Harper's Magazine: Shaky Foundations (Clinton Foundation)

[Ichingcarpenter]

The Clintons’ so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich family friends.


After endless delays and excuses, the Clinton Foundation released its 2014 tax return as well as amended returns for the previous four years and an audit of its finances. That fulfilled a pledge made last April by Clinton Foundation acting CEO, Maura Pally, who acknowledged that the foundation had previously made a few unfortunate accounting “mistakes.”

Journalists are going to be scouring through this new financial information and pumping out “balanced” stories that evade what is already evident, namely that the Clintons have used their foundation for crass profiteering and influence peddling.

If the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies do their jobs, the foundation will be closed and its current and past trustees, who include Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, will be indicted. That’s because their so-called charitable enterprise has served as a vehicle to launder money and to enrich Clinton family friends.

It is beyond dispute that former President Clinton has been directly involved in helping foundation donors and his personal cronies get rich. Even worse, it is beyond dispute that these very same donors and the Clintons’ political allies have won the focused attention of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton when she served as Secretary of State. Democrats and Clinton apologists will write these accusations off as conspiracy mongering and right-wing propaganda, but it’s an open secret to anyone remotely familiar with accounting and regulatory requirements for charities that the financial records are deliberately misleading. And not coincidentally, those records were long filed by a Little Rock–based accounting firm called BKD, a regional auditor with little international experience.

It’s odd that a small Arkansas-headquartered firm would handle the books for a giant entity like the Clinton Foundation, and even odder given that BKD has been implicated in a variety of misconduct. For example, last year the Securities and Exchange Commission sanctioned BKD for “violating auditor independence rules when they prepared the financial statements of brokerage firms that were their audit clients.”

It brings to mind Bernie Madoff, who also used a small accounting shop when he was running his notorious Ponzi scheme. And it’s worth emphasizing here that smaller firms are typically far less likely to challenge major clients, and the Clinton Foundation was one of BKD’s major sources of revenue.........................


Good Read: https://harpers.org/blog/2015/11/shaky-foundations/

[Fairgo]

1. Fascinating read

This is organised crime.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Now imagine a white house

with the whole family doing their pay to play with foreign governments and international corporations . I see a conflict of interest with Bill and Chelsea doing their thing and coordinating with Hillary in control of the whole nine yards .

Talk about revealing emails and scandals that can occur at this level and you know it will happen........yikes.

[A Simple Game]

3. Just the other day I wrote in a post that if elected Hillary would be the first President

to enter the job as a millionaire and leave as a billionaire.

[Zira]

11. +10000

[Baobab]

23. $600,000 from Dutch Health Insurer Achmea for a 45 minute speech. Why?

maybe this may be why

Note, the insurer really won, as they stopped single payer.

http://www.italaw.com/sites/default/files/case-documents/italaw3207.pdf

[dlwickham]

4. The author has been a Clinton critic since 1993

Nice hit piece

[IdaBriggs]

5. Please provide actual refutation to the FACTS

Or call out the OPINIONS and state why you disagree with them. The reflexive "it is a hit piece - they hate the Clintons and have sibe 1993" appears dismissive. Do you consider Haroer Collins to now be a Right Wing Rag?

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. Ken Silverstein

Silverstein worked for the Los Angeles Times as an investigative reporter, for The Associated Press in Brazil, and has written for Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, The Nation, Slate, and Salon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Silverstein

[IdaBriggs]

15. Well, those are all obviously Right Wing Rags - probably lunches w/Rove, too!

Thank you for the perspective - the only credibility now in question is that of those who reflexively defend any Clinton regardless of fact or merit.

Sigh. Because some people think that's what we want in a Presidential candidate AGAIN - someone with integrity issues. Wasn't the John Edwards experience enough for those who can't remember the ancient days of the 1990s?

[Baobab]

24. Its clearly common knowledge that the Clinton Foundation is a way to channel them money

If normal people know it, and there has been article after article in maninstream media about it, I hate to say it, but its likely to be true.

Look at what happened in Haiti. they didn't even care - their housing efforts were so obviously a scam.

Also, HRC was involved in trying to push their minimum wages down.

http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/a_pulled_scoop_shows_us_booste.php

[dorkzilla]

19. So funny how the idea that someone could be critical of the Clintons

for 23 years could make their well-researched piece null and void.

[Omaha Steve]

7. Forbes: The Mystery Of Hillary's Missing Millions

How about this one then?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danalexander/2015/09/29/the-mystery-of-hillarys-missing-millions/#71d6f37d5505

This story appears in the October 19, 2015 issue of Forbes.

