WASHINGTON -- Karen Weldon, an inexperienced 29-year-old lobbyist from suburban Philadelphia, seemed an unlikely choice for clients seeking global public relations services.
Yet her tiny firm was selected last year for a plum $240,000 contract to promote the good works of a wealthy Serbian family that had been linked to accused war criminal Slobodan Milosevic.
Despite a lack of professional credentials, she had one notable asset -- her father, U.S. Representative Curt Weldon, who is a leading voice in Washington on former Eastern Bloc affairs.
She got the contract after he championed the efforts of two family members, Dragomir and Bogoljub Karic, to win U.S. visas from the State Department, which so far has refused them entry.
Intelligence officials warned Weldon that the brothers were too close to Milosevic, who is accused of leading the "ethnic cleansing" in the former Yugoslav federation.
But the Republican congressman has praised the Karics, who own a vast empire of banking, telecommunication and other firms, as model business leaders and humanitarians. He has portrayed them as victims of faulty intelligence reports and, last month, asked the CIA to sit down with them and sort things out. He has repeatedly pressed the State Department to give them visas.
Karen Weldon said her father "developed a rapport" with the Karics and introduced her to them. But her firm, Solutions North America Inc., won the consulting contract on its merits, she said. Her father declined to answer questions for this article.
The congressman also has gone to bat for at least two of Solutions' other clients, both struggling Russian companies: the Itera natural gas company and an aerospace manufacturer based in Saratov.
Together, the three contracts are worth almost $1 million a year to her firm for services that have included joining her father on congressional trips and in meetings with clients.
The Weldons are the latest example of special interests hiring relatives of important members of Congress as lobbyists and consultants. Over the last year, The Times has identified 11 other House members and 17 senators with relatives who lobby or consult, many of them for clients the members have helped through legislative or other action.
Congressional ethics rules provide few barriers to the practice. They do not forbid members of Congress from helping companies or others who are paying their relatives. But Weldon has brought his daughter so deeply into his official activities that they sometimes appear to be working in tandem.
For example:
?€?? After the Saratov Aviation Plant hired Karen Weldon's firm for $20,000 a month plus 10 percent of any new business it generated, Representative Weldon pitched the company's saucer-shaped drone to the U.S. Navy, which signed a letter of intent to invest in the technology. And Weldon, who chairs a subcommittee that oversees $60 billion in military acquisitions, has been working to get funding for the project, Navy officials say. A lawyer for Solutions said the firm did not collect the finder's fee and it was later removed from the contract. Federal law bars companies from paying commissions to lobbyists on government contracts.
?€?? The congressman helped round up 30 congressional colleagues for a dinner at the Library of Congress to honor the chairman of the Itera International Energy Corp., which had just agreed to pay his daughter's firm $500,000 a year to "create good public relations." Records show Solutions North America helped arrange the privately funded affair for the company, which has been trying to improve its image with U.S. officials after questions were raised about its acquisition of vast natural gas fields in Russia.
?€?? Karen Weldon's firm paid for her father's chief of staff to take a "fact-finding" trip to Serbia, where he met with U.S. Embassy officials about the Karics' visa problems. The congressman approved the arrangement, travel records show. House ethics rules bar members or staff from taking official trips paid for by lobbyists or registered agents of foreign companies. The chief of staff, Michael Conallen Jr., said he reimbursed Solutions with his own money after The Times raised questions about the trip.
Conallen said the congressman's actions on behalf of Karen Weldon's clients posed no ethical concerns.
"I just don't think there's anything strange about it," he said. "If Curt wanted to he could snap his fingers and divert a lot of business to Karen, and that hasn't happened."
Karen Weldon has a partner in Solutions, Charles Sexton Jr., 67, the former finance chairman of Representative Weldon's campaigns. Neither has lobbied Weldon nor asked for his help, Conallen said.
"The fact that they have contracts with these clients hasn't influenced anything Curt has done," he said.
The congressman was advocating for the Karics and other Eastern European business interests long before his daughter opened her firm, Conallen said.
In a written statement last Thursday, Conallen added, "The congressman is generally aware of his daughter's company and the work she does for several of her clients. But the congressman has not discussed the specifics of Solutions North America's agreements with their clients or the nature of their representation."
Karen Weldon declined to say whether she discussed her clients with her father. But she said her firm's success was not due to his position in Congress.
