Because the hotlink in the image is disabled, to add weight to the still active petition to investigate NORM, this is the link.
http://pnmn.bluestatedigital.com/page/petition/Investigatenorm
Next, I have already noted my first learning of allegations of FBI interest and investigative action was from the PiPress - Dave Orrick reporting; and now there is blog awareness; here, here, and here [returned from my Google Alert set for "Dave Orrick"]. The Google Alert spider even located this earlier Crabgrass mention of Orrick. It looks as if PiPress broke a story that is growing legs and running all over, everywhere. Washington Times, source of the Ms. Laurie photo [click to enlarge, no wrinkles, two shades of lipstick apparently, and teeth almost as pretty as Norm's makeover mouth], reports.
FBI probes claims against Coleman supporter
Jerry Seper (Contact) - Thursday, December 11, 2008FBI agents are investigating accusations that a Minnesota-based insurance company that employs the wife of Sen. Norm Coleman sent invoices last year to a Texas firm seeking $75,000 for work that, according to two pending lawsuits, was never performed and secretly was intended for the Minnesota Republican.
According to law enforcement authorities, FBI agents have talked with or sought to interview a number of would-be witnesses in Texas, although the bureau has formally declined to comment on the case.
The payment requests by the Hays Cos. Inc. in Minneapolis are contained in invoices included as part of separate lawsuits filed in October in Texas and Delaware.
The lawsuits say the payments were sent to Hays in 2007 by Deep Marine Technology Inc., a Texas undersea service provider to the oil and gas industry, on the orders of DMT's controlling stockholder, Nasser J. Kazeminy, chairman of Minnesota-based NJK Holding Corp. and longtime Coleman friend and financial supporter.
Three $25,000 payments were arranged "because the senator needs the money" and were sent to Hays disguised as "service fees" because Laurie Coleman worked there, according to the lawsuits.
Mr. Kazeminy, a native of Iran, has contributed more than $930,000 to Republicans and their campaign committees since 1998, including $72,000 he and his wife, Yvonne, donated to Mr. Coleman, according to Federal Election Commission records.
According to records, the Coleman payments were sought on invoices mailed by Hays to DMT in May, June and September 2007. The invoices listed an overnight delivery address and an account number for wire transfers.
Hays Executive Vice President Michael Prins was named in the documents as the "producer," or the broker. Mr. Prins has contributed more than $27,000 to Republicans since 2000, including $4,500 to Mr. Coleman, according to FEC records. James C. Hays, the insurance company's founder, donated $15,850 to Mr. Coleman and his campaign committees since 2002, according to FEC records.
In a statement, the firm called the accusations "libelous and defamatory." It said the payments went for risk-management consulting services and denied any of it went to Mrs. Coleman, whom the company described as an independent contractor.
The Colemans have declined to release information showing Mrs. Coleman's earnings at Hays or any documents listing her duties.
Sources not revealed on FBI matters, political contributions noted in good detail, and the May, June and September 2007 payments spanned a time a year before Sen. Coleman wrote his Aug. 6, 2008, Strib op-ed on the great national gains from offshore oil and gas exploitation. This Houston Chronicle reporting acknowledges PiPress as source, with no indication of having earlier paid attention to the story, pre-election:
Stockholder in Houston company denies charges by former CEO
By MATT STILES Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Dec. 10, 2008, 11:55PM
The suit alleges that Nasser Kazeminy, a Minneapolis-area businessman who controlled the company, directed $75,000 to an insurance company that contracted with Coleman's wife, Laurie Coleman, under the guise that the payments were for services.
McKim also alleges that Kazeminy and another co-defendant spent corporate funds in ways that devalued shareholders' stake in the company.
"Majority shareholders owe a fiduciary duty to other shareholders. You don't just treat it as a piggy bank," said McKim's attorney, Casey Wallace, of the Haynes and Boone law firm.
The lawsuit has sparked interest among FBI agents, who have talked to people in Texas with knowledge of the allegations, according to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper.
Shauna Dunlap, a spokeswoman in the FBI's Houston office, said she could not confirm or deny any investigation, as is the bureau's custom.
Coleman, who endured a closely contested re-election bid in November and now is locked in a statewide recount with Democratic challenger Al Franken, denied wrongdoing.
