Ex-banker gets 12 years for Ponzi scam

NEW YORK -- A wealthy Manhattan investment banker who was once a top fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton and other big-name Democrats was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for defrauding banks of $292 million by a judge who called the case a "Shakespearean tragedy."

Hassan Nemazee, 60, had reached a plea deal in March, admitting that he cheated banks out of $292 million and pleading guilty to three counts of bank fraud and one count of wire fraud. U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein in Manhattan said he'll get out of prison in about a decade.

Nemazee was the national finance chairman of Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign. He also raised money for President Obama and a long list of other prominent Democrats. He was Sen. John Kerry's New York finance chairman during his failed 2004 presidential run.

Stein said he showed leniency to Nemazee in part because of "his involvement in American political life."

If he had followed federal sentencing guidelines, Nemazee would have received at least another three years in prison and as much as 191/2years.

Prosecutors said Nemazee used fake collateral starting in 1998 and continuing for more than a decade in order to obtain large loans from major banks. The judge ordered Nemazee to pay $292 million in restitution.

An indictment said he forged signatures, concocted bogus account statements and established "virtual offices" to conceal a scam. It said he used proceeds from new loans to pay off older ones - a maneuver prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton nominated Nemazee to be U.S. ambassador to Argentina, but the appointment was never confirmed by the Senate, in part because of concerns about Nemazee's business dealings.

Nemazee told the judge he blamed his crimes on "pride, ego, arrogance, self-image, self-importance. All these and more are reasons why I traveled down this destructive path."

The judge called Nemazee a "highly intelligent, educated person" who had been extremely charitable. He also made several mentions of Nemazee's involvement in political life, saying it was admirable and lifted him high in Iranian-American society.

Yet, he said, Nemazee had committed a crime that was "breathtaking in its brazenness, in its scope."

He said "some explanation for the conduct comes from character flaws" and he wanted to send a message with a lengthy prison term to others who might consider similar crimes.