Norm Coleman no longer denies FBI contact in Nasser Kazeminy case

[struggle4progress]

His no-comment stance on Kazeminy case comes as Democrats up rhetoric

By Dave Orrick
[e-mail]
Posted: 04/04/2009 12:01:00 AM CDT

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman is no longer denying the FBI has contacted him in its inquiry into allegations that a longtime friend and benefactor tried to funnel $100,000 his way via his wife's employer.

The change in stance — from denial to no comment — comes as some Democrats, including at least one senator, upped their rhetoric, raising the specter of using those issues and others to make life difficult for Coleman should he prevail in his bid to overturn Democrat Al Franken's 225-vote lead in the U.S. Senate race ...

Sources have told the Pioneer Press that the FBI is looking into allegations contained in a pair of lawsuits that allege Nasser Kazeminy, a Bloomington financier, tried to steer $100,000 to Coleman from a Texas company via an allegedly bogus contract with the Hays Cos., a Minneapolis-based insurance firm where Laurie Coleman was a contractor. If true, such an arrangement could be considered fraud and could place Coleman in violation of Senate gift-disclosure requirements ...

Previously, Coleman or his spokesmen had answered "no" when asked whether the Republican former senator had been contacted by the FBI or other investigators or had received what's known as a "target letter," a Department of Justice convention that alerts people under investigation. That changed this week ...

http://www.twincities.com/ci_12068995?nclick_check=1