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Hillary Clinton bundler pleads guilty to illegal contributions

A prominent New York hotel magnate who was a top bundler for then-Sen. Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign pled guilty in federal court Thursday to making more than $180,000 in illegal campaign contributions and to witness tampering.

Sant Chatwal, 70, admitted using employees and vendors for his hotels as straw donors to avoid limits dictated by campaign finance law. Investigators also recorded Chatwal telling an associate not to admit that donations were reimbursed, court papers say.

"Without [donations] nobody will even talk to you," Chatwal said in a recorded conversation, according to a criminal information filed in lieu of an indictment in the case (and posted here). "When they are in need of money [unintelligible] the money you give then they are always for you.That's the only way to buy them, get into the system."

Court papers don't identify the recipients of Chatwal's illegal largesse by name, but indicate it dated back at least to 2007. A source familiar with the investigation told POLITICO the unlawful donations were delivered to Clinton's 2008 campaign, as well as to Rep. Kendrick Meek's 2010 Senate campaign in Florida and to a campaign by former Sen. Chris Dodd, who served as head of the Senate India Caucus.

A Justice Department press release said: "There is no allegation that the candidates participated in, or were aware of Chatwal's scheme."

Chatwal was a major figure among well-heeled Indian-Americans who support Democrats. He attended at least two state dinners for India in the U.S., one hosted by President Bill Clinton in 2000 and another hosted by President Barack Obama in 2009.

Chatwal's guilty pleas were entered Thursday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, before Judge Leo Glasser, the Justice Department said. Chatwal was released on $750,000 bond in advance of sentencing set for July 31.

"Chatwal sought to buy access to power through unlimited and illegal campaign contributions, funneling money from the shadows through straw donors,” the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, Loretta Lynch, said in a statement.

Chatwal said little in court besides briefly answering questions from Glasser, The Associated Press reported. In a statement, defense attorney Jonathan Sack said, “Mr. Chatwal deeply regrets his actions and accepts full responsibility for the consequences. He looks forward to resolving this personal matter.”

While the candidates who received illegal donations that originated with Chatwal may indeed have been unaware of his scheme, there have long been public signs that he might push the legal limits of campaign finance, according to a 2007 article in the New York Sun.

In the 1990s, Chatwal — then known as the founder of the Bombay Palace chain of restaurants in New York — filed for personal bankruptcy and became enmeshed in a dispute over whether he was hiding his assets. While traveling with Bill Clinton in India, the businessman was detained because of an unpaid bank debt.

In 2007, Chatwal pledged that he and other Indian-Americans would raise $5 million for Clinton's presidential campaign. He organized a fundraiser that year that was billed to include appearances by two celebrity businessmen from India, neither of whom could legally donate at the fundraiser they were set to headline.

And Chatwal told Indian journalists that he was putting his personal, $40 million airplane at Clinton's disposal. He later said he changed his mind. "We got to stay away from that," he told this reporter in 2007.

A spokesman for Hillary Clinton declined to comment on Chatwal's plea. A spokesman for Dodd, who now heads the Motion Picture Association of America, had no immediate comment. Meek could not be reached.

Over the past couple of decades, Chatwal's son Vikram has become a key part of the family's business and has added to the family's hotel holdings, while also drawing attention for hanging out with celebrities like Nicky Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. But Vikram, 42, has also had legal troubles.

Last April, Vikram Chatwal was arrested at the Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport and charged with having a wide array of drugs in his bags and on his person. Court records show he was charged with posession of heroin, cocaine, ketamine and marijuana, as well as a prescription not issued to him.