"Because of who he is, people have questioned me all my life about whether I'm qualified and if I can do the job," she said. "I have nothing to hide. I haven't done anything inappropriate."
Going Into Business
Representative Weldon, a former school teacher, was first elected to Congress in 1986 from the suburbs southwest of Philadelphia. Over nine terms, he has moved up in seniority on the House Armed Services Committee. He is vice chairman -- the second-ranking Republican -- and chairman of its tactical air and land forces subcommittee.
Weldon, a Russian studies major in college, also is a noted advocate of closer relationships with the former Soviet Union. He has made more than 30 trips to Russia as a member of Congress. He is the founder and chairman of the Congressional U.S.-Former Soviet Union Energy Caucus and founder and co-chairman of the official interparliamentary exchange between the U.S. and Russia.
Today, Conallen said, "There is nobody in Congress more knowledgeable about Russia than Curt Weldon." That judgment is shared by many of Weldon's House colleagues.
Until she launched Solutions, Karen Weldon had been following a different career path. She had an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate degree in information systems.
She spent six years, she said, working on "learning and training programs" for Boeing Co., which has a helicopter plant at the edge of Representative Weldon's district. Conallen said Weldon did not help his daughter get the job at Boeing, which is a frequent beneficiary of his work in Washington and one of his top campaign donors.
When she and Sexton opened their business in September 2002, Solutions' office consisted of a cubicle in a suburban Philadelphia office suite that provided a common receptionist and conference room for all 120 of its tenants. A few months later, Solutions opened a similar office in downtown Washington.
Karen Weldon said Sexton "makes a lot of the business connections" for their firm. Her partner is a political power broker in Weldon's district and the former owner of a security guard company, which he recently sold for $6 million.
She described her role as "legwork and project management," including graphics and Web development.
She said she doesn't work on legislation and called Solutions "more of a business consultancy than a lobbying firm," though she and Sexton have registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for their three clients. Lobbyists representing overseas clients must file disclosure reports with the department's Foreign Agents Registration Unit.
She would not say who else she and Sexton represented beyond the three clients reported in Solutions' disclosure forms.
Karen Weldon said the idea for Solutions originated with Sexton. He was already talking to Itera, she said. Sexton declined an interview request from The Times.
She said they became 50-50 partners, and Itera became Solutions' first client. It paid $170,000 of its annual fee up front -- a timely infusion of cash for a start-up firm, especially one that had little experience or presence in Washington.
Russian Relations
Itera needed friends in Washington.
Questions had been raised by Russian energy and investment companies about how Itera had gained title to billions of dollars worth of natural gas resources from state-controlled Gazprom.
William Browder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund with a stake in Gazprom, said the conglomerate transferred the assets for little or nothing.
Itera officials declined to be interviewed.
The controversy has been a cloud over Itera's efforts to gain access to Western investment capital and markets. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency withdrew an $868,000 grant to the company in March 2002 after questions were raised about Itera's background, said Leocadia Zak, an agency lawyer. It was a setback to the image of the company, which is seeking to expand its natural gas, timber and real estate holdings in the United States.
Two months later, Representative Weldon led a congressional delegation to Moscow in connection with a visit by President George W. Bush. Weldon toured Itera's offices and, according to a company news release, praised it as a "strong and well-established company," and recommended it as "a great source" for U.S. energy firms seeking partners for joint ventures.
When he returned home, Weldon blasted the Trade and Development Agency's decision at a news conference and made calls to the State Department on the company's behalf, though to no avail.
On Sept. 5 and 6, 2002, Itera paid for Weldon's lodging in New York so he could do an interview with Russian radio about energy, Conallen said.
A week later, Itera sent e-mails to Karen Weldon telling her the company would complete the terms of a contract with her firm at an upcoming dinner in Washington that her father was co-hosting to honor Itera's chairman.
The dinner took place Sept. 24 at the Library of Congress. That day, Representative Weldon had introduced a resolution in the House that encouraged U.S.-Russian cooperation on developing energy resources. Two days later, in a floor speech, he gave House colleagues a glowing report on Itera.
On Sept. 30, Itera signed the $500,000-a-year contract with Solutions, which agreed to work on creating "good public relations so in the future Itera may sell goods and services to U.S. entities," according to foreign agent disclosure filings. They show the Library of Congress dinner as one of the firm's first efforts on Itera's behalf.
