Documents: Money woes for Fla. family in scandal
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - When news vans camped outside her stately home, a Florida socialite tied to the Gen. David Petraeus sex scandal fell back on her informal credentials as a social ambassador for Tampa society and top military brass: She asked police for diplomatic protection.
In a phone call to authorities, Jill Kelley, a party hostess and unofficial social liaison for leaders of the U.S. military's Central Command in Tampa, cited her status as an honorary consul general while complaining about media that had descended on her two-story, five-bedroom brick home overlooking Tampa Bay, which was purchased in 2004 for $1.5 million.
"You know, I don't know if by any chance, because I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well," she told the 911 dispatcher Monday.
Nearly all lines in the tangled sex scandal involving Petraeus lead back to Kelley, whose complaint about anonymous, threatening emails triggered the FBI investigation that led to the general's downfall as director of the CIA. And now Kelley is in the middle of an investigation of the Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, over alleged "inappropriate communications" between the two.
Kelley's friendship with Petraeus and his wife began when the general arrived in Tampa about 2008. Kelley and her husband, Scott, a cancer surgeon, had moved to the area a few years earlier and threw a welcome party at their home, a short distance from MacDill Air Force Base, where Central Command is headquartered.
Hundreds of pages of court documents in several lawsuits detail financial troubles for the Kelleys and Jill Kelley's twin sister, Natalie Khawam, who lived with the couple.
Chase Bank sued Scott Kelley in 2010 over a $25,880 unpaid credit card bill, and an investment by the Kelleys in a Tampa office building turned into a dispute with the tenant over $28,000-a-month rent. The couple didn't pay the mortgage and entered into foreclosure.
Attorney Barry Cohen represented the Kelleys in the case, but they turned around and sued him over legal fees, claiming he overcharged them by $5,000. The suit was dismissed, but court documents did not say what happened.
Natalie Khawam worked for Cohen's firm. She filed a lawsuit against the firm's chief financial officer, claiming she was sexually harassed after she asked about reimbursement for expenses, according to the court documents. She claimed Alan Goldberg asked her why she needed the money and she said because she was a single mom and needed to pay her divorce lawyer. "You have nice legs, your lawyer won't drop you" she claimed he replied.
Cohen, defending Goldberg, disputed all of her accusations, and said Khawam had a history of lying to the court, according to the documents.
A report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found the facts did not support that "working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person in her position would have been compelled to resign."
Khawam, who earned $270,822 in 2010, quit the firm and filed for bankruptcy in April, listing almost $350,000 in assets against $3.6 million in liabilities, including an $800,000 personal loan from her sister and brother-in-law, according to court documents. It was not clear whether the loan was made over time.
Her assets were a $344,000 residential property in Washington, D.C., a 2000 Volvo and jewelry, clothes and $694 in cash. Her liabilities included two mortgages totaling $367,000 on the D.C. property, more than $100,000 in student loans and three other personal loans totaling $1.1 million.
In another twist in the scandal, court records indicate that Petraeus and Allen intervened two months ago in a messy custody dispute on behalf of Khawam. The judge awarded Khawam's ex-husband custody of their son last year. He also called Khawam dishonest and lacking in integrity.
For her part, Jill Kelley has taken a low profile since Petraeus' affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, became public. The Kelleys have retained high-powered Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell, who did not immediately return a call.
Jill Kelley was appointed honorary consul for South Korea for the city of Tampa in August after she met with the nation's ambassador when he and other embassy staff visited Florida to promote a free trade agreement subsequently approved by Congress.
South Korean Embassy officials said the position doesn't give her diplomatic immunity or powers, and she hadn't really done anything in her new role. Kelley was one of 10 honorary consuls in the U.S. and one of two in Florida.
Soong Yoon, consul general at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, said South Korea is reviewing Kelley's appointment.
"We are keeping an eye on what's happening in this case and we will review the whole process," Yoon said. "Any decision will depend on our official assessment."
Jill Kelley's pass to MacDill Air Force Base was indefinitely suspended in the last couple of days, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Warren said Wednesday. Kelley can still enter the base but now must report to the visitor center and sign in.
In 2005, the Kelleys established the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation Inc., according to the Florida Department of State.
In 2007, the last year they filed paperwork, the foundation reported revenues of $157,284 to the IRS, all from direct donations, but the charity's expenses totaled the same amount. The group spent $43,317 in meals and entertainment; $38,610 in travel and $25,013 in legal fees, among other things.
