The former brother-in-law of a crooked Democratic donor avoided jail today after his lawyer argued that he was duped into believing his kin was legit — just like Hillary Clinton.
Shahin Kashanchi had faced up to a year in the slammer for helping investment banker Hassan Nemazee scam $300 million in loans by creating phony account statements on his computer.
But at his Manhattan federal court sentencing, public defender Sabrina Shroff said Kashanchi had no reason to suspect that Nemazee — a major supporter of both President Clinton and his wife — was roping him into a massive fraud scheme.
“Hillary Clinton never once thought to say: Hey, buddy, where’s your money coming from?” Shroff said in reference to Nemazee.
Shroff also noted that Nemazee and his family were living the high life at the time, “still vacationing in Italy next to George Clooney.”
Kashanchi likewise insisted: “I had no way of knowing Hassan was broke and had turned into a cheat.”
Magistrate Judge James Francis IV sentenced Kashanchi to one year of probation and $75,000 restitution after ruling that the likelihood he would repeat his crime was “virtually nil.”