Money Laundering Scandal? (UPDATED + Thursday evening update)

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Note. This article makes serious assertions. Therefore each statement of fact is supported by external sources or references, listed at the end of the article. UPDATE: We had a local photographer with actual recent street level photos of the HQ, so there is no doubt that this is the place. Photos are posted at the end of the article.
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Is This a Money Laundering Scandal?

Is the Obama Campaign falsifying its FEC disclosure reports by using a front company to disguise its relationship with ACORN, a controversial group?

By Eastan McNeal on August 20, 2008

Less than one month after admitting that it had received over $30,000 in illegal contributions from Gaza it seems the Obama for America campaign is facing yet another damaging issue related to campaign finance. This time the infraction emerges from potentially shady expenditures or expenditure reporting. It is, however, highly unlikely that the campaign can write this disclosure pattern off as a “technical glitch” or a “clerical error” as the firms involved are much more than just casually linked, and the misrepresentations occur on eleven separate documents.

Why is Barack Obama spending nearly $1,000,000 on a business housed here?

According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial disclosure reports filed by the campaign earlier this year, between February 25th and May 17th Obama paid $832,598 to Citizens Services, Inc. (CSI), one of the nearly seventy Not-for-Profit companies registered at the ACORN New Orleans headquarters on 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue [SEE IMAGE OF THE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS of CSI as well as 20 other businesses.]. CSI now also shares an office with ACORN in Chicago at 209 W. Jackson St., home of the SEIU (Service Employees International Union).

On the surface, the 11 separate payments to CSI appear to be for services typically useful to a campaign. However, as confirmed by one of its directors, CSI does not offer the services listed on the Obama campaign expense reports. According to the director, and as found in various disclosure reports from other candidates, CSI specializes in field operations, specifically grass roots organizing for get out the vote efforts. The Obama expense reports list the following payments to CSI: $564,342 for Stage, Sound, Lighting, $138,000 for Advance Work, $18,417 for Polling and $98,451 for Travel/Lodging. There is no “get out the vote” expenditure to CSI in the reports.

After retrieving a copy of CSI’s business registration form from the Louisiana Secretary of State’s office, on July 24th one of our researchers contacted Sunday Alabi, the first Director listed on the corporate filing. Our caller asked Mr. Alabi if CSI could provide Stage, Sound and Lighting for a campaign. Mr. Alabi’s response was that those services are not the nature of CSI’s business and that our caller would need to contact ACORN. The same response was given when questioned about polling and campaign advance work. But those are the services listed by Obama on the FEC reports. Services supposedly performed by CSI.

CSI is supposedly totally independent of ACORN. However, Jeff Robinson, who reportedly heads the company, is listed in his LinkedIn public profile as the National Deputy Political Director-Campaigns and Elections at ACORN and the Political Director at Communities Voting Together which, by the way, contributed $60,000 to CSI. In May of this year he publicly endorsed the Bob Blumenfield campaign by way of his position as a Director of ACORN. Furthermore, all of CSI’s directors are in ACORN leadership. One should ask why there appears to be so much deception and misdirection surrounding a tiny storefront not-for-profit organization from New Orleans.

Do you pay a fast food restaurant to set a broken bone? That is, incredibly, how absurd these election reports are. A brief conversation with an enforcement officer at the FEC, using hypothetical names, yielded the following response.

According to the FEC, in a situation where a campaign committee reports that they paid a company for services that the company says they do not provide, there is reason to be suspicious. It was irregular. And, it was inappropriate. To wit in 1997 Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar (OH) was prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department for conspiracy to deceive the FEC as to the true nature of the campaign contributions and expenditures that she was required to report. Falsifying federal disclosure reports is a serious matter and it is a crime. If the FEC chooses to exercise equal enforcement then Senator Obama could very well be subject to prosecution.

As demonstrated in previous articles, here, in newspapers, magazines and on television news stations, ACORN is a critical part of the Obama field operations. So why is the campaign writing checks to CSI for this work ostensibly performed by ACORN? It is reasonable to assume that the campaign would not want to be directly affiliated with, through disclosure reports, an organization that has been prosecuted or is under investigation in twelve states for election fraud. More recently, on June 2nd, ACORN’s founder, Wade Rathke had to step down from his post after it was discovered that he covered up a one million dollar embezzlement scheme committed by his brother, Dale. Many in the press and numerous election officials do not view ACORN in a favorable light. Reporting payments to them could conceivably create a public relations problem for Obama. But laundering payments to ACORN through a front company, in a conspiracy to defraud the FEC, if that is how the above action can be explained, is a crime.

