As one of those donors, Winnick had paid for the lunch, and thus had been allotted time to address the gathering. "This egomaniac who could afford the tab got up and rambled on about how rich and daring he was and how great his kids were," writes Reeves. When Albright got up to speak, Winnick adorned her with a baseball cap bearing the corporate logo of his telecommunications company, Global Crossing. "It made you cringe to be a citizen of the world's greatest democracy," Reeves reports. "But that's the way it is these days."

Albright and Clinton had at least 133,000 reasons to grin their way through Winnick's performance: that's how many of his own dollars the corporate heavyweight gave to Democrats during the last election cycle. The donations were part of at least $1,265,268 that Global Crossing and its affiliates and executives gave the party. Republicans received almost as much from the company, including $185,000 from Winnick. Global Crossing has made no secret of its desire for returns on that investment beyond self-congratulatory luncheons.

Winnick founded Global Crossing in 1997, and has since raised over $20 billion in capital. The company plans to lay 100,000 miles of fiber-optic cable to 27 countries and 200 cities by the middle of this year. Last August, Forbes estimated Winnick's value at $3.2 billion. But that was when the company's stock was hovering around $32 a share. By February, it had plunged to barely $15.

A former employee of junk-bond king Michael Milken, Winnick also controls Pacific Capital Group, an investment firm that helped launch Global Crossing. In February, Pacific Capital agreed to acquire part of Loews Cinema as part of a bankruptcy restructuring. The group also has investments in a number of telecommunications and finance companies, including Nextwave Telecom, WorldPort Communications, Value America, and Aegis Consumer Funding Group.

Winnick harbors political interests beyond Washington. He has pledged $40 million of his wealth to build the Winnick Institution Jerusalem, which will focus on global issues of peace and tolerance. He also funds other pro-Israel programs, including one that sponsors Jewish-American students who wish to visit the country for the first time.

In 1997, Winnick hired Terry McAuliffe, Clinton's chief fundraiser, as a consultant. According to the New York Times, the $100,000 he paid McAuliffe turned into an $18 million windfall as McAuliffe's contacts helped Global Crossing's stock climb. In 1999, McAullife set up a golf gave between Clinton and Winnick, which ended with Winnick pledging $1 million for Clinton's presidential library.