Prosecutors: Democratic campaign treasurer embezzled at least $7 million from multiple clients
Published March 28, 2012
| FoxNews.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A longtime California Democratic campaign treasurer embezzled at least $7 million from as many as 50 clients including politicians, local officials and other political entities in a scheme that continued for more than 10 years, according to a new court filing by federal prosecutors.
Kinde Durkee, who spent two decades working for scores of campaigns in California and was Sen. Dianne Feinstein's campaign treasurer, was charged with five new counts of mail fraud in the court filing late Tuesday.
The filing alleges that Durkee altered campaign finance reports to intentionally defraud the clients of her Burbank-based firm, Durkee and Associates.
It details how since 2000 Durkee had allegedly taken check after check meant for the accounts of her political clients and used them for her own personal and business expenses.
In one example, Durkee reportedly took a $23,000 check made out to Feinstein's campaign and used it to pay an American Express bill that included charges to Amazon.com, Trader Joe's, Disneyland and the Los Angeles Dodgers, among other things.
Durkee also reportedly used Feinstein's campaign funds to pay for her mortgage, phone bill, and expenses for her employees.
Feinstein was only one of the multiple political clients listed in the filing, which says there were at least 50 victims of the fraud whose losses exceed $7 million.
It is also possible the figures reported in the filing may be a low estimate. The filing claims Durkee's company had access to at least 700 bank accounts, and more losses may be uncovered in later civil cases.
Feinstein has previously stated she lost about $4.7 million from her campaign accounts in the fraud, and cut a $5 million check to her own campaign to cover the losses.
"This was a very hard thing for me," Feinstein has said. "When you trust someone and this happens, it’s sort of like a knife being put in your back and twisted because you have that trust."
In addition to Feinstein, Durkee served as treasurer for Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez, Laura Richardson, Susan Davis and other state and local officials and grassroots Democratic organizations.
Rep. Susan Davis, who previously claimed she lost up to $250,000 in Durkee's scheme, called Durkee the "Bernie Madoff of campaign finance treasurers" in an email to supporters in September.
Rep. Linda Sanchez previously reported losses of $322,000, with her sister Rep. Loretta Sanchez reporting a $125,000 loss.
The court filing only adds to speculation that Durkee may be preparing to enter a plea bargain in the case, as such filings usually indicate a plea bargain is looming.
Earlier Tuesday, Politico reported Durkee was planning to plead guilty to five counts of fraud, and that prosecutors will recommend she receive 11 to 14 years in prison. Neither prosecutors nor Durkee's lawyers have confirmed that report.
Durkee is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon at a hearing that had been scheduled before Tuesday's developments.
Despite Davis' "Madoff" characterization, reports that have emerged of Durkee indicate she wasn't living a lavish lifestyle similar to that of the disgraced Ponzi schemer.
Reports claimed Durkee's house in a nice upper middle-class neighborhood was the only one that didn't have a nice green lawn, and both the house and the old car out front were in need of repair.
In a separate order filed Monday, the U.S. attorney's office and Durkee agreed to a forfeiture auction of her Burbank home, which it says she owns with her husband, John Forgy. The couple owes $671,000 on the house, as well as $17,471 in state tax liens, according to the filing.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...plea-deal-in-kinde-durkee-case/#ixzz1qQ1yckXY
Published March 28, 2012
| FoxNews.com
-
Fox News
FILE: This photo shows Kinde Durkee.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A longtime California Democratic campaign treasurer embezzled at least $7 million from as many as 50 clients including politicians, local officials and other political entities in a scheme that continued for more than 10 years, according to a new court filing by federal prosecutors.
Kinde Durkee, who spent two decades working for scores of campaigns in California and was Sen. Dianne Feinstein's campaign treasurer, was charged with five new counts of mail fraud in the court filing late Tuesday.
The filing alleges that Durkee altered campaign finance reports to intentionally defraud the clients of her Burbank-based firm, Durkee and Associates.
It details how since 2000 Durkee had allegedly taken check after check meant for the accounts of her political clients and used them for her own personal and business expenses.
In one example, Durkee reportedly took a $23,000 check made out to Feinstein's campaign and used it to pay an American Express bill that included charges to Amazon.com, Trader Joe's, Disneyland and the Los Angeles Dodgers, among other things.
Durkee also reportedly used Feinstein's campaign funds to pay for her mortgage, phone bill, and expenses for her employees.
