But he's going down fighting.
First, the going down part:
This concerns Paul McKim, who is the former CEO of a Houston company, Deep Marine Technologies Inc.. He has filed a lawsuit in district court in Harris County, Texas that alleges that a majority shareholder, Minneapolis based Nasser Kazeminy, used corporate funds to help Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman.
Accoring to the suit, Kazeminy...
...directed $75,000 to an insurance company that contracted with Coleman's wife, Laurie Coleman, under the guise that the payments were for services.McKim also alleges that Kazeminy and another co-defendant spent corporate funds in ways that devalued shareholders' stake in the company.
"Majority shareholders owe a fiduciary duty to other shareholders. You don't just treat it as a piggy bank," said McKim's attorney, Casey Wallace, of the Haynes and Boone law firm.
The lawsuit has sparked interest among FBI agents, who have talked to people in Texas with knowledge of the allegations, according to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press newspaper.
...
"We are not aware of any investigation that is under way, nor have we been contacted by any agency with respect to this matter," reads a statement issued by [Coleman's] office. "As we have said repeatedly, we welcome any investigation of these lawsuits by the appropriate authorities to get to the bottom of these baseless, sleazy and politically inspired allegations."
...
The allegations are detailed in an October court filing that includes company invoices and financial ledgers. The original suit was withdrawn, only to be replaced with a largely identical document on the eve of Coleman's election. Another lawsuit was filed by minority shareholders in Delaware, where the company is incorporated.
Wallace said his client decided to file the lawsuit after his departure from the company appeared imminent, not to affect a political race in Minnesota. The case was withdrawn, he said, as a good-faith showing to boost settlement talks. McKim sued again when those talks broke down, Wallace said.
The lawsuit alleges that Kazeminy told McKim that he wanted to help Coleman.
...
The fighting part: Coleman has, as expected, filed papers with the Supreme Court demanding that the recount in Minnesota be stopped. The state has given counties permission and a recommendation to sort through absentee ballots to find any that may have been improperly rejected, then count them. This would almost certainly shift the 192 vote gap between Coleman and Franken in Franken's Favor, therefore Coleman would prefer that it not happen. Litigious shit that he is, he has filed suit to make sure that people's votes who were incorrectly kept from counting remain uncounted, so that he can go back to Washington and represent Minnesota in our once great Democracy.
Politics
Comments
Anybody surprised that Coleman's money comes from Texas? Since the New Confederacy™ is their only remaining power base, all Republicans should be required to register as agents of a foreign power.
Posted by: Lurkbot | December 14, 2008 12:29 AM
Proving Coleman involvement may be difficult. It sounds like the FBI is now starting an investigation of past activities - it is a whole easier if they can wiretap on current activities before the parties know that they are being watched. Unless somebody who was in the room (with Coleman when illegal activities were planned) decides to become an informant, Coleman will probably survive. It is even possible that Coleman may not have known what his friends were doing for him -- much like Obama was being used by Blagojevich.
The best aspect of the Senate election is that the problems with absentee ballots are getting some publicity. The fact that county officials erroneously rejected ballots and nobody has reviewed why is a major concern. Also, the fact that many ballots were rejected without letting the voter know that the ballot was rejected nor given an opportunity to correct the problem (failing to sign the envelope, failing to have a witness sign, etc.) Many people thought they voted, but do not know if they did.
Posted by: Minnesota Central | December 14, 2008 8:48 AM