The Blotter: Brian Ross Investigates
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Newly Released Images of Suspected Con Man

Money raised via a fake charity let Bobby Thompson rub shoulders with politicos.

Newly Released Images of Suspected Con Man

The Con Man and the Politicians
The Con Man and the Politicians
The Con Man and the Politicians
Blanca Contreras, listed as an officer of the US Navy Veterans Association, was arrested at the Charlotte, North Carolina airport after an Ohio grand jury indicted Contreras and Bobby Thompson for money laundering and theft.
Thompson contributed to the campaign of Rep. Adam Putnam, R.-Fla., seen here with Thompson.
Thompson with former New York City mayor and Rudy Giuliani. Most of the candidates who are aware of receiving contributions from Thompson and his group, including Giuliani, have returned them.
Thompson, whose real name and identity are unknown, used the money collected by his charitable group to make donations to prominent politicians, nearly all of them Republicans. Here he is with Rep. John Boehner, R.-Ohio, the next Speaker of the House.
Thompson with former White House senior advisor Karl Rove.
Thompson with former President George W. Bush. Thompson formed a Navy Veterans political action committee, NAVPAC, with himself as treasurer, in 1999. He applied to the IRS for tax-exempt status for the US Navy Veterans Association in 2002.
Bobby Thompson with former President Bush.
Thompson with 2008 GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R.-Arizona. By the end of 2008, the US Navy Veterans Association was reporting annual revenues in excess of $4.2 million.
Ohio's attorney general has filed charges against a man going by the name of Bobby Thompson, who ran a charity called the US Navy Veterans Association, which has pulled in over $100 million in contributions in the past eight years.
The US Navy Veterans Association listed an address in Las Cruces, New Mexico as the address of one of the organization's officers. The New Mexico Attorney General's office found that the address was actually a Starbuck's.
The Con Man and the Politicians
Thompson is seen taking money out of an ATM three months after a St. Petersburg Times report fingered him as the man behind the apparently fictitious charity called Navy Veterans Association. (Office of the Ohio Attorney General)
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