Was Frank Vennes' Son a White House Intern at the Same Time His Father Sought a Presidential Pardon?

New evidence has surfaced that sheds some light on the roles of Denley and Colby Vennes in their father Frank's quest for a presidential pardon. A schedule of payouts to the two from the bankrupt Palm Beach Funds suggests that money from the Petters Ponzi may have been the source of political contributions made by the Vennes brothers when they were both students. And it appears Denley even spent some time inside the White House itself as an intern in 2004 while Frank was in hot pursuit of a pardon from President George W. Bush. Denley Vennes, "LiquidElk" on the Deviant Art website has a portfolio of photos which includes a photo with this caption: Election Day 2004. Marine One just landed on the south lawn of the White House. A Marine exits the chopper before the President. Another Deviant Art member asked how he was able to take the picture, Denley Vennes replied: Thanks! I was interning at the White House at the time so I had the privilege of being there with the press. We checked around and found this photo from the George W. Bush White House archives: Just behind President Bush and VP Dick Cheney is an intern that looks remarkably like the photo of Denley Vennes on his Deviant Art page. We've created this side-by-side comparison using a higher resolution version of the intern photo - what do you think? If Denley Vennes was an intern in 2004, that would put him close to the very man who could wipe his father's record clean of the felony convictions that kept him from raising more money for the Petters Ponzi scheme (for more about this, read Karl Bremer's three-part series on the effort to win a pardon for Frank Vennes including a timeline of donations and events relating to the Vennes request for a pardon Parts One, Two & Three). In a search warrant issued in 2009, a U.S. Postal Inspector sought access to two email accounts used by both Frank Vennes and his son Denley. According to the affidavit, Frank Vennes allegedly used the Yahoo accounts to send information to investors (see Strib article). Frank Vennes is currently under indictment for his role as financier of the Petters Ponzi scam, The Vennes trial is scheduled for May of next year. It should also be noted that Denley Vennes contributed $2,000 to the Bush/Cheney campaign in 2003 (brother Colby also donated $2K). In 2004, Denely Vennes donated $2,000 to the campaign of Patrice Bataglia, a Republican candidate who ran against Betty McCollum in the 3rd Congressional District. In both years, Denley Vennes lists his occupation as student. In 2004, Denley said he was a student at Northwestern Bible College. Denley's father Frank was on the board of Northwestern and donated thousands of dollars to the college. The trustee for the Palm Beach Finance bankruptcy is currently clawing back the Vennes contributions to Northwestern. For more about Northwestern and Frank Vennes, read "Northwestern College Trustee Fracas" at the Petters Info blog. According to a complaint filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Florida November 23rd. Denley Vennes apparently received more than four hundred thousand dollars of his father's allegedly purloined largesse and the Palm Beach Finance trustee is clawing that back too (additional clawback complaints go after other Vennes family members and associates who have sprinkled campaign contributions along the Frank Vennes pardon trail - see interactive timeline at Dipity). Since the trustee filed a clawback for Ponzi money donated to Bachmann, it is possible some of the following contributions might be clawed back as well: George Bush/Dick Cheney Presidential Campaign (2003, 2004): COLBY VENNES - $2000 DENLEY VENNES - $2000 NORMA VENNES - $2000 GREGORY VENNES - $2000 STEPHANIE VENNES - $2000 KIMBERLY VENNES - $2000 Minnesota Republican Party (2003): COLBY VENNES - $1500 Patrice Bataglia Campaign (MN3CD) (2004): DENLEY VENNES - $2000 COLBY VENNES - $2000 (Karl Bremer helped research and write this article)

Two Reviews for "Madness of Michele Bachmann"

Beth Hawkins at MinnPost and Bill Salisbury at the PiPress review our book. We will be talking about our book on the Nancy Nelson Show on AM 950 Friday at 5 PM. And don't forget our book signing 2 PM on Saturday at Common Good Books. For more news, go to the Facebook page for the "Madness of Michele Bachmann".

Will Michele Bachmann Take Responsibility for Allowing Frank Vennes to Wreak Havoc on Christian Non-Profits?

