Obama party crashers

[kckolbe]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/26/dinner.whitehouse.crashers/

These two managed to get past White House security (easier than I would have thought), and now have 16 civil suits against them.  Now, while I hate posting something attacking an administration, does anyone else think it hypocritical for Obama to be this lenient on illegal immigrants and this aggressive against uninvited houseguests?

[Oniya]

A number of people in the Cleveland area (since our local news does a segment where people can call/email/text in about some news story or other) think that these two should be given some sort of award for showing the Secret Service where their security holes are, and that the Secret Service agents who were in charge of admitting people to the party should be the ones held accountable.

Also, it should be noted that the civil suits against them (which are listed in the article) have nothing to do with the White House party.

But the two also spend quite a bit of time in court, records show.

One of the lawsuits against the Salahis was filed by Robb Levin of Fairfax, Virginia, who held his wedding at the Oasis Winery in August 2005.

"I have a judgment against them," he said by phone on Thursday. "The settlement was for $15,000, plus interest from June 2008. They haven't paid a penny."

Levin contracted with the winery to provide vendors, such as florists and catering, for the event. But, he said, he discovered the winery was adding a "significant profit" to what the vendors were charging them. "Vendors told me what they were charging. They were charging me two or three times as much," he said. When he tried to use his own vendors, he said, he was fined $1,000.

After he signed a contract to hold his wedding there, "They were very, very, very hard to get a hold of," he said.

"I remember [the contract] being very short and it just said to hold the date. When I went back, I found it said they could charge my credit card at will. At the time I signed it I don't remember all those pages being there. I don't remember a whole 8- or 12-page document," Levin said. "There were thousands of dollars charged to my card with no explanation."

He fought with the Salahis, dealing mostly with Michaele, throughout the run-up to his nuptials, he said.

"They wanted more money and I wasn't releasing it," he said. "They threatened me with lawyers. They threatened to cancel the wedding."

In the end, Levin said, he paid up to make sure the wedding went ahead, then sued the Salahis afterward to get his money back.

Tareq and Michaele, meanwhile, were engaged in a long court battle with his parents over the winery.

Court records show Tareq sued his mother, Corinne, and the case was dismissed.

Corinne sued Tareq and the case went to trial. The outcome is not clear from a Virginia courts Web site.

Tareq and Michaele won control of the winery in 2007, but it has run into debt since then.

Oasis Winery filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February, according to U.S. Bankruptcy Court records in the Eastern District of Virginia. Tareq Salahi is listed as company president in the filing. Creditors listed include the IRS, Fauquier County, the state of Virginia, several banks and American Express Corp., among others. The company claims about $335,000 in assets and $965,000 in liabilities.

Among the debts listed are more than $60,000 in credit card debt and an "unknown" amount in federal back taxes.

"Debtor has not filed corporate taxes since tax year 2006," the filing says. "Has always previously had business loss, with refund flowing to shareholders."

Also listed is a $65 parking ticket in Montgomery County, Maryland, nearly $3,000 in gasoline purchases to Exxon-Mobil and more than $95,000 in legal fees.

According to the February filing, Oasis made $1.7 million in 2007 but only $35,000 in 2008. The filing lists two pending lawsuits against Oasis, one for more than $300,000 for "catering services" and one judgment against the company.

Under "repossessions," the filing lists a 2004 Aston Martin, which it estimates was worth $150,000 when it was repossessed in October 2008. Some $85,000 was still owed, according to the filing. In addition, a boat valued at $90,000 was repossessed in June 2008, with $56,000 still owed, according to court documents.

The company also had closed a checking account, $3,800 in the red, about a year before the filing.

Oasis owes $224,000 "for rental of FedEx Redskins Suite and related hospitality services," according to court documents.

The Chapter 7 filing, under which a debtor's assets are sold to pay creditors, followed an apparent effort to save the winery earlier.

The business had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2008, with Salahi's mother, Corinne, listing herself as president.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy is referred to as a "reorganization" bankruptcy, according to the federal judiciary's Web site.

[Beguile's Mistress]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/26/dinner.whitehouse.crashers/

These two managed to get past White House security (easier than I would have thought), and now have 16 civil suits against them.  Now, while I hate posting something attacking an administration, does anyone else think it hypocritical for Obama to be this lenient on illegal immigrants and this aggressive against uninvited houseguests?

Considering the inane reason these two party crashed and the damage they could have caused had they wished, they should be charged with trespassing at the very least.  What they did was childish and selfish.  They rank right up there with the family that built the hot air balloon and had the media mesmerized for hours looking for a lost little boy that was hiding at home.  I keep trying to think of a word for people like that and the only one I can come up with I won't post.

[kckolbe]

Then I must apologize for that, as that was careless of me.  Does anyone know the "official White House" reaction to this?  And by the way, I am not a fan of these people, merely angry at how little we do about illegal immigration, and to be honest, I find it funny to see security proven to be worthless.  I would also like to see Secret Service accountable for this.

[Callie Del Noire]

Then I must apologize for that, as that was careless of me.  Does anyone know the "official White House" reaction to this?  And by the way, I am not a fan of these people, merely angry at how little we do about illegal immigration, and to be honest, I find it funny to see security proven to be worthless.  I would also like to see Secret Service accountable for this.

