There is more bad news for Barack Obama’s endorsed candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois, Alexi Giannoulias: the failed bank where he worked as an executive loaned millions of dollars to an Iraqi arms dealer and convicted felon Tony Rezko. Broadway Bank, which Giannoulias’ family started, approved a $22.75 million loan to Riverside District Development LLC. The principals of that noble-sounding institution are Tony Rezko – who famously sold the president a plot of land adjacent to the Obamas’ Chicago home – and Nahdmi Auchi. In December 1980, Auchi, a native Iraqi, brokered an arms deal between the Italian government and Saddam Hussein that netted the Iraqi Navy four frigates.

Just last week, Barack Obama personally held a fundraiser for Giannoulias, vouching for the young man’s integrity:

Alexi is my friend. I know his character. I know how much he loves this country. I know how committed he is to public service for all the right reasons…

You can trust him. You can count on him.

Obama has heavily invested in electing Giannoulias to the Senate seat that he vacated, which is at the heart of the Rod Blogojevich scandal. Joe Biden, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, David Axelrod, and Desiree Rogers have all stumped for Alexi (and, of course, Obama is a frenetic fundraiser).

His reassurances of Giannoulias’ goodwill ring hollow upon examining the record. In the 1990s, Auchi was a shareholder in what became the BNP Paribas bank. Saddam Hussein used that bank to funnel money from the Oil-for-Food scam.

Auchi’s wife, Ibtisam, served as a director of the Panamanian-based Fintrade Services, which ”lent money to (an) Obama fundraiser in May 2005.” A French court convicted Nahdmi of “the biggest fraud inquiry since the Second World War” in 2003, and he has been barred from entering the United States.

…But not from Broadway Bank. A campaign aide claims Alexi was on a leave of absence when the loan was approved in March 2006. However, the same month he told the press, "I’m senior loan officer and vice president, so I oversee a $600 million loan department." The aide now claims he misspoke.

What no one disputes is that Alexi gave thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Obama, and as a bank executive, loaned $27 million to mobsters Michael “Jaws” Giorango and Demitri Stavropoulos. The government shut down Broadway Bank in April, which will cost taxpayers $390 million.

Giannoulias dismisses his Auchi ties as "a Washington, D.C., guilt by association game" – charging Republican Mark Kirk of associating Giannoulias with his own bank.

Apparently, the difference between Barack Obama and Alexi Giannnoulias is that Obama only pals around with American terrorists.

http://www.impeachobamacampaign.com/obama-says-you-can-trust-senate-candidate-with-ties-to-iraqi-arms-dealer-tony-rezko-and-assorted-mob-figures/

Nahdmi Auchi(The Iraqui gun runner for Saddam) was also was involved in the transaction between Obama and Rezko and gave Rezko the money to purchase the neighboring property. Obama also met with Auchi on several occasions.

let me guess, the property was then used to build bombs?...real estate is a business venture,,,,y should I care

are we to somehow be troubled by the Rezko transactions of the world but not the prostition? who draws this line of whats ethically questionable and whats not?


'Giannoulias dismisses his Auchi ties as "a Washington, D.C., guilt by association game" – charging Republican Mark Kirk of associating Giannoulias with his own bank. '



,,,,,says it all

Giannoulias bank loaned to Hussein’s rich arms dealer? Yep, it happened!

But Alexi Giannoulias' family bank DID loan money four years ago to Saddam Hussein's arms dealer, Nahdmi Auchi, the 279th richest man in the world and now-convicted felon and Blagojevich accomplice Tony Rezko...

It's not guilt by association. It's guilt by financial records, Alexi.

Reporter: “Is it true or not true about the bank loaning money to him?”

Giannoulias: “Come on, again, that’s political smokescreens, trying to link me to Saddam Hussein. It’s a Washington, DC guilt by association game.”