When Representative Weldon led a congressional delegation to Eastern Europe two months later, Itera paid for Karen Weldon to join him. Father and daughter met with the president of Georgia, and the congressman helped Itera resolve a costly commercial dispute with the government. During a stop in Moscow, Representative Weldon called for increased U.S. imports from Itera and other Russian energy corporations.
By January 2003, Itera had enough confidence in its prospects here to open an expanded U.S. headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. The company flew the congressman down for the gala marking the event, according to his travel records.
"I can think of no other company that represents what Russia is today and offers for the future," the congressman said, according to a local news report.
'Flying Saucer'
Karen Weldon said she found her second client, a Russian aerospace company, through a family friend.
The friend was Philadelphia lawyer John Gallagher, who has worked with her father to foster U.S.-Russian business ties.
Gallagher said he introduced Solutions to Saratov Aviation Plant in December 2002, because the company needed help promoting its products in the United States. One of its most promising creations was a drone that could deliver supplies to war zones, a device the company sometimes called its "flying saucer."
Karen Weldon, or her partner Sexton, in turn sparked Representative Weldon's interest in the company's technology, according to chief of staff Conallen.
A Saratov official recalled hearing from Representative Weldon "quite unexpectedly" in early January 2003. The congressman expressed "an acute interest" in the unmanned vehicle, said company director Alexander Yermishin.
Weldon visited Saratov's plant later that month, accompanied by his daughter, who by then was negotiating a deal to consult for the company, according to Solutions' disclosure reports.
It was an official trip for Weldon, who had congressional business in Russia and Austria. Karen Weldon's travel was paid through Solutions.
They each attended meetings with Yermishin and other company officials. The congressman expressed enthusiasm about the saucer technology, Yermishin said. Within weeks, Saratov sealed a contract with Solutions to promote the company's products, according to foreign agent disclosure filings.
Yermishin described the congressman's assistance on the project as "really invaluable." He declined to discuss why he hired Karen Weldon's firm.
According to the contract that Solutions filed with the Justice Department, Saratov agreed to pay Solutions $20,000 a month with two contingencies: The cash-strapped company did not have to start paying until Solutions attracted new business. And Saratov would pay a 10 percent finder's fee if the company "strikes a deal from a lead supplied" by Solutions.
After the Weldons returned from Russia, the congressman took steps to get a deal going. He contacted the Naval Air Systems Command, or Navair, which is based near Washington, about the Saratov saucer, Conallen said.
Robert Carullo, a Navair staff member, said Weldon asked him to arrange for Yermishin to meet with Navair. The meeting took place in March. Solutions' disclosure reports say the firm also helped set up the meeting.
Karen Weldon also helped arrange a follow-up meeting between Navair and Saratov in Russia in September, disclosure reports show. At the conclusion of that visit, Navair and Saratov signed a nonbinding letter of intent that called for Navair to seek funding to develop the saucer technology and fly a prototype by 2005. Yermishin said the technology needs between $10 million and $14 million as initial capital.
John Fischer, Navair's director of research and engineering sciences, who led the delegation to Saratov, said he was impressed with the company's technology. In an interview, Fischer credited Representative Weldon for bringing Saratov to Navair's attention, calling him "a very proactive member of Congress."
He said Weldon was looking for money for the project. "The money is a sensitive question, but we are confident it will come," Fischer said.
Conallen said Weldon had not yet taken steps to get the funding authorized by Congress.
Asked later about Karen Weldon's involvement, Navair provided a written response saying that Fischer met with her twice during the discussions with Saratov but did not realize she worked for the company.
"Dr. Fischer was aware that Ms. Weldon was Representative Weldon's daughter, but he was not aware that she had a business relationship with Saratov," the response said. "She did not identify herself other than by her name, and Dr. Fisher [sic] assumed her to be doing staff work for Congressman Weldon."
Solutions' attorney, Joseph Fioravanti, last Thursday said the firm's finder's fee was eliminated under a new contract with Saratov signed in November. That contract was transferred to a new firm that Sexton and Karen Weldon formed last year. Fioravanti declined to provide more information on the new firm, Solutions Worldwide Inc. He said Saratov began paying the new firm $20,000 a month in December.
At least four laws prohibit companies that receive federal contracts from paying contingency fees to lobbyists, according to Tom Susman, chairman of the ethics committee of the American League of Lobbyists.
"We realized that with government contracts you're not supposed to get a percent, so we revised it," Karen Weldon said. "We were worried that it might look inappropriate."
