White House gatecrashers settle old debt with a watch

A Virginia socialite couple at the centre of the security breach at President Barack Obama`s state dinner for PM Manmohan Singh has been forced to settle an old debt with an expensive watch.

Washington: A Virginia socialite couple at the centre of the security breach at President Barack Obama`s state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been forced to settle an old debt with an expensive watch. At a Virginia courthouse Friday, Tareq Salahi, who along with wife Michaele last week breezed into the Obama dinner uninvited, was forced to give up a Patek Phillipe he was wearing to pay the couple`s USD2,000 debt to landscaper Mike E Dunbar.

The Salahis` lawyer said the watch would be worth far more than the debt. The judge ordered the watch held at the courthouse until the lawyers figure out how to sell it. In 2008, the judge had ordered the Salahis to pay Dunbar USD 925, and added $900 in attorney`s fees and $53 in court costs, plus six percent interest. The Salahis Friday offered a few different payment plans for the bill. The parties agreed that the Patek Philippe Geneve watch that Tarek was wearing could be sold to generate the cash. Under the law, the landscaper could demand almost whatever valuables they had on them. According to the Washington Post, Dunbar later told the assembled press: "Right here, right now, it doesn`t feel like anything because I still don`t have my money." Virginia regulators also said Thursday they are investigating the Salahis` fundraising practices. The couple says money raised through America`s Polo Cup World Championship, a polo tournament organised by them goes to their non-profit Journey for the Cure. But state officials say the non-profit did not register with the state to raise money until last month. The Indian Embassy pulled out of the 2010 edition of the polo tournament after the controversy that has overshadowed Manmohan Singh`s visit, the first state visit by a foreign dignitary during the Obama presidency. Meanwhile, another lawsuit accuses the couple of bouncing a nearly $24,000 cheque for liquor purchased in Maryland. The Montgomery County government, which conducts all the wholesale liquor sales on its territory, filed a lawsuit Thursday against the couple. The Salahis purchased wine and beer for the charity polo event they held in the county in May. According to documents filed in Montgomery County District Court, the couple returned more than USD 10,000 worth of merchandise, but they still owe more than USD 13,000 from the bounced cheque. A spokesman for Dewey & LeBoeuf, a law firm that represents the couple, declined to comment on the claim. IANS