WASHINGTON — Besides Kase Lawal, several other controversial figures have raised money for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama:
Clinton's presidential campaign announced last September that it was returning $850,000 that Chinese fundraiser Norman Hsu raised from 260 donors while facing federal charges that he defrauded investors of $20 million and strong-armed them into donating.
Abdul Rehmen Jinnah, a Pakistani who was doing business in southern California, fled the country after he was indicted in 2006 on charges that he illegally reimbursed employees and associates who donated $53,000 to Clinton's political action committee and to California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's 2004 re-election campaign. He resurfaced and pleaded guilty in late February.
Peter Paul, who'd been convicted of cocaine possession and trying to defraud the government of Cuba, helped organize a Brentwood, Calif., gala for Clinton's 2000 Senate campaign. Paul says he spent nearly $2 million on the event and wasn't reimbursed, and the Federal Election Commission fined Clinton's campaign $35,000 for failing to report more than $700,000 in costs.
A longtime Obama associate, Tony Rezko, is on trial in Chicago on federal fraud charges stemming from alleged schemes to bilk investors and extract kickbacks from businesses. The Obama campaign says it's given $159,000 that Rezko donated and raised for the Illinois senator's unsuccessful 2000 congressional campaign and his 2004 Senate run to charity.