Feinstein was only one of the multiple political clients listed in the filing, which says there were at least 50 victims of the fraud whose losses exceed $7 million.
It is also possible the figures reported in the filing may be a low estimate. The filing claims Durkee's company had access to at least 700 bank accounts, and more losses may be uncovered in later civil cases.
Feinstein has previously stated she lost about $4.7 million from her campaign accounts in the fraud, and cut a $5 million check to her own campaign to cover the losses.
"This was a very hard thing for me," Feinstein has said. "When you trust someone and this happens, it’s sort of like a knife being put in your back and twisted because you have that trust."
In addition to Feinstein, Durkee served as treasurer for Congresswomen Loretta Sanchez, Linda Sanchez, Laura Richardson, Susan Davis and other state and local officials and grassroots Democratic organizations.
Rep. Susan Davis, who previously claimed she lost up to $250,000 in Durkee's scheme, called Durkee the "Bernie Madoff of campaign finance treasurers" in an email to supporters in September.
Rep. Linda Sanchez previously reported losses of $322,000, with her sister Rep. Loretta Sanchez reporting a $125,000 loss.
The court filing only adds to speculation that Durkee may be preparing to enter a plea bargain in the case, as such filings usually indicate a plea bargain is looming.
Earlier Tuesday, Politico reported Durkee was planning to plead guilty to five counts of fraud, and that prosecutors will recommend she receive 11 to 14 years in prison. Neither prosecutors nor Durkee's lawyers have confirmed that report.
Durkee is expected to appear in court Friday afternoon at a hearing that had been scheduled before Tuesday's developments.
Despite Davis' "Madoff" characterization, reports that have emerged of Durkee indicate she wasn't living a lavish lifestyle similar to that of the disgraced Ponzi schemer.
Reports claimed Durkee's house in a nice upper middle-class neighborhood was the only one that didn't have a nice green lawn, and both the house and the old car out front were in need of repair.
In a separate order filed Monday, the U.S. attorney's office and Durkee agreed to a forfeiture auction of her Burbank home, which it says she owns with her husband, John Forgy. The couple owes $671,000 on the house, as well as $17,471 in state tax liens, according to the filing.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...plea-deal-in-kinde-durkee-case/#ixzz1qQ1yckXY
Obama: Supreme Court won’t overturn health care law
By JENNIFER EPSTEIN | 4/2/12 2:31 PM EDT Updated: 4/2/12 3:37 PM EDT
President Barack Obama voiced confidence Monday that the Supreme Court will uphold his health care law in his first public remarks on the issue since the three days of oral arguments last week.
In a rare instance of a president weighing in on a high court case in which the ruling has not yet been released, Obama suggested that the high court would be guilty of “judicial activism” if it overturned the law. He also argued that the justices should uphold the individual mandate, saying it’s a key — and constitutional — piece of the law.
“We are confident that this will be upheld because it should be upheld,” Obama said at a joint news conference at the White House with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
(Also on POLITICO: If the health law fails, what's next?)
During three days of hearings last week, conservative justices signaled skepticism toward the individual mandate, which requires nearly all Americans to buy health insurance or pay a fine. Based on their questions, the conservative justices did not appear to support the idea of upholding the law if they were to strike down the mandate.
Obama said the individual mandate must remain in the law for it to function.
“I think it is important and I think the American people understand, and I think the justices should understand that in the absence of an individual mandate, you cannot have a mechanism to insure that people with preexisting conditions can actually get health care,” he said.
Some liberal groups are preparing to attack the court for judicial activism should the mandate be overturned, and Obama laid the groundwork for that argument on Monday, as he reminded conservatives of their fears of overreaching courts.
Overturning the law would be “an unprecedented, extraordinary step” since it was passed by a majority of members in the House and Senate,” he said. “I just remind conservative commentators that for years we’ve heard that the biggest problem is judicial activism or a lack of judicial restraint. That a group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law. Well, this is a good example. And I’m pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/74743.html#ixzz1qujNNzYX
Top Obama campaign donor accused of fraud
By JACK GILLUM | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major donor to President Barack Obama has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, creating new headaches for Obama's re-election campaign as it deals with the questionable history of another top supporter.
The New York donor, Abake Assongba, and her husband contributed more than $50,000 to Obama's re-election effort this year, federal records show. But Assongba is also fending off a civil court case in Florida, where she's accused of thieving more than $650,000 to help build a multimillion-dollar home in the state — a charge her husband denies.
