WASHINGTON (AP) - A major donor to President Barack Obama has been accused of defrauding a businessman and impersonating a bank official, creating new headaches for Obama's re-election campaign as it deals with the questionable history of another top supporter.
The New York donor, Abake Assongba, and her husband contributed more than $50,000 to Obama's re-election effort this year, federal records show. But Assongba is also fending off a civil court case in Florida, where she's accused of thieving more than $650,000 to help build a multimillion-dollar home in the state - a charge her husband, Anthony J.W. DeRosa, denies.
Obama is the only presidential contender this year who released his list of "bundlers," the financiers who raise campaign money by soliciting high-dollar contributions from friends and associates. But that disclosure has not come without snags; his campaign returned $200,000 last month to Carlos and Alberto Cardona, the brothers of a Mexican fugitive wanted on federal drug charges.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt declined comment to The Associated Press.
Assongba was listed on Obama's campaign website as one of its volunteer fundraisers, Â a much smaller group of about 440 people.
Assongba and her husband run a charity called Abake's Foundation that distributes school supplies and food in Benin, Africa.