Hillary Stonewalls AP's Questions on Peter Paul Lawsuit

NewsMax.com ^ | 10/25/03 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

While reporters usually pretend that Bill and Hillary Clinton's legal problems are behind them, Mrs. Clinton seems to know better. That is, at least judging by the way she's handling the latest lawsuit filed against her.

Sen. Clinton's office spent a significant part of this week dodging media questions about Stan Lee Media co-founder Peter Paul, who claimed in court documents filed in Los Angeles last week that she and her husband accepted $2 million from him and reported only a tiny fraction to the Federal Election Commission.

"Clinton's Senate staff did not respond to the Associated Press' repeated requests for comment over two days," the AP said Thursday.

In fact, the Paul lawsuit seems to have prompted a wave of stonewalling from Democratic officials, who are suddenly behaving like they have something to worry about. Here's what the AP reported about Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who had his own dealings with the Hollywood mogul in 2000 when Rendell was Democratic National Committee chairman.

"[Paul] says he agreed to Rendell's request to donate $150,000 in Stan Lee Media Inc. stock to a June 2000 fund-raiser supporting the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Al Gore, and another $150,000 in stock to co-host a fund-raiser for Clinton's Senate campaign a day later. Rendell's press secretary, Kate Philips, said the governor won't comment."

Mr. Paul's complaint was off the radar screen for two years after he fled to Brazil to escape his own legal problems connected to the collapse of SLM. But after a harrowing sojourn in Brazilian jail, the Clinton accuser has returned to the U.S. - with a little help from the Bush Justice Department.

What may worry Democrats like Sen. Clinton and Gov. Rendell is the prospect that federal prosecutors might be moving his case to the front burner.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton told the AP that his client was repeatedly interviewed by federal investigators while in Brazil, and is "eager" to cooperate with federal and state authorities.

And while prosecutors won't reveal what they're up too, another witness emerged from the shadows earlier this year hinting publicly that he has some damaging information on the former first family that might corroborate Paul's claims.

"I'm a star witness against President and Mrs. Clinton," Hollywood fundraiser Aaron Tonken told lawyers, in court documents uncovered by Vanity Fair magazine over the summer.

"I'm a star witness in New York in the grand jury regarding the Marc Rich pardon and regarding the fundraising activities that I've done on behalf of the Clintons," he explained.

Tonken worked on the same gala fundraiser for Sen. Clinton that Paul helped bankroll with $2 million in cash and in-kind contributions.

No wonder Sen. Clinton is so uncharacteristically silent.

[spokeshave]

"What may worry Democrats like Sen. Clinton and Gov. Rendell is the prospect that federal prosecutors might be moving his case to the front burner."

Incoming.....fast low flying ash trays....

[Paul Atreides]

While reporters usually pretend that Bill and Hillary Clinton's legal problems are behind them

I always thought that reporters, at least those that are subsidiaries of the DNC, pretended that Bill's and Hillary's legal problems didn't exist in the first place.

[anklebyter]

"I'm a star witness against President and Mrs. Clinton" Hollywood fundraiser Aaron Tonken told lawyers

How would you like to be his life insurance provider?

[ChadGore]

"I'm sorry, I don't recall"

"my brain's in a blender, it jello"

[Peach]

I have to wonder how hard the AP is going after this story since so little has been reported by them.

If it were the GOP who was stonewalling answering questions, the AP would be writing articles daily that made the GOP seem guilty just by the fact that they were stonewalling!

[spokeshave]

make that:....... fast and furious low flying ash trays....

[jmstein7]

Peter Paul PING!

[Southack]

Ugggggh. The Clinton's are never more popular than when they can play the "victims" of the mean old media and VRWC.

[jimbo123]

New lawsuit filed by Clinton donor over Los Angeles fund-raiser

The Associated Press October 23, 2003

A campaign fund run by then-candidate Hillary Clinton failed to report nearly $2 million in in-kind contributions from a Hollywood fund-raising event coinciding with the 2000 Democratic National Convention, alleges a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County.

Peter F. Paul, co-founder of the online company Stan Lee Media Inc., claims then-President Bill Clinton agreed to work for him after leaving office. To seal the deal, Paul says he made $1.9 million in campaign contributions, most going to a star-studded tribute to the president.

