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A $2M check, Harry Reid and one frustrated prosecutor
Salt Lake Tribune ^ | First Published December 11 2016 Last Updated December 12 2016 | by HARVEY AND JENNIFER DOBNER, The Salt Lake Tribune

Posted on 12/13/2016 8:12:59 PM PST by Enlightened1

(Salt Lake Tribune) – The $2 million cashier’s check was drawn at a St. George bank Nov. 5, 2010.

From there, it was sent by FedEx to a Los Angeles attorney who represented Ireland-based Full Tilt Poker.

Made out to “Mail Media LTD” — a Full Tilt-owned entity used to launder online-gambling funds — the millions then were deposited at Basler Kantonalbank in Switzerland, where Mail Media had an account.

And from there, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings is investigating whether it went into a Marshall Islands account in the name of Searchlight Holding Inc. to benefit, or even bribe, Harry Reid, the once-powerful majority leader of the U.S. Senate whom online poker companies had been courting to push a bill to legalize their gaming across the nation.

But documents gathered by The Salt Lake Tribune from state and federal investigations, court filings and public records requests — including audio recordings of interviews and thousands of pages of transcripts, summaries by investigators, emails, requests for evidence and other materials — show that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI failed to pursue a vigorous investigation of this money and any potential tie to Reid.

The available evidence contains no direct connection between the money and the Nevada Democrat, only that Rawlings wants to dig into that possibility.

Federal authorities have stymied his effort, leaving Rawlings to wonder why. Were agents ordered to steer clear of that money trail? And, if so, by whom? In short, was there a cover-up?

“Harry Reid is presumed innocent and may actually be innocent,” Rawlings said in a written statement, adding that a “real, vibrant grand jury investigation” could exonerate him.

(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: agenda; bribed; clickbait; corruption; govtabuse; harryreid; investigate; millions; morefakenews; nevada; reid; sneate; trump
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To: blueyon

Maybe he’ll start squealing soon..


41 posted on 12/13/2016 9:25:56 PM PST by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: Enlightened1

Budd R Dwyer


42 posted on 12/13/2016 9:29:15 PM PST by Dryman (Define Natural Born Citizen)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

one word ((HABIT))


43 posted on 12/13/2016 9:46:57 PM PST by PCPOET7
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To: Pilgrim's Progress

Now I wonder if this might have anything to do with his exercise equipment attacking him and taking out one of his eyes. Will that be his defense? The mob made me do it, or else.>>> his brother beat him up.


44 posted on 12/13/2016 9:50:59 PM PST by kvanbrunt2 (all your base are belong to us)
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To: Enlightened1

I forget where I read it, but Reid was worth about 1.7 when he entered public office and now he’s worth 2 million and he and his family have property all over the place in NV


45 posted on 12/13/2016 9:52:16 PM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: morphing libertarian

20 MILLION


46 posted on 12/13/2016 9:53:05 PM PST by morphing libertarian
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To: Enlightened1

Good times! :-)


47 posted on 12/13/2016 9:58:51 PM PST by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: Bullish

“Maybe you should contact them?”

You have no idea how many people I have contacted. Almost always to deaf ears. People just don’t care, I rarely get phone calls returned.


48 posted on 12/13/2016 10:46:22 PM PST by DaxtonBrown
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To: DaxtonBrown
Trump campaign and Sessions need to contact me

And the converse:

Here you go:

https://apply.ptt.gov/yourstory/

49 posted on 12/14/2016 12:00:40 AM PST by spokeshave (In the Thatch Weave,..Trump's Wing Man is Truth.)
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To: Enlightened1

Wasn’t it Reid that wasn’t seeking another term this year?

If so, maybe this has something to do with it.


50 posted on 12/14/2016 12:46:38 AM PST by WildHighlander57 ((WildHighlander57, returning after lurking since 2000)
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To: Enlightened1

Wasn’t it Reid that wasn’t seeking another term this year?

If so, maybe this has something to do with it.


51 posted on 12/14/2016 12:46:55 AM PST by WildHighlander57 ((WildHighlander57, returning after lurking since 2000)
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To: DoughtyOne

Obama inherited from his great grandfather. He still has income from that family trust. Gramps died in October 68. In December 71 at time of probate the executor of will 0’s grandmother was made guardian. She became VP -head of the trust/ escrow dept of bank she worked for, then moved into a penthouse appartment and enrolled 0 in expensive private school (hint: The Standley D and Stanley A wells are still producing )


52 posted on 12/14/2016 12:46:56 AM PST by hoosiermama (“Christian faith is not the past but the present and the future. Make it stronger. "DJT")
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To: hoosiermama

Thanks. I was unaware of that.


