David Sirota – Vermont Independent

Publisher’s Note: As we move closer to the 2016 Presidential “election,” more and more Vermonters are asking hard questions about the Clinton Foundation in the wake of the release of the AP Press’ recent investigative report indicating some disturbing realities about Hillary Clinton’s continued line-blurring between her role as a public servant and her role as a private philanthropist for the $2 billion foundation. Many neoliberal corporate commercial news outlets and HRC supporters are quick to delegitimate, even dismiss, critiques of the Clinton Foundation as unfounded attacks by radical right wing elements, as Glenn Greenwald documents in The Intercept this week. The truth? Investigative journalists from across the political spectrum, including respected left-leaning journalists like International Business Times’ David Sirota, Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman, and The Intercept’s Glenn Greenwald, have also raised hard questions about HRC and the CF generally. Most recently, Fairness And Accuracy In Reporting has connected the dots between Big Media corporations, their donations to the Clinton Foundation, and their (non)coverage of legitimate questions regarding said conflicts of interest – it makes for eye-opening reading.

Here, Stephen Lendman summarizes Wall Street analyst-turned-whistleblower Charles Ortel’s concerns about the Clinton Foundation. Add this to the concerns about conflict-of-interest between HRC and the CF re: arms exports, donor access, business dealings, and the promotion of corporate donors while HRC was serving as Secretary of State, and you gotta wonder. Where there is smoke, there is usually fire. The Clinton Foundation is a fantastic $2 billion example of the conflation of public interest and private enrichment in the Age of U.S. Empire, and no one does this better than the Clintons. Free Vermont, and long live the UNtied States!

I’ve written numerous times about the Clinton Foundation money-laundering, pay-to-play, self-enrichment racket masquerading as a charitable NGO.

Wall Street analyst, whistleblower, financial advisor Charles Ortel investigated Clinton Foundation shenanigans for months, saying information it releases publicly in “legally mandated filings do not add up, are frequently incorrect, and appear to be misleading.”

Based on his extensive investigative work, he calls the foundation “a rogue charity” operating fraudulently – “neither…organized nor operating lawfully from inception in October 1997 to date…”

“(I)t is a case study in international charity fraud of mammoth proportions” – with no independent trustees or independent financial auditing.

Ortel’s analysis shows the foundation from inception “was neither organized nor operated lawfully…beyond (a) reasonable doubt,” he stresses, the Clintons “exhibit(ing) gross negligence and reckless disregard in performance of their solemn duties.”

Federal, state and international laws prohibit operating so-called public charities for private gain. The Clinton Foundation systematically ignores its legal obligations.

“Overall I consider the (foundation) to be a charity fraud network,” Ortel explained. “I base this conclusion on my review of extensive data about its operations…”

“(D)irected by certain individuals and together with numerous affiliates,” the foundation’s “entire cumulative scale (counting inflows and outflows) approaches and may even exceed $100 billion,” from its 1997 inception during Bill’s second term as president to currently.

Ortel said he’ll continue releasing “new, in-depth detailed reports” on what he uncovers ahead. Plenty of incriminating evidence already exists to indict Bill, Hillary, Chelsea and their co-conspirators for criminal fraud under the RICO statute.

Each racketeering count is punishable by up to 20 years imprisonment if found guilty, along with forfeiture of ill-gotten gains, possible fines up to twice the amount of illegal profits, and seizure of assets gotten by racketeering.

The Clintons would also be vulnerable to civil suits by anyone harmed by their actions. RICO prosecutions are extremely serious, largely used against organized crime.

Clintons-style white collar criminality is much the same. Yet Obama’s Justice Department refuses to act responsibly for obvious reasons.

Bill and Hillary freely commit wrongdoing unaccountably. A likely third Clinton crime family co-presidency means elevating known felons to the nation’s highest office.

Stephen Lendman is an independent columnist, author and political observer based in Chicago, Illinois.

September 9, 2016

Published by 2ndvtrepublic at September 9, 2016

The Clinton Foundation – A Rogue “Charity” Fraud Network?

Publisher’s Note: As we move closer to the 2016 Presidential “election,” more and more Vermonters are asking hard questions about the Clinton Foundation in the wake […]