Concentrating on Clinton Foundation Facts

The attached Executive Summary continues an investigation into the Clinton Foundation public record begun, by chance, in February 2015.

Since then, questions have started to swirl around the various entities that comprise what I call the Clinton Charity Network: a group of entities supported by a variety of donors from inside the United States and around the world.

Beginning today, and regularly thereafter, numerous detailed Exhibits will examine the known public record of the Clinton Charity Network within the context of applicable state, federal, and foreign laws.

The next Exhibit, Exhibit 1, is scheduled to follow the Executive Summary late on 7 September 2016.

To the extent feasible, comments and suggestions made via this website will be returned by email.

A Deep Dive into How the Clinton Foundation Operates Illegally and in Haiti

State, federal, and foreign laws bar public charities from being run for private gain in interstate commerce—which means, by using the mail, telephones or the internet. The Clinton Foundation’s complex operations (it is not just one entity but a web of them) do not comply with this requirement. Nor does the Clinton Foundation ever seem to have submitted its financial records to an independent, properly certified audit by a qualified accounting firm. 

Overall I consider the Clinton Foundation to be a charity fraud network. I base this conclusion on my review of extensive data about its operations including the activities of the Clinton family and their friends in Haiti, a nation that has suffered many disasters, both natural and manmade.

What possesses powerful, wealthy, and educated persons to prey on the most desperately poor humans on earth as they posture as "philanthropists”?  And why has there been no government oversight?

Expect an increased flow of detailed disclosures centering upon Exhibits 1 through 40 through this website, and continued reaction to breaking developments via my twitter account (@CharlesOrtel).

The Real Clinton Foundation Record is Getting Exposed

Readers who visit Clinton Foundation websites are forgiven for believing information found there presents the complete record.

In fact, key documents and disclosures are missing or contradict other filings that a persistent investigator only finds by scanning a raft of state, federal, and foreign databases.

Today's posting concentrates upon explaining certain issues that are subjects of growing media interest, but fall outside the chronological order of forthcoming Exhibits 1 through 40, that explain history important to an assessment of Clinton Foundation filings for 23 October 1997 through 31 December 2010.

As this posting discusses in detail, the biggest issue presented by revelations concerning a $2 million private investment arranged by a Clinton Foundation entity is whether this entity, the Clinton Global Initiative, Inc ("New CGI") is even a duly constituted tax-exempt charity.

Furthermore, if New CGI was never a validly constituted tax-exempt charity, how was the tax and legal status of its parent, the Clinton Foundation, affected?

Meanwhile, much larger issues surround Clinton family connections to Laureate Education Inc., its key executives, investors, and affiliates.

Do not listen to surface level media reports that fail to consider the complete public record.

Join me in engaging upon "stubborn facts".

The In-Depth Process Begins

In this letter, I explain my general approach to analyzing Clinton Foundation public filings, and list out specific topics that will shortly be covered in extensive detail.

To the extent feasible, I will explain the issues deserving attention so that the general public can understand my concerns, and also so that financial and accounting experts can evaluate whether I am correct.

As you consider these materials, please remember a simple thing: financial reports for a given year are only as solid as the reports from prior years that they rest upon. 

Particularly when red flags are fluttering (restatements, management turnover, restructurings, mergers, and changes in accounting firms are clear warning signs), the general public and particularly regulators and government authorities should examine public filings with special care, or even intense concern.

Please read this information carefully. If you agree that it deserves attention, please circulate it to your friends and especially to any regulators you may know, inside and outside the United States.

Thank you for you attention and stay tuned for much more.

Brief Update and [Non-Monetary] Appeal

Get ready for lots more analysis of the Clinton Foundation.

I will soon start posting new, in-depth, detailed reports explaining what I have found in the public record concerning the Clinton Foundation. In the latest document, I provide information concerning some of the new avenues we shall start exploring in coming days.

And while I am not asking for money, please join me in trying to force government authorities to do the jobs they have neglected to do for so long, indeed for almost 20 years.

To move government regulators to act, we must excite more investigative journalists to ask probing questions and we must raise the level of interest among citizens inside and outside this counrty.

When you read my forthcoming reports, and when you check for yourself, you will see that the Clinton Foundation still operates far outside laws that regulate all charities, and particularly those that work internationally, from a U.S. base.

So what can you do?

You can share my work with friends.

You can send it to contacts in the media and in state, federal, and foreign governments.

If you want to stay more closely in touch, you can follow me (@CharlesOrtel) on twitter--I try to provide regular updates using twitter that direct you to my site for more detailed infromation.

Most tax-exempt organizations play by strict rules--the Clinton Foundation should not continue to be the flagrant example that it has been for almost 20 years.

Please join me in trying to force Clinton Foundation trustees to do their jobs, and to obey the law, or suffer the consequences.

It's Time to Press For an Investigation of the Clinton Foundation

From beginnings in the state of Arkansas in 1997, the Clinton Foundation quickly grew to become a sprawling international organization after 2001, despite the fact that this tax-exempt entity was only authorized to serve as a facility devoted to the study of Bill Clinton’s tenure as president of the United States.

Especially from 2001 onwards, state, federal, and foreign governments have never regulated material defects in many Clinton Foundation public disclosures. Material deficiencies exist in documents ranging from filings from applications before the I.R.S., to registrations before U.S. state and foreign governments, to annual reports required in numerous legal jurisdictions.

