Cari, Rezko, and  Auchi: Names to Raise at Every Obama Campaign Stop<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
J. Michael Sharman

 
           
            Cari, Rezko, and  Auchi. These three names should be raised at every one of Obama's campaign stops.
When Joe Biden first ran for president in 1988, Joseph Cari Jr. was his Midwest Field Director.[1]
Since then, Joe Cari served as finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee and chairman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.[2]
Over the years, Cari donated thousands of dollars to Biden's campaigns, and when Joe Biden started his most recent run in the Democratic presidential primary, Cari planned a <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Chicago fundraiser for him.[3]
On the day of the fundraiser, July 25, 2005, Joe Cari was named in a federal corruption probe of the Illinois Teachers Retirement System. When Cari no-showed the scheduled Biden fundraiser, Joe Biden told the press: "All I know is Joe Cari is a friend, and he's an honorable guy, but I don't know anything beyond that."[4]
In September, 2005, Joe Cari agreed to plead guilty to one count of attempted extortion, and to testify against Antoin "Tony" Rezko. Cari admitted he was part of an $850,000 kickback in Rezko's  political "fund-raising operation".[5] (Rezko's co-defendants named on his indictment were Ali Ata and Abdelhamid Chaib.[6])
Syrian-born Tony Rezko owned eleven low-income housing projects in Obama's Illinois State Senate district.[7] Because of the testimony of Cari and others, Rezko was convicted of 16 felony corruption charges.[8]
Joe Biden has acknowledged knowing Rezko for the past 30 years, reports the Washington Times[9], (which means he would have met him just 6 or 7 years after Rezko emigrated from Syria[10]).
Obama has known Rezko since at least his Harvard Law School days when Rezko offered him a job, which he declined[11], but the law firm Obama did go to work for, and Obama himself, represented Rezko's company, Rezmar Corp., says the Chicago Sun Times.[12]
Rezko had worked on each of Obama's races, on Obama's 2004 U.S. Senate race[13], and specifically on Obama's campaign finance committee, says the Chicago Sun-Times.[14] 
When Obama announced his U.S. Senate run, Rezko held a "lavish fund-raiser June 27, 2003, at his Wilmette mansion", says the Sun-Times.[15] The direct contributions from Rezko's family, employees, and associates totaled $150,000.[16] Obama told the Chicago Tribune that altogether Rezko raised $250,000 for him --- not including his run for the presidency.[17]
At least one of Rezko's $10,000 campaign contribution to Obama came directly from a $250,000 kickback, the London TimesOnLine reported.[18]
In June 2005, Obama and Rezko's wife, Rita Rezko, bought adjoining real estate parcels. Obama admits he toured the mansion with Tony Rezko before he bought it, says the Wall Street Journal.[19]
Obama paid $1.65 million for the residence, and Rezko's wife (who testified she earned only $35,000 per year) paid $625,000 for the vacant lot next door. Obama's purchase price was $300,000 under the asking price; Rezko's wife paid full price.[20]
The month before the Obama-Rezko purchase, the Chicago NBC affiliate had already aired the story that Rezko was the subject of a grand jury corruption investigation[21], which may account for The New York Times report that, "Mr. Obama has since called the transactions 'boneheaded.'"[22]
 The Chicago Sun Times also reported that in 2005, after Rezko paid a $1.5 million bribe to the Iraqi Electricity Minister, a former classmate of his, Aiham al-Samaraie, Rezko's company was awarded a $50 million contract to train security officers at Iraqi power stations.[23]
At Rezko's trial, the government's star witness, Stuart Levine, testified that Barack and Michelle Obama attended a party in April 2004 at Rezko's home to honor the London-based Iraqi billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi.[24]
Nadhmi Auchi  had just been convicted in 2003 of corruption in France, and given a $3 million fine and a 15-month suspended sentence. A Pentagon inspector general report in 2004 cited "significant and credible evidence" of his involvement in weapons smuggling for Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi Oil for Food scandal. Auchi denies those charges. [25]
The Wall Street Journal reports that three weeks before Obama and Rita Rezko bought their adjoining properties, Nadmi Auchi loaned Tony Rezko, who was broke at the time, $3.5 million dollars.[26]
Cari, Rezko, and  Auchi. Those three names should determine the fate of Obama's campaign.
 