Oh I'm sure that the agents on the case are now Agents in Charge in oh.. Gnome Alaska. I figure he or she is chasing down outback residents of alaska who are altering their refund checks (which falls under the purview of the Secret Service..had a DISTANT relative who used to do just that in Secret Service. He quit after a while and applied to the FBI. )

[auroraChloe]

These two managed to get past White House security (easier than I would have thought), and now have 16 civil suits against them.  Now, while I hate posting something attacking an administration, does anyone else think it hypocritical for Obama to be this lenient on illegal immigrants and this aggressive against uninvited houseguests?       

pretty ballsy on their part in my opinion and showed a gaping hole in security around President Obama. 
and really, if they are American citizens, it is THEIR house any way.  any disciplinary action beyond a slap should be taken up with the security team. 

[Jude]

If they're prosecuted for a victimless crime that will be absolutely retarded.  The only people who could've been hurt, were not, and in the long term President Obama will be safer because this happened.  Now they know there is a problem.

What's really disappointing about this, is that the media ran with it and is making such a big deal out of it.  Yes, it's troubling that there's a security breach.  No, I don't care to know anything about the people who did it other than that they didn't intend to hurt the president.  I don't need to know anything else.  Why are people still making a big deal out of this and perpetuating the news cycle?

[Callie Del Noire]

If they're prosecuted for a victimless crime that will be absolutely retarded.  The only people who could've been hurt, were not, and in the long term President Obama will be safer because this happened.  Now they know there is a problem.

What's really disappointing about this, is that the media ran with it and is making such a big deal out of it.  Yes, it's troubling that there's a security breach.  No, I don't care to know anything about the people who did it other than that they didn't intend to hurt the president.  I don't need to know anything else.  Why are people still making a big deal out of this and perpetuating the news cycle?

Thing is I'm not sure it's not ILLEGAL. The Secret Service definitely gets twitchy about such things. I know the White House is the resident of the president (not OUR house as such) and it represents a MAJOR hole in the security net around the president (and vice president, ect).

The media putting it in the lime light only brings MORE pressure on the guys over at the treasury department to hammer them.

[Oniya]

If it had been a private (civilian?) event with a guest list, and they managed to sneak their way in despite not being on the guest list, then the person running the event would be within their rights to call it trespassing.  Any one of us has the right to decide who we let into our residence (with very few exceptions, such as police serving a warrant).  Does the President lose that right by virtue of being in office?

[kckolbe]

But my point is that if amnesty can be granted to all those who enter his and our country illegally, what right does he really have to persecute people for illegally coming into his own house?

[Beguile's Mistress]

But my point is that if amnesty can be granted to all those who enter his and our country illegally, what right does he really have to persecute people for illegally coming into his own house?

The same right you do.

[auroraChloe]

The same right you do. 

they didn't bust into their personal quarters, though.



*shrugs*  it's a bit outrageous to have done...  i am sure their is more to this shenanigans than meets the eye.

[Jude]

I just don't think it's right to prosecute people for trespassing during a semi-public event when no harm was done.

I'm not against a small punishment; make them do community service.  But it's very excessive to give them anything more than that, I think, when only good came out of what they did and they didn't have any truly malicious intentions.

[Callie Del Noire]

I just don't think it's right to prosecute people for trespassing during a semi-public event when no harm was done.

I'm not against a small punishment; make them do community service.  But it's very excessive to give them anything more than that, I think, when only good came out of what they did and they didn't have any truly malicious intentions.

And if the next person isn't as nice to only post pictures of their action on Facebook? Should we really encourage folks to try and do this? Given the security of the people in question?

[Vekseid]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/11/26/dinner.whitehouse.crashers/

These two managed to get past White House security (easier than I would have thought), and now have 16 civil suits against them.  Now, while I hate posting something attacking an administration, does anyone else think it hypocritical for Obama to be this lenient on illegal immigrants and this aggressive against uninvited houseguests?

Which one of those lawsuits is Obama's?

[Oniya]

Which one of those lawsuits is Obama's?

Also, it should be noted that the civil suits against them (which are listed in the article) have nothing to do with the White House party.

[Vekseid]

Yeah - near as I can tell, this article is just letting the world know that these two people are involved in sixteen suits even before this incident.

They -might- face criminal charges if they lied to federal agents in order to get in -  but at this point that is entirely speculation.

[Serephino]

Well, what they did wasn't exactly legal.  I think there should be some consequences at least.  While it's true that this proved there was a hole in the security, we don't exactly know how they got through it.  If they had fake id's made up that's illegal.  I mean if you tried to get into a club with a fake id and you were underage, it doesn't matter that your only intention was to have a little fun. 

The White House is a government building.  Civilians are not allowed in them unless invited for many reasons.  They knew this and chose to do it anyway.  And if they have all those other suits against them, they may not be as harmless as they seem.

True, it might be overkill to do something like lock them in jail and throw away the key, but at least a hard slap on the wrist is in order.  The White House staff don't seem to be saying much though, and I don't blame them.

[Oniya]

From what I've read of the other suits, they seem to be fraudsters and cheats as opposed to violent offenders.  It sounds like they bluffed their way in:  'Oh, I left my invitation in the limo' sort of thing.