New Brit Ambassador’s Embarrassing Family Connection
The Washington cocktail circuit is set to become a little more interesting come January, when Britain’s new ambassador to the U.S., Sir Peter Westmacott, takes up his post. Not that career diplomat Sir Peter, currently the UK’s ambassador to France, is a particularly colorful character himself — it’s his wife Susie who’ll be getting tongues wagging within the Beltway and stirring up unpleasant memories for Democrats.
Lady Westmacott is the sister of none other than Hassan Nemazee, the Iranian-American former bagman — sorry, “bundler” — for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other prominent Democrats. Nemazee is currently serving 12 years in prison for defrauding banks out of almost $300 million.
Namazee, you may remember, was Bernie Madoff with a more impressive Rolodex of connections to top Democrats. He reportedly raised $100,000 for Clinton’s 2008 primary campaign, eventually being appointed its national finance chairman. He went on to raise $500,000 for Barack Obama after Clinton dropped out. He donated the maximum $50,000 to Obama’s Presidential Inaugural Committee, for which he was also a bundler.
Before that, he was a major contributor to John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign, and ran Kerry’s New York fundraising operation. He also served as finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee under Chuck Schumer.
Nemazee ran a Ponzi scheme from 1998 to 2009, obtaining $292 million in fraudulent loans from Bank of America, Citibank, and HSBC. The enterprise funded an extravagant lifestyle — as part of his plea agreement he forfeited two apartments in Manhattan, including one on Park Avenue, another apartment in Rome, and an estate in Bedford, north of New York City — as well as his largesse towards just about any Democrat running for office, going back at least to Dick Gephardt and Al Gore.
Much of the money Nemazee raised for Democrats was hastily donated to charity following his arrest, which seems a shame — it would appear entirely fitting that his ill-gotten gains should end up in the coffers of Democratic politicians, given their attachment to the various Ponzi schemes administered by the federal government.
It would, of course, be grossly unfair to hold against Lady Westmacott or her husband the actions of her brother. And, tempting though it may be, it would also be unfair to tar by association the Democrats to whom he donated and for whom he fundraised. The big-money world of politics will inevitably attract criminals, and anyway, Democratic politicians are perfectly capable of breaking the law without any help. As a wise man said when it emerged that Hillary’s 2008 campaign had received money from fugitive-from-justice (and another Ponzi schemer!) Norman Hsu:
The Clinton campaign has done as much if not more than any campaign to protect itself from situations such as this, and none of the other campaigns — other than hypocritically — can point a finger at the Clinton campaign on fundraising problems.
Actually, that wise man was, er, Hassan Nemazee.
With the Occupy movement still hogging the limelight and with Obama ramping up his class warfare rhetoric, the return of a Nemazee to Washington is a timely reminder of the extent to which Democrats court multi-millionaire financiers while demonizing them.
The Westmacott black sheep problem gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “diplomatic baggage,” and it’s likely to make for some uncomfortable encounters over the canapés on Embassy Row — although the topic could also prove to be a useful icebreaker (“So Lady Westmacott, how is your brother these days?”)
As it happens, Lady Westmacott and her husband have also enjoyed a reputation for being generous with other people’s money, although before their lawyers come knocking, it should be made clear that the money was the British taxpayers’, and the expenditures were entirely above board, if a little excessive.
With the Westmacotts in residence, Britain’s Paris embassy topped the so-called “Ferrero Rocher league” of hospitality spending by UK embassies, splashing out $550,000 on dinners and receptions in a single year.
(I’m not sure how well known the Ferrero Rocher confectionary brand is in the U.S., but it was popularized in Britain by a now legendary ad in which a stack of the chocolates were served at a glamorous party thrown by “the ambassador,” with one guest exclaiming “Monsieur, with these Rocher you are really spoiling us!” The unintended humor came from the fact that these “luxurious” chocolates could be bought for a couple of pounds from any corner grocery store, and Ferrero Rocher quickly become a byword for kitsch, tat, and low-budget displays of ostentatiousness, as in “Wow Dave, with this ersatz Jell-O dessert you are really spoiling us!”)
Agree on comments.
Congress should really start looking into these “bundlers.” After all, why would a person want to “bundle” so much money for any candidate? The obvious answer is that there is something in it for him or her if that candidate is elected, something big. And Barry Obama certainly did not disappoint his bundlers, as the Solyndra scandal openly pointed out. But Congress will probably not look into “bundlers” scandal simply because all of its members need them too, which is why people hate Congress so much. So long as we have a corrupt system that allows the use of these “bundlers,” we will have an American public that will remain disenchanted with the political process in this nation.
Short, sweet, and simple: “Birds of a feather flock together.”
An even bigger problem is that labor unions are allowed to extract money from their members (often unwillingly) and funnel it to political parties and campaigns. If corporations are forbidden to do this, then unions should be forbidden also.
Greetings:
You’re not thinking that this is some kind of payback by Great Britain for President Obama’s return of the Churchill bust, are you ???
Not only that, but also about the Falklands.
Call this a broad hint that the UK doesn’t appreciate receiving shabby treatment from the Obamaniacs.
i dont’ really understand the whole thing…they’re all a bunch of trashy social climbers, beat the other guy out of his cash etc…nothing new…what am i missing???
So what does this have to do with the sister?
Sir Peter Westmacott’s runing of the Paris embassy has come under scrutiny not just for lavish expenditure but also for his rather off-hand management style which resulted recently in some of his staff taking FCO to court in France and in Britain. In this You Tube clip he describes the ‘pin the donkey’s tail’ technique which failed to alert him to impending legal action – presumably because he allowed his army of middle-managers to weed out suggestions which impacted on their conduct?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hltPbMuqi0c ‘A Day In The Life of Sir Peter Westmacott, UK Ambassador to France (who in that post also had overall line management responsibility for the UK Ambassadors to OECD and to Unesco also in Paris).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8024961/Millions-spent-to-allow-ambassador-to-live-in-luxury-in-Paris.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8459166/British-ambassador-to-Paris-tops-the-Ferrero-Rocher-spending-league.html Note that ‘his one concession to austerity’ was to stop serving champagne … i wonder how that went down with the French?!
Notice how ‘his one concession to austerity’ was to start serving ‘crémant’ (sparkling wine) instead of Champagne. But I wonder how that went down with the French?!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8459166/British-ambassador-to-Paris-tops-the-Ferrero-Rocher-spending-league.html
One of the British Embassy in Paris management issues which Sir Peter Westmacott (the new Ambassador to Washington) leaves behind for his successor: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2062876/You-Nazi–want-work-Distress-German-civil-servant-forced-Government-department.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7CtI8nx1Wc ‘I was the first to discover his terrible secret’ (Homer Simpson on JFK)