Weldon later told Congress that he had received a report on the Karics from U.S. intelligence officials that said a family member had bankrolled Milosevic's election, and that the family's bank had tried to finance a missile sale to his regime.
Because of evidence that the Karics had supported Milosevic, the Treasury Department placed them on a list of Serbians banned from doing business in the United States. They all had been removed from the list by last year, as the United States normalized relations with Serbia, but they still cannot get visas.
In a written statement, a spokesman for the Karics said, "Regarding the alleged links of the Karic Group or family to the Milosevic regime, we can only reiterate that these allegations are the product of groups or individuals from our country who have been themselves profiting from ties with the former regime."
Rep. Weldon came to adopt the view that the Karics, whose businesses thrived under Milosevic, were being unfairly portrayed as sympathizers of the former leader. "The story we get from the Karics is that Bogoljub was from the pro-democracy side, and Milosevic said your life and business depends on your working with me ... and he did," Conallen said. "Curt believes in these guys and that their support for Milosevic was the result of innuendo and threat."
On Oct. 8, 2002, Weldon sent a letter to Dragomir Karic inviting him to Washington to discuss the "extensive humanitarian and charity projects" sponsored by the family's Karic Foundation. The letter praised the Karics' business group and commended it to "U.S. companies seeking to establish business relationships in Serbia."
Weldon's invitation was signed by 18 colleagues. According to Conallen, it was an effort to pressure the State Department to grant visas to the Karics.
In March 2003, the Karic Foundation hired his daughter's firm on a renewable one-year contract paying $240,000. In disclosure forms, Solutions said it would assist the foundation in "establishing and developing a U.S. presence."
"I did a proposal for them," Karen Weldon said. "I worked my butt off, and they liked it."
The Karics' written statement said that they hired Solutions on the strength of its proposal and that "no American member of Congress" influenced their decision.
In August, Weldon led a congressional delegation to Serbia. An association of Serbian businessmen headed by Bogoljub Karic helped plan the trip.