The filing also said $58,417 went toward the charity's mission to "research studies into efforts to discover ways to improve the quality of life of terminally-ill adult cancer patients" but it's not clear what specifically the money was spent on.
The only three listed officers for the organization were the Kelleys and Kwaham, who all shared the title of director, according to the IRS filing. The foundation was run out of the Kelleys home.
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Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush .
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington and Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report.
In a phone call to authorities, Jill Kelley, a party hostess and unofficial social liaison for leaders of the U.S. military's Central Command in Tampa, cited her status as an honorary consul general while complaining about media that had descended on her two-story, five-bedroom brick home overlooking Tampa Bay, which was purchased in 2004 for $1.5 million.
"You know, I don't know if by any chance, because I'm an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property. I don't know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well," she told the 911 dispatcher Monday.
Nearly all lines in the tangled sex scandal involving Petraeus lead back to Kelley, whose complaint about anonymous, threatening emails triggered the FBI investigation that led to the general's downfall as director of the CIA. And now Kelley is in the middle of an investigation of the Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, over alleged "inappropriate communications" between the two.
Kelley's friendship with Petraeus and his wife began when the general arrived in Tampa about 2008. Kelley and her husband, Scott, a cancer surgeon, had moved to the area a few years earlier and threw a welcome party at their home, a short distance from MacDill Air Force Base, where Central Command is headquartered.
Hundreds of pages of court documents in several lawsuits detail financial troubles for the Kelleys and Jill Kelley's twin sister, Natalie Khawam, who lived with the couple.
Chase Bank sued Scott Kelley in 2010 over a $25,880 unpaid credit card bill, and an investment by the Kelleys in a Tampa office building turned into a dispute with the tenant over $28,000-a-month rent. The couple didn't pay the mortgage and entered into foreclosure.
Attorney Barry Cohen represented the Kelleys in the case, but they turned around and sued him over legal fees, claiming he overcharged them by $5,000. The suit was dismissed, but court documents did not say what happened.
Natalie Khawam worked for Cohen's firm. She filed a lawsuit against the firm's chief financial officer, claiming she was sexually harassed after she asked about reimbursement for expenses, according to the court documents. She claimed Alan Goldberg asked her why she needed the money and she said because she was a single mom and needed to pay her divorce lawyer. "You have nice legs, your lawyer won't drop you" she claimed he replied.
Cohen, defending Goldberg, disputed all of her accusations, and said Khawam had a history of lying to the court, according to the documents.
A report by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found the facts did not support that "working conditions were so intolerable that a reasonable person in her position would have been compelled to resign."
Khawam, who earned $270,822 in 2010, quit the firm and filed for bankruptcy in April, listing almost $350,000 in assets against $3.6 million in liabilities, including an $800,000 personal loan from her sister and brother-in-law, according to court documents. It was not clear whether the loan was made over time.
Her assets were a $344,000 residential property in Washington, D.C., a 2000 Volvo and jewelry, clothes and $694 in cash. Her liabilities included two mortgages totaling $367,000 on the D.C. property, more than $100,000 in student loans and three other personal loans totaling $1.1 million.
In another twist in the scandal, court records indicate that Petraeus and Allen intervened two months ago in a messy custody dispute on behalf of Khawam. The judge awarded Khawam's ex-husband custody of their son last year. He also called Khawam dishonest and lacking in integrity.
For her part, Jill Kelley has taken a low profile since Petraeus' affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, became public. The Kelleys have retained high-powered Washington lawyer Abbe Lowell, who did not immediately return a call.
Jill Kelley was appointed honorary consul for South Korea for the city of Tampa in August after she met with the nation's ambassador when he and other embassy staff visited Florida to promote a free trade agreement subsequently approved by Congress.
South Korean Embassy officials said the position doesn't give her diplomatic immunity or powers, and she hadn't really done anything in her new role. Kelley was one of 10 honorary consuls in the U.S. and one of two in Florida.
Soong Yoon, consul general at the South Korean Embassy in Washington, said South Korea is reviewing Kelley's appointment.
"We are keeping an eye on what's happening in this case and we will review the whole process," Yoon said. "Any decision will depend on our official assessment."
Jill Kelley's pass to MacDill Air Force Base was indefinitely suspended in the last couple of days, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Warren said Wednesday. Kelley can still enter the base but now must report to the visitor center and sign in.
