The NY Sun reports:
BY JOSH GERSTEIN - Staff Reporter of the Sun
April 22, 2005
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/12645
A New Orleans political consultant who is Senator Kennedy's brother-in-law, Raymond Reggie, has been operating in Democratic circles for the last three years as an undercover informant for the FBI, sources close to the matter said yesterday.
At a federal court hearing yesterday morning, Reggie, 43, who organized fund-raisers for President and Mrs. Clinton, pleaded guilty to two felony charges, bank fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors described check-kiting and loan fraud schemes he operated involving three Louisiana banks, but they did not publicly detail his cooperation with the government.
Wait, it's just getting juicy.
The informant, described in court papers only as a "confidential witness," was part of an FBI plan to secretly audiotape conversations with political operatives, including a well-known person who prosecutors said was seeking to funnel donations from foreigners to federal campaigns.
And just who was being taped?
The disclosure that Reggie was surreptitiously recording conversations for the FBI may have caused some heartburn yesterday for Democrats who have had contact with him since 2002.
Reggie was a regular presence at Mr. Clinton's side when he visited New Orleans during his presidency and thereafter. Just last September, Mr. Clinton had lunch in that city with Reggie, as the former president swung through town to sign his autobiography and attend a $10,000-a-head Democratic Party fund-raiser, the Times-Picayune newspaper reported. A former congresswoman and ambassador to the Vatican, Lindy Boggs, joined Reggie and Mr. Clinton at the lunch, as did two federal judges whom Mr. Clinton appointed.
When Mrs. Clinton traveled to New Orleans in May 2000 to raise $100,000 for her Senate campaign, Reggie was on the host committee.
Yes, that's right, the Clintons and their entourage.
And what about Reggie?
There is the small matter of several fraud charges against him:
Reggie, who ran an advertising buying and consulting firm known as Media Direct, has admitted to using a forged contract with the Census Department to obtain a $6 million line of credit from a Louisiana bank. At the hearing yesterday, he acknowledged using that line of credit to cover a check-kiting scheme at two other banks. One bank lost $3.5 million, court papers said. His sentencing was set for October 23. The maximum penalty on the two charges is 35 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.25 million.
Well maybe it's not such a small matter after all. But then there's this.
Reggie also faces a separate, unrelated state trial in Louisiana next month for allegedly impersonating a police officer. The felony charge stems from a 2002 incident in which Reggie allegedly used a blue light to stop another vehicle.
"He pulls over a car full of young girls, tells them he's a cop; and wants one of them to get out; tried to get them to follow him somewhere," the prosecutor handling the case, Kim McElwee, said in an interview.
What else would you expect from a relative of the Kennedys and a friend of Bill and Hill?
Certainly not this:
Ms. McElwee complained that she has had great difficulty obtaining routine evidence for the case. "I've never had a case quite like this," she said. "People say they have a document. I call back. Not only is the document gone, they're gone. It's bizarre."
Reggie, who has maintained his innocence, has waived his right to a jury trial. Ms. McElwee said the judge will probably acquit Reggie.
Bizarre? Not really. Sounds like business as usual for this crew of creeps.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment