Nationwide warrant for head of sham veterans' charity: Diverted money to Republican campaigns

[seafan]

Here's the story in brief:



From Florida (who is surprised...)

A crook calling himself "Commander Bobby Thompson", who headed up a sham charity called the "U. S. Navy Veterans Association" and run from a duplex in Tampa, is under a nationwide warrant for his arrest for taking in an estimated $2.1 Million in charitable contributions from the public in Ohio and steering it to Republican political campaigns through a political action committee he set up using a stolen identity, and singularly contributed to by using multiple fictitious names.


From the St. Petersburg Times:


November 8, 2010

.....

How much money Thompson gave to politicians by using phony names and how much he funneled to campaigns in unreported cash are questions investigators are still trying to answer.

Armed with subpoenas for Tampa bank records, Ohio agents recently discovered that Thompson assistant Blanca Contreras, a former citrus-processing plant worker, received $416,000 from a Navy Veterans account in cash.

Her modest Clair-Mel home, raided by IRS agents in July, shows no sign of extravagant spending that the Navy Vets cash might have provided.

Thompson and Contreras have been indicted in Ohio on charges of racketeering, money laundering and theft of more than $1 million — money reportedly taken from Ohio residents by the fraudulent charity. Thompson is being sought on a nationwide warrant, his real name and whereabouts a mystery. Contreras, extradited to Ohio, is being held, with bail set at $2 million.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray has called the Navy Veterans a "sham charity" and "an elaborate hoax." He estimates Thompson's organizations collected more than $2.1 million in Ohio alone and defrauded as many as 100,000 Ohioans. Cordray says lots of cash — just how much is uncertain — went "not to veterans causes but was instead diverted to political campaigns."

And this:

Agents from Ohio contacted Schorsch after reading on his blog that he knew where Thompson was hiding. Schorsch said after Thompson cleared out of his rented Tampa duplex last fall, Thompson called him from New York City, where he could get out of the country in an hour.

.....

Take a good look at the men in these photos.

There are some jail cells reserved for several of them.





(Ohio Attorney General’s Office)

President George W. Bush shakes hands with “Commander Bobby Thompson’’ of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association. Also pictured is political consultant Barry S. Edwards, at a 2008 Republican fundraiser in Washington, D.C.



(Ohio Attorney General’s Office)

“Commander Bobby Thompson’’ of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association poses with GOP political strategist Karl Rove. “Oh my God,” political consultant Barry S. Edwards said of this photo. “That would put the commander in a different category as someone who was not just some donor.”



Who were the recipients of this funneled cash?


So far, we have Rudy Giuliani in his presidential campaign, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (Jeb Bush's man who recently lost to Rick Scott in the 2010 governor's race), Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli in 2009, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, head of the tea party caucus.


And Mike DeWine.



The Times:

Nine states have begun inquiries into the Navy Veterans, but Ohio's Cordray has pursued the investigation with the most vigor.

Last Tuesday, Cordray lost his attorney general's job to Mike DeWine, a former U.S. senator who lost his congressional position in 2006.
In that campaign, DeWine received a $500 contribution from NAVPAC, the now-defunct committee set up by the man who called himself Bobby Thompson.

So, amidst all of the other GOP corruption of our elections process, we have phony PACs and Veterans' charities set up via identity theft that defraud the public by sucking in the public's money and diverting it to political campaigns of Republicans.


Think we will see any justice on this?


Now that we see Obama's DOJ giving a free pass to George W. Bush's orders to torture prisoners, which has single-handedly elevated the level of hatred against Americans to infinite levels, and another free pass to the Bush CIA's subsequent destruction of 92 videotapes of the evidence, don't count on it.

[arcane1]

1. What an asshole.

I just posted this on Facebook too... might as well get his photo circulating!! :grr:

[Warpy]

2. You can bet he's clean shaven and has lost the glasses

and has set up shop elsewhere, fleecing vets for the delight and glory of the Republican Party.

[malaise]

3. K & R

Support the troops - NO the RETHUGS
:puke:

[Scurrilous]

4. Thanks.

K & R :thumbsup:

[Blue_Tires]

5. he's probably one of several operatives and fixers the GOP has around the country

He's probably been doing this for years, so I don't think he'll ever be found, unless some higher-up in the party 'outs' him....

[bluesmail]

6. How long before we read that the so-called Commander Bobby of the US

Navy Veterans Association * * * poof Doesn't exist. OK Maybe. Maybe Not. Politically speaking? Maybe. Maybe not.

[malaise]

7. Kick to show how ReTHUGS support the troops

:puke: