Nasser Kazeminy

Minnesota businessmen Nasser Kazeminy and John Goodman both back Norm Coleman and both serve on the board of Step into World Peace, a curious local nonprofit that Harper’s Ken Silverstein probes this week.

A clothes-shopping spree that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin started in Minnesota didn’t break the law, in the opinion of the Federal Election Commission, even though it was paid for by the GOP.

Norm Coleman shouldn’t be able to use campaign funds to pay lawyers for work related to cases in which he’s not a defendant and hasn’t even been called as a witness. That’s what Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) told the Federal Election Commission (FEC) today.

The Huffington Post is reporting that the FBI conducted an interview with a person in Minnesota as part of an investigation of so-called “Suitgate” charges leveled against Norm Coleman last summer. HuffPo doesn’t name the person and the FBI won’t confirm or deny. 

Norm Coleman may be violating federal campaign finance laws by paying his personal legal bills with campaign funds, according to charges in a complaint filed today by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party with the Federal Elections Commission. The controversy stems from a pair of lawsuits alleging that longtime Coleman associate Nasser Kazeminy attempted to funnel $75,000 to [...]

Norm Coleman told the Star Tribune editorial board Thursday that its reporters “could have waited” until after the Nov 4 election to ask questions about charges that businessman Nasser Kazeminy funneled unreported money to the former senator. Instead, Coleman charged, the reporters knowingly “inserted themselves” into a DFL Party TV ad by shouting questions to him as he left an Oct. 29 campaign event.

As predicted, the Texas lawsuit accusing Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy of funneling money to Norm Coleman has been delayed 30 days. A Houston judge approved the extension on Thursday, which follows a 60-day stay granted in February.

Both 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. That’s about the time by which the former U.S. senator said today he expects the Minnesota Supreme Court [...]

Norm Coleman insisted Thursday that he and his wife, Laurie, have done nothing wrong.
The former U.S. senator was talking about a Texas lawsuit’s claim that a campaign donor funneled the Colemans $75,000 disguised as a business transaction. Also, a Coleman spokesman insisted that after three and a half months the campaign is still assembling a request for [...]

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 Deep Marine CEO Paul McKim in Texas in October 2008. The suit implicates Minnesota businessman Nasser Kazeminy [...]