BACKSTORY BOMBSHELL: DNC'S MCAULIFFE IN ON CHANG/TORRICELLI'S SOUTH KOREA INSURANCE DEAL

David Chang, an international businessman, is one of the Democratic Party's biggest donors. He visited with President Bill Clinton at the White House on several occasions and claims to have eaten pizza with the President in South Korea. On April 13, David Chang was placed under 24-hour house arrest for allegedly coercing a former employee to lie about the methods in which he made campaign contributions.

Chang is a target of the U.S. Department of Justice's Campaign Financing Task Force. His house arrest stems from taped conversations made by federal investigators between fired Chang employee Chris Kim and Chang in which Kim was reportedly asked to lie to federal authorities about Chang's alleged laundering of $80,000 in South Korea. At the time, Chang was free on $500,000 bail after being charged with making illegal campaign contributions to Senator Robert Torricelli (D-NJ) in 1996.

A letter from the Justice Department released in mid-April states the government has evidence that Chang "received and/or solicited" help from Senator Torricelli on four matters. These matters are helping to unfreeze Chang's assets in North Korea, helping him purchase a South Korean insurance company, writing college recommendations for relatives and making introductions for him with foreign dignitaries.

Torricelli's office admits to helping try to unfreeze Chang's North Korean assets, but reports it was unsuccessful. Chang received bipartisan support in his attempt to buy the Korea Life Insurance Company as well as seeking Torricelli's assistance, but that also failed. On a trip to South Korea last September during negotiations on the sale, Chang was accompanied by President Clinton's chief fundraiser Terrence McAuliffe.

Regarding charges that Chang funneled $23,000 to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign, three people have already pled guilty to the illegal activity and one has fled the country. Chang passed money to members of the Bergen County (NJ) Democratic Party leadership which then reimbursed others for their donations to the Torricelli campaign.

Torricelli's initial response was to speculate that every member of Congress gets donations from such "straw donors," and that "people have to learn to take these laws seriously." He denies knowledge of any illegal contributions.

This directly relates to homeland security:

"Not only have reporters revealed [Linda]Daschle's role in the airline bailout negotiations, but they have brought to light a provision in the 2000 transportation budget that required the FAA to buy baggage-scanners from one of Daschle's clients, L-3 International. The DOT's inspector general has found the L-3 equipment to be substandard, yet the FAA now has no choice but to purchase one of L-3's scanners for every one it buys from an L-3 competitor. The L-3 machines have been so bad that the one at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport leaked radiation, and most others purchased by the FAA have not been installed. The inspector general told Congress that the FAA's requirement to buy L-3's machines is one reason that DOT will not be able to meet the new mandate to screen all luggage for bombs for many years.

Interesting, and thanks.

From Archived News from the Bergen Record: Campaign contributor charged in obstruction, by David Voreacos, Tuesday, December 14, 1999.

"Chang...was arrested Friday and charged with helping an employee, Audrey Yu, thwart a grand jury probe.

Chang contributed to the campaigns of Clinton and Bush (41) and visited Clinton three times in the White House. He also traveled to with McAuliffe to South Korea in August as part of his failed effort to buy Korea Life Insurance Company, the third-largest insurer in South Korea, Critchley said. (Michael Critchley, Chang's lawyer.)

Two attorneys have pleaded guilty to federal charges of helping Chang steer an $11,000 corporate check to Torricelli's Senate campaign in 1996. Former Bergen County REPUBLICAN CHairman Berek Don admitted that he used the check to illegally reimburse so-called straw donors to Torricelli's 1996 campaign. Englewood Cliffs attorney Carmine Alampi has also admitted helping Don in the scheme.

...last week, FBI officials arrested [Audrey] Yu, a close associate of Chang, after a grand jury in Newark charged her with lying about the destruction of documents that had been subpoenaed. ...FBI agents began investigating in January 1997 Chang and his companies, Nikko Enterprises, or Bright and Bright Corp....

Bright and Bright's chairman is Daniel J. Murphy, a lobbyist and retired Navy admiral. Murphy was chief of staff to Bush (41) when Bush was vice-president (under Reagan) Murphy also was a deputy director of the CIA.

'The prosecutors have said they want him (Chang) to give information about public officials. I have been telling them repeatedly there is no such information. The prosecutors don't want to hear this,' said Critchley.

Critchley's statement that Chang had no damaging information on Torricelli drew praise from [Torricelli's] attorney, ABBE LOWELL.

'The loudest, truest, and clearest words came from Chang and his attorney in open court when they said that Mr. Chang has no information on any wrongdoing by public officials,' LOWELL said.

McAuliffe did not return a telephone call to his Washington, D.C., office." Tuesday, December 14, 1999, from The Bergen Record

From the Washington Post.com, Saturday, August 22, 1999 From a list of donors who gave the maximum $10,000 to Clinton Legal Defense Fund

David Chang Senior Advisor, Panacom Inc.

Audrey Yu Acct. Mngr. Bright and Bright Corp.

Am using notes have not looked at for years. For the complete Bergen Record article by David Voreacos, go to Google.com Bright Bright Corp. "david chang" click on: campaign contributor charged in obstruction. Confidentially, there are a lot of people going in and out here who are extremely impressed by my diligence; I am on my own here so am not setting a poor example by stealing anyone else's time.

We will, congressional resolution or not... the connection has been made Al Queda IS in there... and has worked with sadamned.. at least enough for the american people.

We will, UN resolution or not... but it willcost us some "world wide" support, on paper, that we really didn't have to begin with.

We will, with Britain or no, although Blair and Straw are committed and will probably find ways to assist us by "enforcing the no fly zone" plus a 300 mile perimeter, whilst we do the wet work up close and personal.

it's gotta be done. we will do it. and the democrats will lose in landslide proportions this november if we KEEP the American PEOPLE focussed on what is CLEARLY at stake. Our survival... and we are less than six weeks from the date in question... memories in america are short, but not THAT short. The die is cast, daschle is toast. and we may infact be witnessing the death throes of the once great democratic party....

I believe we are.

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