Hassan Nemazee, Top Democratic Party Fundraiser Gets 12 Years

Hassan Nemazee, top Democratic party fundraiser to the likes of President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others, was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in prison for bank fraud:

Nemazee, 60, a New York resident pleaded guilty in March to multiple charges stemming from over a decade of defrauding three major banks, scamming them out nearly $300 million.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein, who imposed the sentence, ordered Nemazee to pay restitution of more than $292 million to the defrauded banks and to serve three years of supervised release after his prison time..

Nemazee admitted before Judge Stein that he duped Bank of America, Citibank and HSBC out of $292 million in deceitful loans from 1998 to 2009 "to finance his posh life and create a reputation as a political kingmaker," United States Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.

Court documents indicated that Nemazee has made "numerous donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates." He has been a major Democratic fundraiser for more than a decade, according to Federal Election Committee records.

Nemazee is a former finance chairman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign and held the same post for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. On his website, he claimed to have been associated with numerous "business, charitable, international and political organizations," although many of the links validating his affiliations have been disabled.