Why?

From January 2001 through January 2009, when apparent unauthorized and illegal activities began and first escalated, Republicans were in control of the Executive Branch and had substantial influence in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate.

Was a decision reached in this period to give the Clinton Foundation free reign to operate outside any effective governmental controls--if so, by whom?

Since January 2009, even though Republicans held reduced influence within the federal government, many have held authority to investigate and to prosecute manifest unauthorized and illegal operating and fundraising activities of the Clinton Foundation.

Still, and even after multiple public and private warnings, no progress has resulted in attempting to bring the Clinton Foundation into compliance with strict U.S. state and federal laws.

So, perhaps we must rely on foreign government authorities to investigate obvious discrepancies in Clinton Foundation filings with records of major donors.

Please read the attached Executive Summary and then join with me, and with other citizens who believe that all public charities must be operated in strict compliance with applicable laws.

No individual stands above the law. And no person, not even a leading candidate for president of the United States is “too big to jail”, because government authorities and the major U.S. political parties are too conflicted to protect inherent interests of “we, the people”.

10 Predictions For the Clinton Foundation in 2016

Evaluation of Clinton Foundation public filings inside and outside the United States continues.

Starting 11 January 2016, I will publish additional detailed analyses that are designed to serve the audience of journalists, professionals, and government authorities familiar with the suite of laws and accounting guidelines that regulate IRS-approved public charities operating internationally.

For now, this brief update targets  the general public and spares you consideration of the voluminous body of financial figures and words that Clinton Foundation entities send to the IRS,  to regulators in key U.S. states, and to foreign authorities.

Though the subject of a given charity’s public disclosures is ordinarily dull, this case is a special one, particularly during what shapes up now as a momentous election year.

Here are 10 predictions, centered on the Clinton Foundation, that could affect developments during 2016 in many geographic locations.

The Clinton Foundation Refiled, but the Errors Remain

When you understand relevant accounting rules and laws, you will reach a simple conclusion: the Clinton Foundation (including all of its various corporate subsidiaries and "initiatives") has been operating boldly and illegally out of control, in plain view of the general public and government authorities.

Consider this, at no time in Bill Clinton's post-presidency has any Clinton Foundation entity provided a proper, independent audit of financial statements, even as trustees, management, and professional advisors solicited donations across the United States and around the world using telephones, mails, and digital media.

This means there has never been legally required verification of financial claims made in Clinton Foundation public disclosures by independent, professional accountants.

As of this moment, and since 2000, it is simply not possible to "follow the money" and understand, with confidence, what actually may have happened to billions of dollars sent toward the Clinton Foundation. 

Special rules do not yet apply to charities that are run by former Presidents and by aspiring Presidents of the United States of America.

General Exhibit 3 helps you understand the scope and potential significance of evident failures by Clinton Foundation trustees to maintain effective control over operations of this high profile charity.

The Clinton Foundation Did it Yet Again

Late on 16 November 2015, the Clinton Foundation filed tax returns for itself and for its largest operation (Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. or "New CHAI") concerning 2014. Also filed were amended tax returns for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 for the main Foundation and amended tax returns for 2012 and for 2013 for New CHAI.

This is not the first time that the Clinton Foundation has amended tax filings--these new filings and amendments, coming on the heels of controversies that started to acquire focus by August 2013, raise numerous widening concerns.

The attached "Special Interim Report" concetrates upon certain issues having to do with New CHAI and with the largest physical asset inside the main Foundation--the Little Rock, Arkansas campus.

Interested readers are urged to follow links that help explain certain requirements diligent accountants are supposed to heed when preparing their "certified independent audits" for clients such as the Clinton Foundation and New CHAI.

Expect lots more supporting analysis in the near future.

Have the Clintons Turned New York into the Epicenter for Global Disaster Relief Charity Frauds?

Welcome Washington Examiner readers. Here is a link to some prior work: Are Clinton Foundation Agents and Principals Truly Too Big to Jail? Here is a link to the Charity Fraud Countdown Clock.

Natural disasters strike all too often. After they do, fraudsters scurry out behind “false-front” charities and insert themselves between the growing global community of generous donors and truly needy victims.

Disaster relief charity fraud is a serious, escalating problem because it is so easy to perform and quite tough to police--just consider recent reports of such scams that are said to involve celebrities and even official government-linked enterprises, including many tied to the U.S. government and to the United Nations.

These first two General Exhibits introduce those who might have little familiarity with how financial frauds operate to warning signs that experts watch for, and to special and strict laws designed in New York state to catch charity fraud.

Trustees are one protection against charity fraud, assuming they take their solemn duties seriously and are given leave to exercise them independently. Particularly in the early period starting in 2001, Trustees do not seem to have been truly independent, nor did they take their duties seriously enough, judging from a close and ongoing review of Clinton Foundation public filings.

Competent, engaged, and independent accountants are another bulwark against charity fraud; however, from 2001 to present, no accounting firm associated with Clinton Foundation actually completed a proper audit of any Clinton Foundation entity, as is strictly required under numerous laws.

Read these first two Exhibits carefully and start to see for yourself how serious uncured problems are with regard to Clinton Foundation public disclosures and operating practices.