53 posted on 12/14/2016 10:17:57 AM PST by DoughtyOne (jcon40, "Are we be coming into the age of Sanity?")
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To: DoughtyOne

IMO the purpose of the book about his father was to keep people from looking into the OIL-GAS money of his mother’s family.


54 posted on 12/14/2016 10:37:30 AM PST by hoosiermama (“Christian faith is not the past but the present and the future. Make it stronger. "DJT")
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To: hoosiermama

Thanks for the mention. Could be.


55 posted on 12/14/2016 10:44:59 AM PST by DoughtyOne (jcon40, "Are we be coming into the age of Sanity?")
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To: All
One Congressman (now in jail), and certain associates, borrowed $1 million from a wealthy supporter and disguised the funds as a loan to a consulting company for a mayoral race.

After he lost the mayoral election, the Congressman allegedly returned $400,000 to the donor that the campaign had not used, and arranged for Educational Advancement Alliance (EAA), a non-profit entity that he founded and controlled, to repay the remaining $600,000 using charitable and federal grant funds that passed through two other companies, including one run by an associate.

To conceal the contribution and repayment scheme, the defendants and others allegedly:

<><> created sham contracts, and,

<><> made false entries in accounting records, tax returns and campaign finance disclosure statements.

In addition, after his defeat in the mayoral election, he sought to extinguish approximately $130,000 in campaign debt owed to a political consultant by agreeing to arrange for the award of federal grants of tax dollars to the consultant.

The Congressman directed the consultant to apply for a tax dollars in the form of a $15 million grant (which he did not ultimately receive), on behalf of a then non-existent non-profit entity.

In exchange for the award of the funds to the non-profit, the consultant allegedly agreed to forgive the debt owed by the Congressman's campaign.

The Congressman also misappropriated funds from his mayoral and congressional campaigns to repay his son’s student loan debt. To execute the scheme, arrangements for his campaigns to make payments to a political consulting company, which the company then used to lessen the son’s student loan debt.

Between 2007 and 2011, the consultant made 34 successful loan payments on behalf of the Congressman's son, totaling approximately $23,000.

In another alleged scheme, beginning in 2008, the Congressman communicated with individuals in the legislative and executive branches in an effort to secure an ambassadorship or an appointment to the U.S. Trade Commission. In exchange, the putative appointee provided money and other items of value to the Congressman.

As part of this scheme, the indictment alleges that the defendants sought to conceal an $18,000 bribe payment by disguising it as a payment for a car sale that never actually took place. Finally, the indictment alleges that one insider obtained $50,000 in federal grant funds that supposedly claimed would be used by EAA to support a conference on higher education. The conference never took place.

Instead, the insider used the tax dollar grant funds to pay $20,000 to a political consultant and $10,000 to her attorney, and profited herself by riting several checks to herself from EAA’s operating account.

56 posted on 12/15/2016 6:23:13 AM PST by Liz
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To: All
The Madoff MO: When he went to jail, investigators found Ponzi King Bernie Madoff had stashed billions offshore---into a labyrinth of financial entities.

COLLUSION AND CONSPIRACIES GALORE Some $8.9 billion was funneled to Madoff through a dozen so-called feeder funds based in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America......a labyrinth of hedge funds, management companies and service providers that, to unsuspecting outsiders, seemed to compose a formidable system of checks and balances.

But the purpose of this complex architecture was just the opposite: the feeder funds provided different modes for directing money to Madoff in order to avoid scrutiny.

========================================================

WIKI.COM NAILS THE MADOFF OPERATION Stanley Chais, a philanthropist who invested heavily with Mr. Madoff, and Carl J. Shapiro, one of the money manager's oldest friends, are among at least eight Madoff investors and associates being scrutinized by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan. Prosecutors are continuing to probe Madoff family members and employees.

Others include: Frank Avellino, a Florida accountant who ran an investment fund that invested client money; Noel Levine, a real-estate investor who works out of a two-room office on the 17th floor, next door to Madoff's fraudulent investment operation, and Palm Beach investor Robert Jaffe, a son-in-law of Mr. Shapiro who referred potential investors to Madoff.