When Bachmann wrote her letter to the Pardon Attorney supporting a pardon for Frank Vennes, she not only vouched for his character, but for his business: “Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others. As I know from personal experience, Mr. Vennes has used his business position and success to fund hundreds of nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping the neediest in our society.” Assuming she told the truth about knowing " from personal experience" the sort of business Vennes was engaged in, she would have known that Mr. Vennes was a broker in promissory notes which the SEC warns is fraught with fraud: While promissory notes can be legitimate investments, those that are marketed broadly to individual investors often turn out to be scams. The SEC and state securities regulators across the nation have joined forces to combat the fraudulent sale of promissory notes to investors. But we can't stop every fraud. Of course, it is possible Bachmann lied to the Pardon Attorney about knowing about the business of Frank Vennes, in which case she would be lying to a federal law enforcement agent (the Pardon Attorney is an Assistant U.S Attorney) - making false statements to a federal agent is a criminal offense. If Bachmann has any information about the business of Frank Vennes, I hope she has divulged that information with Federal law enforcement officers, court-appointed receivers and bankruptcy trustees. At the very least, Bachmann failed to perform the due diligence needed to ascertain whether Frank Vennes deserved a pardon. If she had taken a good look, she would have seen many red flags. If Bachmann had blown the whistle on Frank Vennes instead of attempting to clear his record, she could have saved many non-profit Christian ministries and charities from having thousands even millions of dollars clawed back by the Palm Beach Finance bankruptcy trustee. Here's a partial list of non-profits that received fraudulent transfers of money from Vennes and the entire amounts being clawed back by the attorneys for the trustee: Metro Hope Ministries - $130,000.00 Masterworks - $115,000.00 T-Net International - $132,000.00 New Life Family Services - $160,00.00 Great Commission Foundation - $240,000.00 Northwestern College - $294,500.00 Wheaton College - $200, 000.00 Williston Assembly of God - $640,000.73 Inter Ministerial Fellowship - 102,122.26 City Sites - $135,000.00 Crown Financial Ministries - $730,000.00 Desiring God Ministries - 150,000.00 Kids First - $575,484.00 Minnesota Teen Challenge - $5,790,606.51 North Dakota Teen Challenge: $1,671,315.00 Prison Fellowship - $180,000.00 Seg-Way Ministries - $335,033.01 Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle - $254,325.00 Trinity Christian School - $1,403,402.88 (H/T Karl Bremer of Ripple in Stillwater for contributing research for this post)

WaPo Picks Up Vennes/Bachmann Pardon Saga

The mainstream media is finally catching up to a story we have been reporting for years. The Washinton Post has an article (part of a Pro Publica series on presidential pardons) about the Bachmann connection to Ponzi financier Frank Vennes. See Karl Bremer's three-part series on the effort to win a pardon for Frank Vennes including a timeline of donations and events relating to the Vennes request for a pardon Parts One, Two & Three. Read the latest about the bankruptcy clawback filed against Bachmann in this Dump Bachmann post and Ripple in Stillwater. Also read about Frank's brother Greg (another Bachmann donor) and the lawsuit that charged him with fraud and misrepresentation. See also our interactive timeline at Dipity showing the trail of the Frank Vennes request for a pardon sprinkled with contributions from Frank and his family. We will have more this week on the Vennes/Bachmann connection - stay tuned! UPDATE: Pro Publica posted a redacted version of Bachmann's pardon letter. Here's Bachmann's letter without the redactions: Frank's arrest warrant:

Bachmann Flogging Her Book on CNN SOTU Disses Occupy

Bachmannn claims she is the "consistent conservative" and still the "Tea Party" choice. Really? Reporters should ask Missouri & AZ Tea Partiers. Reporters also need to take a look at the moribund Tea Party movement in Minnesota whose dwindling numbers count among its leaders Bradlee Dean. Bachmann had this to say about the far more popular Occupy movement: "If you go to the essence of what Occupy Wall Street stands for, it's having other people pay for their stuff." And who pays Bachmann for her no-show job while she crisscrosses Iowa on her doomed campaign to become POTUS?

Will Michele Bachmann Have Anything to Say About The Resignation of Tony Sutton?

There seems to be a great deal of tumult and musical chairs going on in the wake of the news of Tony Sutton's sudden departure. Phoenix Woman has a good review of Tony's career as head of the MInnesota GOP. One has to wonder if part of the money woes of the MNGOP is a possible bankruptcy clawback relating to the Vennes/Petters Ponzi scheme - as we reported on Thursday, Michele Bachman's campaign has been hit with a clawback... is the MNGOP next? As Karl Bremer reported yesterday at Ripple in Stillwater: In addition to Bachmann, Vennes and his family were major campaign contributors to former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former U.S. Senator Norm Coleman, and state Republican Party entities. Vennes and his family also contributed to Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former State Sen. Ted Mondale, who now chairs the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. There is a slender, but intriguing thread leading from the former MNGOP Chair to the shady world of the Ponzi Pirates of Lake Minnetonka - is Sutton's ties to Citizens Against Gambling Expansion (CAGE) which caused some controversy back in 2009. The lobbyist and Executive Director of Citizens Against Gambling Expansion is Jake Grassel who recently joined Howse & Thompson. Craig Howse was (is?) Frank Vennes' personal attorney, lobbyist and Fidelis board chairman. Craig Howse was involved in the Hope Commons debacle. A few weeks ago, Jake Grassel's Twitter went private.... hmmmmm... as Mike (MDE) Brodkorb used to say: "DEVELOPING". PHOTO: Andy Parrish, Brodkorb and Sutton thanking volunteers for Bachmann in the final days of the 2010 campaign:

Michele Bachmann Won't Talk About Pray Away The Gay at the Bachmann Clinic

Listen to Bachmann squirm as Alan Colmes asks some pretty tough questions about her farm subsidies and reparative therapy at the Bachmann clinic:

Bachmann Tells Young Lesbian that Gays Can Marry Member of Opposite Sex

Minnesota Progressive Project has the story. This is similar to the points Bachmann and Joyce Harley made to me, when I debated Bachmann on the marriage amendment in 2005.

Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli to Grill Michele Bachmann

HamptonRoads.com: Having confirmed his plan to run for governor, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will pivot from state to national politics this weekend when he questions Republican presidential candidates during a televised forum. Cuccinelli and two fellow attorneys general -- Florida's Pam Bondi and Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma -- will serve as panelists on a FOX News Forum hosted Saturday evening by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The broadcast begins at 8 p.m. The GOP hopefuls scheduled to participate in that event are Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul; Texas Gov. Rick Perry; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. It's pretty certain AG Cuccinelli won't ask Bachmann about the money being clawed back donated to her campaign by her crooked-crony-capitalist-pardon-pal Frank Vennes. And it's for damn sure Cuccinelli won't be asking her about the money she got from fugitive fraudster Bobby Thompson because Cuccinelli got five times more money from Thompson than Bachmann got.

EXCLUSIVE! Bankruptcy Clawback Complaint Filed Against Bachmann Campaign

Breaking News: An "adversary" case was filed November 29th against Michele Bachmann, Bachmann for Congress, and Bachmann Minnesota Victory Committee. The court action [not confirmed] is most likely in relation to contributions from Frank Vennes, family and associates. Other recent, related clawback cases have been filed against Vennes family members and associates of Frank Vennes. Some of the parties mentioned in the complaints contributed heavily to political candidates including Michele Bachmann [see Karl Bremer's three-part series on the effort to win a pardon for Frank Vennes including a timeline of donations and events relating to the Vennes request for a pardon Parts One, Two & Three]. This action is a part of the effort to clawback assets by the bankruptcy trustee for Palm Beach Finance Partners one of the feeder funds for the Petters Ponzi scheme. The two Palm Beach funds managers David W. Harrold, Bruce F. Prevost, associates of Frank Vennes were indicted April 20, 2011 along with Vennes for fraud. Harrold and Prevost pled guilty April 21st. Other clawback actions include business associates of Vennes including Darrel Amiot who is mentioned in a lecture by Frank Vennes [listen to an Amiot sermon here] Another case was filed against Larry Greely, an associate of Amiot. Another action goes after the Fidlelis Foundation. Vennes sat on the board of Fidelis Foundation has its office next to the law office of Howse and Thompson. Another complaint was filed against CitySites Urban Media, Inc., North Dakota Teen Challenge, Inc., Minnesota Teen Challenge, Inc., KidsFirst Scholarship Fund of Minnesota, Desiring God Ministries, Prison Fellowship, Trinity Christian School, Crown Financial Ministries, Inc., Great Commission Foundation, Inc., New Life Family Services, Northwestern College, Masterworks of Minneapolis, Inc., Metro Hope Ministries, Inc., Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle, Inc., T-Net International, Wheaton College, Billy Graham Center, Seg-Way Ministries, International Ministerial Fellowship, Williston Assembly of God. Some of these institutions have close connections to Frank Vennes. Vennes served on the boards of Minnesota Teen Challenge and Northwestern College. Some of these institutions, like the Desiring God ministry (whose Pastor John Piper wrote about an anti-homosexual-tornado) and Minnesota Teen Challenge were involved in the strange saga of Hope Commons. Another complaint was filed the 23rd against Grace Consulting of Southeast, Inc. run by Frank Vennes brother and Bachmann donor Gregory Vennes who was sued by investors in 2008 for alleged seven counts of fraud and misrepresentation (the suit was settled). Complaints were also filed against family members Norma Vennes, Colby Vennes and Denley Vennes seeking funds that are alleged to have been fraudulently transferred from Metro Gem, one of several feeder funds for the Petters Ponzi scheme managed by Frank Vennes. This is a developing story - stay tuned for updates. UPDATE 1: Karl Bremer has more at Ripple in Stillwater: The long arm of the Tom Petters Ponzi scheme clawback has reached out for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in an effort to recover $27,600 in contributions to her congressional campaign from Petters associate and Bachmann friend, convicted money launderer Frank Vennes Jr. The move came in an "adversary case" complaint filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court proceedings in the Southern District of Florida for the Palm Beach Funds. These were Palm Beach, FL- and offshore-based hedge funds allegedly used by Vennes to steer billions of dollars into the Petters Ponzi. Barry E. Mukamal, liquidating trustee for the bankrupt Palm Beach Funds, filed the action November 29 against Michele Bachmann, Bachmann for Congress, and Bachmann Minnesota Victory Committee. It identifies seven contributions to Bachmann’s congressional campaigns made between December 2005 and June 2008 that it seeks to recover for the Palm Beach Fund creditors. Based on Federal Election Commission records, those contributions were made by Frank Vennes Jr. and his wife, Kimberly. Read the whole thing. This report is a joint investigation by Ken Avidor and Karl Bremer. For more information on Bachmann and Vennes go to the Ripple in Stillwater blog and the Vennes Info blog. Read about Bachmann's relationship to Frank Vennes in the new book "The Madness of Michele Bachmann".

Homeskoolers Mad at Bachmann for Allegedly Using List Without Permission

The Iowa Republican: The Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) has sent out an email to its members that says Michele Bachmann’s campaign uploaded the group’s email list into their campaign database without permission. This is nothing compared to... well... stay tuned!