Report: Some Democrat Donors May Be Fakes

NEW YORK (Reuter) - Federal investigators looking into donations to President Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign suspect some of the contributions came from fictitious individuals, the New York Times reported Friday.

The newspaper said checks were received from several phony corporations and, in one case, from a checking account once used by a woman who died in 1986.

"There is a concern that some of these people are fictitious or just don't have the ability to make these large contributions," said Sen. Thad Cochran, a Mississippi Republican and a member of the Governmental Affairs Committee looking into campaign-finance irregularities. "We can't find a lot of these contributors. Many either disappeared or they never existed."

One bit of puzzling evidence came from two checks that arrived at the Democratic National Committee's headquarters the day after Clinton's 50th birthday fund-raising event at Radio City Music Hall in New York.

Both checks, which were solicited by John Huang, the fund-raiser at the heart of the investigation, were made out to "Victor '96," an erroneous reference to "Victory '96," an organization that was working toward re-electing Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. The checks were also written in handwriting that appeared to be identical, the New York Times said.

One check, for $3,000, bore the name of Michele Lima, a New York City woman who died in 1986, investigators said.

The other was for $4,000 and was signed by Hong Jen Chiao, whose address on election records is listed as the DNC's office. However, investigators have been unable to track Chiao and now believe he does not exist, the Times said.

Federal investigators suspect at least $200,000 in contributions came from donors who do not exist, the report said.

Lima's son, Brian Lima, confirmed that his mother used to have an account at Chemical Bank in New York, on which the check was drawn. But he said that his mother had never contributed to a campaign previously because "we never had any money to contribute."

In addition, he said that while the check spells his mother's first name as "Michele," it was really spelled "Michelle."

Nevertheless, he said the latest development may explain an odd piece of mail he recently received: an invitation from the Democratic Party addressed to his late mother for a fund-raising event in Washington this spring.