Natalie Khawam Got Hefty Loan From Defense Department Lobbyist

[avaistheone1]

Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON -- Jill Kelley, a central figure in the sex scandal involving former CIA Director David Petraeus, tried to parlay her friendship with the general into a huge commission for helping facilitate a coal project in South Korea, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. Negotiations with Kelley ended after she demanded an $80 million fee for leveraging her connections, the paper said.

That deal may have gone bust. But Kelley's identical twin sister, Natalie Khawam, profited from her own lobbying connection. Bankruptcy records show that Gerald "Jerry" Harrington, a Rhode Island lobbyist and Democratic fundraiser, loaned Khawam $300,000 that she was unable to pay back.

Khawam dated Harrington while she lived with her sister in Tampa, Fla., attending the many parties Kelley hosted for military officers stationed at nearby MacDill Air Force Base. At the time Harrington, too, had plenty of connections with the military. But not the social kind.

Since 2010, Harrington's lobbying firm, Capitol City Group, has made $1.14 million from clients with lobbying interests in military spending and defense bills, according to disclosure reports.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/natalie-khawam-loan-lobbyist_n_2141022.html

[MisterScruffles]

1. 3 million dollar paperclip

So that's where these are coming from!

[Octafish]

2. Buy-Partisan Corruption.

Either way, systemic or case-by-case, ripping off the Treasury for War, Inc is not just corrupt, it's treason.

[csziggy]

4. Or bi-courtesan corruption

[Octafish]

6. Excellent expression.

When do we get our goldmine concubine?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/07/09_gold.html

[Hotler]

10. That is fucking awesome. You have the best reads. Thank you.

kicking

[FarCenter]

3. Not really a loan; more like payment for "services rendered".

[JDPriestly]

5. I think it is appalling that our military brass socializes with

a bunch of society ladies. And then we discover what kind of women some of them are.

If there was every a clever way to insinuate yourself into a relationship (however platonic) with important military leaders and members of our security and intelligence agencies, these women have found it. It is nearly impossible to assume that classified information will not be seeped out or figured out based on the small talk and social flirtations and flattering that go on at these kinds of events.

That the Khawams are of Lebanese descent and may have who knows what interest in the events in the Middle East is obvious although it would be extremely unfair to cast aspersions on their intentions because of their ethnic backgrounds.

Imagine all the people of Cuban or Mexican or German or French or British or Turkish, etc. descent who might love to hear from a general deployed in the area around their country just where he will be traveling next week.

Sorry, military brass, but you took an oath. It's a tough life, but you just can't afford to socialize with ordinary people at lavish parties. You could inadvertently betray your country.

This is horrible.

[HooptieWagon]

7. I don't think it's realistic to expect the military not to socialize,

Or to not attend social events where women are present. These are just two women, out of perhaps 10s of thousands present at social events brass have attended across the US. Quite obviously these two women are psycho, and the MacDill brass should have used more discretion in choosing their social circles, but lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[JackRiddler]

8. Agreed. However...

it is realistic, or at any rate appropriate, to expect the military not to commit war crimes, as Petraeus has.

[HooptieWagon]

9. What is connection between war crimes and Kelley?

There's no evidence Kelley committed or covered up war crimes, or even was in a position to do so. She's just an everyday con artist, albeit one that operated in upper society. War crimes are an entirely separate issue...one that, unfortunately, Obama has no problem sweeping under the rug, whether his admin or the previous.

[Supersedeas]

11. a dirty little circle, a corrupt little web

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Where did the money go?

Apparently Harrington gave her an unsecured personal loan of $300,000. She also got a $250,000 loan from a woman named Lisa Krowne (refused to give details according to the article) and a $600,000 loan from a businessman named Michel Boone (who also is not commenting). These people made personal loans to someone already heavily indebted. And Khawam has only $36 in her savings account. Where is this money going and why are rich people so eager to lend this woman money?


"...Khawam's two other outstanding personal loans included $250,000 from Lisa Krowne, a woman who appears to be an investor in a New York fashion label called Joy Cioci.

(...)

"...Khawam's other mysterious creditor is a Georgia-based businessman named Michael Boone, who lent her $600,000, according to the bankruptcy filing. Boone appears to own a condo-office in Tampa. He could not be reached for comment Thursday...