Chelsea Clinton's future father-in-law, Edward Mezvinsky [circled, right], leaves court in 2003. (AP Photo)
It's only a matter of time (hours, maybe?) before the media latches on to the fact that Chelsea Clinton's engagement to childhood friend and college beau Marc Mezvinsky isn't half as interesting as her future father-in-law -- a former congressman from Iowa who in 2003 was sentenced to almost 7 years in prison for 66 counts of bank, mail and wire fraud totaling more than $10 million.
Edward Mezvinsky (AKA "Fast-Talkin' Eddie," AKA "Rat Claw" Mezvinsky, AKA "Crazy Eddie") is a former U.S. Representative from Iowa whom a prosecutor called a "one-man crime wave," according to a 2003 article in the Des Moines Register.
He was an all-state football player in high school who also played on Ames High School's state championship basketball team, a huge deal in Iowa. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1972 and served on the Judiciary Committee's impeachment investigation of then-President Richard Nixon. He even wrote a book about the downfall of the man who famously said, "I am not a crook."
But he got taken in by those African money scams -- you know, the Nigerian prince who wants you to write him a check for $10,000 and he'll pay you back twice that much -- and dragged other people into it as well. He was robbing Peter to pay Paul, so to speak.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Zauzmer told the Register that investigators uncovered fraud in nearly every business deal Mezvinski made since 1980. The fraud charges didn't even cover that entire time.
Mezvinksy was diagnosed as bipolar and also claimed that an anti-malaria drug he had taken impaired his mental state, but the judge did not allow an insanity defense. The official ruling stated:
Upon careful scrutiny, Mezvinsky's proffered mental health defenses are foounded upon a miasma of ifs, hypotheses and conjectures that have no relevance to the mental state Mezvinsky disclaims for the twelve years at issue here. His experts cite nothing relaible from which a jury might link Mezvinksy's PET-identified brain abnormalities and Larium ingestion to his capacity to decieve.
In other words, he's a nut case all right, but he knew exactly what he was doing when he ripped people off. Between 1995 and 2000 alone, Mezvinsky made 165 bank transactions just under $10,000; anything over that amount would have required the bank to file a report. This type of manipulation is called structuring. The Des Moines Register quoted prosecutor Zauzmer as saying:
Mezvinsky was a poster child for structuring. He would go to three banks and get $9,900 on the same day."
That's what most people would call "crazy like a fox."
Mezvinsky was sentenced in 2003 to 80 months in prison. He was released on April 11, 2008, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Chelsea Clinton announces engagement to Mark Mezvinsky via e-mail (full text and photos)
Comments
He will fit right in at the dinner table won't he?
Fortunately, Chelsea is used to having criminals around.
junior has the makings of an obama cabinate member! can you imagine the offspring from this marriage, genetic makeup of svengali, don juan, and rasputin!!
Just wondering, is this guy a jew?
Victor, Victor, Please stay on subject. Haywire stuff like this is what keeps our politicians believing that we are just empty headed nincompoops!
Ought to fit right in with the BUSHES? He has all the QUALIFICATIONS check it out PLEASE?I HAVE ALWAYS SAID TO BE HONEST NOT A POLITITIAN CAN they be? A BIRTH CERTIFICATE CARRYING LEGAL AMERICAN>>>THINK ABOUT IT PLEASE?>>>>>>>
Hey, if her father in law is like that, well, than coming from the Clinton family, she'll fit right in. What's the problem??
It's intersting to note that my comment literally said what all the other posters wrote, even though I didn't read one of them before posting. What does that tell you?? It tells me the American public isn't as stupid as these criminal politicians think they are.
garyrose - I think you have the wrong family - it's the Clinton family with the history of suspicious financial dealings.
SandyR- All of the "politicians" are crooks. This is because they are selected from above (illuminati) not elected from below.
Thought it was very interesting (and telling) that through the entire report....not one mention of the fact that Mezvinsky was a Democrat!
Had he been a Republican it would have been mentioned at least four times.
Where are the reporters on Charlie Rangel?
CHELSEA MARRY WHOSOEVER UR HEARTS TELLS U FRUAD OR NOT FRUAD, ALL THE POLITICIA AND CONGRESSMEN ARE THE SAME ONLY THAT MEZVINKY IS A VICTIM OF SACUMSTANCES,I WISH U AND UR FIANCE A HAPPY LIFE
To learn all the facts about Ed Mezvinsky's criminal career and how the Clintons were tied into it read the fascinating, recently published, non-fiction documentary, THE SNAKE HANDLER, that you can get or preview at the book website: www.thesnakehandler.com
what a bunch of illiterate, ignorant, moron right wing posters. So typical of Americans who support the oligarchy of the rethug party.
idiots.. uninformed idiots.
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