The article about GOP donor Craig Berkman referred to a lawsuit against him by former investors as a civil fraud case. Although the complaint alleged that Berkman "was engaging in fraud, or potentially illegal acts, or other inappropriate transactions," it did not include a separate cause of action for fraud against Berkman. Claims against Berkman included breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, breach of contract, and breach of good faith and fair dealing.
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Big GOP Donor Faced Trouble Back Home
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Berkman also continued to donate to political candidates. In 2007, as the presidential campaign ramped up, he wrote $2,300 checks to former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Starting in July 2007, he contributed to McCain's campaign. The Willamette Week first reported the donations.
Berkman and his new wife, former New York beauty queen Mary Ann Farrell-Karlsson, already had given McCain the maximum allowed. They gave the maximum allowable to the RNC's Victory Fund for McCain weeks after Berkman told the court that he was more than $12 million in debt.
On June 12, the jury awarded Berkman's investors $28 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
Lawyers for the investors said that they were "shocked" that Berkman continued to make contributions, and that McCain accepted them.
Stephen English, of the Portland law firm Bullivant Houser Bailey, put it this way: "There are good Republicans out there who would be appalled that someone in his position, with the history he had, would be able to rise like the phoenix."
Research editor Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
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