Taking the witness stand in his own defense, Democratic fundraiser David Rosen categorically denied Tuesday that he ordered associates to conceal the cost of a star-studded gala held to raise money for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's 2000 election campaign.
"I'm 100% innocent of these charges," the political consultant told jurors as his 3-week-old trial in Los Angeles federal court neared an end.
Rosen, 38, who served as national finance director for Clinton's New York Senate campaign, had been charged with three counts of causing the campaign to file false reports with the Federal Election Commission.
But before Tuesday's proceedings began, U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz threw out one those charges, saying the Justice Department failed to show that Rosen was involved in the preparation of that report.
The FEC reports dealt with an extravaganza attended by President Bill Clinton, his wife Hillary Clinton and an A-list of Hollywood stars on a sprawling Mandeville Canyon estate just before the 2000 Democratic National Convention in L.A.
The event, which netted $1 million in contributions, featured a $1,000-per-person cocktail party, a $25,000-a-couple dinner and a pop music concert. Final expenses were reported as $401,000. But according to Justice Department lawyers, Rosen was responsible for concealing more than $700,000 in actual costs.
His motive, they said, was to keep the Clinton campaign from having to transfer matching funds from its "hard" money account, which was earmarked for direct advocacy on behalf of the candidate. Hillary Clinton was unaware of any wrongdoing, according to the prosecution.
Rosen blamed the under-reporting of expenses on the gala's chief sponsor, businessman Peter Paul, a three-time convicted felon who volunteered to underwrite the event, and on Paul's protege, Aaron Tonken, now serving a five-year prison sentence for defrauding charities.
Rosen contended that Paul and Tonken concealed the true costs from him. At the time of the fundraiser, Paul was running Stan Lee Media, a publicly traded Internet venture, in collaboration with "Spider-Man" creator Stan Lee. Paul was subsequently convicted of cheating investors out of millions of dollars. The company went out of business.
Neither Paul nor Tonken was subpoenaed to testify in the case, though their roles in bankrolling and planning the Clinton fundraiser were the subject of considerable testimony.
