Hillary Clinton and the 'FBI Primary'

The Contra Costa Times has endlessly stalled or obstructed by posts. Thankfully the murders have stopped and the FBI refused to help with witness protection and weeks later my relatives were murdered.

Hundreds of Blocked Posts

By Cal Thomas

Published June 07, 2016

FoxNews.com

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Some believe that soon after Tuesday’s final presidential primaries the FBI will interview Hillary Clinton about her handling of emails while she was secretary of state. What comes next is the subject of much speculation.

One of the better speculators is Bradley Blakeman, who served as a member of President George W. Bush’s White House staff.

We spoke in the “green room” at Fox News before our separate interviews. The following is culled from our conversation.

Blakeman says the FBI has deliberately waited to interview Hillary Clinton until after the primaries because the bureau did not want to interfere with the nominating process. He thinks the FBI is “likely” to recommend to the Department of Justice whether or not she should be indicted for violating what she says are agency rules and what others call the law between now and the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, which begins July 25.

If she is indicted before the convention, Blakeman says, it will give the party an opportunity to make changes in the rules that could result in an alternate nominee.

Here is the intriguing part about Blakeman’s scenario: “If a grand jury is empaneled, or if she were to be indicted before the convention, the Democrats would have to let her go.” If an indictment were to come after the convention, he says, it presents a different problem because each state needs to certify their ballots before November. If an indictment occurs after the states have certified their ballots, it would be nearly impossible to replace Hillary Clinton with another candidate.

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Here’s where things might get even more interesting. In states where ballots have been certified, the party would have to go to court to ask that Clinton’s name be replaced. “They also have another problem,” says Blakeman. “Once the convention ends, how do they reconvene to substitute Hillary? They have no rules for that.”

What if a court denies a ballot change? Blakeman says the Supreme Court would almost certainly have to decide. That might look to many like a replay of the 2000 election in which the court certified Florida’s vote count, awarding the state’s electoral votes — and the election — to George W. Bush.

But what if the court — with its one vacancy — divides 4-4? In that case, the lower court ruling would prevail and if that court decided to strike Hillary Clinton’s name from the ballot, a write-in would be the only option.

“Timing is not on Hillary’s side,” says Blakeman, who thinks “the silver lining for Hillary is that, if she were indicted, there is no doubt Obama would pardon her on January 19 as he walks out the door. She will never have to answer for her crimes.”

What about any others who might be indicted, such as top aides Huma Abedinand Cheryl Mills? If they are indicted, but not pardoned by the president, will they go public? It’s the stuff of big book contracts.

Should any of these scenarios prove true, as Blakeman thinks they might, President Obama, unlike President Ford and his pardon of Richard Nixon, will never have to face the voters and be held accountable for his action.

In this unpredictable election season, any one — or all — of these scenarios are possibilities, including the ultimate scenario: the delegates turning to Vice President Joe Biden to save them from Hillary and defeat in November.

Cal Thomas is America's most widely syndicated op-ed columnist. He joined Fox News Channel in 1997 as a political contributor. His latest book is "What Works: Common Sense Solutions for a Stronger America" is available in bookstores now. Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribune.com.

East Bay homebuilder charged with bank fraud

By Matthias Gafni, mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com

POSTED:   06/04/2016 05:28:47 AM PDT | UPDATED:   2 DAYS AGO

CONCORD -- Six years after federal agents raided the Seeno homebuilder headquarters, a visibly annoyed federal judge on Friday excoriated family members for failing to attend a hearing where one of their companies was expected to plead guilty to criminal bank fraud charges.

Related Case:

The Seeno’s were represented by Attorney James Greenan who leads to Alamo 1st Alamo CA where unknown to Bennett was another attorney and Alamo 1st member connected to Bennett v. Southern Pacific (1987) where a witness was murdered. 

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers refused to agree to the plea deal because she said she did not have enough evidence to accept a fine and restitution of $11 million for Discovery Sales. Earlier in the day, the company was formally charged for its role in the "builder bailout" scam that allowed the Seeno companies to continue selling properties at high prices during the housing market downturn by obtaining mortgages for homebuyers through illegal means.

