FBI Investigating Coleman, Paper Reports

Report: Norm Coleman Allegedly Funneled Money To Pay For House Renovations
by Rachel Weiner - The Huffington Post
December 12, 2008

Just this week it was revealed that Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman is under investigation by the FBI for his ties to businessman Nasser Kazeminy. Now a local Fox News station reports that Kazeminy allegedly funneled the Republican Senator money right when he needed money for a home renovation. Moreover, the interior designer in charge of the remodeling is a Coleman contributor and fundraiser as well.

While Coleman didn't agree to sit down for a interview, his campaign did agree to share billing records of the remodeling project. Original projections in 2006 estimated a cost of $328,000, but four months later, the construction cost was estimated at $414,000, over-budget by $86,000.

During that time is when, the lawsuit alleges, Kazeminy was trying to get money to Coleman.

According to the lawsuits, in March of 2007, Kazeminy said that "U.S. Senators don't make s---" and he was going to try to find a way to get money to Coleman.

"On the one level it could just be a coincidence, on the other level this could be one of the reasons he's getting that money from elsewhere, to try to make up for his, to be able to pay off a loan, pay off a line of credit," says Schultz.

Records provided by the campaign show that Coleman paid Wilsey in full for the renovation -- $414,000. In part, by refinancing his home in March 2007, for $775,000.

The Senator acknowledges, that like a lot of people in America, he now owes more on his home than it's actually worth.

What we know is this: the Senator had costly and over-budget renovations to his home at the same time a contributer was allegedly trying to funnel him money. But he's still criticized for walking away from reporters, while the questions aren't going away.

Coleman is locked in a tight recount battle with comedian Al Franken. Yesterday, more absentee ballots were found that, if the state agrees to count them, would go far in helping the Democratic challenger unseat his rival. The race could be decided on today, when the state canvassing board meets to decide the fate of those ballots.

Become Did Coleman's Financial Straits Force Him To Solicit Donor Favors?
by Sam Stein - huffington post
December 12, 2008

Did Norm Coleman's financial problems compel him to turn to friends and GOP donors for help with his living situation?

That's what a new story out of Minnesota alleges. Friday morning, a local Fox News affiliate reported that at the time that Coleman allegedly received $75,000 in unreported payments from a prominent Republican businessman, he was also struggling to make payments for the restructuring of his home.

Good government officials wondered whether there was something more than coincidental to the financial exchange. And, indeed, there is other compelling -- and up to this point, unnoted -- evidence to suggest that Coleman was soliciting monetary favors from his GOP backers.

Around the same time that Coleman and/or his wife were allegedly receiving three $25,000 payments from businessman Nasser Kazeminy, the Senator was also getting cheaply discounted rent from a major Republican figure who served as his landlord in Washington D.C.

In July 2007 -- months after lawsuits assert that $75,000 was secretly funneled to the Colemans -- the Senator began paying $600 a month rent on his one-bedroom apartment on Capitol Hill, way below market value. His landlord, Republican operative and communications guru Jeff Larson, also was covering Coleman's utilities (under an apparent agreement that the Senator would be billed with an estimate once the year was over).

At the time, the D.C. arrangement raised a variety of eyebrows, mainly because Coleman had helped Larson secure millions in business related to the Republican Convention in St. Paul. The new revelations, however, suggest that the rent may have been more a favor that Larson was offering to Coleman than any sort of bribery.

Indeed, in two separate lawsuits that emerged this fall, it is alleged that, around this time, the Colemans (one of the Senate's least rich families) were in financial straits. According to one of the lawsuits in March of 2007, Kazeminy said that "U.S. Senators don't make s---" and that he was going to try to funnel money to the Minnesota Republican. From there, it is alleged, Kazeminy arranged for the three $25,000 payments to be made from his Texas-based Deep Marine Technology to Hays Companies in Minnesota for "insurance." Laurie Coleman is, officially, an employee at Hays. But she is not a licensed insurance agent.

Records provided by the Coleman campaign to the local Fox affiliate show that, during the same month that Kazeminy made his profanity-laced statement about Coleman's financial situation, the Senator refinanced his home. He and his wife had to cover construction costs on his home, which had jumped from $328,000 to $414,000 months earlier.

Norm Coleman Seeks To Stop Minnesota Recount
The Huffington Post
December 12, 2008

Al Franken won a major procedural victory in the Minnesota Senate recount Friday, when the state canvassing board declared that rejected absentee ballots should be counted. Now Republican Sen. Norm Coleman is going to court to stop that count:

The campaign of Sen. Norm Coleman is taking its case to the state Supreme Court, asking the justices to order counties to follow a standard procedure in identifying wrongfully rejected absentee ballots. It is asking county officials to halt any counting of rejected absentee ballots from the U.S. Senate election until the justices can rule on the campaign's request.

The campaign said that it feared what it called a chaotic "Florida situation" and that it is likely to go to the court today.

The announcement came just hours after the state Canvassing Board, which is overseeing the recount in contest between Coleman and Democrat Al Franken, voted unanimously to ask election officials in all 87 counties to identify and count improperly rejected ballots. Board members stressed that they only have the authority to make a recommendation and not to issue an order.

"It looks like a significant number," said state Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, the Canvassing Board's chairman.

Speaking to reporters after the board adjourned today, Ritchie said that most of the county officials he's talked to "are very anxious to correct their errors."

Franken campaign officials said there already are standards set forth in Minnesota election law and that the rejected ballots that do not meet those four standards should be counted.

Huffington Post | Rachel Weiner | December 16, 2008

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman is getting some help with his FBI investigation:

Four of Minnesota's biggest legal guns have cast their shadows over two lawsuits that have drawn the attention of the FBI.

They have been retained by U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman; his wife, Laurie; Jim Hays, her insurance company employer; and Nasser Kazeminy, a multi-millionaire friend of the Colemans who is accused in the lawsuits of sending them money in 2007 through Hays' company. Coleman's Senate ethics form reports no such payment.

Three of the lawyers are former assistant U.S. attorneys who have prosecuted white-collar criminal cases. The fourth attorney has a reputation among prosecutors, defense colleagues and judges for thoroughness and aggressiveness wrapped in a civil demeanor.

Read more about the Coleman investigation. On Tuesday, the state canvassing board will meet to review all challenged ballots from Coleman's recount battle against Democrat Al Franken. Franken's campaign has called Coleman's attempts to stop the counting of certain absentee ballots "cynical and desperate."