Bank scam con may rattle Kerry closet
By David R. Guarino
Boston Herald
Friday, July 30, 2004
As John F. Kerry tries to bounce out of Boston and into a decisive fall campaign lead, a skeleton from the past will slink out of jail - possibly looking to score headlines and undercut the new nominee.
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David Paul, a central figure in a 1980s savings and loan scandal, is set to be sprung from a halfway house in Miami Sunday - a decade after his conviction on 97 counts of banking fraud.
TV news outlets are scrambling to line up the first interview, hopeful the long-silent Paul might spill some beans about his close fund-raising ties to Kerry during the 1988 national campaigns.
David Bossie, who interviewed Paul for a new book that is very critical of Kerry, titled <font color=blue>``The Many Faces of John Kerry [related, bio],''<font color=black> said the former banker may have a lot more to say about Kerry.
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``There's no question he's holding cards, there's no question there's more out there,''<font color=black> Bossie said. Paul did not return calls.
The Kerry campaign wouldn't comment on his release.
Paul, who was chairman of the Miami-based CenTrust Savings, and Kerry came into closest contact while the Bay State senator was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 1988.
Kerry appointed Paul head of the Democratic Trust, a fund-raising arm of the DSCC.
The senator was then chairman of the Senate subcommittee investigating the Bank of Credit and Commerce International and other S&Ls. Bank execs and associates gave more than $30,000 to the DSCC, earning Paul recognition at the `88 DNC in Atlanta.
That year, Kerry attended a swank party at Paul's Miami mansion, where guests were fed by six of the top chefs of France.
Paul was later charged with wrongful investment of his bank's funds in junk bonds and using bank money to finance his lavish lifestyle.
Republican investigators in Congress later detailed ties between Paul and BCCI. The issue was raised in Kerry's 1990 re-election campaign, when Kerry beat Republican James Rappaport.
Kerry was never accused of any wrongdoing.
In the book interview, Paul offers only cryptic suggestions he might try to hurt the senator. Paul says he loves the Drudge Report - a right-leaning gossip Web site and he hints that he is aware of incidents involving Kerry and women.
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``John Kerry was a red-blooded American guy. He liked the ladies - at least he wasn't gay,''<font color=black> Paul said. |
