New York Sun - May 22, 2007
Clinton Backer's Firm Alleged to Aid Scammers By JOSH GERSTEIN Staff Reporter of the Sun
A Nebraska entrepreneur facing allegations that his firm does business with scam artists targeting the elderly, Vinod Gupta, has directed more than $3 million in the past decade to political campaigns and projects connected with President Clinton and Senator Clinton.
Mr. Gupta's company, infoUSA, Inc., repeatedly rented marketing databases to unscrupulous individuals who used the lists to engage in fraud, according to the New York Times. A front-page article in the Sunday paper said the company promoted a list called "Suffering Seniors," which featured ailing older people, and other lists of "Elderly Opportunity Seekers" and those deemed to be "gullible."
Mr. Gupta, the chairman and CEO of infoUSA, has been one of the most generous benefactors to causes affiliated with the Clintons. He donated $2 million to a national millennium celebration organized by Mrs. Clinton's White House office, according to a book published by her chief fund-raiser, Terence McAuliffe. Mr. Gupta also gave $1 million for the construction of Mr. Clinton's presidential library in Little Rock, Ark.
In 2000, Mr. Gupta gave $100,000 to support Mrs. Clinton's Senate bid and hosted a fund-raiser in his home that raised $100,000 more. "She was so good," he said of Mrs. Clinton's talk there, according to the Omaha World-Herald. "I think she is smarter than the president."
Mr. Gupta and his wife, Laurel, were also the Clintons' guests for a stay in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom in 1999. The entrepreneur said the omnipresent Secret Service took the luster off the visit. "You kind of feel like you're in jail," he told the Omaha paper.
Mr. Gupta and his wife, Laurel, were also the Clintons' guests for a stay in the White House's Lincoln Bedroom in 1999. The entrepreneur said the omnipresent Secret Service took the luster off the visit. "You kind of feel like you're in jail," he told the Omaha paper.
The extent of Mr. Gupta's involvement in Mrs. Clinton's presidential bid is unclear. He gave $1,000 to the campaign in February, which is far short of the maximum $4,600 donation. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton, Howard Wolfson, noted that Mr. Gupta was not among a list of large fund-raisers released by the campaign last month.
Mr. Gupta did not respond to requests for an interview for this article. However, he issued a statement yesterday taking issue with the Times report. "We regret that the Times has chosen to recycle as ‘news' this 3-year-old, closed inquiry by the Iowa authorities and has done so in such a misleading way," Mr. Gupta said.
The statement said infoUSA has never marketed lists of "gullible" individuals. The firm also said it does not compile lists called "Elderly Opportunity Seekers" or "Suffering Seniors."
An assistant attorney general in Iowa who investigated how the firm markets and distributes its data files disputed the company's assertion that it cooperated completely with the probe. "It's because they weren't cooperative that we had to go to court," the attorney, Steve St. Clair, told The New York Sun yesterday. He labeled the firm's claim that the investigation is closed "self-serving and speculative on their part." He also said the probe never cleared the company. "There was no point at which we communicated satisfaction that they'd done nothing wrong," he said.
Mr. St. Clair said he never saw evidence that infoUSA circulated a list of "Suffering Seniors" but said it did offer lists such as "cash- hungry individuals." "When you look at some of the phrases they did use, it's hard to distinguish them," he said.
An attorney at the University of California who studies privacy and marketing issues, Chris Hoofnagle, said an infoUSA subsidiary has promoted lists of consumers described as "mature" and "impulsive." "‘Mature' and ‘impulsive' are keywords for ‘Come rob me, come swindle me," Mr. Hoofnagle said. He said other lists "reinforce racial and class-based stereotypes."
"There's almost no privacy rights with respect to these companies," he said. "These list brokers are completely opaque."
InfoUSA said it pre-screens offers directed to the elderly and stopped renting lists of seniors receptive to "sweepstakes and gaming" after Iowa launched its probe. However, the firm said there are "many legitimate reasons for direct marketing to senior citizens (or any other demographic group)." InfoUSA said such age-related lists help insurance companies, retirement communities, and AARP reach their target audiences.
The Times article about infoUSA did not mention Mr. Gupta or his political ties.
Just before leaving office in 2001, Mr. Clinton appointed the infoUSA founder to the board of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The pair later traveled together in India, when Mr. Clinton made a trip there to survey earthquake damage. Mr. Gupta also treated the former president to a round of golf at the renowned Loch Lomond course in Scotland in 2001, according to local press accounts.
Mr. Clinton has visited infoUSA's offices at least twice, according to press reports. In 2001, he was keynote speaker at a company- sponsored marketing seminar focused on "surviving privacy legislation."
Mr. Gupta's limited involvement in Mrs. Clinton's latest campaign could relate to his company's recent acquisition of a firm that is now CNN's main pollster, Opinion Research Corporation. Conservative Web sites have cited Mr. Gupta's ties to the Clintons in questioning the independence of the surveys.