In a September 20 Washington Post article on “controversial figure[s] ... play[ing] a major fundraising role in campaigns,” staff writers John Solomon and Matthew Mosk reported that “Republican [presidential candidate] Mitt Romney's list of bundlers until recently included [his national finance co-chairman] Alan Fabian, who was charged in a 23-count indictment last month alleging mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice.” They also reported that “Robert Lichfield, Romney's former Utah finance co-chairman, is the subject of lawsuits alleging abusive treatment at the boarding schools Lichfield founded for troubled youths.” According to analysis by Media Matters for America, this was the first time the Post has reported on Romney's ties to either alleged man, despite numerous stories on Democratic fundraisers currently under indictment, including stories on Norman Hsu, a Democratic contributor and top fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). Hsu was recently charged with fraud and violating campaign finance laws. However, Solomon and Mosk did not report that John Wren, the CEO of Omnicom and a member of Rudy Giuliani's Republican presidential campaign finance team, is currently the subject of a class-action lawsuit involving allegations of fraud.

As Media Matters has noted, Wren, the “Media/PR/Advertising Industry Leader” for Giuliani's finance team, faces fraud allegations as Omnicom's CEO for “off-loading” certain personal stocks to avoid recording any operating losses associated with those investments. The December 13, 2006, edition (subscription required) of Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter, a weekly publication that covers the public relations industry, reported:

Court papers that Omnicom has been trying to keep sealed for five years have been made public and they detail charges of fraud against CEO John Wren and CFO Randall Weisenburger as well as charges against OMC itself.

Wren and Weisenburger are said to have participated in the 'off-loading' of certain dot-com investments in 2000-2001 via personal ownership of stock and stock options and personal control of entities and that this was not fully reported to the SEC or even OMC's board of directors.

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It's charged that OMC 'parked' interests that it held in Agency.com and Organic with related-party entities to avoid recording operating losses linked with those investments. OMC ultimately took private the two entities it repurchased from Seneca.

CEO John Wren and CFO Randall Weisenburger are said to be involved in the 'parking' of stock in Organic that they personally owned.

In a March 9 Marketing Week article, editor Stuart Smith reported that Wren “stand[s] accused of manipulating the share price with a falsely optimistic set of financial results.” From the article:

To most of us Seneca and Chaucer are history: two dusty old writers who happened to share an interest in biting satire.

Not so to John Wren and Randy Weisenburger, respectively ceo and cfo of Omnicom -- still the world's largest marketing services organisation. For them, these names have a vivid contemporary significance, and it's far from funny. Potentially, what they represent is a form of nemesis.

Seneca and Chaucer are the names of two corporate investment vehicles that are central to a four-year-old securities-fraud lawsuit in which the two most senior Omnicom executives stand accused of manipulating the share price with a falsely optimistic set of financial results. In other words, shareholders have been deliberately short-changed; or so the plaintiffs say.

The origins of this complex and meandering class action, brought by a number of disgruntled Omnicom shareholders, are to be found in the dying days of the internet boom. Certain “impaired” dotcoms were parked off balance sheet, claim the litigants, without the full nature of the disposals being made clear to the auditors, still less the shareholders. For good measure, they also allege that Omnicom lied about the valuation of these assets to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has primary responsibility for enforcing federal securities law.

Indeed, "In re Omnicom Group, Inc. Securities Litigation" is listed as a "current case" by the law firm Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP. In a July 27 "Notice of Pendency of Class Action," Wren is named as an “individual defendant” who allegedly “engaged in a fraudulent scheme to artificially inflate Omnicom's financial results by making materially false and misleading statements throughout the Class Period concerning Omnicom's investments in particular internet services companies.”

A Media Matters search of the Nexis database for “Mitt Romney” and “Alan Fabian” or “Alan B. Fabian” found that the September 20 article was the only one published by the Post that mentioned the two in the same story. Similarly, a search for “Mitt Romney” and “Robert Lichfield” found that the September 20 article was the only one the Post published that mentioned the two in the same story.

Further, as Media Matters also noted, during his September 5 washingtonpost.com “Post Politics” discussion, Solomon was asked why a September 3 Post article he co-wrote with Mosk -- which discussed “a growing number of fundraisers in the 2008 presidential campaign whose backgrounds have prompted questions” -- did not mention that Fabian “recently was indicted on 23 counts of money laundering, fraud, perjury, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes.” The version of the article published by the Post mentioned only scandals involving supporters of Democratic candidates. Solomon responded by claiming that “my colleague Matt Mosk and I reported on the Romney matter.” But rather than discussing Fabian, Solomon proceeded to claim that they had included a paragraph about another Romney fundraiser in their draft of the article: “Likewise, Republican Mitt Romney faced questions about one of his Utah finance chairmen, Robert Lichfield, because of lawsuits he is facing alleging abusive treatment at boarding schools he founded to handle troubled youths.” Solomon added: “Unfortunately, it was edited out. That sometimes happen when stories get trimmed to make room for late-breaking news.”

Further, Solomon and Mosk's September 20 article also discussed fundraising by the Democratic presidential campaign of John Edwards, reporting that "[l]awyer Geoffrey Fieger was indicted in August on federal charges of conspiring to route more than $125,000 in illegal contributions to Edwards's 2004 presidential bid," but noting only that “Edwards's campaign has said it knew nothing about Fieger's alleged scheme and has cooperated with the Justice Department.” In fact, it is not merely Edwards' campaign that said “it knew nothing about Fieger's alleged scheme”; as Solomon and Mosk themselves reported in a September 3 article: "[Federal] prosecutors confirmed ... that the activity was concealed from Edwards and that the candidate cooperated once he learned of problems." Indeed, the Detroit Free Press reported in an August 24 article: “A statement from the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Public Affairs absolved the Edwards campaign of any wrongdoing and said his campaign was unaware of the alleged illegal contributions and has fully cooperated with the investigation.”

From the September 20 Washington Post article, “Past Clouds Candidates' Donor Lists”:

Republican Mitt Romney's list of bundlers until recently included Alan Fabian, who was charged in a 23-count indictment last month alleging mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Baltimore. Fabian's lawyer, David B. Irwin, has declined to comment about the merits of the case but told The Post last month: “We are hoping for an early resolution of the matter.”

Most other candidates have not yet released lists of bundlers, although virtually all have pledged to inspect fundraisers' backgrounds more closely than in past presidential races.

[...]

Lerach is the second Edwards' fundraiser to face legal troubles in the past year. Lawyer Geoffrey Fieger was indicted in August on federal charges of conspiring to route more than $125,000 in illegal contributions to Edwards's 2004 presidential bid. Fieger has pleaded not guilty.

Edwards's campaign has said it knew nothing about Fieger's alleged scheme and has cooperated with the Justice Department. But the campaign has declined to refund the donations in question, waiting for the outcome of Fieger's trial to avoid influencing jurors. If he is convicted, the campaign has said it plans to send his donations to charity.

Robert Lichfield, Romney's former Utah finance co-chairman, is the subject of lawsuits alleging abusive treatment at the boarding schools Lichfield founded for troubled youths. He resigned from the campaign in July. Romney's campaign did not respond to inquiries about how much money Fabian, the finance committee member indicted last month, raised before he left the campaign. Lichfield's attorney has called the lawsuit's allegations against him “ludicrous.”