Reward of $175,000 Offered for LAT Obama Tape

A hedge fund manager is offering a reward of $150,000 in exchange for a tape that shows Barack Obama at a 2003 dinner for a Palestinian scholar.

Aston Grimaldi II said he would pay out the money to whomever can provide a tape of the 2003 event for Rashid Khalidi, which the Los Angeles Times has written about but has refused to release. Grimaldi’s offer letter is available at Dirty Harry’s Place, a conservative blog.

“Being an extreme fiscal conservative and somewhat of a social liberal, the number one thing to me is transparency and open government,” said Grimaldi. “Those rules and standards should apply also to the press.”

Dirty Harry’s Place also says that it received an e-mail from someone else who will give another $25,000 to whomever can come up with the tape.

The McCain campaign has accused the Times of suppressing the video and has called on the Times to release it.

Grimaldi, speaking on the phone in Monaco, said that he would pay his reward out of one of his personal accounts. Grimaldi, a citizen of both the United States and Monaco, said he read about the tape in the International Herald Tribune and has heard from Israeli friends who want to see it.

“One of the most important things they look at in a potential candidate is the viewpoint on israeli relations,” he said.

Grimaldi said it was “incredibly unfair” for the Times not to release the tape.

“It shows an incredible bias,” he said.