Just a quick one - I didn't see this here yet so I thought I'd put it up. The full text of the suit implicating Minnesota senator Coleman, alleging bribes paid through his wife's employer, is now available online:
http://minnesotaindependent.com/...
A summary: A Texas oil services company, Deep Marine Technology (DMT), made three payments of $25,000 each to a Minnesota insurance company, Hays. The CEO of DMT, Paul McKim, has filed suit against the owner of DMT, Nasser Kazeminy, alleging that these payments were bribes, intended to be funnelled to Senator Coleman through his wife Laurie, who works for Hays.
My favorite excerpt is after the jump...
Hays provides risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting. It is also the employer of Senator Coleman's wife, Laurie, who is an aspiring actress and holds no insurance licenses in the State of Texas. Kazaminy informed Messrs. McKim and Thomas that Hays would funnel the money from DMT to Senator Coleman through the payment of compensation to his wife, Laurie, and that there was nothing to worry about. Laurie Coleman never provided any type of services or products to DMT, nor has any other person on behalf of Hays provided any type of services or products to DMT. Furthermore, at no time has Hays been licensed to broker insurance in the State of Texas...Neither Hays nore any of its affiliateed companies have ever provided any goods or services to DMT. DMT has no other "service fee" agreements like this, and has never utilized the services of Hays, despite the fraudulent paperwork promoted by Kazeminy to ostensibly support some type of transaction between Hays and DMT.
These are very serious accusations.
See Talking Points Memo for further details.