Researcher Mark Madden in Washington and Staff Writer Sergei L. Loiko in Moscow contributed to this report.
Yet her tiny firm was selected last year for a plum $240,000 contract to promote the good works of a wealthy Serbian family that had been linked to accused war criminal Slobodan Milosevic.
Despite a lack of professional credentials, she had one notable asset -- her father, U.S. Representative Curt Weldon, who is a leading voice in Washington on former Eastern Bloc affairs.
She got the contract after he championed the efforts of two family members, Dragomir and Bogoljub Karic, to win U.S. visas from the State Department, which so far has refused them entry.
Intelligence officials warned Weldon that the brothers were too close to Milosevic, who is accused of leading the "ethnic cleansing" in the former Yugoslav federation.
But the Republican congressman has praised the Karics, who own a vast empire of banking, telecommunication and other firms, as model business leaders and humanitarians. He has portrayed them as victims of faulty intelligence reports and, last month, asked the CIA to sit down with them and sort things out. He has repeatedly pressed the State Department to give them visas.
Karen Weldon said her father "developed a rapport" with the Karics and introduced her to them. But her firm, Solutions North America Inc., won the consulting contract on its merits, she said. Her father declined to answer questions for this article.
The congressman also has gone to bat for at least two of Solutions' other clients, both struggling Russian companies: the Itera natural gas company and an aerospace manufacturer based in Saratov.
Together, the three contracts are worth almost $1 million a year to her firm for services that have included joining her father on congressional trips and in meetings with clients.
The Weldons are the latest example of special interests hiring relatives of important members of Congress as lobbyists and consultants. Over the last year, The Times has identified 11 other House members and 17 senators with relatives who lobby or consult, many of them for clients the members have helped through legislative or other action.
Congressional ethics rules provide few barriers to the practice. They do not forbid members of Congress from helping companies or others who are paying their relatives. But Weldon has brought his daughter so deeply into his official activities that they sometimes appear to be working in tandem.
For example:
?€?? After the Saratov Aviation Plant hired Karen Weldon's firm for $20,000 a month plus 10 percent of any new business it generated, Representative Weldon pitched the company's saucer-shaped drone to the U.S. Navy, which signed a letter of intent to invest in the technology. And Weldon, who chairs a subcommittee that oversees $60 billion in military acquisitions, has been working to get funding for the project, Navy officials say. A lawyer for Solutions said the firm did not collect the finder's fee and it was later removed from the contract. Federal law bars companies from paying commissions to lobbyists on government contracts.
?€?? The congressman helped round up 30 congressional colleagues for a dinner at the Library of Congress to honor the chairman of the Itera International Energy Corp., which had just agreed to pay his daughter's firm $500,000 a year to "create good public relations." Records show Solutions North America helped arrange the privately funded affair for the company, which has been trying to improve its image with U.S. officials after questions were raised about its acquisition of vast natural gas fields in Russia.
?€?? Karen Weldon's firm paid for her father's chief of staff to take a "fact-finding" trip to Serbia, where he met with U.S. Embassy officials about the Karics' visa problems. The congressman approved the arrangement, travel records show. House ethics rules bar members or staff from taking official trips paid for by lobbyists or registered agents of foreign companies. The chief of staff, Michael Conallen Jr., said he reimbursed Solutions with his own money after The Times raised questions about the trip.
Conallen said the congressman's actions on behalf of Karen Weldon's clients posed no ethical concerns.
"I just don't think there's anything strange about it," he said. "If Curt wanted to he could snap his fingers and divert a lot of business to Karen, and that hasn't happened."
Karen Weldon has a partner in Solutions, Charles Sexton Jr., 67, the former finance chairman of Representative Weldon's campaigns. Neither has lobbied Weldon nor asked for his help, Conallen said.
"The fact that they have contracts with these clients hasn't influenced anything Curt has done," he said.
The congressman was advocating for the Karics and other Eastern European business interests long before his daughter opened her firm, Conallen said.
In a written statement last Thursday, Conallen added, "The congressman is generally aware of his daughter's company and the work she does for several of her clients. But the congressman has not discussed the specifics of Solutions North America's agreements with their clients or the nature of their representation."
Karen Weldon declined to say whether she discussed her clients with her father. But she said her firm's success was not due to his position in Congress.
"Because of who he is, people have questioned me all my life about whether I'm qualified and if I can do the job," she said. "I have nothing to hide. I haven't done anything inappropriate."