"We are not aware of any investigation that is under way, nor have we been contacted by any agency with respect to this matter," reads a statement issued by his office. "As we have said repeatedly, we welcome any investigation of these lawsuits by the appropriate authorities to get to the bottom of these baseless, sleazy and politically inspired allegations."
Kazeminy was traveling Tuesday and unavailable for comment, but a spokeswoman, Amy Rotenberg, released a statement calling Kazeminy "an exemplary individual and corporate citizen."
"It is his hope that when all inquiry is completed, the facts are known, and the lawsuit eventually dismissed, the truth will be as prominently reported as have been these false claims," it reads.
The allegations are detailed in an October court filing that includes company invoices and financial ledgers. The original suit was withdrawn, only to be replaced with a largely identical document on the eve of Coleman's election. Another lawsuit was filed by minority shareholders in Delaware, where the company is incorporated.
Wallace said his client decided to file the lawsuit after his departure from the company appeared imminent, not to affect a political race in Minnesota. The case was withdrawn, he said, as a good-faith showing to boost settlement talks. McKim sued again when those talks broke down, Wallace said.
The lawsuit alleges that Kazeminy told McKim that he wanted to help Coleman.
"In this same conversation, Kazeminy told Mr. McKim that he would make sure there was paperwork to make it appear as though the payments were made in connection with legitimate transactions," the suit reads.
Political Animal reports the Coleman operatives have no notice of any FBI or Justice Department targeting in that direction, so far:
Neither U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, nor his office, have received a target letter, formal notice, or telepathic inquiry from any investigatory agency, panel or heavenly body regarding Nasser Kazeminy, the Hays Companies or Deep Marine Technology, his spokesman said this morning. Parse the question however you will, LeRoy Coleman will say, "Nope."
It's the third time in the last six working days Coleman has told the Scoop this, but LeRoy must not be as diligent about returning calls from some who have been trying to follow the situation, most notably Talking Points Memo.
So the Scoop sees fit to set the record straight -- for now. And of course, the Scoop or the PiPress will say if this changes. Remember, the senator hopes it will; he's said he welcomes an investigation, which he predicts will clear him of any wrongdoing.
Kazeminy's handler, crisis communitions specialist Amy Rotenberg, has offered nothing past her client's blanket denial of wrongdoing as well.
So, from the TPM linkover, we see them noting that a month ago the effort started to get Norm an investigation he says he wants, with a TPM current comment noting that TPM is not alone, but that The Uptake and Minnesota Independent is also getting the single finger salute of silence from the Coleman camp. Interesting. Now you have two links to go to, courtesy of the Coleman rebuff, for non-GOP-lackey news.
Amy Rotenberg cited in that reporting as speaking for Kazeminy, must be a recognized good lawyer, one to get whenever sleaze is alleged, with Kazeminy and Pilot-Pastor Mac Hammond, the flying word of God and taxes, sharing her expertise. And she did the job, apparently so far at least, for the prosperity Pastor. With Hammond tied to Michele Bachmann from an infamous Living Word appearance where Bachmann in 2004 claimed God called her to be a politician and days of fasting proved the legitimacy of the calling, apparently by reiteration, and Bachmann and Coleman, both GOP politicians reported as having pitched for presidential pardoning of Tom Petters associate Frank Vennes (yet another big-time GOP money-bags contributor), it appears that Rotenberg, herself, is more "capable lawyer" than GOP insider with the others, having no Petters connection I could find, and being a Joe Lieberman "sort-of" Democrat, and a Klobuchar-for-Senate fund raiser. Given Nasser Kazeminy's reported contribution record, and Hammond's ties to Bachmann, Rotenberg clearly is doing her job as lawyer, you represent the best interest of the client and leave any personal feelings you have outside the attorney-client relationship.
Finally, a quick Google News search after the above's been written, for "Franken," returns this, this and this.
_______________
That Laurie Coleman photo is either old publicist stuff from her Hollywood agent's files, or unlike Caroline Kennedy she is free of age lines leavening her features.
Botox? The pair, Sen. and Ms. Coleman, each and together project a public air of vanity that, if knowing them personally, might prove absent.