But Broadway Bank did loan money to Nadhmi Auchi: “On Feb. 14, 2006, newly obtained records show, the bank made a $22.75 million loan to a company called Riverside District Development LLC, whose owners, it turns out, included Rezko… Rezko's lawyers said his main partner in Riverside was General Mediterranean Holding, a Luxembourg company controlled by Iraq-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi.” (Chicago Sun-Times, 8/2/10)

Get the Facts about Nadhmi Auchi:

In 1996, Belgium's Ambassador to Luxembourg claimed that the Banque Continentale du Luxembourg, which was jointly controlled by Auchi and BNP Paribas until 1994, had handled the personal bank accounts of Saddam Hussein. (“Iraqi-Born Billionaire Has Stake in Bank That Holds Oil-for-Food Funds,” New York Times, April 30, 2003)

In 1993, Pierfrancesco Battaglia, an Italian banker, swore in a statement that Auchi had bribed members of the Hussein government in order to secure the rights to build an oil pipeline from Iraq to Saudi Arabia. (“Iraqi-Born Billionaire Has Stake in Bank That Holds Oil-for-Food Funds,” New York Times, April 30, 2003) For this service, Auchi was paid "millions of dollars" in commissions, according to Battaglia. (“A tycoon, a Minister and Interpol,” The Observer, May 27, 2001) Battaglia called Auchi "one of the most important intermediaries in the affairs of Middle Eastern countries." (“Iraqi-Born Billionaire Has Big Stake in Bank That Holds Baghdad's Oil-for-Food Funds,” New York Times, April 30, 2003)

In 1980, Auchi was the middleman in a billion dollar sale of Italian naval warships to Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Auchi received a $23 million commission on the sale. (“A tycoon, a Minister and Interpol,” The Observer, May 27, 2001)

Auchi is barred from entering the United States and is deemed an undesirable alien by the State Department. (“Miracle in Philadelphia?,” New York Sun, April 16, 2008) Rezko attempted to intercede on Auchi's behalf in November of 2005. According to federal prosecutors, "Rezko directly appealed to the State Department and, it appears, asked certain Illinois government officials to do the same." (“Mysterious London-based billionaire in the background at political fundraiser Tony Rezko's trial,” Associated Press, April 14, 2008) He was ultimately unsuccessful. (“Obama's name in Rezko trial,” Sun Times, April 15, 2008)

In 2003, Nadhmi Auchi was convicted in France on counts of fraud and bribery in connection to the Elf Aquitane scandal. Executives of Elf-Aquitane, a French state-owned oil company, were found to have looted the company for hundreds of millions of dollars. (“Elf trial reveals moral vacuum,” BBC News, April 24, 2003)

http://www.cdobs.com/archive/syndicated/giannoulias-bank-loaned-to-husseins-rich-arms-dealer-yep-it-happened/

are you not aware of the financial 'ties' between the bin ladens and the bushes?

money travels far and wide and it very often has little to do with personal relationships,,,

as the saying goes

'business is business, its not personal'

No, Rezko then sold a portion of the property to his neighbor Barack Obama making Rezko's property worthless and a $700,000 loss so Michelle could build a bigger Kitchen. The property was bought and closed on the exact same day Obama's property closed and Obama's transaction with Rezko was pre-arrainged before the close and while he was being investigated. Not to mention Rezko's loss was covered by Auchi.

business is business,,,

You mean Bin Ladens with the majority of the countries in the worls? His family owns the largest construction company in the world and completely cut him off in the late 80's and early 90's. Every world leader or major player in real estate, construction and oil has done business with The Saudi Binladin Group.

Not to mention the only family members he has contact with are a couple of his sons and his wives. His brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, newhews neices etc have disowned him and want nothing to do with him AT ALL and he recieves no financial assistance from them what so ever.

Even when it is unethical and illegal.

yeah, ok,,,,,,lol

Yea ok im right. They are one of the largest construction companies in the world. Almost every country's leadership has done business with them in some way, including your precious Obama.

what charges were pressed against rezko or obama for the real estate transaction?

ur always right hon,,,my point apparently is going unrecognized,,,carry on with the inconsistent criticisms,,

My criticizms are never inconstant.

Thank God Kirk won!