In 2005, the Kelleys established the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation Inc., according to the Florida Department of State.
In 2007, the last year they filed paperwork, the foundation reported revenues of $157,284 to the IRS, all from direct donations, but the charity's expenses totaled the same amount. The group spent $43,317 in meals and entertainment; $38,610 in travel and $25,013 in legal fees, among other things.
The filing also said $58,417 went toward the charity's mission to "research studies into efforts to discover ways to improve the quality of life of terminally-ill adult cancer patients" but it's not clear what specifically the money was spent on.
The only three listed officers for the organization were the Kelleys and Kwaham, who all shared the title of director, according to the IRS filing. The foundation was run out of the Kelleys home.
___
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush .
___
Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington and Curt Anderson in Miami contributed to this report.
Where do I sign up to be involved in a sex scandal..?
Just more soap opera stuff for the rest of the world to laugh at us. Petraeus should have never been appointed to head the CIA. He just doesn't have the intelligence for the job and if he was of such weak character to be having affairs then he should have never been appointed.
Well, looks like she got her 15 minutes of fame, and then some!
Reality-TV marries Soap: One could not write a better soap opera, including the cast and the costumes. Wonderful. Can't wait for the next episode.
And she knows the combination to the General's secrets. 36-24-36
Seems the General was letting his privates make the decisions.
plate marked "Honorary Counsel."
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That would be a misnomer. It's "consul".
She's probably campaigning to get her own reality TV show now. I'm guessing she is loving the attention, all the while pretending she doesn't want it. Oh poor me, but look at me! Its all about me me me me me!!!!
How is she a socialite? Tampa is a friggin' cowtown.
Those pleats make her look cold.
Jon Stewart said it best.... he called the whole group of them the Band of Boners (with a poster of them looking like they were posing for the Band of Brothers movie.
With any luck being 'outed' like this will put a damper on the 'socialite' activity circle for awhile. I hope to h^*l the investigation finds something to rake their little petulant a***s over some coals with. Awful lot of 'resources' being devoted to this that really shouldn't be.
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Sadly this may only 'augment' the circle and take down some important, necessary individuals while pumping up the social status of others.
 @theToucan I'm guessing the names of the Kelleys and the wife's sister have dropped off many a party list in recent days.Â
Socialite? That's an awful gracious way to describe a high-flying, high-society madame of the military.
 @Throbbinhood Nah... Just somebody with more money than brains.
 @Keysontheright  @Throbbinhood Even though they've declared bankruptcy, I have to agree with your more money than brains assessment.Â
Amazing how all this is overshadowing what took place in Benghazi. Shame Shame Shame.Â
 @agatha it does not, don't worry
Feeling pretty good about being in the 99% right about now.
She looks like one of those call girls !
"Wag The Dog".....(in this case, she's a pretty good looking "weapon of mass distraction") However, the people STILL want answers about Benghazi, and are STILL going to demand them after this media frenzy dies down. Of course, that probably won't be until ooooh, mid January or so. Coincidence?
 @Wolfen any conspiracy post ending with "Coincidence?" comes from a certified crackpot.
@tufa23 You hold on to that, your tinfoil helmet, and your rose colored glasses tufa. There are WAY too many "timing coincidences" with this whole mess, and anyone who can't SEE that.....would be the crackpot.
 @WolfenÂ
Aside from intimating toward some sort of conspiratorial nonsense, naturally, the entire population cannot possible deal with more than one item at a time right? Every official from the WH to the CIA is investigating Benghazi. Are you truly interested in the full facts, or just slowly leaking inferences of some conspiracy or whatever?
The first mention of Kelley and parties and Petraeus just sounded odd. Parties and Allen yes--parties and Petraeus--no.
It is still all about money and power. Too bad they are not in the field fighting with their men and women who sacrifice so much. What an embarassment to the citizens of this country!
Ex CIA director a 4 star general all playing with women with middle east roots and ties, doesn't it seem rather strange that theres more to these stories than just friends and lovers..
What a carnival of inbreds this family is turning out to be........
What a lazy dog looking for her 15 seconds of fame.
Oh it must be rough being a socialite!
 @Surveyor1Â
Why? Do you have a problem where the spouse doesn't need to work outside of the home?
Dang, she would be hard to avoid. Or leave your paws off...