Since Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House in 2001, they have earned more than $230 million. But in federal filings the Clintons claim they are worth somewhere between $11 million and $53 million. After layering years of disclosures on top of annual tax returns, Forbes estimates their combined net worth at $45 million. Where did all of the money go? No one seems to know, and the Clintons aren’t offering any answers.

From 2001 to 2014 the power couple spent $95 million on taxes. Hillary’s 2008 presidential run cost her $13 million. Their two homes cost a combined $5 million, and the Clintons have given away $22 million to charity. All of this is according to FEC filings, property records and years of tax returns. Add it up and you get $135 million. If the Clintons made $230 million, spent $135 million and have just $45 million left over, what happened to the other $50 million?

“That’s kind of strange,” says Joe Biden’s accountant, Walter Deyhle. “You have to report all of your assets. You have to report assets that are owned by your spouse.”

It seems unlikely that the Clintons could have spent all of it. Over 14 years $50 million averages out to $3.6 million in extra expenses per year, or $9,800 per day.

FULL story at link.

[cantbeserious]

6. Can We Say Criminal Enterprise

eom

[Wilms]

16. Clintons are the new BFEE. n/t

[cantbeserious]

17. CFEE

eom

[RufusTFirefly]

8. Yikes!

So why haven’t the Clintons gotten caught? My intelligence source summed up the situation perfectly in explaining why the Benghazi Committee has not thus far bagged them. “The Democrats are stupid but they have ruthless leadership. The Republicans are even dumber. Donald Trump is an idiot but he’s right about one thing: We are led by stupid people. These are some of the dumbest motherfuckers I have ever seen.”

Thanks for posting, Ichingcarpenter!

[Scuba]

10. But she hasn't been convicted, so it's all good. Read that right here on DU.

[FlatBaroque]

12. This here is my prayer...

If the Justice Department and law enforcement agencies do their jobs, the foundation will be closed and its current and past trustees, who include Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton, will be indicted

and let them share a family cell so they can scam each other.

[Fairgo]

13. There is a difference between conspiracy theory and systems thinking

When you put the whole of the Clinton enterprise and its history on the table and look objectively at the whole of it...it's not a conspiracy; its the House of Clinton family business. And look! it links to the House of Bush. When the relationship between these two bloodlines makes sense, you are finally understanding the system.

[djean111]

14. Anyone in the least bit surprised is just not paying attention. n/t

[Ford_Prefect]

18. Another good read on the subject of Clintonian wealth enhancement

See if you can spot the familiar pattern of SOS approval leading to significant amounts of cash "donated" to the foundation, and another paid speaking engagement to a sympathetic audience. When I was a child in Philly they had another word for this kind of money laundering, and it was spoken with a rather pronounced accent.

From the NYT April 2015

Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation Amid Russian Uranium Deal:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/us/cash-flowed-to-clinton-foundation-as-russians-pressed-for-control-of-uranium-company.html

But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.

At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President Bill Clinton and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.

Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

[dlwickham]

20. similar hit pieces were also posted on Free Republic

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3272059/posts

what a coincidence

and the Harpers article was posted on Judicial Watch's website

http://www.judicialwatch.org/bulletins/clinton-finances-white-house-or-big-house/

and good old Rush seems to like Silverstein as well

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/01/06/tired_old_clintons_in_denial

so we have DU members using columns from a blogger to slam the Clintons that right wing sites use as well

[rachael7]

22. So let me get this straight...

Because the column was used or reposted by right wing outlets, we are supposed to doubt the content or bona fides of the author? That's some fabulous logic you got there.

[Baobab]

26. Right wingers should embrace the Clintons

Neoliberalism is definitely a right wing thing.

Not left wing, right wing.

Neoliberalism is pushing global privatization and a pitting of the global south against the developed countries to lower the wages in developed countries to make corporations even more profitable than they already are.

[dlwickham]

27. it should stop and make you think why the right wing sites are using this particular blogger

and should these be reposted on a DEMOCRATIC site

[noiretextatique]

25. Piss poor tactic: why can't you refute the facts?

If the facts are wrong, why can't you refute them?

[thesquanderer]

21. Published over 4 months ago.

If it hasn't become more of an issue yet, I doubt it will soon.

BUT... assuming Hillary wins the nomination, there is more here for the Republicans to throw in her direction.

[Duppers]

28. K & R

So, Hillary supporters going to trash Harper's now? Of course.