Pelosi's Son on InfoUsa Payroll
Ronald Kessler
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
A database company that has showered money on Bill and Hillary Clinton – and is alleged to have aided scam artists – now appears to have close links to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's family as well.The firm InfoUSA, headed by major Clinton backer Vinod Gupta, has placed Pelosi's son, Paul Pelosi Jr., on its payroll – even though he has no experience in the company's main business activities, NewsMax has learned.
As NewsMax previously reported, InfoUSA repeatedly rented marketing databases to unscrupulous persons who used the information to defraud the unsuspecting elderly, investigators found.
The company is also under fire in a shareholder lawsuit which alleges that Gupta is appropriating company funds for personal use and his political pet projects.
Shareholder critics are furious that Gupta had InfoUsa pay former President Bill Clinton $2.1 million in "consulting fees" since he left the White House, with another $1.2 million promised.
Gupta has also spent roughly $1 million of InfoUsa funds to provide corporate jet flights for both President Clinton and his wife Hillary.
Pelosi's son Paul acknowledged he has also been taking trips on corporate jets provided by Info USA.
Paid $180,000 for Second Job
Just four weeks after Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the House this past January, Gupta and InfoUSA hired her son as a senior vice president. He told NewsMax InfoUsa pays him $180,000 a year.
Even though his job with InfoUSA is considered full-time, Paul Pelosi continues another full-time job, as a home loan officer at Countrywide Home Loans, part of Countrywide Financial, in San Mateo, a suburb of San Francisco.
While InfoUSA is based in Omaha, Pelosi said he reports to a small InfoUSA office in San Mateo.
In two interviews, Paul Pelosi confirmed that Gupta hired him as senior vice president for strategic development starting Feb. 1, just after Pelosi's mother took the gavel as speaker on Jan. 4. He said his mother is aware of his new job.
A person familiar with the arrangement says Gupta treats Pelosi as a "trophy" and has the Speaker's son accompany him at high profile meetings around the country.
Pelosi denied the suggestion he is being used because of his family ties.
"I don't think that's really what happens," he said.
Nor does he "think" his hiring was related to his mother becoming speaker, he said. But he acknowledged the timing raises a "good question."
"It's interesting, timing-wise," Pelosi said. "I don't see it that way, but I could see why you'd ask the question ... I guess you always wonder why somebody hires you, right?"
Asked how he can hold two full-time jobs at once, Pelosi said Countrywide is satisfied as long as he fulfills his quotas.
Spokesmen for Nancy Pelosi and for InfoUSA did not respond to requests by NewsMax for comment.
Paul Pelosi said he met Gupta about three years ago when the businessman refinanced a $3 million Countrywide loan on one of his more than half a dozen homes. He said he decided to apply for a job with InfoUSA about six months ago.
Asked what a home mortgage loan officer would know about the business of InfoUsa which manages databases about consumers for direct mail and telemarketing, Pelosi said his experience in investment banking has been useful to the company in its acquisitions of other companies.
"Basically, the record's pretty clear that they buy about two or three companies a year and that is to continue," he said. "And so what you want to do is you want to take a look at the earnings of a company and you want to take a look at what they do ... You've got to do an analysis of the people and the strategic fit."
Pelosi said he "did the same thing" at Montgomery Securities and Bank of America, previous companies he worked for.
In 1995, Pelosi obtained a joint law degree and MBA from Georgetown University with a concentration in world economies and global sustainable development.
Before becoming a home loan officer at Countrywide, he was a sales manager at the company's San Mateo office.
"I'm very qualified at what I do," he said. "I work a lot of hours at it, and it's only been a couple months but in that short period of time, I've been able to really work on some material projects, which are coming forward."
Since starting with InfoUSA, Pelosi said he has looked into a possible acquisition of a company in Portland, Ore., with revenue of $8 million a year.
"For a company that does $650 million in [projected] revenue a year, $8 million is a small thing," Pelosi said. "I go in there and meet with the people, we look at the leases. We're trying to figure out what their cash flow is."
When he flies on the company jet, Pelosi said, it's always with Gupta on business. He said his relationship with Gupta is "nothing like the Clinton situation."
Pelosi's Son on InfoUsa Payroll
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