« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Money for Nothing?
What if I told you that you could make millions of dollars doing it's-not-clear-what? Well, Rudy Giuliani has lived the dream.
We introduced you earlier to Hank Asher, Giuliani's friend and two-time business associate, who's recently cropped up in a public corruption indictment. The Giuliani-Asher relationship is a tale to tell on its own, though.
The two met when Asher demonstrated his Matrix database software for Giuliani in 2002. The ex-mayor has said that he immediately became an enthusiast: "this was a technology that would have been very helpful to us even when I was the mayor and putting together programs for reducing crime to help us find serial killers, abductors of children, and of course terrorists." Something else might have explained his enthusiasm: Asher and Giuliani inked a deal in December 2002 for Giuliani Partners to represent Asher's company, Seisint.
The deal, first reported by The Washington Post this spring, was remarkably sweet: $2 million per year, a commission on sales of Seisint products, and 800,000 warrants to buy company stock. How much that added up to is unclear. The Post reported that Giuliani Partners got "most" of the promised compensation and that the stock warrants proved most valuable, since Seisint was sold to LexisNexis in 2004 for $775 million.
In return for all that, Asher got . . . well, it's not clear. In fact, the Post reported, a Seisint shareholder sued the company in 2004 over the contract, arguing that it was a "waste of corporation assets" to enter into a contract for which the company received "no benefit." The lawsuit was later settled.
There was at least a rationale for the deal.
Federal, state, and local agencies were interested in his product, particularly after the 9/11 attacks. But there was the problem of Asher's drug-running past potentially coming back to bite him. So apparently Giuliani's job was to help Asher land the biggest of those fish: contracts with the federal government. As the shareholder put it in his suit, Giuliani was hired to use his "influence with the federal government to enable Mr. Asher to take an active role in Seisint as a chief executive officer despite the allegations about his drug dealing." (For the record, Asher smuggled drugs on his plane and didn't deal drugs directly.) The Bush administration eventually made $12 million in grants for the software program.
But the drug running did come up. And Giuliani was there to help smooth things over. When The Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a piece on Asher's past in January 2004, Giuliani was there to put things into perspective:
"I have a great admiration for what he's doing, both in finding missing children and in coming up with creative solutions to terrorism, as well as owning up to his mistakes," Giuliani said. "People do a lot of things in life. It's a question of what you can do to make up for it, and Hank has done a lot."
And when Vanity Fair interviewed Asher for a profile that same year, he "casually suggested" to journalist Michael Shnayerson that the ex-mayor might talk about him. When Shnayerson circled back to Asher after the Post broke word of his hefty contract with Giuliani, Asher was unrepentant about the fact that neither he nor Giuliani had mentioned their business relationship. "I was a client then," he told Vanity Fair. "It just never came up."
Maybe Giuliani's advocacy has more to do with the fact that the two are (as the Post put it) "good friends." Certainly they like to do business together. In December 2005, Giuliani Partners joined with Asher and the Mayo Clinic to form Jari Research Corp., a business, as ABC put it, "set on finding a bone marrow cancer cure and making a profit."
Comments (15)
Steven wrote on December 5, 2007 1:51 PM:As a lifelong republican I have to say the liberal media and these blogs and the Democrats are all amped up over these small things when the big thing is that we repulicans and conservatives beleive in GOD and that alone will carry the day.
Steven is a douchebag wrote on December 5, 2007 1:57 PM:In 2000 and 2004 Dems thought they had the presidential elections in the bag.
But the Democrats just talk -
They do not organize - and they do not fight. Now I don't mean physically, I mean in emotion. Conservatives just plain ol fight harder for thier beliefs
in God. That is why we have been and always will be more patiotic then liberals.
WTF? As I recall the "bushies" stole two elections. I really think you should pull your head out of your ass and cometo the FACT that Democrats beleive in GOD as well...we are just not zealots like you!
carsick wrote on December 5, 2007 2:14 PM:Steven
Bassicdave wrote on December 5, 2007 2:31 PM:I'll assume you were being sarcastic. Otherwise, I don't catch the leap between believing in God and being more patriotic.
Let's see...we have a moron who best exemplifies everything that's wrong with the concatenation of patriotism, religeon, and politics.
If we could just bottle it and offer free samples to every "undecided" voter, they'll start getting the picture that it's not about issues at all - it's about whether you control your own mind or your leave it to someone else.
danger wrote on December 5, 2007 2:36 PM:ok, Steven is clearly a spammer, as he is copy/pasting and this was on the prior Rudy thread. An IP ban should be in order.
idiots are still idiots wrote on December 5, 2007 2:39 PM:What does belief in God have to do with anything? Unethical behavior is still unethical.
C.J. wrote on December 5, 2007 3:24 PM:These neo-con cretins and the rest of the repugnent party are out to make money in a way which they believe is easiest to do. steal it from the taxpayers.
But as Steven is showing all too well, is they have conflated belief in God into repulicanism. All the while secrectly demeaning the same poor saps who blindly follow thinking they belong to the "club".
Sorry Steven, your food service job doesn't get you truly into thier club.
Steven makes no sense about Republicans believing in God. Do we see any proof in their actions? They pontificate about God a lot though. We've seen one Republican hypocrite after another caught doing what he advocates against. Not exactly devout behavior.
But Steven makes a good point about the Rep's fighting hard, and the Dems reluctance to get tough and knock their opponents teeth in. As a Democrat, I'm disappointed year after year, as the Dems take the high road and lose! This next election is our chance. The Republicans are ready for a barroom brawl, so we'd better not show up expecting to observe Marquis of Queensbury rules!
Just a kid wrote on December 5, 2007 3:55 PM:one time I missed a gunfight and I sure am glad ... I didn't even have a kuhnife
I did sit acrossed from my own neighborhood park and watch a stream of cars from an opposing (acrossed the expressway)neighborhood pull up looking for a brawl
It was fun at the same time it was angering
The police who'd been tipped from the start did pull up and bust a couple carloads for no show arrest warrants, open intoxicants, and illegal weapons charges, but all in all the aggressors never were shown their way wouldn't work
put these criminals in real prisons and they will stop thinking they can do this.
until then they will continue to think they are a legitimate opposing force to the straw men they design.
TheraP wrote on December 5, 2007 4:22 PM:Steven, poor fellow ... tells us that "repulicans" "beleive" .... well... ok.
Good.
mo2 wrote on December 5, 2007 4:28 PM:My nieghbors beleive in Steven's one god.
joe doe wrote on December 5, 2007 4:38 PM:Don't feed the trolls. This is supposed to be a discussion about the article, not Steven's comment
Rodney wrote on December 5, 2007 6:47 PM:Everyone is missing the point of the story, which is GOP truism: If you are a non-white non-republican donor caught smuggling drugs, you are a terrible drug king-pin that should be jailed for life, and if you are a white male Republican caught smuggling drugs, you are a trusted friend and business partner.
TheraP wrote on December 5, 2007 6:49 PM:joe doe, how right you are!
So, here's what I think. All of us who did little except remark on Steven should receive big bucks, just like Guilio did!
He did little for a thug. We did little for a poor excuse for a troll.
So, I hope you can see I'm on topic here!
Now.... where is the money?
Randomfactor wrote on December 13, 2007 11:04 AM:Money for nuthin' and his chicks paid for by the city. Oh, well, at least there are still Chinese microwave ovens to move.
OxyCon wrote on December 13, 2007 11:50 AM:What I find so disgusting about Giuliani's money making, besides all the shady deals with underworld figures, is the way he capitalized financially on the deaths and sorrow of 9-11. That's disgusting.