Ahhhh, To Be Rich
Sant Singh Chatwal is a multi millionaire convicted felon. He made his money in the hotel business.
Chatwal used straw donors to violate campaign finance laws. He gave more than $180,000 to Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd and former Florida congressman Kendrick Meek. There is no evidence that the recipients knew the money was coming from made-up donors.
A government informant secretly taped Chatwal explaining his views on politics: “Without money nobody will ever talk to you.”
No shoot, Sherlock. That is the American way, thanks to the Supreme Court.
The prosecutors wanted 56 months jail time. But, the judge gave him a year’s probation. Nice, right?
His friends wrote letters to the judge pleading his case. I’m not saying that all of them were paid to write the letters, but they probably were.
My personal favorite?
Chatwal’s 43-year-old son Vikram, who frequently appears in gossip columns for dating models, wrote a letter to the judge admitting that he is an addict who has been in rehab 10 times.
“I am not ready to go it alone without the encouragement and guidance of my father,” Vikram Chatwal wrote under the letterhead from the Soho Mews condo.
Ahhhhh, so your Dad’s guidance didn’t help the first ten times but the 11th time will be the charm? You’re 43 years old – go it alone dammit.
The word “privilege” essentially means “private law,” as in one law for the rich and a harsher law for the rest of us.
1A truly tender genuine bond b/n father and son? Hardly! What did the judge think when it came to sentencing? If he handed out what he would have given an ordinary chump on the same charge that this guy’s native country would go to war with us? Come on! This is in the same category as the kid who was let off because he was suffering from parentally inflicted affluenza! Gimme a break!
2Oral IQ = more teeth than IQ points.
Without belittling addicts … the son’s excuse is a sieve.
3Sigh.
4The reason…. there is a heck of of a lot of upheaval in this country, from north to south….. is…. that it seems as if
there are two systems of justice in this country….. (a) one for the wealthy….. and (b) one for the poor….
Or….. one for (a) white folks……
and (b) one for black folks.
What a friggin mess.
5None of the people getting the money were aware it was from bogus donors. And yet this civic minded gentleman says that without money no one will talk to you. So Sant Singh was giving all this money from people who didn’t exist to politicians strictly as an altruistic act. Right. And the politicians involved will certainly not exert any subtle influence over the sentencing process. Right.
6Could someone who actually knows Hillary Clinton please tell me with a straight face that she is a person you can always trust to do the right thing?
OH MY! It must be affluenza season again. I need to get my shot.
7Any day now SCOTUS will announce that it’s just fine to buy the politicians and party of your choice with infinite amounts of cash, so crimes like this will be as quaint as stealing buggy whips.
George Will has been declaring for years that cash = “free” speech, and I’ve been telling him that he’s a crock. Unfortunately his side is winning (for now).
8SCOTUS has turned this country into a government of the rich people, by the rich people and for the rich people. The Repub explanation that it equals free speech is laughable.
9JAKvirginia, there’s a one time inoculation for affluenza; it’s called marriage. At 43 it’s time little Vikram took the cure.
10It’s one thing to buy a politician. It’s quite another to ensure they stay bought. Sant Singh seems to have figured this out.
11If…. following… the “natural progression of politics.
This guy…. should also… spend his money…
to run for elective office.
That’s the way….it goes.
12Head, meet desk. Oh, that’s right, I don’t have a desk (well, I do, but it’s in the closet, being used as shelves).
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