Charity Fraud: How Legal Action Against BLM Non-Profit May Trigger Probe Into Clinton Foundation
© AP Photo / Carolyn Kaster
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While the Black Lives Matter charity is being subjected to legal scrutiny, larger examples of alleged charity fraud by powerful US political families should not remain unpunished, says Charles Ortel, adding that the BLM case may become a precedent to examine charities run by the Clintons, Bushes, Obamas, Bidens, and other political heavyweights.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation's (BLMGNF) alleged charity fraud was in the crosshairs of US states' attorney generals last week. According to the New York Post, Indiana, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Virginia have all revoked the BLMNGF’s charitable registration. California and Washington went even further by threatening to hold the charity's leaders personally liable for not revealing what exactly happened to tens of millions of dollars in donations amid George Floyd protests in 2020.
From BLMGNF to Clinton Foundation
The states' attorney generals' effort to get to the bottom of the BLMGNF's failure to produce the required IRS 990 form detailing its financial activities gives hope that the US will focus on its broader charity fraud problem, according to Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel.
Over the past several years Ortel – a US independent analyst who was the first to uncover financial discrepancies at General Electric and predict its downfall in 2008 – has looked into alleged charity fraud on both sides of the US political spectrum.
One of them is the Clinton Foundation, which Ortel started to investigate during Hillary Clinton's 2015/2016 presidential cycle. The Wall Street analyst has come to the conclusion that the Clintons' charity has neither been lawfully organised nor properly managed. Moreover, its supposed financial reports are "riddled with errors that attempt to mask hundreds of millions of dollars in diverted contributions claimed by donors but not found in Clinton Foundation public disclosures," according to him.
"Charity fraud is an insidious set of crimes, more so when lawyers, former presidents and perennial presidential candidates are involved," says Ortel. "Good that BLM scams are in focus, finally, but let's not prove that white privilege protects certain high profile charity con artists by continuing to let the extended network of false-front Clinton 'charities' off the hook. Failure to investigate and to prosecute gigantic charity frauds involving politically connected dynasties including the Clinton and Bush families likely emboldened promoters of these bold BLM scams."
After the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, President Clinton formed the Clinton Foundation Haiti Fund to turn donations of money and supplies into direct relief for the people and government of Haiti, according to the Foundation.
Ortel suggests that US state DOJs' investigation of the BLMGNF could become a precedent for probing the Clinton Foundation's alleged charity frauds, which may also start at local level.
"New York seems a more logical place to start," the analyst suggests. "Bill Clinton's Twitter description claims he founded the Clinton Foundation and the expanded paperback edition of his lengthy work, 'My Life,' claims he did so in NY early in 2001. According to public records, the main Clinton Foundation did not register, as required, with the NY Secretary of State until 29 July 2009 and it certainly did not bother to register its 'doing business as"' names in advance for various 'initiatives' Bill claims he started beginning as early as 2001."
The Wall Street analyst underscores that these are no "minor mistakes": as in the case of BLM and other scams, gullible donors – as well as co-conspirators in charity frauds, money laundering, and tax evasion – use porous, loosely controlled "organisations" to route dirty money towards politically influential families such as the Clintons.
"The NY AG and the IRS have considerable resources at their disposal to police these apparent scams," he says.
Clinton Foundation Whistleblowers' Legal Battle With IRS
Presently, Clinton Foundation whistleblowers Lawrence W. Doyle and John F. Moynihan are continuing their legal fight in the US Tax Court after they filed a lawsuit against the IRS in March 2019. The two forensic investigators filed whistleblower submissions with the IRS over the charity's suspected misdeeds as early as August 2017. However, the government body appeared unwilling to consider their claim, despite the IRS website encouraging everyone to immediately report tax scams.
In December 2018, Doyle and Mohnihan testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, alleging that the Clinton Foundation owes the US government between $400 million and $2.5 billion in taxes. According to them, the charity does not operate as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organisation but acts as nothing short of a foreign agent.
"An overwhelming majority of private citizens take strict rules pertaining to US charities seriously and respect them by making full, fair and accurate public disclosures concerning their finances and activities," says Ortel. "In contrast, charities operated by and near politicians seem to become tempted to flout these same rules, perhaps believing their allies in the IRS, the Department of Justice and state governments will protect them by slowing or even stopping investigations. This must change."
Hillary Clinton participates in the Hulu "Hillary" panel during the Winter 2020 Television Critics Association Press Tour, on Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, in Pasadena, Calif
© AP Photo / Richard Shotwell
Why Alleged Charity Scam May be Used Against Hillary
Ortel does not rule out that the Clintons' political opponents within the Democratic Party may use an inquiry into the Clinton charity to paralyse Hillary and Bill's political activities – as Biden's polls slide.
Fox News' host Sean Hannity tweeted on Saturday that Hillary Clinton is reportedly going to speak at the New York Democratic Convention. "Could this mean she’s getting ready to run again in 2024?" the journalist asked.
Conservative pundits and Democratic insiders have been discussing Hillary's potential run for the past few months. Dick Morris, a one-time top adviser to former President Bill Clinton, suggested in his blog that Hillary will outplay Team Biden and summon moderates or disillusioned leftists to her banner in 2024.
"[Hillary] has set up a zero-sum game where the worse [Biden] does, the better she does, because she’s positioned herself as the Democratic alternative to Biden," Morris believes.
According to Ortel, Hillary's alleged presidential bid may prompt her political opponents from the Democratic Party and GOP to subject the Clinton Foundation's charitable activities to further scrutiny, therefore disrupting the Clintons' power play.
"I suspect this has been underway for some time," the Wall Street analyst deems. "In a forest, too many tall, old trees can crush potential for younger ones to flourish. This has been the case particularly in the Democrat Party where too many ancient elected officials cling on to power. The Clinton family has somehow acquired tens of millions of dollars in wealth ostensibly through public service, while operating a far-flung, out-of-control 'charity'. This is a horrible example that must not become set in stone."
Ortel believes that the Democrat Party must cleanse itself, which also should involve a thorough examination of the financial activities of the Obama Foundation and Biden Cancer Initiative.
"As it does, bringing incorrigible charity scam artists to justice should become a unifying and bipartisan exercise," the Wall Street analyst emphasises.
