Source: New York Times
A wealthy New York investor and prominent Democratic Party fund-raiser with ties to President Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton was arrested on Tuesday and accused of lying about his assets to obtain a $74 million loan from Citibank.
The investor, Hassan Nemazee, a former national finance chairman for Mrs. Clinton, orchestrated the fraud by using forged documents showing that he held accounts with collateral worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a federal complaint charged.
Mr. Nemazee, 59, who was charged with one count of bank fraud, did not enter a plea in a court appearance on Tuesday. He is chairman and chief executive of Nemazee Capital, a holding company with investments in private and public companies. But he is better known as a major player in Democratic fund-raising circles since the mid-1990s, when he started raising money for the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton-Gore campaign. He has personally contributed more than $450,000 to various candidates and party committees, dating back to 1990.
The Obama campaign eventually credited Mr. Nemazee with raising more than $500,000 on its behalf. Mr. Nemazee also donated $50,000, the maximum allowed, to President Obama’s inauguration committee.