Paul, who once was the manager of romance novel cover model Fabio, sued when his attempts to buy influence brought him no appreciable gain. Clinton's Senate staff did not respond to The Associated Press' repeated requests for comment over two days.

Though Paul says his contributions were improperly reported, federal campaign reports list $466,625.88 in connection with his fund-raiser, and a $2,000 contribution Hillary Clinton returned after media reports surfaced shortly after the event showing Paul was a convicted felon.

The Federal Election Commission declined to act on a complaint filed in July 2001 by Paul and the public interest law firm Judicial Watch. In August, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., dismissed their lawsuit seeking to force the commission to act.

Judicial Watch has dogged the Clintons during and since the president's term, and also filed the new lawsuit on Paul's behalf.

A previous similar California suit was dismissed in December 2001 after he was indicted on charges related to the failed Stan Lee Media business venture.

Paul was extradited from Brazil in September to face those New York securities fraud charges, which allowed him to refile the Clinton lawsuit last week in Los Angeles Superior Court. He is incarcerated in a federal facility in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Paul also is offering to cooperate with the California attorney general's investigation of $1.7 million allegedly diverted from charities, including one sponsored by Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

An attorney general's lawsuit alleges the $1.7 million was diverted by Hollywood fund-raiser Aaron Tonken and associates. Tonken, who once worked for Paul, is now a defendant in Paul's Clinton lawsuit.

Tonken organized the celebrity-heavy Clinton event that Paul says he underwrote with $2 million as part of a hazy $15 million deal to employ the president after he left office.

"He gave the money. Checks don't lie," said Fitton, pointing to the dozens of checks and bank records included with Paul's FEC complaint.

Paul wanted Clinton to promote Stan Lee Media. Host of the event was Stan Lee, creator of the Spider-Man, X-Men and Incredible Hulk Marvel Comics characters, whom Paul hoped to turn into a universally recognized figure like Walt Disney.

The company subsequently collapsed in the dot-com meltdown; two of Paul's associates were sentenced in August for their role in a scheme to manipulate the company's stock prices. Paul says he borrowed against the company's stock margin account in part to pay for the Clinton tribute.

Paul and his wife co-hosted the event, with honorary hosts Gov. Gray Davis and his wife, Sharon. It raised more than $1 million toward Hillary Clinton's Senate bid.

Fitton said Paul was repeatedly interviewed by federal investigators while in Brazil, and is "eager" to cooperate with federal and state authorities. Neither the state nor federal Departments of Justice would comment. Tonken has said he, too, is cooperating in various investigations into the Hollywood fund-raisers.

Paul's suit alleges Tonken approached him in December 1999 about contributing to a Feb. 17, 2000, Democratic National Committee fund-raiser hosted by Davis at the Cafe Des Artistes in Hollywood.

During the event, he says he broached the idea of hiring Clinton to Tonken and another Democratic fund-raiser, and to Edward G. Rendell, then chairman of Democratic National Committee and now governor of Pennsylvania. He alleges all three urged him to contribute more money to increase his chances of employing Clinton after he left office.

He says he agreed to Rendell's request to donate $150,000 in Stan Lee Media Inc. stock to a June 2000 fund-raiser supporting the presidential campaign of then-Vice President Al Gore, and another $150,000 in stock to co-host a fund-raiser for Clinton's Senate campaign a day later. Rendell's press secretary, Kate Philips, said the governor won't comment.

Paul says further conversations with Clinton intermediaries persuaded him to underwrite the August 2000 Hollywood tribute. The in-kind contributions were never properly reported, he contends, after The Washington Post days later reported that Paul had served three years in prison in the 1970s.

Paul additionally alleges he was convinced by a Clinton fund-raiser to contribute $55,000 in Stan Lee Media stock to a New York political party to benefit her Senate campaign. Documents appear to show the transaction even as the Clinton campaign was disavowing Paul's contributions, but Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party, said no such contribution is reflected in the party's records.

Paul also alleges Clinton's Senate campaign illegally accepted a $27,000 contribution from one of his business partners, a Japanese citizen who attended the Hollywood event and also wanted to eventually employ Clinton.


