was known as the Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund, the paper said. Stanford-related offshore companies marketed the Biden fund to investors and also invested about $2.7 million of their own money in the fund, the paper said, citing a lawyer for Paradigm.
Paradigm Global Advisors is owned through a holding company by the vice president Biden's son, Hunter, and Joe Biden's brother, James, according to the WSJ. Paradigm's attorney, Marc LoPresti, who represents Hunter Biden and James Biden, as well as Paradigm, told the paper he did not know which Stanford entity invested the roughly $2.7 million. (Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NOTE A lawyer for Hunter Biden and James Biden told reporters the Bidens NEVER met or communicated with Stanford. (/snicker)