Another White House Coffee Raises Eyebrows -- Jan. 31, 1997
Hillary Clinton: I Pushed For Database -- Jan. 30, 1997
Clinton Takes Sharp Questioning On Fund-Raising -- Jan. 28, 1997
Another Clinton Scandal Brews?
Convicted stock promoter sipped coffee at White House
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Feb. 1) -- President Clinton and top Democratic Party officials sipped coffee in the White House with eight guests in December 1995, and among them was a stock promoter convicted of fraud that benefited an alleged Mafia member, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Eric Wynn bilked millions from investors and had already served two years in prison when he sat down for coffee with the president, the Post said. He served his time after a 1989 guilty plea on theft and tax charges.
Citing court records, the Post said the New Jersey promoter ran a stock-manipulation scheme and had set up an account for a member of the Bonanno organized-crime family.
An associate of Wynn's, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Wynn is trying to win a pardon for his July 21, 1995, stock manipulation conviction.
"Eric will do anything to stay out of jail," the source told the Post. The Justice Department said no formal request for pardon was on record.
It was not immediately clear who issued the invitation to Wynn. White House and Democratic Party officials said they could not comment on the matter until they collected more information.
Wynn, who is in his late 30s, is not listed on federal reports as donating money directly to the Democrats, but sources told the Post that he has attended several Clinton or Democratic National Committee fund-raising events.
Wynn was invited into Democratic fund-raising circles by Richard T. Mays, an Arkansas lawyer who served as a Clinton appointee on the Arkansas Supreme Court in the early 1980s, sources told the Post.
Among those who joined Wynn, Clinton and the other invited guests for coffee were a number of senior White House and party officials, including Erskine Bowles, then deputy chief of staff, Thomas McLarty, the former chief of staff, and DNC co-chairman Donald Fowler.
In recent weeks, it has been disclosed that several controversial figures slipped past unsuspecting White House aides into Democratic National Committee events with the president and vice president.
Presidential aides said they failed to do adequate security checks, and have made changes to prevent such problems in the future.
A fugitive Lebanese businessman, another businessman whose company has been linked to Russian organized crime, a Chinese arms dealer and another convicted felon have all participated in White House meetings, according to previous reports.