Posted on 09/26/2002 7:51:17 PM PDT by Liz
Big Donor Under House Arrest for 1996 Irregularities
David Chang, an international businessman, is one of the Democratic Party's biggest donors. He visited with President Bill Clinton at the White House on several occasions and claims to have eaten pizza with the President in South Korea. On April 13, David Chang was placed under 24-hour house arrest for allegedly coercing a former employee to lie about the methods in which he made campaign contributions.
Chang is a target of the U.S. Department of Justice's Campaign Financing Task Force. His house arrest stems from taped conversations made by federal investigators between fired Chang employee Chris Kim and Chang in which Kim was reportedly asked to lie to federal authorities about Chang's alleged laundering of $80,000 in South Korea. At the time, Chang was free on $500,000 bail after being charged with making illegal campaign contributions to Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) in 1996.
A letter from the Justice Department released in mid-April states the government has evidence that Chang "received and/or solicited" help from Senator Torricelli on four matters. These matters are helping to unfreeze Chang's assets in North Korea, helping him purchase a South Korean insurance company, writing college recommendations for relatives and making introductions for him with foreign dignitaries.
Torricelli's office admits to helping try to unfreeze Chang's North Korean assets, but reports it was unsuccessful. Chang received bipartisan support in his attempt to buy the Korea Life Insurance Company as well as seeking Torricelli's assistance, but that also failed. On a trip to South Korea last September during negotiations on the sale, Chang was accompanied by President Clinton's chief fundraiser Terrence McAuliffe.
Regarding charges that Chang funneled $23,000 to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign, three people have already pled guilty to the illegal activity and one has fled the country. Chang passed money to members of the Bergen County (NJ) Democratic Party leadership which then reimbursed others for their donations to the Torricelli campaign.
Torricelli's initial response was to speculate that every member of Congress gets donations from such "straw donors," and that "people have to learn to take these laws seriously." He denies knowledge of any illegal contributions.
A cheery good morning to you, Liz! I wonder what the day will bring! Since it is Friday, we need to pay attention to things late in the afternoon emanating from Torricelli's HQ and the DNC.
America needs more conservative newspapers
Actually I think the damage's alrewady been done by NBC and a local NBC station that ran a solid half hour piece on Tori and Chang without commercial interrruption.
Major media outlets went after this info by court order. So they're waiting for it with bated breath.
....it's all on the thread.
My thoughts well.... where is the inditement?
This really pisses me off. The jocks of the world teach us to take fouls in the final minutes of the game because winning is all that counts. The Rats teach us to take fines for illegal contributions because winning is all that counts.
How much were the fines as a percentage of the contributions? The fines are a cost of doing corrupt business. No wonder the Rats oppose the death penalty.
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