Defense Takes Shot At Key Player In Chaka Fattah's Mayoral Run During Trial
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The political consultant who implicated congressman Chaka Fattah in an alleged scheme to obtain an illegal campaign loan was grilled by defense lawyers, but he framed his answers as he wanted on cross-examination.
Thomas Lindenfeld acknowledged that the congressman's name is nowhere to be found on documents, emails or text messages in connection with what prosecutors describe as an illegal $1-million loan to the Fattah for Mayor campaign in 2007.
Attorney Samuel Silver, representing Fattah then, referred Lindenfeld to the documentation for the transaction from a wealthy donor to Lindenfeld's company in which the only signer was Lindenfeld.
Lindenfeld repeated what he told jurors each time it came up: Lindenfeld's discussions with Fattah were verbal and it was his understanding either Fattah or the campaign would repay the loan.
The defense claims Lindenfeld and the former Fattah staffer, Gregory Naylor, who also pleaded guilty, were behind the scheme, not Fattah.
