Obama fundraiser is 'close friend' of corrupt Iraqi businessman. An undeclared payment of $3.5 million (£1.75 million) from a corrupt Iraqi-British businessman has landed Barack Obama's former fundraiser behind bars.
The payment, disclosed in court papers, is the first time Mr Obama's long-serving bagman Tony Rezko, a Syrian immigrant to the United States, has been linked as a friend to the Iraqi-born billionaire Nadhmi Auchi, one of Britain's richest men.