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Fresh delay would put off Texas suit against Coleman donor until May

By Chris Steller | 04.09.09 | 5:50 pm

dmt-logoBoth sides in the Texas lawsuit accusing Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy of funneling money to Norm Coleman want to extend an existing 60-day delay by another 30 days, putting off any possible trial action until early May.…

Excerpts from B.J. Thomas testimony directly related to Colemans and Hays Companies

By Chris Steller | 03.28.09 | 10:58 am

Here are two long, transcribed excerpts from B.J. Thomas’ deposition on March 19. Thomas was formerly chief financial officer of the Texas-based marine-services firm Deep Marine Technology.
The deposition was part of a civil lawsuit filed by Thomas and former…

CFO: Donor’s low opinion of Senate pay led to order to hire Coleman’s wife’s firm

By Chris Steller | 03.27.09 | 11:41 pm

coleman-shrugFormer U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., got passing mention in a civil lawsuit filed in Texas last fall that alleged a campaign contributor steered unreported cash his way. Now details from a deposition in that case have Coleman donor…

Coleman still seeks FEC’s OK to pay lawsuit bills with campaign cash

By Chris Steller | 03.19.09 | 2:29 pm

AIG chief Edward Liddy mentioned, while sitting in his congressional hot seat Wednesday, that AIG insures oil rigs. If Norm Coleman was watching at home, perhaps he turned to his wife and said, “Honey, that’s what you do!” Allegations of unreported monetary gifts — cloaked as payments from a Coleman contributor’s marine-exploration firm to the insurance company where Coleman’s wife works — remain alive (if dormant) in Texas and Delaware courts. And Coleman still wants to use campaign cash to fight them, aides say.

Coleman’s remodeling project grew just as Texas firm paid his wife’s firm

By Chris Steller | 12.12.08 | 3:15 pm

Fox 9′s Tom Lyden’s reports that U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman and his wife Laurie were in the midst of a major home remodeling project in the spring of 2007, at the same time that a Texas firm controlled by Coleman benefactor Nasser Kazeminy was making payments to the insurance firm where Laurie Coleman works. So there is a circumstantial link between the payments and the house costs — and a potential motive for Kazeminy to steer a sum like that to the Colemans, as two lawsuits allege and the FBI is now looking into.

Of wives and men: Comparing Coleman and Blagojevich charges

By Chris Steller | 12.10.08 | 7:35 am

Rod Blagojevich was arrested today on charges that included alleged schemes to funnel money to the Illinois governor through his wife, Patricia. Because the charges against Blagojevich are criminal and made by the U.S. Department of Justice, they are on a wholly different order (at least so far, pending results of a newly reported FBI probe) from allegations about U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman that were made by private plaintiffs in a pair of Texas civil suits from October.

The dissimilarity, however, ends there.