New details released on Iran-prisoner swap, and it just got worse

Reuters is reporting thatNader Modanlo, an Iranian-American businessmanwho was convicted of taking a $10 million payment from Iran in exchange for his help in brokering a deal between Iran and Russia to launch a satellite, apparently gets to keep the cash as part of the prisoner swap deal:

According to Reuters,Modanlo refused the Obama administration’s first offer of clemency and had to “sweeten” the offer by offering to drop its claim on the cash:

Nader Modanlo was facing five more years in federal prison when he got an extraordinary offer: U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to commute his sentence as part of this month’s historic and then still-secret prisoner swap with Iran. He said no.

To sweeten the deal, the U.S. administration then dropped a claim against the Iran-born aerospace engineer for $10 million that a Maryland jury found he had taken as an illegal payment from Iran, according to interviews with Modanlo, lawyers involved and U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The surrender of the U.S. claim, which has not previously been reported, could add to scrutiny of how the Obama administration clinched a prisoner deal that has drawn criticism from Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers.

“Art of the Deal” this was not:

And maybe we need to start paying attention to Iranian media sources to get the truth about what our government is doing?

Upon his release, Modanlo referred to himself as a political prisoner:

Yeah … a political prisoner with $10 million in his pocket, thanks to this bad deal.

Read more: http://twitchy.com/2016/01/27/ergo-the-rise-of-trump-new-details-released-on-iran-prisoner-swap-and-it-just-got-worse/