He also is suing a controversial joint fund-raising committee, New York Senate 2000, set up by Clinton's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee as a legal means to collect hard and soft campaign contributions far in excess of the usual federal limits.

DSCC spokesman Brad Woodhouse said he couldn't comment. FEC spokesman George Smaragdis said the disclosure requirements were the same for joint committees as for any other committee or candidate.

[Reactionary]

Well. To think that Billy and Hillary have been laundering money and stashing away millions?

It will be interesting to learn exactly how the money was laundered and where it went, what political activities were funded by it, who was involved.

That is a story that, I think, will lead to many interesting questions.

[jimbo123]

Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003

JUSTICE
Lawyer extradited back to U.S.
Peter Paul, a fugitive from Miami, is being held in New York after having avoided capture in Brazil for two years.
BY JOHN DORSCHNER
Miami Herald

Peter Paul, a one-time attorney who participated in one of the biggest cons in Miami history, has been extradited to the United States from Brazil.

Paul, 54, had been in Brazil for more than two years, having fled there after being accused of a $25 million stock fraud concerning a California online firm called Stan Lee Media, which Paul started with the famed creator of Marvel Comics, home of Spider-Man and other superheroes.

Lee has never been accused of wrongdoing.

Acting on a request from U.S. prosecutors, Brazilian police arrested Paul in August 2001 and held him in a Sao Paulo facility while he fought extradition. This month, his legal defenses finally failed and he was moved to the Brooklyn, N.Y., Metropolitan Detention Center.

''He's happy to be back in the United States, and he wants to get this behind him,'' said Tom Fitton, head of Judicial Watch, a legal watchdog group that has been asking prosecutors to listen to Paul, who claims to have information potentially damaging to U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and California Gov. Gray Davis, also a Democrat.

NewsMax.com, an online magazine, reports that, shortly before leaving Brazil, Paul told Epoca, a local magazine, that Clinton had hidden campaign contributions.

''I can prove everything,'' he said. ``It was the biggest Senate campaign contribution in history, and she didn't declare it.''

Paul had organized a Hollywood fundraiser for her senate campaign. Clinton has said repeatedly that she will not respond to allegations made by Paul or Judicial Watch.

In the 1970s, before even turning 30, Paul was a prominent civic leader in Miami, having become president of the city's World Trade Center. But in the late 1970s, he became involved with drug dealing and a complicated con that saw a group rip off the Castro government for $8.75 million for a boatload of coffee that did not exist.

Paul was sentenced to eight years on cocaine-related charges, with three years concurrent for the coffee caper.

In an interview with The Herald two years ago, speaking from a Brazilian prison cell, he claimed to be innocent of all charges and a victim of scheming politicians.

''Politics has always been my undoing,'' he said.

He told elaborate scenarios to back up his claims.

Fitton told The Herald on Monday that Paul has talked to U.S. prosecutors about alleged Clinton misdeeds.

''There's a lot of stuff out there he can he talk about,'' Fitton said. ``Hopefully, we can work something out.''

Judicial Watch has been a longtime critic of Bill and Hillary Clinton.

At a New York court hearing last week, The New York Post reported, Paul's wife, Andrea, showed up with their fourth child, who was conceived during a conjugal visit in a Brazilian facility that Paul has described as ``a dungeon.''

Paul asked to be freed from federal jail in Brooklyn, but the judge sided with prosecutors, who called him a flight risk.

[jimbo123]

SEC PROBING COMICS COMPANY

By PAUL THARP

NY Post

October 3, 2003 -- The comics factory of legendary "Incredible Hulk" creator Stan Lee is getting dragged deeper into a federal probe that's worthy of any wacky comic-book plot.

It's got bankruptcy, shady characters fleeing to Brazil, con men, check-kiting, White House influence-peddling and even G-men from different agencies jumping on their trail.

But there are no superheroes to fight dark forces, like those conjured up by legendary cartoonist Lee, creator of Marvel Comics' stable of characters, including X-men and Spider-Man.

In real life, investigators say an unsavory bunch surrounded the 80-year-old cartoonist and drove his name and company, Stan Lee Media, into the ground.

It was forced to file for bankruptcy and dissolve two years ago, and the Justice Department and Postal Service nailed one of Lee's top executives, Stephen Gordon, for fraud.

