McCain Spent his 70th Birthday with a Convicted Con man... The Nation

[Ichingcarpenter]

Rachel mentioned this story last night, the nation finally printed the story




The Maverick and the Celebrity Con Man


The photograph substantiates reports that in late August, 2006, McCain celebrated his 70th birthday aboard a yacht, the Celine Ashley, rented by A-list con man Raffaello Follieri and his then-movie star girlfriend Anne Hathaway. In the current edition of Vanity Fair, Michael Schnayerson reported that Follieri rented the Celine Ashley for the month of August 2006. Montenegro's leading daily newspaper, Vijesti, earlier reported that during McCain's visit in 2006 he celebrated with birthday cocktails and sweets aboard the Celine Ashley yacht. In the photograph, taken in Montenegro at the end of August, McCain is shown boarding the yacht ramp towards the smiling Follieri and Hathaway. Just ahead of McCain and shaking hands with Follieri appears to be Rick Davis--McCain's top aide and now co-manager of his campaign, who accompanied him on the trip and advised the government of Montenegro. A few months after McCain's yacht party, Follieri strengthened his ties to McCain's orbit by retaining Rick Davis's well-connected Washington lobbying firm, Davis Manafort, and offering Davis both an investment deal and help in securing the Catholic vote for McCain's presidential bid.

Follieri, who posed as Vatican chief financial officer in order to win friends and investments, pleaded guilty Wednesday in a Manhattan district court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, eight counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. As part of the plea, Follieri admitted to misappropriating at least $2.4 million of investor money and redirecting it to foreign personal bank accounts that were disguised as business accounts.


At the time he met McCain, Follieri was adept at collecting friends in powerful places and using those connections to attract investments in projects which later turned out to be bogus. His ties to Bill Clinton and his entourage have been well-documented; the charismatic Follieri, whom Vanity Fair has likened to an ambitious nineteenth-century protagonist from a Balzac novel, ingratiated himself to President Clinton and aides by posing as a mega-donor to the Clinton Global Initiative. He also formed an investment partnership with California business mogul and Clinton donor Ron Burkle to develop surplus real estate properties owned by the Catholic Church, which Follieri claimed to represent. Burkle later sued Follieri for $1.3 million in misappropriated funds.>>>>>snip

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080929/berman_ames

[Muttocracy]

1. the man has a history of bad birthday activities. sheesh. nt

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Rachel had this as one of her top stories last night

This story has teeth.

[Muttocracy]

5. the # of icky major lobbyists among his top campaign staff needs more attention, esp.

given his attempts to paint himself as a candidate free of influence, earmarks, etc. Astounding. Obama and Biden are the ones who can't be bought.

[anigbrowl]

3. There is one good angle...

the Russian financier at the aprty is heavily invested in EADS (Euro defence aircraft company, allied with Airbus). Now think back to that kerfuffle about the USAF long-distance refuelling tanker being given to Airbus instead of Boeing.

[catgirl]

4. You just beat me to this :) So who were the "Florida friends"?

From the article:

An even bigger mystery is how Follieri's boat came to be docked in Montenegro on McCain's birthday. According to a journalist in Montenegro, the yacht had been anchored there for several days before McCain's arrival, and only sailed away after McCain boarded. According to Vijesti, locals were told that McCain was meeting "friends from Florida" on the yacht.

And I wonder what else they'll reveal?

The writer states that they'll revisit McCain's stay in a future article and they'll discuss what else McCain did on that trip. Oh, the suspense!

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. That should be interesting

Nice lead in story, I can't wait for part II....!

[catgirl]

8. Part II will be in the next print edition.

Yet Follieri's ties to McCain's orbit have been largely overlooked by the media. Follieri first met McCain when the Arizona Senator visited Montenegro from August 29-31 as part of a Congressional delegation that included Republican senators Lindsay Graham, Richard Burr, Saxby Chambliss, Mel Martinez and John Sununu.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. That's a good question because

she would love crap like meeting a movie star.

[janetle]

7. Where or where is Cindy?

[catgirl]

9. Keeping this kicked

[DangerousRhythm]

11. Recommended and on to the Greatest.

This is just really shady as far as I'm concerned. I hope it blows up somehow.

[ContinentalOp]

12. Ah, someone posted a confusingly cryptic message about Anne Hathaway yesterday.

And now it makes sense. Thanks for the details.