Obama campaign reviewing background of volunteer fundraiser accused of fraud

Source: Washington Post

New Yorker Abake Assongba has pledged to help President Obama win reelection, and as one of his 400 volunteer fundraisers, she has delivered $50,000 to the cause.

But she is also trailed by some controversy, accused in court of defrauding a businessman out of $657,000, impersonating a bank official and dodging creditors.

Assongba disputes the allegations, but the mysteries around her personal life highlight a challenge for Obama’s reelection effort and other presidential campaigns. The astronomical cost of running for the White House requires an army of bundlers, many of whom are strangers to the campaign. And as candidates quickly learn, it is no small task to woo — and vet — those citizen fundraisers.

Presidential hopefuls in the past have suffered through months of scandal-by-association when reports of tarnished donors have surfaced. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign agreed in 2007 to return $850,000 in contributions gathered by Norman Hsu after it became known he had evaded arrest on charges of leading an illegal investment scheme.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/obama-campaign-reviewing-background-of-volunteer-fundraiser-accused-of-fraud/2012/03/31/gIQA659onS_singlePage.html