Federal Bureau of Investigations officers photograph documents outside of the Discovery Homes office at 4061 Port Chicago Highway in Concord, Calif., on Thursday Feb. 18, 2010. Federal agents have shut down two Seeno family development companies offices along Port Chicago Road while they execute search warrants. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff) (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group Archives)

Gonzalez Rogers focused her ire on the absence at the plea hearing of Discovery Sales President Albert Seeno III, who along with his father, Albert Seeno Jr., operates a Bay Area homebuilding empire.

"It's his company, and he's not here to take responsibility for what his company has done?" the judge asked two attorneys representing the Seeno company. "I find that a little odd. I don't find it particularly appropriate."

Gonzalez Rogers, who in recent years accepted plea deals from three former Seeno employees implicated in the scam, said she would not "rubber stamp" the agreement that would spare Seeno family member from individual criminal charges.

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"The American people, rightly so, are very frustrated with the conduct which was criminal ... which led to the financial disaster in this country," the judge said. "(Seeno III) shows an unwillingness to publicly take accountability for his company's actions, and that says something for me whether the company is entitled (to the agreed-upon fine)."

In its plea agreement, the Seeno company acknowledged that through incentive programs, mortgage payment assistance and other means it fraudulently got banks to approve loans for unqualified buyers. In some cases, the homes were worth less than their inflated loans at the time of purchase.

Gonzalez Rogers asked why Seeno III was not charged.

"In the judgment of the U.S. Attorney's Office ... we don't have sufficient evidence to convict (Seeno III)," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Hemann said.

Seeno's attorneys, who declined to comment outside court, told the judge that company officials are not required to appear at such plea agreements and reminded her that not all the homes sold by Discovery Sales during that period were involved in the scheme.

Federal Bureau of Investigations officers walk from the Discovery Homes office at 4061 Port Chicago Highway in Concord, Calif., on Thursday Feb. 18, 2010 in order to take a photograph of the business where an employee stands near the entrance. Federal agents have shut down two Seeno family development company offices along Port Chicago Highway while they execute search warrants. (Susan Tripp Pollard/Staff) (Susan Tripp Pollard/Bay Area News Group Archives)

The agreement, if approved, would end the six-year investigation that netted indictments against three company employees and a half dozen Seeno associates. As a result of the homes they sold through the bailout scheme, the Seenos continued receiving large lines of credit from banks to remain operational.

"It allowed Discovery to stay in business over a difficult economic period in time," Hemann told the judge. "They staved off what was potentially bankruptcy or an enormous loss."

During a 16-month period in 2008 and 2009, when the alleged scam transpired, various Seeno companies opened at least $1.24 billion in construction lines of credit, according to an investigation by this newspaper.

More than 325 Seeno and Discovery homes sold from 2006 to 2008, exceeding $200 million in sales, used a series of illegal schemes, according to the charging document. The total loss is estimated at $75 million, but despite the bank fraud charge, Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase -- the two preferred lenders of Discovery Sales -- were hardly innocent victims, Hemann said.

"In this case, the banks are not fully without blame," Hemann said. "Wells Fargo made a lot of money. In fact, it may not have lost money at all through their relationship with Discovery Sales, and the same with JP Morgan Chase."

Prosecutors allege Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase would issue the loans, receive origination fees and quickly sell the loans, which would continue being sold and eventually packaged in securities.

"Everyone was making money gaming the system, or at least trying to do so: the builders, the buyers, the real estate agents, the mortgage brokers and the originating banks, and the banks who securitized the bad loans," Hemann wrote in his sentencing memorandum.

"The losers are way downstream and essentially the American people," Hemann told the judge.

Seeno attorney William Goldman told the judge that determining the actual losses in this case would be difficult and time-consuming because tracing the loans as they went deeper downstream was "basically impossible."

As part of the tentative agreement, the Seenos had agreed to pay $3 million in restitution to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two taxpayer-sponsored financial services companies, according to court documents. Discovery Sales will also be placed on probation for five years.

Two of three former Seeno employees who cooperated with FBI investigators have yet to be sentenced for their guilty pleas as part of this scheme. In February, Jason Sterlino was sentenced to six months in prison for what Hemann called "minor fraud" done to further the scheme.

Former Discovery Sales Vice President Ayman Shahid and sales executive Carey Hendrickson have also pleaded guilty and were supposed to be sentenced this month, but their attorneys said those hearings have been postponed.

Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.