


A Democratic fundraiser was found guilty Friday of engineering a $21 million bank fraud scheme.(full story at nydailynews.com)
Courtney Dupree was convicted of vastly overstating the billings of his Long Island City-based lighting company GDC Acquisitions in order to fraudulently obtain a loan from Amalgamated Bank (N.B. owned by the jumbo labor union UNITE-HERE-SEIU.)
Dupree, 42, sat stone-faced as the verdict was read in Brooklyn Federal Court. He faces up to 30 years in prison and has to pay back at least $18 million.“This is a case about lying to a bank to get money,” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Woll told the jury during the trial. “It is about telling lies over and over again in order to grab millions of dollars of the bank’s money.”
Dupree, who attended the elite Wharton School of Business, was a rainmaker in Democratic circles.
In 2008, Dupree hosted a $1,000-a-ticket fund-raiser for Barack Obama at his Broad St. apartment that was attended by top aide Valerie Jarrett.
Meet Barack Obama (D-SEIU)