Chicago Obama donors tried to strike it rich in Africa

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Shortly after taking office, President Barack Obama made it clear to Zimbabwe that he would keep America’s economic sanctions against the nation’s leaders in place until they reformed their government’s repressive policies.

Around the same time, a cadre of Obama political supporters from Chicago began exploring an array of potentially lucrative ventures in the African nation, everything from manufacturing medical supplies to mining diamonds.

Despite the U.S. sanctions, Americans can legally do business in Zimbabwe as long as their deals don’t involve specific people, including President Robert Mugabe, and companies targeted by the sanctions in place since 2003.

But it’s a tricky road to navigate. So the Obama supporters turned to Mel Reynolds — a former congressman and twice-convicted felon — to seek business opportunities for them starting in 2009. That ended by 2014, when he was arrested in Zimbabwe for possessing pornography, which is a crime in that country. The case was later dropped.

Reynolds is now fighting misdemeanor charges in Chicago accusing him of failing to file federal income-tax returns in the United States reflecting money he received from two Chicago businessmen looking to strike it big in Zimbabwe, Elzie Higginbottom and Willie Wilson. Reynolds says the payments were reimbursements for business expenses, not income. He has battled in court to get Higginbottom’s tax returns, which he says will prove him right.

Another great article from Tim Novak. Please read the entire article.