Vice President Joe Biden, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday evening they plan to return or donate to charity campaign contributions from Democratic financier Hassan Nemazee, who was arrested and charged Tuesday with trying to defraud Citibank of $74 million by offering fake collateral on a loan.
If recent history is any indication, expect more politicians to follow suit as the fallout from the latest disgraced-bundler case ripples through Washington in the coming days.
Nemazee made an impact in Democratic politics as a so-called bundler who rounded up checks from others. But a POLITICO analysis found that since the early 1990s, when he first emerged as a prominent moneyman for the Clinton-Gore presidential campaign, Nemazee also has personally contributed more than $500,000 to dozens of primarily Democratic candidates, committees and causes, ranging from President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel to half the members of the U.S. Senate.
Among the biggest beneficiaries were the three national Democratic Party committees.
Nemazee, 59, contributed $113,500 to the Democratic National Committee, $89,200 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and $29,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Federal Election Commission records show.
Nemazee, who lived in New York and primarily made his fortune in investing, also served as national finance chair for the DSCC while Schumer chaired the group during the 2006 election cycle, when the committee raised $121 million (compared to $89 million for its Republican counterpart, the National Republican Senatorial Committee) and helped Democrats take control of the Senate.
The DSCC is considering what to do with Nemazee’s direct contributions, according to a source with knowledge of the group’s fundraising operations.
The moneyman over the years contributed $8,600 to the campaigns of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), and he served as a regional fundraising leader for Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.
Nemazee, who contributed $8,300 to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaigns for Senate in New York and for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, also was a top bundler for Clinton’s presidential bid, raising at least $100,000 from other donors.
After she conceded the nomination to Obama, Nemazee helped him raise at least $500,000, in addition to contributing $9,200 of his own to a joint committee Obama set up with the DNC.
And when Obama defeated Republican John McCain in the general election, Nemazee contributed another $50,000 to the non-profit corporation Obama set up to pay for his inauguration and the surrounding festivities. Read more at POLITICO
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