PARDONGATE: Bachmann Wrote Pardon Letter the Same Month Vennes is Alleged to Have Learned About Petters Ponzi Scheme

Some background on the significance of this latest development reported in the Strib last night: Frank Vennes Jr., a Shoreview businessman who recruited investors for Tom Petters, learned that the operation might be a fraud scheme in December 2007 Instead of reporting his suspicions to authorities, Frank Vennes only told only his lawyer Craig Howse. Even though he had suspicions that the money he received from Petters was tainted, he donated thousands of the tainted dollars to Bachmann's campaign and continued to serve on the board of Minnesota Teen Challenge where Bachmann later donated the tainted $$$. The same month Frank Vennes is reported to have learned he was involved in a massive Ponzi scheme, Bachmann wrote a letter (dated December 10, 2007) to George Bush requesting a pardon for Frank Vennes. According to this Strib article on Frank Vennes, Vennes made a lot of money working for Petters: According to a federal search warrant affidavit, Vennes was a facilitator who persuaded five major investors to invest $1.2 billion in companies controlled by Petters. The document says Vennes collected more than $28 million in commissions for his work. From another Strib article about Tom Petter's complicated philanthropy: In 2006, a company called Metro Gem, run by Shorewood businessman Frank Vennes Jr., donated $60,000. That same year, the foundation gave $275,000 to Minnesota Teen Challenge, an investor in Petters Co. Inc. that runs one of the state's largest drug and alcohol recovery programs. Vennes sat on the Teen Challenge board for seven years until he resigned Oct. 2. Vennes has not been charged in the fraud case, but court documents say he made nearly all of his substantial income by brokering investments for Petters' companies. Karl Bremer in MnIndy: Following his and his wife’s initial $4,200 contribution to Bachmann in 2005, Vennes — who does not live in Bachmann’s congressional district — dumped another $10,000 into her campaign coffers in 2006. In December 2007, Bachmann used the power of her office to write a recommendation for a presidential pardon of Vennes. “As a U.S. Representative, I am confident of Mr. Vennes’ successful rehabilitation and that a pardon will be good for the neediest of society,” Bachmann wrote to the U.S. Office of Pardon Attorney. “Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others. As I know from personal experience, Mr. Vennes has used his business position and success to fund hundreds of nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping the neediest in our society.” In addition, Bachmann noted that Vennes needed a pardon because he “still encounters the barriers of his past and especially in the area of finance loan documents.” Bachmann has refused to further explain the nature of her “personal experience” with Vennes or clarification of the finance loan documents to which she refers in her letter. On June 30, 2008 — six months after Bachmann wrote her pardon recommendation for Vennes — he and his wife gave another $9,200 to Bachmann’s campaign. Then, on Sept. 24, federal agents raided Vennes’ $5 million Shorewood home on Lake Minnetonka in connection with the Petters investigation and seized “boxes and buckets of silver and gold coins, trays of jewelry, five stacks of $100 bills, boxes of gem stones, silver plates and Rolex watches,” along with diamond rings and artwork. His $6 million oceanfront home in Jupiter, Fla., was raided also and among the items seized was a briefcase containing “256 $20 gold pieces dated 1904, and eight uncirculated one-half dollar pieces.” See Vennes 2008 campaign contributions to Bachmann at Newsmeat.