Photo: MnIndy

Photo: MnIndy

Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy is asking a Texas court for $400,000 from a man who said Kazeminy funneled money to former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman. A judge in Houston hears Kazeminy’s defamation complaint today.

Kazeminy, a friend and benefactor to Coleman, was targeted by a separate suit filed shortly before Election Day last year. That suit alleged that Kazeminy tried to strong-arm executives at a Texas business he controls into sending $100,000 to the St. Paul insurance firm where Coleman’s wife, Laurie, works.

Former CEO Paul McKim and another former official of Deep Marine Technology, Inc., made the allegation in sworn testimony as part of the lawsuit, which a judge dismissed in August — leaving the option for both sides to file new lawsuits.

Coleman, who was not named in the suit, has accused his Democratic challenger, Al Franken, and Star Tribune newspaper reporters of helping to orchestrate the charges days before the election.

Coleman contends the lawsuit hurt him in the election that he lost to Franken by 312 votes, a result affirmed by the Minnesota Supreme Court in June after a prolonged legal battle that kept Minnesota’s second Senate seat empty for six months.

Coleman’s own legal and other expenses related to the case could be covered by his campaign committee, the Federal Election Commission ruled.

People in Minnesota and Texas have been reported to have been interviewed by FBI agents investigating the money-funneling allegations.