Monthly Archive for October, 2008

MNpublius has been closely watching the Coleman-Kazeminy story all week. Out now, the latest installment:

A second lawsuit was filed Friday by minority shareholders who allege that a close family friend of Sen. Norm Coleman used a marine company in Texas to pay $75,000 to the senator via a Minneapolis insurance company where Coleman’s wife, Laurie, is an independent contractor. The suit attributes the allegations to a “confidential source.”

Hum. Another lawsuit? Another source?

The lawsuit is very similar to one filed earlier in the week in Houston by McKim. Both actions allege that Kazeminy told executives at Deep Marine that he wanted to provide financial assistance to the Colemans through an insurance consulting arrangement between Deep Marine and Hays Companies. But the second suit cites a “confidential source.” Kazeminy is a longtime friend and campaign contributor to Coleman.

…

…in a new wrinkle, Deep Marine’s former CEO, McKim, is named as a co-defendant with Kazeminy and several other individuals who were in positions of authority at the company.

That’s different… McKim is now the defendant? 

McKim’s lawsuit was based on a sworn statement from him that Kazeminy coerced him and others to make three $25,000 payments to Hays. The second suit, brought by FLI Deep Marine LLC and Bressner Partners LTD, attributes its allegations to a “confidential source.” The source allegedly was told by Kazeminy in 2007 that “we have to get some money to Senator Coleman” because the senator “needs the money.”

So a different lawsuit, where McKim is now a defendant, is alleging basically the exact same thing.

…he recalls how Kazeminy approached him and Deep Marine’s chief financial officer in 2007 with a directive to channel $100,000 to the senator via Hays.

“He said that the senator’s wife worked there and she could get the money to him,” McKim said. “I was kind of stunned. I was really shocked he would come out and say that so nonchalantly.”

At the time, the sea diving and underwater construction company that McKim founded in 2001 had no need for new insurance services, McKim said. The company was paying $1 million a year for coverage arranged through underwriters in London who specialized in underwater, offshore lines, he said.

McKim said he feared that Kazeminy would fire him if he didn’t go along…

So it looks like they’re ready to tell all…

He acknowledged that approving the first check puts him in a “spot.” McKim said he is willing to talk to any federal agency, including the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office, about money he alleges was paid by Deep Marine to Hays for work that was never performed.

Hum. At this point, I’d be surprised if the feds don’t knock on McKim’s door.

See the story at the Star Tribune.

UPDATE: The Pioneer Press writes on this case as well.

Coleman and his allies are labeling his money funneling story as an “11th hour attack.”

First of all, there’s a huge amount of hypocrisy when Coleman’s campaign files a frivolous, factually incorrect 11th-hour lawsuit against Franken that will go nowhere.

More importantly though, reporters and investigative journalists have been working on this for months, according to MNpublius sources. Remember that famous Cullen Sheehan press conference from October 8? This wasn’t just about suits. Reporters were already likely understanding the connections between Nasser Kazeminy and Hays, thus following the money. Hear the Pioneer Press’ Rachel E. Stassen-Berger:

Days away from the race of his lifetime, Norm Coleman is being dogged in the media by questions surrounding a lawsuit detailing the secret funneling of $75K to the Coleman family. The Huffington Post provides a good summary:

The CEO of a major marine technology company is alleging that he was pressured by a friend and associate of Norm Coleman to secretly funnel tens of thousands of dollars to the Senator’s family.

Paul McKim, the founder and CEO of Deep Marine Technology, alleges in a civil suit that Nasser Kazeminy — a longtime Republican donor, friend of Coleman, and DMT shareholder — directed the company to send $75,000 to the Senator and his wife.

The transaction, which occurred in 2007, allegedly went as follows: DMT would make payments for services to Hays Company, even though no services would be rendered. Since Norm Coleman’s wife Laurie worked at Hays, that money would be given to her in the form of ‘salary.’

The lawsuit has produced a media frenzy with reports in The Huffington Post, Harper’s magazine, Politico, MN Indy, MinnPost, The Nation, and, of course, MNpublius.  Our local media has also been reporting on the matter (MPR, KSTP, and CityPages) but in a move that shouldn’t surprise me, yet is still extremely frustrating, the Strib has buried the story below the fold in the Metro section… yeah, you read that right.  Sigh.

Although the merits of the suit, obviously, have yet to be adjudicated, the plot thickened this morning with Politico’s report that accounting documents from Kazeminy’s company have been turned over to the Strib that show payments to Laurie Coleman:

They show a Kazeminy-controlled oil-rig servicing company paid “service fees” to the Mrs. Coleman’s employer, the Hays Companies. McKim served as the company’s CEO until last Friday.

