-Caveat Lector-
Torricelli probe turns to banking
Saturday, June 2, 2001
By JEFF PILLETS
and ADAM LISBERG
The Bergen Record (NJ) Staff Writers
Federal investigators probing Sen. Robert G. Torricelli's 1996
campaign are focusing on his dealings with a Bergen County bank and the
prominent politicians who run it.
An official of Bridge View Bank in Englewood Cliffs confirmed Friday
that federal agents bearing a subpoena recently demanded all of
Torricelli's bank records, including the transaction histories of his
personal accounts.
Bank Vice President John Schepisi said the investigators have also asked
for account records of others connected to the Democratic senator or his
1996 campaign, including Cresskill commodities broker David Chang.
"Anybody that had dealings with him -- Chang was one of them," Schepisi
said.
Chang has already pleaded guilty to giving $53,000 in illegal donations
to Torricelli's 1996 Senate campaign.
Sources familiar with the probe say investigators are tracking several
short-term deposits made into Torricelli's Bridge View accounts and have
asked for any records regarding overseas wire transactions.
"Checks were coming into the account one day and going out the next in
the same amount," said one of the sources. "What were they used for?
Where were they going and why? These are the questions being asked."
At least one such check being scrutinized was deposited by Englewood
Cliffs Mayor Joseph Parisi Sr. into his own account just days before
the election. Parisi, a prominent Democrat, is the bank's chairman.
Bergen County Democratic Organization campaign reports describe the
$5,500 check as a "fundraiser" payment from the group. But several
sources say federal agents who questioned Parisi remain unclear why he
was paid and why he withdrew $5,500 in cash from the bank the day after
the check was deposited.
Parisi's lawyer, Robert Galantucci of Hackensack, said his client did
nothing improper.
"When the whole truth comes out, he will be vindicated," Galantucci
said.
Torricelli's office did not respond to a request for comment. His
attorneys have said he committed no wrongdoing and contend he is the
victim of unscrupulous prosecutors who are leaking damaging allegations
to the media.
The investigation, which began as part of the Justice Department's
Campaign Finance Task Force, has expanded to include Torricelli's
personal finances and allegations that he received cash and gifts from
Chang. The recent questions about Bridge View reinforce reports that
his private dealings are being scrutinized.
"It is clear that this has moved well past campaign finance and will
continue to do so," said one source.
Documents reviewed by The Record show that Torricelli's relationship
with Bridge View Bank goes back to at least 1996, when the bank served
as repository for his campaign treasury in his race against Republican
Dick Zimmer.
Torricelli also took out a $150,000 home equity loan from Bridge View
Bank on March 8, 1996, secured by his Englewood home. The bank note was
canceled in June 1998, according to a copy on file in the Bergen County
clerk's office. The loan was issued at a variable interest rate of 1.5
percent above prime.
Schepisi said he didn't believe Torricelli received any special
treatment from the bank. "Being a Republican, I wouldn't vote for it,"
he said.
The Bergen County Democratic Organization, which was subpoenaed in March
for all documents regarding Torricelli, also kept an account at Bridge
View in 1996.
In the waning days of the campaign, the Bergen Democrats received tens
of thousands of dollars from donors who had no obvious connection to
Bergen County, but who had already donated the maximum amount allowed by
law to Torricelli.
County Democrats also spent tens of thousands on staff and printing
bills that investigators believe may be connected to Torricelli's
campaign, say sources who have been interviewed by the investigators.
Bridge View Bank opened in 1990, part of a wave of small start-up banks
with politically connected board members that won state charters in the
1980s. In 1996, when it added branches in Fort Lee and Edgewater, the
bank created a holding company, Bridge View Bancorp, which went public
on the American Stock Exchange.
Bridge View's founders included local political heavyweights from both
parties. The Democrats included Parisi; Jeremiah O'Connor, a former
state senator and Bergen County freeholder; and Gerald Calabrese, a
future chairman of the Bergen Democratic Party and the mayor of
Cliffside Park.
Founders on the Republican side include Schepisi, who was a former
Bergen GOP chairman, and Republican fundraiser J. Fletcher Creamer,
whose son, Glenn Creamer, serves on the bank's board.
Some of the bank's leaders were generous donors to Torricelli's 1996
campaign. O'Connor, Parisi, and board member Mark Metzger each gave the
maximum allowable $2,000, according to federal election records.
Other Metzger family members gave $4,000, while J. Fletcher Creamer and
his wife, Katherine, each gave $2,000.
Several bank board members contacted Friday declined to discuss the
bank's relationship with Torricelli. A secretary to bank President
Albert F. Buzzetti said he had "no interest in answering questions about
Torricelli."
=======================================================
Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
=======================================================
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