Entity called Madoff Securities International Ltd.----In 2008, about $1 billion was transferred between Madoff’s U.S. firm and Madoff Securities International Ltd. in London. On March 24, 2009 Judge Louis L. Stanton granted power of attorney to Irving Picard, trustee, over Madoff's controlling stake in London.

Authorities in the U.K. are seeking evidence of money laundering involving the London business, Madoff Securities International Ltd., which opened in 1983 as a separate legal entity from Mr. Madoff's U.S. New York office. He allegedly sent more than $250 million beginning as early as 2002, from his New York-based firm, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, to the U.K. office and then back to accounts in the U.S.

In 2000, Madoff began to add staff and expand the operation, and loaned the business $62.5 million. He had a staff of 25, including traders, managers and support. Instructions to staff was that they communicate with Madoff Securities through personal e-mail accounts, not through company e-mail.

There were nine directors. Family members with shares included Mark and Andrew Madoff, Peter Madoff, and Bernard himself. Ruth Madoff, Bernard Madoff's wife, also held shares. [8] Non-family members with shares included Maurice J. "Sonny" Cohn. Madoff and Cohn were shareholders in Cohmad Securities, which steered investors to Mr. Madoff's advisory business.

In 1987, Mr. Cohn had shares of Madoff Holdings Ltd., a predecessor to the current London firm. In 1998, Mr. Cohn held 35,624 non-voting shares, some of which he transferred to "BL Madoff" in 1998, and the rest that he "disposed of" in 2004.

Paul Konigsberg, a New York City accountant and a longtime friend for more than 25 years, prepared two Madoff Family Foundation tax returns, and received the non-voting shares, valued at $35,000. He did work for the London office when it was first opened. [8] A general ledger of Madoff accounts listed Konigsberg, of the reputable accounting firm of Konigsberg, Wolf & Co., as receiving $30,000 a month to advise the MSIL operations, and funnel client checks to the London office for Madoff's own use.[9]

Clients were often directed to Mr. Konigsberg by Mr. Madoff and his family. Mr. Konigsberg prepared the tax returns of foundations of six other families, many of which have lost millions, even hundreds of millions, of dollars. He also represented scores of individual Madoff investors.

Mr. Konigsberg's firm has received a civil subpoena from the SEC. His Madoff-related clients included Carl and Ruth Shapiro, Boston philanthropists whose foundation lost $145 million, and whose son-in-law, Robert M. Jaffe, under investigation, is a Madoff business partner.[9][10]

Konigsberg held Madoff accounts under his name including two in the name of the Westlake Foundation. Paul J. and Judith Konigsberg are officers and directors of the foundation. He owns homes in his wife, Judith's name in Greenwich, Connecticut and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.[11]

On April 20, 2009, Steven Leber filed a $4 million lawsuit against Konigsberg and his accounting firm for negligence, and breach of fiduciary duty.[12] Konigsberg answered the charges with affirmative defenses.[13]

Evidence is being gathered by investigators on a U.S.-U.K. task force that Konigsberg and Levy, a real-estate mogul and philanthropist are believed to be involved in an international transfer of money. Levy is believed to have helped Paul Konigsberg funnel checks to London. And investigators in New York say there were billions of dollars worth of checks going back and forth between Madoff and Levy.

One Levy entity---a "do-good tax-exempt foundation" "says" it lost $224 million "investing" with Madoff. Supposedly the foundations helped the "less fortunate," especially ex-convicts.

NOTE: "losing money" in an investment scheme is a tax write-off.......the preferred MO to reduce taxes.

====================================================

Looks like Madoff helped himself to his "investors'" money---
they thought Madoff was just doing some money-laundering for them.

57 posted on 12/15/2016 6:33:51 AM PST by Liz
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To: Dryman
Budd R Dwyer

That name gives me a chill every time.

58 posted on 12/15/2016 6:58:01 AM PST by Semper911 (When you want to rob Peter to pay Paul, you'll always have the support of Paul.)
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To: Dryman
Budd R Dwyer

That name gives me a chill every time.

59 posted on 12/15/2016 6:58:17 AM PST by Semper911 (When you want to rob Peter to pay Paul, you'll always have the support of Paul.)
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