I say “another” because this is the second such guilty plea in the span of five weeks. First, the latest development: A wealthy hotel executive and Democratic fundraiser who supported Hillary Clinton for president pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he secretly funneled more than $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions to three unnamed candidates and coached someone to lie about it. An informant caught Sant Singh Chatwal on tape in 2010 explaining that he believed his illegal fundraising bought him access to people in power. Without the contributions “nobody will even talk to you,” Chatwal said. “That’s the only way to buy them, get into the system.” Chatwal entered the plea to evading contribution limits and witness tampering in federal court in Brooklyn as part of a plea deal…Court papers allege that between 2007 and 2011, Chatwal used his employees, business associates and contractors who worked on his hotels to collect contributions from straw donors in Queens, Long Island and elsewhere. He then arranged to pay the donors back, a violation of the election laws. As part the scheme, an unnamed business associate submitted a bill to Chatwal for $104,745 in 2011 for purported work done for one of Chatwal’s companies. Prosecutors allege that $69,000 of the total actually was reimbursement for money the associate had raised via straw donors. In a moment of candor, caught on tape, this guy explained that throwing stacks of money at powerful politicians is the “only way to buy them, get into the system.” Without your checkbook, “nobody will even talk to you,” he lamented.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 02:20:37 +0000
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