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Divernan

(15,480 posts)
51. "bit of legal trouble": convicted felon defrauded friends/family of $10 million.
Sun Sep 28, 2014, 02:39 AM
Sep 2014

[div class="excerpt"

According to ABC News, Mezvinsky's downfall stemmed from an activity that has long been the subject of one of this site's most frequently-accessed articles, the ubiquitous Nigerian scam (also known as 419 fraud):
Despite being released in April 2008 after serving five years in prison, Mezvinsky remains on federal probation and still owes almost $9.4 million in restitution to his victims.

An ABC News investigation revealed that Mezvinsky, a former Democratic Congressman from Iowa, had been caught up in a series of Nigerian e-mail scams and began to steal from people to further his schemes.

"He was always looking for the home run. He was always trying to find the business deal that would make him as wealthy as all the people in his social circle," said federal prosecutor Bob Zauzmer. According to Zauzmer, Mezvinsky, who is now 72, will be on supervised release, the federal version of probation, until 2011.


Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/clintons/mezvinsky.asp#c670ll7ucVVw5rKs.99

Beginning in the early 1990s Mezvinsky fell prey to a wide variety of 419 scams. According to a federal prosecutor, Mezvinsky was conned by "just about every different kind of African-based scam we’ve ever seen."[10] In order to raise the funds needed to front the money for the fraudulent investment schemes he was being offered, Mezvinsky became, himself, a conman, tapping his network of contacts and dropping the name of the Clinton family to convince unwitting marks to give him money, “he would call and say, ‘I’m spending the weekend with the Clintons.’”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/the-clinton-in-law-marjorie-margolies-100696_Page3.html#ixzz3Eackz3Hz
.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Mezvinsky

As to his former wife, Marjorie Margolies, who just lost a primary bid to run for Congress,
she is profiled in a Politico article by a writer for Philadelphia magazine, as follows:
The Clinton-in-Law
(Headline)Marjorie Margolies’s son married Chelsea Clinton. Is that enough to fuel her political comeback?

By SIMON VAN ZUYLEN-WOOD
December 04, 2013

There’s no question that the scandal and its messy fallout were damaging to Margolies as well. When she filed for bankruptcy, a judge rejected her assertion of ignorance in a scathing decision that, depending on how you read it, either calls her feminism into question or suggests she knows more than she’s letting on. “Her consistent response to questions asked by her creditors about the disposition of her assets is lack of knowledge or ‘my husband handled it,’ a mantra that is completely at odds with her public persona, background, and accomplishments,” the judge wrote.

Toni Goldberg defends Margolies as a career woman who was too busy to pay heed to her husband’s schemes, but she says the judge’s indictment made sense to many at the time. “Whatever decisions that were made in the marriage, their life, political life, social life—Marjorie was the head guy,” she says. “And Ed adored her. And Ed just followed.” (Margolies declined to comment on the Fenton lawsuit or the bankruptcy case.)

In 1997, several years after their first Renaissance Weekend together, Chelsea Clinton decided to attend Stanford University, where Marc was already enrolled. Rumors of romance followed. (The two officially started dating in 2005, though Goldberg says that “they kept it undercover for many years” before that. Another friend, Nancy Chasen, says that they were just “best best best friends.”) However close Chelsea and Marc were, Ed Mezvinsky tried to use their bond to his advantage. During his trial, it came out that he had tried to woo investors by touting Chelsea’s relationship with his son. “When he thought it would help,” a federal prosecutor told the New York Times.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2013/12/the-clinton-in-law-marjorie-margolies-100696_Page3.html#ixzz3EaUbInjd

(S)he filed for bankruptcy,[20] but failed to receive a discharge from her debts, based on 11 U.S.C. §727(a)(5). The court found Mezvinsky had failed to satisfactorily explain a significant loss of assets in the four years prior to her bankruptcy filing. The bankruptcy judge stated, in her published opinion, "I find that the Debtor has failed to satisfactorily explain the loss of approximately $775,000 worth of assets (the difference between the $810,000 represented in May 1996 and the $35,000 now claimed in her Amended Schedule B)." Sonders v. Mezvinsky (in re Mezvinsky), 265 B.R. 681, 694 (Bankr. E.D. Pa. 2001).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marjorie_Margolies

According to documents obtained by The Huffington Post, as Ed Mezvinsky's fraud was exposed, Margolies doubled her own salary as head of a small, largely taxpayer-funded charity into the six figures, attempted to have the charity renovate and lease a mansion in which she would live, billed the charity for her automobile lease and other expenses, and required charity staff to assist with her other responsibilities as a faculty member at a local university.

The Huffington Post earlier reported that over the past several years, Margolies was paid an unusually large salary given the size of her charity, Women's Campaign International, whose revenue in recent years was in the very low millions. In defending that salary in December, WCI noted that the charity's board of directors determines compensation -- not Margolies, who still runs the charity.