Obama is the only presidential contender this year who released his list of "bundlers," the financiers who raise campaign money by soliciting high-dollar contributions from friends and associates. But that disclosure has not come without snags; his campaign returned $200,000 last month to Carlos and Alberto Cardona, the brothers of a Mexican fugitive wanted on federal drug charges.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt declined comment to The Associated Press. He instead referred the AP to previous statements he made to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations against Assongba in its Sunday editions. LaBolt told the paper 1.3 million Americans have donated to the campaign, and that it addresses issues with contributions promptly.
Assongba was listed on Obama's campaign website as one of its volunteer fundraisers — a much smaller group of about 440 people.
Assongba and her husband, Anthony J.W. DeRosa, run a charity called Abake's Foundation that distributes school supplies and food in Benin, Africa. A photo posted on Assongba's Facebook page shows the couple standing next to Obama at a May 2010 fundraiser.
In one Florida case, which is still ongoing, Swiss businessman Klaus-Werner Pusch accused Assongba in 2009 of engaging him in an email scam — then using the money to buy a multimillion-dollar home, the Post reported. The suit alleges Assongba impersonated a bank official to do it. Pusch referred the AP's questions to his attorney, who did not immediately return requests seeking comment Sunday.
Meanwhile, Assongba has left a trail of debts, with a former landlord demanding in court more than $10,000 in back rent and damages for a previous apartment. She was also evicted in 2004 after owing $5,000 in rent, records show.
In an interview with the AP on Sunday, DeRosa said the allegations against his wife were untrue, although he couldn't discuss specifics because of pending litigation. He said he and Assongba were "very perturbed" by the charges, and said the couple's charity does important work in Africa.
Assongba has given more than $70,000 to Democratic candidates in recent years, an AP review of Federal Election Commission data shows. Her larger contributions include $35,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between Obama and the Democratic Party, and $15,000 to Democrats running for Congress. DeRosa also gave $15,000 to Obama's victory fund in April 2011, records show.
Abake's Foundation is listed by the IRS as a registered nonprofit organization; its financial reports were unavailable. A representative who picked up the phone at the foundation's Benin office declined to answer questions, and instead referred the AP to Assongba.
Obama's campaign declined to comment on whether its vetting procedures were thorough enough, or whether Assongba's contribution would be refunded. All told, Obama has raised more than $120 million this election, not counting millions more from the Democratic Party — giving him a financial advantage thus far over any of his Republican challengers.
By JACK GILLUM | Associated Press – 4 hrs agoWASHINGTON (AP) — A major donor to President Barack Obama has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, creating new headaches for Obama's re-election campaign as it deals with the questionable history of another top supporter.
The New York donor, Abake Assongba, and her husband contributed more than $50,000 to Obama's re-election effort this year, federal records show. But Assongba is also fending off a civil court case in Florida, where she's accused of thieving more than $650,000 to help build a multimillion-dollar home in the state — a charge her husband denies.
Obama is the only presidential contender this year who released his list of "bundlers," the financiers who raise campaign money by soliciting high-dollar contributions from friends and associates. But that disclosure has not come without snags; his campaign returned $200,000 last month to Carlos and Alberto Cardona, the brothers of a Mexican fugitive wanted on federal drug charges.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt declined comment to The Associated Press. He instead referred the AP to previous statements he made to The Washington Post, which first reported the allegations against Assongba in its Sunday editions. LaBolt told the paper 1.3 million Americans have donated to the campaign, and that it addresses issues with contributions promptly.
Assongba was listed on Obama's campaign website as one of its volunteer fundraisers — a much smaller group of about 440 people.
Assongba and her husband, Anthony J.W. DeRosa, run a charity called Abake's Foundation that distributes school supplies and food in Benin, Africa. A photo posted on Assongba's Facebook page shows the couple standing next to Obama at a May 2010 fundraiser.
In one Florida case, which is still ongoing, Swiss businessman Klaus-Werner Pusch accused Assongba in 2009 of engaging him in an email scam — then using the money to buy a multimillion-dollar home, the Post reported. The suit alleges Assongba impersonated a bank official to do it. Pusch referred the AP's questions to his attorney, who did not immediately return requests seeking comment Sunday.
Meanwhile, Assongba has left a trail of debts, with a former landlord demanding in court more than $10,000 in back rent and damages for a previous apartment. She was also evicted in 2004 after owing $5,000 in rent, records show.