There are additional striking oddities found in these disclosures. One is the timing and the amounts paid for “advance work.” Of the 1,211 payments made by the campaign for advance work the average check, not including the two to CSI, was $558. Considering that both of the Rathke brothers were loosing their high salaried jobs at ACORN, while being asked to repay the funds embezzled, the payment of $63,000, followed three weeks later by a payment of $70,000 for “advance work”, just prior to their resignations, has the surface appearance of conversion of campaign funds for personal use. This, if such conversion is proven, also seriously violates federal statutes. Another glaring oddity is Stage, Lighting and Sound (SLS) – also a service never previously reported as a CSI offering. Obama made two payments for SLS to CSI within two days of each other. These payments were the largest checks made for “concerts” throughout the entire campaign calendar. The average SLS payment to other companies was $3,900. CSI received $310,000 followed by $160,000 two days later. Two days after that, CSI got a $98,000 check for Travel/Lodging. Two weeks after that another $74,000 was paid to CSI for SLS. Two weeks later, $18,000 for Polling was reported, followed by another $18,000 for SLS the following day. All of the above payments went to a company that admits they provide none of the above services.

There are, with little doubt and high probability, numerous federal offenses that may have been committed by the Obama campaign committee. Within their power and charge the FEC should immediately convene an administrative tribunal to investigate these questionable transactions. Indeed, a complaint to the FEC is being prepared and could be filed this week.

References: Right click, to open links in a separate window or tab.

“Violation involved a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and to make false statements to the FEC.”
– Mary Rose Oakar’s indictment

Citizens Services, Inc. at the LA Secretary of State’s Office

ACORN at the LA Secretary of State’s Office

Satellite image of CSI-ACORN HQ. Zoom in or go to street view. If the street view option is not shown simply click the Search Maps button again.

ACORN Investigations:
    - Rotten ACORN
    - Housing Crisis
    - The ACORN Obama Knows
    - ACORN AHC Report (PDF)

Obama’s Liberal Shock Troops - ACORN
    - Wall Street Journal
    - Case Study: Chicago-The Barack Obama Campaign (SocialPolicy.org)

Obama’s Ties To ACORN More Substantial than first believed (AmericanThinker.com)

Rathke steps down as ACORN chief over embezzlement charges
New York Times

Jeff Robinson’s public profile on LinkedIn

Robinson’s Blumenfield endorsement

Communities Voting Together 2005 contribution to CSI

CSI Director Sunday Alabi’s registration as chairman of ACORN, MN

CSI Director Rosalie Leon, CA ACORN Executive Board Member

CSI Director Teresa Dominguez, TX ACORN member

Checks written by Obama for America to Citizens Services, Inc.

Source: FEC. Committee ID: C00431445

Title 11: Federal Elections. § 111.4 Complaints (2 U.S.C. 437g(a)(1)).
(a) Any person who believes that a violation of any statute or regulation over which the Commission has jurisdiction has occurred or is about to occur may file a complaint in writing to the General Counsel, Federal Election Commission, 999 E Street, NW., Washington, DC 20463.

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HERE IS THE LIST OF COMPANIES AND PERSONS WHO CURRENTLY LIST THE ACORN BUILDING AS THEIR PRIMARY ADDRESS:

And, when you look at Lexis Nexis for that address, here’s what turns up:

1. ACORN
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(03/2000-Current) Most Recent Telephone Listing 504-944-7078ACORN (03/2000-Current)

2. ACORN NATIONAL CALL
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(06/2008-Current) Most Recent Telephone Listing 504-940-3223ACORN NATIONAL CALL CENTER (06/2008-Current)

3. ACORN NATIONAL CALL
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(06/2008-Current) Most Recent Telephone Listing 504-943-0434ACORN NATIONAL CALL CENTER (06/2008-Current)

4. AFFILIATED MEDIA FOU
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(03/2000-Current) Most Recent Telephone Listing 504-943-5713AFFILIATED MEDIA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT (03/2000-Current)

5. ACORN, D C
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(11/2007-Current) 504-944-7078ACORN(Current Listing Name)

6. AMFM, T
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(07/2005-Current) 504-944-7078ACORN(Current Listing Name)

7. LEE, MARIE A
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(07/2006-Current)

8. PUGH, LITTLE ROC
PUGH, LITTLE R
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(10/2004-Current)

9. FOR, VOTING
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE APT
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(10/2004-Current)

10. FOR AMERI VOTE, VOTING
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(10/2004-Current)

11. CORPORTION, ACORN H
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(09/2003-Current)

12. HOUSING, ACORN
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(09/2003-Current)

13. LITTLE, ROCK NEW
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(10/2001-Current)

14. INCII, ACORNHOUSING
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(01/2003-Current)

15. INCII, ACORNHOUSING
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(12/2002-Current)

16. ACORNHOUSING, NEWYORK
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(11/1999-Current)

17. STREET, F
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(04/1997-Current)

18. WHIPPLE, WILLIAM
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(03/1997-Current)

19. ACORN, JOANNE
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(04/1992-Current)

20. MISSOURI, TAX J
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(12/1992-Current)

21. RATHKE, DALE
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(12/1992-Current)

22. FITCH, GREGORY
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(07/1991-Current)

23. CORN, A
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

(12/1990-Current)

24. VOTE, PROJECT
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY

25. OF, ASSN
1024 ELYSIAN FIELDS AVE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70117-8402
ORLEANS COUNTY