THE NEW MEDIA JOURNAL.US
Source: Thomson-Reuters/Yahoo! News
Hassan Nemazee, an Iranian-American businessman who raised money for the political campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc and HSBC Holdings Plc out of $292 million.
US District Judge Sidney Stein imposed the sentence on Thursday following Nemazee's March 18 guilty plea in Manhattan federal court to charges of bank fraud and wire fraud over loan transactions with the three major banks.
Nemazee said he needed the money to pay debts arising from his dealings in hedge funds and properties...
Nemazee was one of the top "bundlers" of contributions to Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org. He typically donated more than $100,000 annually to Democrats including Clinton, now US secretary of state.
The judge allowed Nemazee, 60, to remain free on bail under strict conditions of home confinement until he reports to a prison on August 27. In addition to 12 years imprisonment and three years of supervised release, Stein ordered Nemazee to make $292.3 million in restitution to the banks...
Nemazee's sentence of 12 years was less than the term of between 15-1/2 years and 19-1/2 years sought by US prosecutors...
Nemazee admitted to obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from the banks by using fake documents to show supposed ownership of collateral.
His brother-in-law, Shahin Kashanchi, of Telluride, Colorado, has been charged in the case with regularly manufacturing statements for the nonexistent collateral accounts. Kashanchi, who owned a business that installed home electronic equipment, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of bank fraud. His case is pending but no trial date has been set.