 
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[1] "Biden Has Deep Ties to Rezko Accomplice JOSEPH CARI: 30-year Friend of VP Pick Guilty in Kickback Scheme" http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/1124666,CST-NWS-rezko25.article
August 25, 2008

[2] "Biden Has Deep Ties to Rezko Accomplice JOSEPH CARI: 30-year Friend of VP Pick Guilty in Kickback Scheme" http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/1124666,CST-NWS-rezko25.article
August 25, 2008

[3] "Witness links Blagojevich White House hopes to pay-to-play: Blagojevich had big plans, witness says" April 15, 2008 http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2008/04/witness-links-b.html

[4] "Biden Has Deep Ties to Rezko Accomplice JOSEPH CARI: 30-year Friend of VP Pick Guilty in Kickback Scheme" http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/1124666,CST-NWS-rezko25.article
August 25, 2008

[5] "Biden Tied to Rezko Fraud Figure: Vice-Presidential Candidate's Former Campaign Advisor and Fundraiser Aided Kickback Scheme" August 25, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/MoneyTrail/story?id=5649093&page=1

[6] Court filed Indictment for Tony Rezko, et al http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2007/pr1213_03a.pdf
ALI ATA, ABDELHAMID CHAIB, also known as "Al Chaib"

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.stng

[8] "Biden Has Deep Ties to Rezko Accomplice JOSEPH CARI: 30-year Friend of VP Pick Guilty in Kickback Scheme" http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/1124666,CST-NWS-rezko25.article
August 25, 2008

[9] Antoin "Tony" Rezko, one of Sen. Barack Obama's first major donors, was convicted in June on charges of seeking kickbacks.
 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/aug/28/longtime-biden-backer-linked-to-rezko/
Washington Times, August 28, 2008

[10] "Tony Rezko's Billionaire Buddy" Chicago, Sun-Times, February 28, 2008
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/817377,CST-NWS-watchdog28.stng

[11] "Obama named in Rezko's opening statement", UPI March 7, 2008
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/07/obama_named_in_rezkos_opening_statement/6101/

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.stng

[13] "Obama Papers Confirm Rezko Tie" UPI March 23, 2008 http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/03/23/Obama_papers_confirm_Rezko_tie/UPI-48461206314303/

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.stng

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.stng

[16] http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr14/0,4670,FundraiserTrial,00.html

[17] http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/03/15/Obama_answers_questions_about_Rezko/UPI-39531205580321/

[18] "Mansion 'mistake' piles the pressure on Barack Obama" February 26, 2008 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3433485.ece

[19] FUND,JOHN  "Obama and Chicago Mores" Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120450564143806509.html

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/rezko/757340,CST-NWS-watchdog24.stng

[22] "Ex-Obama Fund-Raiser Is Convicted of Fraud" The New York Times, June 5, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/us/politics/05rezko.html?partner=BREITBART&ei=512

[23] "Rezko linked to $1.5B Iraq power bribe"
http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:CzP_ka8I4Z4J:www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2008/03/05/Rezko_linked_to_15B_Iraq_power_bribe/UPI-67781204756098/+%22Rezko+linked+to+%241.5B+Iraq+power+bribe%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

[24] http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Apr14/0,4670,FundraiserTrial,00.html "Witness: Obama Attended Rezko Party" Monday, April 14, 2008

[25] FUND, JOHN  "Obama and Chicago Mores" Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120450564143806509.html

[26] FUND, JOHN  "Obama and Chicago Mores" Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB120450564143806509.html