Larry Sinclair accuses Barack Obama of homosexual acts and drug use in video posted on YouTube
WASHINGTON ??? The electrifying presidential campaign of Barack Obama faces a new challenge ??? a Minnesota man who claims he took cocaine in 1999 with the then-Illinois legislator and participated in homosexual acts with him.
When his story was ignored by the news media, Larry Sinclair made his case last month in a YouTube video, which has now been viewed more than a quarter-million times. And when it was still ignored by the media, Sinclair filed a suit in Minnesota District Court, alleging threats and intimidation by Obama's staff.
Sinclair, who says he is willing to submit to a polygraph test to validate his claims, will now get his chance ??? thanks to a website offering $10,000 for the right to record it and $100,000 to Sinclair if he passes.
"My motivation for making this public is my desire for a presidential candidate to be honest," Sinclair told WND by telephone. "I didn't want the sex thing to come out. But I think it is important for the candidate to be honest about his drug use as late as 1999."
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Sinclair, who lives in Duluth and describes himself as "gay," claims he "personally engaged in sexual activity and personally used illegal drugs in November 1999" with the man who is now the leading Democratic presidential candidate. He claims the activity took place in the back of Sinclair's limousine and occurred again, later, in his hotel. Sinclair also says he personally no longer uses drugs.
In his lawsuit, filed last week, he charges his civil rights have been violated by Obama and the Democratic Party. Named as defendants in the case are the presidential candidate, David Axelrod of AKP Message and Media in Chicago and the Democratic National Committee.
Sinclair charges Obama smoked crack cocaine in the limo while Sinclair snorted powdered cocaine provided by the legislator. He says the two met in an upscale Chicago lounge before leaving in Sinclair's limousine where the drug use and sex took place for the first time.
Sinclair says he is a registered Democrat but has never voted for any candidate. He is 46 and claims to be physically disabled.
He says he was not physically impaired in 1999 when the alleged incidents with Obama took place.
Calls placed to the Obama campaign were not returned.
See Larry Sinclair's allegations:
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One Hall Of Famer, Damaged Condition
A memorabilia expert discusses O.J. Simpson's conviction and the shady side of the sports memorabilia trade.
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The Juice is loose no more. Orenthal James Simpson was found guilty late Friday for his participation last year in a bizarre armed robbery and kidnapping incident in Las Vegas. Simpson was convicted on 12 counts for leading five associates on a raid of a guest room at the Palace Station Hotel-Casino and making off with hundreds of gewgaws related to his career. To get a sense of the multi-million dollar sports memorabilia trade's shadier side, NEWSWEEK's Brian Braiker spoke with Bill Huggins, who owns the House of Cards memorabilia shop in Silver Spring, Md., and runs one of the larger online memorabilia auctions. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You may have heard that O.J. was convicted.
Bill Huggins: I watched the whole thing last night! Thomas Riccio [who set up the meeting between Simpson and the memorabilia dealers], I've known him for years. He's always been a little on the shady side. When I heard his name was involved in this thing, I knew something mysterious was going on. I don't know who the legal owner of this stuff is.
Is there a very shady element to the sports memorabilia trading business?
In relation to autographs and or counterfeit or reproduction cards being passed off as originals, absolutely.
How much of your job involves sussing out what's real and what isn't?
We're a big auction company and all of our autographs and cards go through major third-party authentication before they reach our catalogue. It's hard to tell some guy that, gosh, he has had this card in his family for 40 years and the story that dad and grandpa have been telling him just isn't right. It's tough sometimes.
How much sports memorabilia is owned by the players themselves typically?
It's up to them, how much they keep and how much they sell. Back when O.J. was playing, they weren't changing uniforms every 10 minutes—or every inning in baseball or every timeout in basketball—so they would be truly "game used."
Do they do that? Change uniforms a lot so they can sell them?
Cal Ripken, when he was doing the streak, was changing jerseys every inning. Changing socks, changing bats, changing hats. They literally had a wardrobe ready for him so they could say, "Hey this jersey was worn by Cal Ripken in a major league game when he was approaching the end of the streak." A lot of it comes down to meeting demand. A lot of guys have this phobia where they don't want to sign, they don't want their stuff out there. If there's no supply and big demand, guess what: somebody's going to fill that supply with bogus stuff.
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