The probe expanded into a check-kiting scheme in which the company's Merrill Lynch margin accounts were illegally emptied of $5 million to foot the bill for a 2000 fundraiser for President Bill Clinton and for Senator Hillary Clinton's run for office.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is said to have now joined the probe in search of broader wrongdoing at the defunct firm. Sen. Clinton's office says it has no knowledge of any wrongdoing in connection with the 2000 fund-raising event.

Another of Stan Lee Media's executives, Peter Paul, was charged with fraud in connection with other activities at the company but fled to Brazil. He was extradited here last month and is being held in the Brooklyn House of Detention.

Another individual who produced the Clinton fund-raiser, celebrity broker Aaron Tonken, has been sued by California authorities for charities fraud and also accused of mail fraud by the Justice Department.

He is said to be cooperating with the widening federal probe of a network of celebrities and political figures involved with Stan Lee Media and its executives.

The cartoonist himself wasn't accused of any wrongdoing.

[Peach]

Very gentle articles by the AP. They certainly don't seem to be trying very hard to get answers from Hillary or they'd be pestering her every time she had a press conference or appeared in conference.

Instead, they let her stay on point. She gave a press conference the other day saying Pataki is holding on to federal 9/11 relief funds, a fact that Pataki 100% denies.

Didn't hear any shouted questions to Hillary about this illegal contribution matter. My take is they aren't trying to pursue it too hard.

[Twinkie]

"There isn't a shred of evidence - "
"I do not recall - "
"There is no controlling legal authority - "
"My finances are off-limits - "

[upchuck]

"To the, ya know, best of my, uh, knowledge, I can't, ya know, recall."

In the name of scientific research (Lord knows I wouldn't be doing this otherwise :), I've noticed that the more the exaulted Hildabeaste lies, the more she stammers with "ya know," "uh," "um" and "ah."

Check out this snipet of an interview conducted by Sam Donaldson of ABC News on 9/16/01, right after 9/11:

Donaldson: And your daughter Chelsea was what, 12 block away when it happened?

Hildebeast: Yeah, she was in, uh, the area staying with friends, uh, and both, uh, Chuck Schummer and I were spending the early moments of, uh, this disaster trying to make sure our daughters were ok, uh, we were lucky, they, they were, uh, but a lot of people haven't been as fortunate, uh, and, ya know, when I was at the armory yesterday visiting with families who are still hoping that, uh, their loved one will be rescued they have their pictures in hand and their stories that they wannna tell, um, I, I just couldn't, ah, help but feel both grateful for the fact that my daughter was all right but having a redoubled commitment to doing everything I could to help those families that are going to have to face the reality of having lost a, child or a husband or a father or a mother.

OK class, you homework assignment for tonight is to diagram the Sinator's sentence. LOL

[jimbo123]

http://www.ninthart.com/display.php?article=296

Further investigation revealed that Paul - in his official capacity as SLM's co-founder - had apparently contributed $2 million to Hilary Clinton's Senate campaign fund. The event he produced with this money, 'A Hollywood tribute to Bill Clinton' was packed to the rafters with movie stars willing to support Mr and Mrs Clinton. Paul claims this effort was intended to coax Mr Clinton onto the board of SLM, and had the support of Chelsea Clinton. It has also been suggested that Mr Clinton wanted the money to come from SLM rather than Paul himself, to avoid directly connecting himself with a known felon.

Nothing Paul did was ever truly altruistic. He alleged that, in exchange for his support for the party, then chairman of the Democratic Party Ed Rendell had promised to arrange a pardon for $150,000. When he didn't get his pardon, he took the matter to the courts. "Did you see him on 60 Minutes?" asks Baker. "The reporters were flabbergasted; 'You're suing because your bribe didn't work?'"

[JoeSixPack1]

That is a story that, I think, will lead to many interesting questions.

Unanswered questions are hitlery's trademark.

[mewzilla]

Wouldn't surprise me either to find out the Toons are somehow involved in the PA mess. Can't see any Dems getting away with graft without giving the Toons a cut.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

.."IS it SAFE?" = HILLARY on Senate Armed Services Committee..

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=629

---

.."IS it SAFE?" = President HILLARY

http://www.TheAlamoFILM.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1556