That explanation, however, elided one critical detail: For the first three years of WCI's existence, and at a crucial board meeting at which the decision about her salary was made, Margolies was herself the chairman of the (3 member) board.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/31/marjorie-margolies-charity-_n_5043352.html
Proud parents and proud grandparents, wishing this family happiness. Thinkingabout Sep 2014 #1
lovely family picture Liberal_in_LA Sep 2014 #2
wonderful pics. Terra Alta Sep 2014 #3
Aw. That's so nice. n/t leftyladyfrommo Sep 2014 #4
I wish them all joy and happiness. Arkansas Granny Sep 2014 #5
If they're not careful, Big Dog is going to spoil his granddaughter. Well, that's what Granddads do. sarge43 Sep 2014 #6
That 's the grandpa (and grandma) job description. Brigid Sep 2014 #9
That's our job. :) n/t jaysunb Sep 2014 #16
He is just over the moon. AngryOldDem Sep 2014 #23
As the grandfather of an 11 month old girl awoke_in_2003 Sep 2014 #36
something in my eye riverwalker Sep 2014 #7
Beautiful Photos vankuria Sep 2014 #8
Wonderful pictures! retrogal Sep 2014 #10
Thank you for the smiles! mountain grammy Sep 2014 #11
And there's Chelsea's husband from Goldman Sachs. blkmusclmachine Sep 2014 #12
Looking forward to a picture with the other set of grandparents. Divernan Sep 2014 #19
They may be more private people. n/t tammywammy Sep 2014 #32
The other grandfather was once my congressman in the early 70s rurallib Sep 2014 #44
"bit of legal trouble": convicted felon defrauded friends/family of $10 million. Divernan Sep 2014 #51
So people like this DO get prosecuted eom treestar Sep 2014 #56
Marjorie was a teacher in my high school in NJ. WinstonSmith4740 Sep 2014 #58
And you brought that up why? minivan2 Sep 2014 #53
To be negative eom treestar Sep 2014 #57
Agreed. WinstonSmith4740 Sep 2014 #62
Great pics. Thanks for posting. William769 Sep 2014 #13
K&R for Preciousness! ReRe Sep 2014 #14
very happy for them all JI7 Sep 2014 #15
So nice for them treestar Sep 2014 #17
Great pics... SoapBox Sep 2014 #18
Mazel Tov Gothmog Sep 2014 #20
The middle pic of Bill and Hillary kind of made me tear up. AngryOldDem Sep 2014 #21
Borowitz had a good one today about how a Republican PAC released their first Charlotte attack ad catbyte Sep 2014 #22
That is so sweet! MoonRiver Sep 2014 #24
May she live a long, healthy and well loved life. nolabear Sep 2014 #25
Ohhh congratulations!! Peacetrain Sep 2014 #26
vera vera nice. Lil Missy Sep 2014 #27
Awww, little luv bug. MerryBlooms Sep 2014 #28
Congrats! Iliyah Sep 2014 #29
Teeny little fredamae Sep 2014 #30
Donald Trump . . . OldRedneck Sep 2014 #31
Beautiful! Congrats Hillary and Bill! mfcorey1 Sep 2014 #33
There she is, the inevitable Democratic nominee for 2052. MohRokTah Sep 2014 #34
I did actually see an article on ABC News' website this morning customerserviceguy Sep 2014 #46
LOL! Cali_Democrat Sep 2014 #50
May little Charlotte have a long and happy life. Blessings to Chelsea and her japple Sep 2014 #35
Awesome madokie Sep 2014 #37
awesome MFM008 Sep 2014 #38
I'm pleased that she named her daughter after my granddaughter. trof Sep 2014 #39
Beautiful pictures of Charlotte and family. sheshe2 Sep 2014 #40
I wish they showed a close-up of the baby's face! I adore newborns. tblue37 Sep 2014 #41
Welcome baby Clinton-Mezvinsky! Catherine Vincent Sep 2014 #42
Love the looks on Bill and Hillary's faces mcar Sep 2014 #43
Charlotte, the inevitable nominee in about 56 years. JEB Sep 2014 #45
Joy! 840high Sep 2014 #47
Oxytocin is a powerful drug. littlemissmartypants Sep 2014 #48
that baby is going to be so spoiled. nt awoke_in_2003 Sep 2014 #49
Those are really nice loving pics of baby Charlotte, Chelsea, Marc Mezvinsky, Hillary and Cha Sep 2014 #52
Awwww Tsiyu Sep 2014 #54
Beautiful, family pictures! Sunlei Sep 2014 #55
Congratulations to Chelsea and R B Garr Sep 2014 #59
john derbyshire should be shitting bricks over these! Which would be a good thing! calimary Sep 2014 #60
There's the possibility that she'll be the only granddaughter of 2 Presidents. lunatica Sep 2014 #61
Absolutely beautiful photos! In_The_Wind Sep 2014 #63
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