Politwix

Support for Obama Would Be Leap of Faith 

Senator Barack Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe has called Hillary Clinton the “Most secretive politician in America.”

Perhaps he doesn’t know enough about Obama.

Despite Obama’s calls for reform from corporate corruption, he has waded into some mighty gray waters himself. When he purchased his faux-Georgian mansion in June of 1995, he did it with the help of indicted political fixer Tony Rezko.

Barack Obama had his sights set on a home beyond his means, admitting later in an interview with the Chicago Tribune, ”it was already a stretch to buy the house.” He sought out the help of his friend and U.S. senate campaign finance committee member Tony Rezko. The owner of the property in question supposedly wanted to sell the house with an adjacent lot, which put the purchase price out of reach of Obama. In an apparent effort to assist Obama, Rezko’s wife purchased the lot and closed they closed both transaction on the same day. It is speculated that Mrs. Rezko paid full price for the lot while the Obama’s purchased the home for $300,000 under market.  

The actual details of this transaction are difficult to assertain because Obama purchased his dream home under the cover of a “title holding trust” otherwise referred to as a “blind land trust”.The blind trust was actually first created in Chicago in 1891 by the Chicago Title and Trust Company. Here is a little background on what a blind trust is from Amanda Seligman of the Encyclopedia of Chicago:

”A blind trust is a legal mechanism that allows property owners to conceal their identities. Public records bear only the name of a front person, who does not actually control the property. Blind trusts permit owners to buy and sell property without public scrutiny. They make it difficult for casually interested parties to make purchase offers on buildings and for tenants to know to whom to take their complaints. Although no Illinois statute deliberately established the legality of the blind trust, state courts have recognized its validity.

During the 1960s, the blind trust became a target of African American housing activists. A favorite tactic was to picket outside the homes and offices of people who owned poorly maintained apartment buildings and houses purchased “on contract.” The Contract Buyers’ League (CBL) worked to help African Americans renegotiate the payment terms of the contracts on their homes. The use of blind trusts hindered efforts both to shame property owners and to negotiate with them.”

On the face of things, a land trust appears to be a good idea for someone that is in the public eye. It does offer some security from stalkers and those that intend to do harm to high-profile figures. However, these trusts are regularly abused by unscrupulous politicians to keep from exposing their financial connections to campaign donors, lobbyists and nefarious characters.

The involvement Tony Rezko in the Obama’s house transaction certainly raises suspicions.The creation of these trusts is done without the oversight the state. They are not registered or recorded anywhere. Property can be transferred by the trust, or within the trust, without a paper trail. This short document is simply put away for safe keeping by the beneficiary.

Three weeks before Obama and Tony Rezko’s wife entered into their real estate transactions, a 3.5 million dollar wire transfer to Tony Rezko was made from Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company that is connected to Iraqi-born billionaire businessman Nadhmi Auchi. Auchi is one of the richest men in the U.K., and is said to have questionable ties to the Saddam Hussein regime. At the time of this money transfer, Rezko was being investigated by the federal government for corruption and political “fixing”. Rezko was battling business creditors and claimed to be near bankruptcy. The money from Auchi went undeclared. The state uncovered the transfer and Rezko landed in jail, his bond revoked, for hiding assets. 

So why, with all this heat on him, did Rezko feel compelled to enter into a real estate transaction with Barack Obama? That is a question I’m sure Federal prosecutors would like to know the answer to. The only way the identity of trust beneficiaries can be involuntarily disclosed is by compelling the trustee to do so by a court order. My guess is that the Feds have enough to justify getting that court order and we may have some answers soon.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites