ponzi

Three Minnesota politicians — none of them now in office — received political donations from accused Ponzi schemer Sir Allen Stanford or his staff. Stanford’s largest and most recent gift ($2,300) was to Democrat Ashwin Madia, who tried unsuccessfully to succeed retiring Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad last year.

The motivated DumpBachmann folks point out that Tom Petters’ business associate Frank Vennes Jr. had extra motivation in December 2007 to get help from U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in obtaining a presidential pardon for past money-laundering and other convictions. That was the same month that that Petters’ alleged massive Ponzi scheme became apparent to Vennes, according to an affidavit [...]

U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman received $2,300 from the family of Isaac Robert Toussie. Toussie, who is convicted of fraud, had his Dec. 23 presidential pardon revoked the next day by President Bush. Bush’s reversal came after large donations from Toussie’s father and other family members to the Republican Party and Republican candidates, including Coleman, came to light.
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