In an interview with the AP on Sunday, DeRosa said the allegations against his wife were untrue, although he couldn't discuss specifics because of pending litigation. He said he and Assongba were "very perturbed" by the charges, and said the couple's charity does important work in Africa.
Assongba has given more than $70,000 to Democratic candidates in recent years, an AP review of Federal Election Commission data shows. Her larger contributions include $35,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee between Obama and the Democratic Party, and $15,000 to Democrats running for Congress. DeRosa also gave $15,000 to Obama's victory fund in April 2011, records show.
Abake's Foundation is listed by the IRS as a registered nonprofit organization; its financial reports were unavailable. A representative who picked up the phone at the foundation's Benin office declined to answer questions, and instead referred the AP to Assongba.
Obama's campaign declined to comment on whether its vetting procedures were thorough enough, or whether Assongba's contribution would be refunded. All told, Obama has raised more than $120 million this election, not counting millions more from the Democratic Party — giving him a financial advantage thus far over any of his Republican challengers.
Uncle Obama on the roads again
RMV approves ‘hardship license’
By John Zaremba and O’Ryan Johnson
Tuesday, April 3, 2012 - Updated 5 hours ago
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Share Just a week after he copped a plea in a drunken-driving rap, President Obama’s illegal-alien uncle has landed a hardship driver’s license from the Registry of Motor Vehicles, making it perfectly legal for him to drive in Massachusetts — even though the feds say he doesn’t belong here.
Onyango Obama, 67, who lost his regular license for 45 days last week, scored his limited license yesterday from the Registry’s Wilmington branch, after convincing a hearing officer that life without wheels would have posed an undue hardship on his livelihood as a liquor-store manager. Obama bolstered his case with a letter from his employer, Conti Liquors, as well as proof that he’d enrolled in an alcohol-treatment program.
“He met all of the criteria,” RMV spokeswoman Sara Lavoie said.
Of the state’s decision to award Obama a license even though the federal government considers him an illegal alien, Lavoie would only say, “Registry business is based on Registry records.”
The license allows Obama to drive from noon to midnight.
The license award drew fire from one advocate of tough enforcement on illegals, Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson.
“Our democracy is predicated on law,” Hodgson said. “When we start to interpret these laws differently and manipulate them the way we want them to work for certain people, we start to send a mixed message to people that the law doesn’t really matter. Its subject to interpretation. You don’t have to follow the law. They find ways to justify it. We need the laws to be very clear. We need ‘no’ to mean ‘no’ again.”
Hodgson, along with sheriffs in Plymouth and Worcester counties, stood up for Secure Communities, a program that feeds local police fingerprint checks into federal databases to check the citizenship status of accused criminals. Gov. Deval Patrick has refused to enroll the state in the program.
Obama, a Kenyan national, lost his license last week after admitting in court that Framingham cops had sufficient evidence to convict him in an August OUI bust. His lawyer, P. Scott Bratton, said Obama has an immigration hearing next month.
A judge continued Obama’s OUI case without a finding for one year, meaning he’ll face no further punishment if he stays out of trouble. Obama is the half-brother of President Obama’s late father, and the older brother of Zeituni Onyango, who was granted asylum in 2010.
You may have heard of "Thirsty Thursday," but what about “Food Stamp Friday?"
A rapper in Montgomery, Alabama, has proposed a theme night in April incorporating the government’s food support program, and it’s causing controversy.
According to the promotional flier for the Rose Supper Club event this Friday, clubbers carrying food stamp cards will only pay a $5 cover charge and receive “free shots at the door on arrival.”
Club owner Richard Thomas told WAKA that “Food Stamp Friday” was created by local Montgomery rapper Anthony Nettles, who planned the party and printed the promotional flyers without consulting the club first. According to Thomas, Nettles hoped it would attract more people to the club and that he “meant no harm” with the thrifty theme.
However, it was met with backlash from offended citizens and appalled public officials. Alabama Human Rights Department spokesman Barry Spear said food assistance benefits are meant to provide nourishment for hungry families, and stated that the agency does not support the event.
Club manager Harman Wilson defended the food stamp idea as an unconventional attempt to increase business. Despite the flier’s promotion of free shots, Wilson says patrons would not be able to use food stamps on alcohol. Food aid recipients could show their cards to receive a discount on the entrance fee only, according to CBS News.
In response to the state-wide outrage, Thomas has requested that Nettles rename the event or says it may face cancellation.
Check out :40 mark
“We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” Barry said in remarks on Tuesday night first reported by WRC-TV. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.”
