Attorney: Probe finds no merit to Coleman donor allegations

A Texas oil drilling company's special litigation committee has cleared former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of any wrongdoing in a lawsuit involving one of Coleman's campaign donors, according to an attorney in the case.

The lawyers asked a Texas judge today to dismiss the case.

The company's former CEO alleged that Nasser Kazeminy, a Minneapolis investor and friend of Coleman, tried to funnel $75,000 to Coleman through a Minneapolis insurance company that employed Coleman's wife.

Kazeminy's attorney Robert Weinstine says the committee conducted an eight-month investigation and found no merit to the claims.

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"This was nothing short of an effort to extort or blackmail people with lies," said Weinstine. "I've tried cases for 40 years, I just don't say those things."

Coleman was not a party to the case. Weinstine says the Texas judge is scheduled to decide on Friday whether to dismiss the case.

The attorney for the man who filed the lawsuit against Kazeminy did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

The case surfaced in the final days of Coleman's re-election campaign, which he lost to Democrat Al Franken by a thin margin.