Is George Allen in legal trouble? - Democratic Underground

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Mon Aug-21-06 09:08 AM
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Is George Allen in legal trouble?

I posted this over the weekend but it sank like a brick. This is for the Monday morning cubicle crowd.

American Prospect Online - Just a Gigolo
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11861

My, my, my! It looks like more of George Allen's past is about to come back and bite him.

Just a Gigolo

In the go-go ’90s, George Allen sat on the board of a Virginia tech company. Now, the company faces several class-action suits and an SEC insiders probe.

By Garance Franke-Ruta
Issue Date: 09.12.06

<snip>

Despite the plethora of dubious characters surrounding Xybernaut, the true identity of many of the company’s financiers remains obscure. In the company’s heyday, its officers claimed to have the support of major Wall Street firms, but that was more hype. What SEC records show instead is that during the company’s 16-year history, it relied heavily on offshore firms for financing. And during Allen’s board tenure, it received the vast bulk of its money from outfits based in the most notorious havens for tax cheats and money launderers: the Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas, Liechtenstein, and Israel.

<snip>

But three things seem clear. First, he did benefit in indirect ways from his association with the company: Allen’s law firm did work for Xybernaut while he was on the board, and its officers contributed to his campaigns. While Allen was serving on the Xybernaut board, he was also a partner at the prestigious Richmond-based law firm McGuire Woods LLP. In 1998 and 1999, the firm billed $315,925 to Xybernaut for legal work and was also granted 1,996 shares of stock in lieu of payment for services rendered. According to a disclosure form candidate Allen filed on May 12, 2000, he earned $450,000 from McGuire Woods from January 1999 through April 2000. During much of that time, the firm was doing work for Xybernaut.

In addition, Xybernaut officers -- four directors, an advisory board member, the comptroller, and an officer’s wife -- donated a total of $10,750 to Friends of George Allen in 1999 and 2000. After Xybernaut retained McGuire Woods to handle its more current legal problems in May 2005, McGuire Woods staff donated $32,500 to Friends of George Allen that very month -- compared to $31,625 during Allen’s entire two-year 1999-2000 Senate campaign.

<more>

It is hard keeping this one within the regulation four paragraphs because it is such a long article. George Allen is sprinkled throughout and more concentrated at the end.

To paraphrase the last two of the three "things that seem clear":
Second: Allen's association provided a cover of respectability even though some of the business associations were of questionable character.

Third: What sort of director was Allen to allow the pipe deals and other shady investments that destroyed the company when he was supposed to be protecting the interests of the shareholders?

The third seems a lot like his attitude in the Senate. He is more interested in rubber stamping the Bush agenda and promoting himself within that realm of Republicans than protecting the interests of his constituents -- the people of Virginia.

Find the rest of the story at:
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=11861