BOMBSHELL: ‘Probable cause’ that Clinton Foundation ‘ran afoul’ of IRS, according to 2017 report
(National Sentinel) Justice Delayed: An investigative “op-ed” published on Thursday dropped a new bombshell that has been a long time coming: Federal investigators received evidence last year suggesting that the Clinton Foundation may owe the IRS millions of dollars in back taxes.
As reported by The Hill‘s John Solomon, who has been tracking Clinton corruption since before the 2016 election, whistleblower evidence of potential tax fraud and other illegal activity by the foundation was given to both the IRS and the FBI in a 48-page filing dated Aug. 11, 2017. The filing is supported with 95 exhibits including internal legal reviews the foundation conducted in 2008 and 2011.
The filing was made by a private firm called MDA Analytics LLC, which is run by former federal criminal investigators and attached to 6,000 pages of evidence given to federal authorities more than a year ago. It suggests that the foundation could be liable for millions in delinquent taxes and associated penalties on donations amounting to more than $2.5 billion over the life of the organization.
Aside from the IRS, MDA Analytics officials have also been in touch with federal prosecutors at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., but also with FBI agents in Little Rock, Ark.
“And last week,” Solomon writes, “a federal prosecutor suddenly asked for documents from their private investigation.”
Republican lawmakers have long suspected that the foundation may have been used by the Clintons as a “quid pro quo” for foreign donors betting that Hillary was going to succeed President Obama in 2016.
The internal reviews “flagged serious concerns about legal compliance, improper commingling of personal and charity business and ‘quid pro quo’ promises made to donors,” Solomon wrote, while Hillary was Obama’s secretary of state (and contemplating a 2016 presidential bid).
Solomon noted further:
The submission also cites an interview its investigators conducted with Andrew Kessel that quotes the foundation’s longtime chief financial officer as saying he was unable to stop former President Clinton from “commingling” personal business and charitable activities inside the foundation and that he “knows where all the bodies are buried.”
He told investigators “one of the biggest problems was Mr. Clinton’s commingling and use of business and donated funds and his personal expenses,” the whistleblower submission notes.
“There is no controlling Bill Clinton. He does whatever he wants and runs up incredible expenses with foundation funds,” says a separate interview memo that was attached to the submission.
“Bill Clinton mixes and matches his personal business with that of the foundation. Many people within the foundation have tried to caution him about this but he does not listen, and there really is no talking to him,” the memo continued.
$rfsn_creative.generate('refersion_client/6972/creatives/dynamic/21755-d741af89eca40b60676c0c503ec922ef.json', {aid: '301229.7c349d4'
});
All in all, “There is probable cause that the Clinton Foundation has run afoul of IRS rules regarding tax-exempt charitable organizations and has acted inconsistently with its stated purpose,” MDA Analytics noted in its submission.
“The Foundation should be investigated for all of the above-mentioned improprieties. The tax rules, codes, statutes and the rule of law should and must be applied in this case.”
Current and former foundation officials confirmed to Solomon that Kessel did meet with MDA investigators in late 2016 and subsequently was interviewed by FBI agents in 2017. However, they claim he never implicated Bill Clinton in any illegal activity.
Solomon notes that MDA officials sent multiple follow-up letters to the IRS in 2017 and 2018. The agency responded at one point that it had received the firm’s submission and that it was “still open and under active investigation.”
However, that changed after the midterm elections last month. MDA got a letter from the IRS explaining that it would not pursue an investigation “for reasons that ranged from a lack of resources to possible expiration of the statute of limitations on some allegations,” Solomon wrote.
Solomon asked a half-dozen former federal investigators to look at MDA’s filing and evidence; all said the firm’s tax compliance analysis wouldn’t matter much to federal agencies because they have their own legal experts
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || ).push({});
However, they also said the evidence of alleged criminal behavior was strong — so strong that an IRS and FBI investigation was indeed warranted.
Why does any of this matter?
In March, we noted that a key witness in the Uranium One deal scandal was interviewed for more than five hours by FBI agents seeking new information about Bill and Hillary Clinton and their foundation.
“They were looking into the Clintons, and the information that I provided to them about the Clintons and about what was said and confirmed by Russian leadership seemed to be very important to them,” William Campbell, a former FBI operative and whistleblower in the Uranium One case, said.
The previous month, reports noted that Campbell told Congress that Russian operatives involved in the Uranium One deal were convinced that Bill and Hillary Clinton could be manipulated into helping them “seal” the agreement with the Obama administration.
(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||;w.ldAdInit.push({slot:11206627647015270,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8620-9820"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");
There’s more.
In April, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions appointed John Huber, a federal prosecutor from Utah, to investigate all things Clinton. Among other things, Huber was tasked with delving “into whether the FBI abused its powers when it sought permission and then carried out wiretapping of a Trump campaign figure, or whether it trod too lightly in pursuing questions about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton” regarding her mishandling of classified email,” the Washington Times reported.
As we noted, Huber is set to provide testimony to a House committee next week. He will be asked, among other things, to provide members with an update on the status of the Clinton Foundation aspect of his investigation.
(function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||;w.ldAdInit.push({slot:10316194087646310,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-6314-4712"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.lockerdomecdn.com/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");
“Mr. Huber with the Department of Justice and FBI has been having an investigation — at least part of his task was to look at the Clinton Foundation and what may or may not have happened as it relates to improper activity with that charitable foundation,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows, R-N.C.
In addition to determining how much money and resources Huber has dedicated to the investigation, Republican lawmakers will want to know if any charges are coming regarding the Clinton Foundation.
“A prosecutor working for Huber called MDA Analytics last week, seeking copies of their evidence, according to sources,” Solomon wrote. “The firm told the prosecutor that the FBI has possessed the evidence in its Little Rock office since early 2018, the sources said.”
Never miss a story! Sign up for our daily email newsletter — Click here!