Businessman Charged as Illegal Campaign Donor

Miami businessman Mark B. Jimenez was charged Wednesday with using phony contributors to make $39,500 in illegal contributions to President Clinton’s 1996 reelection campaign and to other Democrats.

Jimenez, 52, who has met with Clinton over coffee at the White House and played golf with him, was charged in a 17-count indictment.

He was the 12th person charged by the Justice Department campaign finance task force.

The grand jury charged that the straw contributions to the Clinton campaign totaled $23,000 and were made in connection with a Sept. 19, 1995, fund-raiser at the Sheraton Bal Harbour in Miami. The other $16,500 went to a handful of other Democratic candidates.

Jimenez is chief executive and majority owner of Future Tech International Inc., a distributor of computer components and peripherals in Miami. Jimenez and his company have contributed several hundred thousand dollars to the Democratic Party and other causes, including restoring Clinton’s birthplace.

His attorney was not immediately available for comment.

The indictment charged that the goal was to seek influence with political leaders, but it gave no examples of any interests that were promoted. Jimenez has said he sought nothing.

The grand jury charged that donors who made contributions to Clinton and the other candidates were reimbursed in a scheme to conceal that Jimenez was violating the $1,000 limit on personal contributions and that his company was violating the ban on corporate contributions.

The straw donors were employees of FTI and of Mark Vision Computer, a Miami-based company owned by a close relative of Jimenez, the grand jury said.