DES MOINES -- Hillary Clinton took a stand against telemarketing fraud this week in Iowa, at the same time her presidential campaign has taken donations from the executive of a company involved in a telemarketing fraud investigation by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller.

Vinod Gupta, founder and CEO of InfoUSA, has donated more than $10,000 to Clinton over the years, including $3,600 this year, according to campaign finance reports.

Miller's office said in 2005 that it was investigating Walter Karl Inc., an InfoUSA subsidiary, for its role in providing phone lists to fraudulent telemarketers. Miller went to court to get the company to cooperate with the investigation.

InfoUSA, based in Omaha, has come under scrutiny -- in Iowa and other states -- for selling lists that help telemarketers contact seniors who have shown a tendency to make certain types of purchases over the phone.

According to Miller's 2005 court filing, an investigator recognized a mailing as "part of a scheme to create a list of consumers who would be good targets for subsequent telemarketing fraud." The investigator found that data from the InfoUSA subsidiary had been used for the mailing, though the mailing was from a separate company.

Clinton decried these kinds of tactics Wednesday when she outlined her consumer protection plan for the elderly. She spoke in Waukee, a Des Moines suburb.

"Seniors should be extremely careful buying anything that someone tries to sell you over the telephone. And once someone has responded to any one of those scams, their personal information is added to a so-called 'suckers list,' which is sold to other fraudsters," she said.

Clinton said she wants to give victims the right to sue companies that have sold personal data to perpetuate fraud.

Miller's spokesman Bob Brammer said Thursday the investigation of the InfoUSA subsidiary isn't closed.

"In general, we have been looking for several years at companies that are used by fraudulent telemarketing operations. They aren't necessarily fraudulent themselves, they just act as facilitators," Brammer said.

When asked about Gupta, Clinton's Iowa spokesman, Mark Daley, issued the following statement:

"Sen. Clinton has been one of the most outspoken advocates for protecting seniors and all consumers from fraud. Her latest plan will protect seniors from those wishing to prey on them," he said.

An InfoUSA spokesman referred a reporter to a statement on the company Web site. The statement, in response to various news reports, says InfoUSA has a strict policy about not selling data to companies that act illegally. The statement goes on to say that Walter Karl Inc. no longer engages in the conduct investigated in Iowa.

Gupta has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaigns, almost all to Democrats. In addition to his donations to Clinton, he gave $1,000 to Barack Obama's 2004 Senate campaign.

Miller, the attorney general, is one of Obama's highest-profile supporters in Iowa, though his investigation in InfoUSA precedes the current campaign by several years.

Contact Dan Gearino at (515) 243-0138 and dan.gearino@lee.net.