Can we get back to the real story and away from these distractions? Why were the pleas for security ignored in Benghazi? Who knew what and when?
 @sadatoniÂ
You want more on Benghazi? Then why are you posting here when this is about linked, yet a separate matter?
 @WSims007  @sadatoni benghazi is the new birth certificate apparently...
So how does one become a Socialite and does it pay well?
@Black31Â Â You live off of other rich people.
So far, I fail to see where Ms. Kelly has done anything wrong. There doesn't seem to be any "sexual" connection to Patraeus, It is she who wound up receiving "terse e-mails" from Broadwell, who aside from being married, and having an affair with another married man, General Patraeus. Seems like it is Broadwell acting more like a jealous mistress.
 @WSims007 I could care less about her socialite status and playing an honorary consul.  I'm more concerned about her family setting up a bogus cancer foundation that obviously enriched only them.  I would like to see this investigated.  And who do you think they voted for, Romney or Obama?  If Obama, I'll eat my Obama-Biden bumper sticker.
 @jonÂ
Who they voted for is really pretty much irrelevant. But I agree that the charity should be investigated. But from the gist of the article and what I have read elsewhere, the greater percentage did not go toward the stated goal.
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As for their "socialite status", I always admire people for that, but never 'bank' with them. I see a lot more from the kind of folks who work the food banks, mentoring of children, and the volunteers in the VA.
 @WSims007 Oh, so the fact that Mrs. Kelly clearly overstepped her 'honorary' position both reportedly and now on tape with a 911 call is not cause for suspicion of wrong doings on her part? Now it is becoming public that after she started the FBI investigation that she herself tried to stop the investigation last August once it became apparent of the scope the investigation took on into her own life and others. It is one thing to bring down the head of the CIA because of his own faults but now the FBI and many other federal organizations are using microscopes in normally dark places to investigate everyone that has had contact with Mrs. Kelly and this may bring down good people with no wrong doings except for being associated with this overstepping air headed woman trying to protect her men when they clearly did not need her type of protection. Her position with the military was to foster positive morale conditions between non military and military organizations in the Tampa area, not to destroy them.
 @Beam_Me_UpÂ
Her original complaint was about the terse e-mails being sent to her by Broadwell. It had nothing to do with Patraeus at that point, except to Broadwell. She, Kelly, did not set out to bring down Patraeus. And Patraeus did not "have" to resign. The affair was not illegal, unethical yes, but not illegal. It was Patraeus who chose to resign. The FBI became involved because of the sensitive nature of the people involved and possible security concerns. And from there it snowballed into what is now the case. You have not shown any actual illegal maneuvers on her part.
 @Beam_Me_UpÂ
I'll leave it to the police to decide which is illegal or not, but to my understanding, it would fall under a false police report. That is what I understand and that is illegal. My earlier comment was based upon incomplete information, which has been now been made more complete.And as for the affair, per both, and the investigation, the affair did not begin until after Petraeus had retired. I fail to understand, how and why a man in his vaunted position, would stoop to virtually trash his history of valor in such a wasted endeavor. In a sense, I really feel bad for him, while still recognizing his service and valor.
 @WSims007 False representation is illegal to police but a good public defender could make the case that she telling the 911 operator that she had diplomatic immunity was the same as telling the police a false statement. But, in your original comment you only stated 'anything wrong' not 'illegal maneuvers on her part' as you say in your reply. Clearly her behavior would be classified as wrong doings by many people and may also be classified as illegal depending on what court tries her. I agree that she did not set out to take down Petraeus but her foolish behavior directly led to it. The complete investigation has not been completed/revealed and it might come out that the affair was illegal if it started while Petraeus was still on active duty. It might have been illegal for Broadwell since she is still under the jurisdiction of the UCMJ, Uniform Code of Military Justice. Military members have an additional rule book to live by that civilians do not and adultery is a court martial offence.Â
 @Beam_Me_UpÂ
Also, in further response, now having had read more of the updated materials on Kelly, etc., I add in here that this woman seems to be a spoiled diva or something. The family seems kind of wacky or something else for sure. Their alleged "charity" should really be fully investigated.
This story supports a long-standing theory I've had: Men are inexplicably drawn to the crazy chicks.
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Seriously...an "honorary ambassador" because she hosted dinner parties? Gag.
"Socialite"? Get over yourself.Â
I always wondered what happened to those immature party-girl cheerleader types when they got older. Now I know.