Going Into Business
Representative Weldon, a former school teacher, was first elected to Congress in 1986 from the suburbs southwest of Philadelphia. Over nine terms, he has moved up in seniority on the House Armed Services Committee. He is vice chairman -- the second-ranking Republican -- and chairman of its tactical air and land forces subcommittee.
Weldon, a Russian studies major in college, also is a noted advocate of closer relationships with the former Soviet Union. He has made more than 30 trips to Russia as a member of Congress. He is the founder and chairman of the Congressional U.S.-Former Soviet Union Energy Caucus and founder and co-chairman of the official interparliamentary exchange between the U.S. and Russia.
Today, Conallen said, "There is nobody in Congress more knowledgeable about Russia than Curt Weldon." That judgment is shared by many of Weldon's House colleagues.
Until she launched Solutions, Karen Weldon had been following a different career path. She had an undergraduate degree in education and a graduate degree in information systems.
She spent six years, she said, working on "learning and training programs" for Boeing Co., which has a helicopter plant at the edge of Representative Weldon's district. Conallen said Weldon did not help his daughter get the job at Boeing, which is a frequent beneficiary of his work in Washington and one of his top campaign donors.
When she and Sexton opened their business in September 2002, Solutions' office consisted of a cubicle in a suburban Philadelphia office suite that provided a common receptionist and conference room for all 120 of its tenants. A few months later, Solutions opened a similar office in downtown Washington.
Karen Weldon said Sexton "makes a lot of the business connections" for their firm. Her partner is a political power broker in Weldon's district and the former owner of a security guard company, which he recently sold for $6 million.
She described her role as "legwork and project management," including graphics and Web development.
She said she doesn't work on legislation and called Solutions "more of a business consultancy than a lobbying firm," though she and Sexton have registered with the Justice Department as foreign agents for their three clients. Lobbyists representing overseas clients must file disclosure reports with the department's Foreign Agents Registration Unit.
She would not say who else she and Sexton represented beyond the three clients reported in Solutions' disclosure forms.
Karen Weldon said the idea for Solutions originated with Sexton. He was already talking to Itera, she said. Sexton declined an interview request from The Times.
She said they became 50-50 partners, and Itera became Solutions' first client. It paid $170,000 of its annual fee up front -- a timely infusion of cash for a start-up firm, especially one that had little experience or presence in Washington.
Russian Relations
Itera needed friends in Washington.
Questions had been raised by Russian energy and investment companies about how Itera had gained title to billions of dollars worth of natural gas resources from state-controlled Gazprom.
William Browder of Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund with a stake in Gazprom, said the conglomerate transferred the assets for little or nothing.
Itera officials declined to be interviewed.
The controversy has been a cloud over Itera's efforts to gain access to Western investment capital and markets. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency withdrew an $868,000 grant to the company in March 2002 after questions were raised about Itera's background, said Leocadia Zak, an agency lawyer. It was a setback to the image of the company, which is seeking to expand its natural gas, timber and real estate holdings in the United States.
Two months later, Representative Weldon led a congressional delegation to Moscow in connection with a visit by President George W. Bush. Weldon toured Itera's offices and, according to a company news release, praised it as a "strong and well-established company," and recommended it as "a great source" for U.S. energy firms seeking partners for joint ventures.
When he returned home, Weldon blasted the Trade and Development Agency's decision at a news conference and made calls to the State Department on the company's behalf, though to no avail.
On Sept. 5 and 6, 2002, Itera paid for Weldon's lodging in New York so he could do an interview with Russian radio about energy, Conallen said.
A week later, Itera sent e-mails to Karen Weldon telling her the company would complete the terms of a contract with her firm at an upcoming dinner in Washington that her father was co-hosting to honor Itera's chairman.
The dinner took place Sept. 24 at the Library of Congress. That day, Representative Weldon had introduced a resolution in the House that encouraged U.S.-Russian cooperation on developing energy resources. Two days later, in a floor speech, he gave House colleagues a glowing report on Itera.
On Sept. 30, Itera signed the $500,000-a-year contract with Solutions, which agreed to work on creating "good public relations so in the future Itera may sell goods and services to U.S. entities," according to foreign agent disclosure filings. They show the Library of Congress dinner as one of the firm's first efforts on Itera's behalf.
When Representative Weldon led a congressional delegation to Eastern Europe two months later, Itera paid for Karen Weldon to join him. Father and daughter met with the president of Georgia, and the congressman helped Itera resolve a costly commercial dispute with the government. During a stop in Moscow, Representative Weldon called for increased U.S. imports from Itera and other Russian energy corporations.
