It appears that US conservatives are not going to let former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton go. Controversy is still simmering around the Clinton Foundation and Hillary Clinton's email scandal. Charles Ortel, a Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist who has been conducting a private investigation into the Clintons' charity, calls the Clinton Foundation the biggest charity fraud ever.
The analyst emphasizes the importance of November 15 as a date for the Clintons, suggesting that the truth about their charity may soon emerge.
For his part, Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch tweeted November 15 that the Federal Court ruled that Hillary Clinton will have to answer the watchdog's further questions concerning her Clinton.com, non-state.gov email system.
"The public and the media have a right to a full accounting from top officials of the Clinton State Department," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
Sputnik: Why is November 15, 2018 a crucial date for the Clinton Foundation?
Charles Ortel: Under US federal laws, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation ("BHCCF") must file a complete, truthful report on IRS Form 990 by the close of business on November 15, 2018 concerning its operations and financial results for 2017. This is the final filing deadline and no extensions are possible.
In addition, BHCCF must file reports with numerous states by 15 November 2018. Many of these states impose tough filing requirements — one example is New York State, which, effectively, is the base from which BHCCF's global network of purported charities is run.
Since 1998, when these New York laws were applied, BHCCF has never complied and therefore has been in gross, uncured violation of laws which the state has enforced vigorously, including with respect to the Trump Foundation.
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Sputnik: Why do you insist that the charity will not be able to present a comprehensive fiscal report? How is the situation likely to unfold in this case?
Charles Ortel: In the US, strict rules apply to financial reporting for charities. The report that is due concerning 2017 can only be filed accurately if BHCCF attempts to correct years of false and misleading prior filings that used accounting techniques not allowed in the US for charities and includes missing schedules and information that never was validly filed.
When formed on October 23, 1997, BHCCF was then called the "William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation". Despite being required to do so, this entity did not file an IRS return on form 990 for the "short period" from its formation through December 31, 1997. There is no statute of limitations concerning this failure to file an initial "short period" return.
Financial information purporting to be "audits" for 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 has emerged, though these documents are omitted from the BHCCF web portal.
These reports flatly state that they are prepared using accounting techniques that are not permitted within the United States.
The first attempt to file compliant accounting reports was made starting June 9, 2006, when BHCCF attempted to correct work issued for 2003, 2004, and 2005. This attempt is manifestly false and misleading, as I have explained through my website.
It is not possible to file correct, truthful reports concerning 2017 without correcting all previous filings. Think of a house, built on a foundation of sludge — you can paint the outside (provide a view of what happened in 2017) and make it look nice superficially, but if you fail to remove the sludge and ensure that it rests on solid ground, it will inevitably collapse.
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Sputnik: Why do you believe that this time the IRS will pay much more attention to discrepancies in the Clinton Foundation's files?
Charles Ortel: Under George W. Bush and then under Barack Obama, the IRS division that oversees charities was run by a controversial person named Lois Lerner.
In the early period of the Trump presidency, forces loyal to former President Obama (in particular), appear to have defended against efforts to expose the true extent of abuses perpetrated by Lerner and her allies using the IRS to target political opponents, chiefly conservatives during the Obama years.
Even now, I and others suspect that the Justice Department still has Obama loyalists working actively to obstruct the progress of the Trump Administration. It was only recently that President Trump was able to have the Senate confirm his choice to head the IRS — Charles Rettig.
So, November 15, 2018 will be the first filing deadline when Trump appointees at the IRS and the Justice Department have firm and informed hands on the levers of power — one hopes they will administer justice fairly.
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Sputnik: If suspicions are justified, what sort of inquiries and probes could be launched by state and federal authorities and how could it backfire on the Clintons' associates, the charity donors and Hillary, Bill and Chelsea Clinton?
Charles Ortel: Recently, a former Republican US congressman, Steve Stockman, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for a set of crimes involving only $1 million in charity fraud as well as public corruption.
Previously, a former Democratic US congressman, Corrine Brown, was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for her role in a similarly sized charity fraud.
Because BHCCF has never had a board of trustees tough enough to defend the interests of that entity against the conflicted personal and political interests of the Clinton family, BHCCF has never been validly audited, and no outsider actually knows how much money may have been stolen or diverted for illegal purposes since 1997.
Once the November 15, 2018 deadline passes, I suspect the federal government and state authorities will be forced to shine spotlights on ongoing abuses perpetrated by BHCCF, its executives, its trustees/directors, and its significant donors. All of these should have been able to spot obvious errors, false statements and omissions that have been circulating in the public domain, around the world, for years.
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