(Here’s the link. The key pages are 29-33.)

The lawsuit brings forth a set of extremely important questions, especially given the similarities between this and Ted Stevens’ lawsuit:

“This is why [Sen]. Ted Stevens just got convicted,” said a Washington D.C.-based attorney. “If this is true and Kazeminy gave a gift — which includes money to a candidate’s family member — it doesn’t mean that you can’t take it, but you would have to report it on [your financial disclosure form]… If he knew about it, and of course, all of this has to be proven to be true, then yeah,” he could go to jail. [HuffPo]

Which further begs the question: If, God forbid, Coleman returns to the Senate and is convicted of what the suit alleges, will he follow his own advice (Coleman called for Stevens to resign) and resign from the Senate?  Let’s just hope that it doesn’t come to that and Coleman is ousted before he has to make that decision himself, because if the last few days have shown anything, Coleman’s decision making skills probably shouldn’t be trusted…

And in related news, the clip of Coleman running away from media questions surrounding this whole affair is rapidly approaching 30,000 views in a little over 24 hours. If this suit is as illegitimate as Coleman claims it is, why is he running from reporters?

There’s a lot more to this, but for now, the Star Tribune publishes the first part of this developing story:

A Texas businessman has filed a lawsuit alleging that Minnesota multimillionaire Nasser Kazeminy used his Houston marine company to funnel $75,000 to Sen. Norm Coleman last year via a Minneapolis insurance company that employs the senator’s wife.

If you’re new to this story, here’s the background: What Is Norm Coleman Running From?, The Star Tribune Needs To Tell The Story About Coleman & Kazeminy

Now we know what Norm Coleman was running from. This is media catnip right now:

Minnesota Independent: Latest Coleman & Kazeminy connection: The Star Tribune needs to tell the story

The Nation: Lawsuit Targets Major Coleman Donor

The Nation: PDF of Lawsuit (Relevant parts start on page 10)

Update: Huffington Post: Court Docs: GOP Donor Secretly Funneled $75k To Coleman Family

Update: MinnPost: Speculation swirls around lawsuit alleging indirect payments to Coleman

Update: The Politico: Lawsuit: Coleman’s wife received $75,000 in payments

Update: Harper’s Magazine: More Mystery on Senator Coleman and His Donor Friend

The short of it:

In March 2007, Kazeminy began ordering the payment of corporate funds to companies and individuals who tendered no goods or services to DMT for the states purpose of trying to financially assist United States Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. In March 2007, Kazeminy telephoned B.J. Thomas, then DMT’s Chief Financial Officer. In that conversation, Kazeminy told Mr. Thomas that “US Senators don’t make [expletive deleted]” and that he was going to find a way to get money to Coleman and wanted to utilize DMT in the process…Kazeminy told Mr. McKim that he [Kazeminy] would make sure there was paperwork to make it appear as though the payments were made in connection with the legitimate transations, explaining further that Senator Coleman’s wife, Laurie, worked for the Hays Companies, an insurance broker in Minneapolis, and that the payments could be made to Hays for insurance. When Mr. McKim made further objections, Kazeminy repeatedly threatened to fire Mr. McKim, telling him “this is my company” and that he and Thomas had better follow his orders in paying Hays. Subsequently, Kazeminy caused Hays to produce a document entitled “Disclosure of Service Fees” which purported to legitimize the basis of the payments to be made to Hays by DMT.

In other words, the same guy that was allegedly buying Norm his suits was also funneling large sums of money through one of his companies to Norm Coleman through his wife.

This is not unlike Ted Stevens’ case.

UPDATE: Brian Melendez, Chair of the Minnesota DFL released a statement:

These allegations of criminal behavior are serious and deeply troubling. The Plaintiff has verified those allegations — meaning that he will go to jail if he’s lying. Senator Coleman has a duty to the people of Minnesota to explain why those allegations aren’t true before the voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

Remember all the weird buzz about Norm Coleman suing yesterday? One of the stories I kept hearing was how Norm Coleman was running away from some reporters’ questions in Saint Cloud at an event with Michele Bachmann.

A dedicated reader pointed me to a video that was just posted online. It looks like Star Tribune reporters Paul McEnroe and Tony Kennedy had some questions to ask that Norm Coleman raced away from. It is a little odd that investigative journalists from the Star Tribune would be showing up at an event in Saint Cloud to catch Coleman now. Obviously this is something someone thinks is important:

They are asking about some lawsuit where Nasser Kazeminy apparently helped Norm Coleman’s wife get $75,000. 

If you know any more details about this, please send me a tip.