By January 2003, Itera had enough confidence in its prospects here to open an expanded U.S. headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. The company flew the congressman down for the gala marking the event, according to his travel records.
"I can think of no other company that represents what Russia is today and offers for the future," the congressman said, according to a local news report.
'Flying Saucer'
Karen Weldon said she found her second client, a Russian aerospace company, through a family friend.
The friend was Philadelphia lawyer John Gallagher, who has worked with her father to foster U.S.-Russian business ties.
Gallagher said he introduced Solutions to Saratov Aviation Plant in December 2002, because the company needed help promoting its products in the United States. One of its most promising creations was a drone that could deliver supplies to war zones, a device the company sometimes called its "flying saucer."
Karen Weldon, or her partner Sexton, in turn sparked Representative Weldon's interest in the company's technology, according to chief of staff Conallen.
A Saratov official recalled hearing from Representative Weldon "quite unexpectedly" in early January 2003. The congressman expressed "an acute interest" in the unmanned vehicle, said company director Alexander Yermishin.
Weldon visited Saratov's plant later that month, accompanied by his daughter, who by then was negotiating a deal to consult for the company, according to Solutions' disclosure reports.
It was an official trip for Weldon, who had congressional business in Russia and Austria. Karen Weldon's travel was paid through Solutions.
They each attended meetings with Yermishin and other company officials. The congressman expressed enthusiasm about the saucer technology, Yermishin said. Within weeks, Saratov sealed a contract with Solutions to promote the company's products, according to foreign agent disclosure filings.
Yermishin described the congressman's assistance on the project as "really invaluable." He declined to discuss why he hired Karen Weldon's firm.
According to the contract that Solutions filed with the Justice Department, Saratov agreed to pay Solutions $20,000 a month with two contingencies: The cash-strapped company did not have to start paying until Solutions attracted new business. And Saratov would pay a 10 percent finder's fee if the company "strikes a deal from a lead supplied" by Solutions.
After the Weldons returned from Russia, the congressman took steps to get a deal going. He contacted the Naval Air Systems Command, or Navair, which is based near Washington, about the Saratov saucer, Conallen said.
Robert Carullo, a Navair staff member, said Weldon asked him to arrange for Yermishin to meet with Navair. The meeting took place in March. Solutions' disclosure reports say the firm also helped set up the meeting.
Karen Weldon also helped arrange a follow-up meeting between Navair and Saratov in Russia in September, disclosure reports show. At the conclusion of that visit, Navair and Saratov signed a nonbinding letter of intent that called for Navair to seek funding to develop the saucer technology and fly a prototype by 2005. Yermishin said the technology needs between $10 million and $14 million as initial capital.
John Fischer, Navair's director of research and engineering sciences, who led the delegation to Saratov, said he was impressed with the company's technology. In an interview, Fischer credited Representative Weldon for bringing Saratov to Navair's attention, calling him "a very proactive member of Congress."
He said Weldon was looking for money for the project. "The money is a sensitive question, but we are confident it will come," Fischer said.
Conallen said Weldon had not yet taken steps to get the funding authorized by Congress.
Asked later about Karen Weldon's involvement, Navair provided a written response saying that Fischer met with her twice during the discussions with Saratov but did not realize she worked for the company.
"Dr. Fischer was aware that Ms. Weldon was Representative Weldon's daughter, but he was not aware that she had a business relationship with Saratov," the response said. "She did not identify herself other than by her name, and Dr. Fisher [sic] assumed her to be doing staff work for Congressman Weldon."
Solutions' attorney, Joseph Fioravanti, last Thursday said the firm's finder's fee was eliminated under a new contract with Saratov signed in November. That contract was transferred to a new firm that Sexton and Karen Weldon formed last year. Fioravanti declined to provide more information on the new firm, Solutions Worldwide Inc. He said Saratov began paying the new firm $20,000 a month in December.
At least four laws prohibit companies that receive federal contracts from paying contingency fees to lobbyists, according to Tom Susman, chairman of the ethics committee of the American League of Lobbyists.
"We realized that with government contracts you're not supposed to get a percent, so we revised it," Karen Weldon said. "We were worried that it might look inappropriate."
Researcher Mark Madden in Washington and Staff Writer Sergei L. Loiko in Moscow contributed to this report.
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