Major Obama Donors Tied to Fugitive Who Fled to Mexico

[Rheo]

New York Times:

Two American brothers of a Mexican casino magnate who fled drug and fraud charges in the United States and has been seeking a pardon enabling him to return have emerged as major fund-raisers and donors for President Obama’s re-election campaign.

 

The casino owner, Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, known as Pepe, jumped bail in Iowa in 1994 and disappeared, and has since been linked to violence and corruption in Mexico. A State Department cable in 2009 said he was suspected of orchestrating the assassination of a business rival and making illegal campaign donations to Mexican officials.

 

When The New York Times asked the Obama campaign early Monday about the Cardonas, officials said they were unaware of the brother in Mexico. Later in the day, the campaign said it was refunding the money raised by the family, which totaled more than $200,000.

 

As recently as January of last year, one of Mr. Cardona’s brothers in Chicago, Carlos Rojas Cardona, arranged for the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party to seek a pardon from the governor for Pepe Cardona, according to prosecutors in that state. None was forthcoming.

Last fall, Carlos Cardona and another brother in Chicago, Alberto Rojas Cardona, began raising money for the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. The Cardona brothers, who have no prior history of political giving, appeared seemingly out of nowhere in the world of Democratic fund-raising, Democratic activists said.

The first campaign donations by Alberto and Carlos Cardona came shortly after damaging news stories appeared in the United States and Mexico last fall, revealing Pepe Cardona’s criminal past.

 

One of them, a lengthy exposé in September by a Mexican magazine, Proceso, chronicled Pepe Cardona’s relatively swift rise to fortune and notoriety in Mexico after fleeing American authorities. He obtained Mexican gambling licenses, and with help from investors in Louisiana, he started opening casinos in and around Monterrey, eventually becoming known as Mexico’s “casino czar.”

[Rheo]

Greta Van Susteren’s “Back to Chicago” Moment…(INSIDER RELATED)

 

THE STRANGEST THING HAPPENED IN 1998 – 4 years after his plea of guilty to Federal charges. I have never seen this happen before — Federal Prosecutors, even though Pepe had jumped bail a second time (and thus avoiding prison) and was in Mexico beyond their reach, went to a Federal Judge and convinced the Judge to quash the indictment… Why would they, after a plea of guilty to Federal charges, ask a Judge to dismiss the indictment? Ordinarily, the prosecutors would be doing the opposite. They would be begging the Justice Department to put pressure on the host country – here Mexico – to turn the fleeing felon over. Something is very odd about this.

…Out of the blue, beginning last fall, Pepe’s brothers, who live in Chicago, became big fundraisers for President Obama – achieving what is called the ‘bundler’ status. In total, the family gave to the President and the DNC about $200,000 in legal donations. What is odd about this is that no one had heard of the brothers before in political circles and then just suddenly showed up and they were raising money in big, big ways. [Note that since the NYT started sniffing around about Pepe’s family’s donations, the Obama campaign has said it will return the donations.

 

… I am curious (and this is where my imagination begins to travel) whether Pepe is a big political donor to Calderone …and is Calderon’s administration giving him a safe haven in Mexico? And of course I could never figure out why President Obama and President Calderone both rebuked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she said 2 years ago that Mexico is like Colombia of 20 years ago. Why were both President Calderone and President Obama so hot under the collar about that description? Frankly, Mexico IS like Colombia of 20 years ago — maybe even worse. In reading the foregoing, read with caution since this is only my imagination – I have no hard facts. Facts are very different from imagination.

 

…But of course the real weird part is the Federal Prosecutors getting an indictment quashed AFTER a PLEA of guilty and AFTER the guy has jumped bail and fled the country. I have never seen prosecutors be so…well…generous? It is weird. This is not my imagination but my experience. Prosecutors just don’t do this. Something is odd.

[Rheo]

GE Investigations

February 6, 2012

In 1998, federal prosecutors obtained approval from a judge to quash the drug indictment, wiping clean Pepe Cardona’s federal court record. However, his current legal status in Iowa, where a county judge had ordered him jailed in 1992, is more precarious.

 

On Monday, the Johnson County attorney, Janet Lyness, said there was still an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a probation violation charge. She said that at least twice over the last four years, a lawyer approached the Iowa governor’s office asking about a pardon for Pepe Cardona.

 

The last such request came in the final days of the term of Gov. Chet Culver, a Democrat, and was filed by Gordon Fischer, a lawyer who is a former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party. In his pardon application, Mr. Fischer explained that he knew Pepe Cardona from his days at the University of Iowa. Mr. Fischer declined to comment on Monday, citing attorney-client privilege.

 

Ms. Lyness, also a Democrat, said she had been told that the application had been initiated by members of Pepe Cardona’s family in the United States. She opposed it, and it was not granted.

[clearvision]

Let's hope this is followed up on. He was very quick to "give back" the money.

[pollyannaish]

@Rheo have you been sneaking off to Ulsterman again? (I check out his site every day. True or not his Insider stuff is fun reading.)

 

This is a really creepy story. I am sort of immune to personally corrupt members of government, but corrupting the government as a whole like this is a completely new thing. An ugly thing.

