Posted on 09/09/2007 2:35:10 PM PDT by LdSentinal
Sant S. Chatwal, an Indian American businessman, has helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaigns, even as he battled governments on two continents to escape bankruptcy and millions of dollars in tax liens. The founder of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, Chatwal is one of a growing number of fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign whose backgrounds have prompted questions about how much screening the candidates devote to their "bundlers" while they press to raise record amounts.
Chatwal's case reached from his native India to New York City. The IRS pursued him for approximately $4 million in unpaid business taxes, while New York state placed a lien seeking more than $5 million in taxes. He forfeited a building to New York City on which he was delinquent on property taxes and was sued by federal regulators seeking to recoup millions of dollars in loans from a failed bank where he served as a director.
Across the ocean, three Indian banks forced him into U.S. bankruptcy, and he was charged with bank fraud. He was out on bond when he showed up in India in 2001 during a visit by his longtime friend Bill Clinton.
Yet none of the legal and financial woes -- occasionally touched on in American or Indian newspapers or highlighted by political opponents -- raised red flags inside Hillary Clinton's fundraising operation. Chatwal recently said he plans to help raise $5 million from Indian Americans for Clinton's presidential bid.
Asked whether anything in Chatwal's background caused concerns about his activities on behalf of the campaign, Clinton spokesman Phil Singer answered, "No." He declined last week to be more specific, saying only that major fundraisers are routinely vetted "through publicly available records."
(Excerpt) Read more at indolink.com ...
Birds of a feather, flock together?
Chatwal has devoted resources to political causes, working very closely with the Democratic Party, in particular with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator John Kerry, Senator Charles Schumer, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Joseph Crowley.
In February 2006, Chatwal hosted an extravagant wedding in India for his son Vikram Chatwal. The wedding including a week of festivities spread out over a week and three Indian cities and a veritable fleet of chartered planes. Guests included Bill Clinton, Lakshmi Mittal, Deepak Chopra and the Prime Minister of India. [1] Ironically, Sant Chatwal had earlier filed for personal bankruptcy in New York to discharge millions in debt owed to various people and entities including the US government.
Sounds like he is, in effect, diverting money from the IRS to Hillary’s campaign.
I think that is a question all in America need to ask themselves.
Especially for the press to ask of Hilary.
Hilary doesn’t attract this crowd because she is Betty Crocker, Betsy Ross, or Martha Washington!!!!
He is in bankruptcy. The money he gives to Hillary and other RATS should be going to satisfy his debts and pay his taxes.
If the Bush Justice Department didn’t put Sandy Berger behind bars, they will put no one behind bars in the Clinton camp.
Because she is just like that crowd.
Speaking of that, from 2005...
For the extremely rich, bankruptcy is a privileged operating status, not a consignment to destitution.
Ping! For your consideration.
hey shush that so we can go back to talking about Jack Abramoff...
You have my interest.
EXCERPT
TURBAN COWBOY TIES KNOT. Big fat Indian wedding for Manhattan playboy THIS WAY, LADIES ...; [SPORTS FINAL Edition]
JOSE MARTINEZ DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER With News Wire Services. New York Daily News. New York, N.Y.: Feb 19, 2006. pg. 2
The Big Fat Indian wedding of man-about-Manhattan Vikram Chatwal, 35, to model Priya Sachdev attracted a flashy crowd that flew to India from around the globe aboard chartered jets.
The son of Sant Chatwal, who owns the Bombay Palace on W. 52nd St. and several midtown Manhattan hotels, Vikram Chatwal is famous in New York society circles for his flashy lifestyle.
He parties with Diddy, jet sets around the world on private planes and is never far from gorgeous women. Now he’s married to one.
A family friend found Sachdev for Chatwal, who once dated supermodel Gisele Bundchen and sports a “G” tattoo in her honor.
Chatwal, who dabbled in movies and had a bit part in the Ben Stiller movie “Zoolander,” now runs the boutique Dream Hotel on W. 55th St. that’s part of his family’s empire
In 2002, his dad was among the city’s leading deadbeats, owing more than $2 million in taxes on a building on Second Ave. in Manhattan. Sant Chatwal was also one of the leading donors to political action committees backing Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, for which he contributed $210,000.
According to federal election records, Vikram Chatwal has contributed $40,000 to committees supporting Clinton’s first Senate bid and Dick Gephardt’s failed run for President.
High-flying restaurant operator Sant Singh Chatwal, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's biggest financial backers, has fled fraud charges in India and is back in New York City.
Chatwal apparently jumped bail of 1.5 million rupees - about $32,000 - on Monday and managed to board a flight to Vienna, despite an attempt by the Central Bureau of Investigation - India's equivalent of the FBI - to have immigration officials detain him.
He arrived in New York on Tuesday, said Rabinder Singh, a business associate.
Chatwal, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in India, was accused by India in December of defrauding the New York City branch of the state-run Bank of India out of $9 million he borrowed in 1994.
He had traveled to his homeland to help arrange an earthquake- relief visit by former President Bill Clinton last month.
Chatwal could not be reached yesterday despite repeated calls to his office and home - and assurances that he wanted to tell his story to the Daily News.
Central Bureau of Investigation officials complained to reporters yesterday that Chatwal apparently escaped because a letter they had sent to immigration officials at Bombay's Sahar International Airport, requesting that he be detained, did not reach them or was ignored.
Despite titanic debts, including back taxes and loans due to failed banks in the U.S., along with a forced bankruptcy in 1995, the chief of the Bombay Palace restaurant chain was one of the biggest soft-money contributors to Hillary Clinton's Senate campaign. He is linked to at least $210,000 in contributions.
Chatwal also accompanied then-President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea during their state visit to India in March 2000.
The Clintons have consistently declined to comment on Chatwal.
When does the Paul trial/hearing start?
BTTT.
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