Posted on 07/30/2004 6:15:08 AM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee.
David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud.
TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry during the 1988 national campaigns.
David Bossie, who interviewed Paul for a new book that is very critical of Kerry, titled ``The Many Faces of John Kerry [related, bio],'' said the former banker may have a lot more to say about Kerry.
``There's no question he's holding cards, there's no question there's more out there,'' Bossie said. Paul did not return calls.
The Kerry campaign wouldn't comment on his release.
Paul, who was chairman of the Miami-based CenTrust Savings, and Kerry came into closest contact while the Bay State senator was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1988.
Kerry appointed Paul head of the Democratic Trust, a fund-raising arm of the DSCC.
The senator was then chairman of the Senate subcommittee investigating the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and other S&Ls. Bank execs and associates gave more than $30,000 to the DSCC, earning Paul recognition at the `88 DNC in Atlanta.
That year, Kerry attended a swank party at Paul's Miami mansion, where guests were fed by six of the top chefs of France.
Paul was later charged with wrongful investment of his bank's funds in junk bonds and using bank money to finance his lavish lifestyle.
Republican investigators in Congress later detailed ties between Paul and BCCI. The issue was raised in Kerry's 1990 re-election campaign, when Kerry beat Republican James Rappaport.
Kerry was never accused of any wrongdoing.
In the book interview, Paul offers only cryptic suggestions he might try to hurt the senator. Paul says he loves the Drudge Report - a right-leaning gossip Web site and he hints that he is aware of incidents involving Kerry and women.
``John Kerry was a red-blooded American guy. He liked the ladies - at least he wasn't gay,'' Paul said.
Ping. I noticed Paul rates a mention in your Downside Legacy :)
He had an obvious pathologically oversized ego.
Too funny. You can;t make this stuff up...
Wonder if Kerry is a behind the scenes gay-basher. That wuld stir the pot.
You're right. The timing on this is REALLY suspicious.
This may help explain why the convention this week almost frantically "warned" how negative the Republicans were. They pushed the idea too hard and I began to wonder what they knew was going to come out that they had to spin so emphatically.
Whaddaya mean "AT LEAST he wasn't gay"??? Is that some sort of slam against gays? I thought the dems were the "non-bigotted" party?
Here we go! Bring on the Hollywood starlet calvacade...Morgan Fairchild, Dana Delany etc.
David Paul served his full term and served it the hard way. The feds really didn't like him, and they made sure he did no time at any "Club Fed." With the possible exception of Al Capone (who was convicted of tax evasion but thought perhaps to be guilty of some more serious stuff as well), I doubt that anyone convicted of purely economic crimes has ever served harder time than he did.
SHADY Kerry Flashback (1992): About that BCCI report, Mr. Kerry (Kerry's shady dealings)
Oh, flashback! Around forever ago I did a term paper in a banking class for this. A number of the folks involved with BCCI were Arab. There were other foreigners, the name Marcos comes to mind. The whole corrupt, incestuous lot.
So the Congressional Record is the "Republican Attack Machine".
I think it's to submarine Kerry so Hillary will have a chance in 2008. Right now, short of mass murder of troops, Hillary couldn't get elected. If by some freak of nature Kerry is elected, you're looking at at LEAST 12 years before she could run and have a shot at winning. The social conditioning has not been as successful as Dems would have liked, too many screechy fanatics.
In December 1992, shortly after Clinton was elected, the Committee on Foreign Relations - US Senate produced a report that pointed out specific problems in the investigation and gave 20 specific areas which needed additional investigation (summarized below) The disposition of these issues is unknown. All that has come to the attention of this list is one settlement for $5 million in February of 1998.
The extent of BCCI's involvement in Pakistan's nuclear program.
BCCI's manipulation of commodities and securities markets in Europe and Canada.
BCCI's activitites in India, including its relationship with the business empire of the Hinduja family.
BCCI's relationships with convicted Iraqi arms dealer Sarkis Soghanalian, Syrian drug trafficker, terrorist, and arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar, and other major arms dealers.
The use of BCCI by central figures in arms sales to Iran during the 1980's
BCCI's activities with the Central Bank of Syria and with the Foreign Trade Mission of the Soviet Union in London.
BCCI's involvement with foreign intelligence agencies
The financial dealings of BCCI directors with Charles Keating and several Keating affiliates and front-companies, including the possibility that BCCI related entities may have laundered funds for Keating to move them outside the United States.
BCCI's financing of commodities and other business dealings of international criminal financier Marc Rich.
The nature, extent and meaning of the ownership of shares of other U.S. financial institutions by Middle Eastern political figures
The nature, extent, and meaning of real estate and financial investments in the United States by major shareholders of BCCI. BCCI's shareholders and front-men have made substantial investments in real estate throughout the United States, owning major office buildings in such key cities as New York and Washington, D.C.
BCCI's collusion in Savings & Loan fraud in the U.S. The Subcommittee found ties between BCCI and two failed Savings and Loan institutions, CenTrust, which BCCI came to have a controlling interest in, and Caprock Savings and Loan in Texas, and as noted above, the involvement of BCCI figures with Charles Keating and his business empire. In each case, BCCI's involvement cost the U. S. taxpayers money. A comprehensive review of BCCI's account holders in the U.S. and globally might well reveal additional such cases. In addition, the issue of whether David Paul and CenTrust's political relationships were used by Paul on behalf of BCCI merits further investigation
The sale of BCCI affiliate Banque de Commerce et de Placements (BCP) in Geneva, to the Cukorova Group of Turkey, which owned an entity involved in the BNL Iraqi arms sales, among others.
BCCI's role in China. As noted in the chapter on BCCI's activities in foreign countries, BCCI had extensive activity in China, and the Chinese government allegedly lost $500 million when BCCI closed, mostly from government accounts. While there have been allegations that bribes and pay-offs were involved, these allegations require further investigation and detail to determine what actually happened, and who was involved.
The relationship between Capcom and BCCI, between Capcom and the intelligence community, and between Capcom's shareholders and U.S. telecommunications industry figures.
The relationship of important BCCI figures and important intelligence figures to the collapse of the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank and Tetra Finance (HK) in 1983. The circumstances surrounding the collapse of these two Hong Kong banks; the Hong Kong banks' practices of using nominees, front-companies, and back-to-back financial transactions; the Hong Banks' directors having included several important BCCI figures, including Ghanim Al Mazrui, and a close associate of then CIA director William Casey; all raise the question of whether there was a relationship between these two institutions and BCCI-Hong Kong, and whether the two Hong Kong institutions were used for domestic or foreign intelligence operations.
BCCI's activities in Atlanta and its acquisition of the National Bank of Georgia through First American.
The relationship between BCCI and the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. BCCI and the Atlanta Branch of BNL had an extensive relationship in the United States, with the Atlanta Branch of BNL having a substantial number of accounts in BCCI's Miami offices. BNL was, according to federal indictments, a significant financial conduit for weapons to Iraq. BCCI also made loans to Iraq, although of a substantially smaller nature.
The alleged relationship between the late CIA director William Casey and BCCI.
Money laundering by other major international banks. Numerous BCCI officials told the Subcommittee that BCCI's money laundering was no different from activities they observed at other international banks, and provided the names of a number of prominent U.S. and European banks which they alleged engaged in money laundering.
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