 

@clearvision I am with you on moving quickly. I think they need that "first 24 hours" approach to government corruption that street detectives use.

[Rheo]

@Rheo have you been sneaking off to Ulsterman again? (I check out his site every day. True or not his Insider stuff is fun reading.)

 

This is a really creepy story. I am sort of immune to personally corrupt members of government, but corrupting the government as a whole like this is a completely new thing. An ugly thing.

 

@clearvision I am with you on moving quickly. I think they need that "first 24 hours" approach to government corruption that street detectives use.

I'm fascinated by the Insider stuff. The posters over there are really good at connecting dots, too.

[clearvision]

Detailed background on Pepe.

 

http://easterniowane...czar-in-mexico/

 

More detailed background with papers

 

http://thegazette.com/2011/10/16/fall-from-grace/

[clearvision]

Just sticking this here for saving:

 

Sigma Lambda Beta

 

Founding Fathers

• Baltazar Mendoza-Madrigal
  
• Thomas Carrasquillo
  
• Manuel Chavarria
  
• Luis Jimenez
  
• Luis Marquez
  
• Mario Buendia
  
• Enrique Carbajal
  
• Rudolfo Garza
  
• Jose Fong
  
• Eric Montes
  
• Olakunle Oyeyemi
  
• Kuy Ou
  
• Jaime Ramirez
  
• Olivero Rivera
  
• Juan Jose Rojas Cardona
  
• Eugenio Soria
  
• Juan Valdez
  
• Ricardo Zamudio
  

[Rheo]

Breaking: Fugitive Obama Fundraiser Linked to Fast and Furious

 

The Consulate also added that the brothers Rojas Cardona may have ties to the cartel of the Beltran Leyva and PAN politicians.

 

"T he smugglers, casino operators, and corrupt politicians form a triangle of self-protection, making it difficult for honest cops deal with organized crime. One way for the Mexican government break the cartels would review its policy on licensing of casino "concludes Williamson.

Last month Fox reported that the very same cartel was involved in a similar operation as Fast and Furious, run by the DEA. In this operation, the US helped the group (as well as a Colombian cartel) launder money in exchange for information.

 

The group of officials conducted at least 15 wire transfers to banks in the United States, Canada and China and smuggled and laundered about $2.5 million in the United States. They lost track of much of that money.

 

In his testimony, the DEA agent in charge of the operation says DEA agents posing as pilots flew at least one shipment of cocaine from Ecuador to Madrid through a Dallas airport.

 

In addition, since the Cardona brothers were involved in extortion and money rackets, it is not inconceivable that the Beltran Leyva cartel transfered the money to Cardonas casinos to wash their hands of it. Juan Cardona gives $200,000 to Obama and the Justice Department might just pardon him.

[Rheo]

The judge who signed the Quashing of the Arrest Warrant in 1998 was the same judge that presided over Wen Ho Lee, the government scientist charged with mishandling nuclear weapons secrets in 1999. Same US Atty on this case as well as the 1994 motions. (John J. Kelly)

 

NM was busy.

[Rheo]

Less than a month after Lee's indictment, US Attorney John J. Kelly, a college classmate and longtime friend of Clinton, resigned to run for Congress. ..

 

Pay per view so can't get the rest of that little tidbit.

[Rheo]

2000

FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY IN RACE -- A month after he resigned as United States attorney for New Mexico, where he won an indictment of the nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee on security charges, John J. Kelly announced on Sunday that he intended to seek the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District, which is largely the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

[clearvision]

September 17, 1998

The appointment of U.S. Atty. John J. Kelly as Reno's special representative for the Southwest border took some California elected officials by surprise. But at a time when illegal immigration has waned as a hot-button political issue, there appeared to be little consternation about moving the position out of California.

 

A few months later the case against Cardona is dropped.

[Rheo]

Dates

 

Dismissing case filed w/clerk 10/27/98

Warrant quash 12/1/98

 

edited to ad:

News reports are calling him Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, but the indictment and quashing, etc, are Jose Juan Rojas Cardona.

[clearvision]

Here is Clinton talking about his good buddy John J Kelly as he ran for congress in 2000. LINK

 

John was a year behind me at Georgetown. I met him 35 years ago. I liked him then. I admired him then, and I still do. You heard him talk a little about his career. I think we need more people in the United States Congress who spent big chunks of their lives helping people that most of the rest of us forget about, who know what life is like for people who will never be able to come to a fundraiser in Washington or even in Albuquerque. I think that's really important.

[SrWoodchuck]

Here is Clinton talking about his good buddy John J Kelly as he ran for congress in 2000. LINK

 

John was a year behind me at Georgetown. I met him 35 years ago. I liked him then. I admired him then, and I still do. You heard him talk a little about his career. I think we need more people in the United States Congress who spent big chunks of their lives helping people that most of the rest of us forget about, who know what life is like for people who will never be able to come to a fundraiser in Washington or even in Albuquerque. I think that's really important.

 

With regard to the fourth sentence of your quote; it could also be speaking about Juan, as well as John......