The top fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has been charged with fraudulently applying for a loan of over $74 million from Citigroup.
Federal prosecutors allege that Hassan Nemazee, a New York businessman who was national finance chair for the Clinton campaign, “submitted, and caused to be submitted to Citibank numerous documents that purported to establish the existence of accounts in Nemazee’s name at various financial institutions containing many hundreds of millions of dollars. In fact, those were fraudulent and forged documents.”
A Justice Department press release offers details on the alleged scheme:
Specifically, the various accounts referenced in the fraudulent documents that Nemazee submitted, and caused to be submitted to Citibank either never existed or had been closed years before he submitted the documents referencing those accounts. Furthermore, on many of the documents at issue, Nemazee falsely provided as the address and telephone numbers of various financial institutions purportedly vouching for his financial strength an address and telephone number that was, in fact, controlled by Nemazee. As a result, in the event anyone at Citibank made an effort to confirm the existence of the assets reflected on the fraudulent documents submitted by Nemazee, they would in fact be contacting a telephone number assigned to Nemazee himself, and not any financial institution.
The Feds explain that they interviewed Nemzaee on Sunday at Newark airport, as he was checking in for a flight to Rome. The following day, he repaid the over $74 million loan to Citibank.
The Wall Street Journal adds (sub. req.): “According to an FBI report, Mr. Nemazee first contacted Citibank in December 2006 to borrow $25 million, and later raised the sum to $80 million.”
Nemazee’s lawyer, Marc Mukasey, told TPMmuckraker: “We are reviewing the allegations.”
A Citigroup spokeswoman told TPMmuckraker: “We are working with the authorities on this matter.”
Nemazee, 59, is the chairman and CEO of Nemazee Capital Corporation. He’s charged with one count of bank fraud, which carries a potential prison term of 30 years. He’s expected to appear in court this afternoon.
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