Clinton Foundation will amend tax filings to reflect foreign giving


By Rosalind S. Helderman April 23

Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Clinton Foundation event last year. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation will amend tax returns filed to the IRS in recent years to reflect that it accepted donations from foreign governments, a foundation official said Thursday.

The official said the organization is reviewing its tax returns for 2010, 2011 and 2012 and anticipated refiling the returns after the review is complete. The amendment, which was first reported by Reuters, is necessary because the foundation inaccurately reported to the IRS that it had accepted no government money in those years.

In fact, the foundation has acknowledged accepting millions in donations from foreign governments in those years, which overlapped with the time Hillary Rodham Clinton served as secretary of state.

[/Foreign donations flowed to foundation while Clinton was secretary of state/ ]

Charities are allowed to amend their filings, and, in any case, it is not clear whether the government donation error would be considered so serious as to require an amendment.

The foundation official, who spoke on background to explain the internal workings of the organization, also said foreign government donations were no secret and were reported in other ways: The money was included in the overall revenue figures reported to the IRS, he said, and the fact that the dollars came from government sources was noted in the organization's annual audited financial reports, posted on its Web site. Plus, the names of governments that had donated were included in a list of donors posted by the foundation each year on its Web site.

Chelsea Clinton defends Clinton Foundation(1:57) At a Council on Foreign Relations event on women's rights in New York City, Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, fielded questions about recent controversies over foreign donations to the foundation. (Council on Foreign Relations)

Still, the amendment is especially awkward for the organization because it highlights the foundation's continued receipt of foreign money while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Republicans have pounced on the foreign donations as a potential conflict of interest for the new presidential candidate .

The foundation received millions in donations from seven foreign governments between 2009 and 2013, despite an ethics agreement signed with the Obama administration in 2008 designed to limit such contributions. The agreement allowed governments that had been donating before its adoption to continue to do so at similar levels as in the past.

The foundation last week announced that while Hillary Clinton is running for president, it would limit foreign government donations to six nations that have supported its work in the past - Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Britain.

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, an offshoot of the foundation that works to improve global health, indicated that it would potentially allow donations from additional nations, with the approval of its board. An official there said it, too, was reviewing its 2012 and 2013 tax filings.

*Read more:*

Here are the seven biggest donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation

For Clintons, speech income shows how their wealth is intertwined with charity

Rosalind Helderman is a political enterprise and investigations reporter for the Washington Post.

Clinton Foundation acknowledges missteps, commits to transparency

Live Badgerfan2 4/23/2015 6:16 PM PST // Don't we as Americans want something better than the corrupt Clintons?...more See More //Like//Reply//Share Jeroboam1 SCSOCAL 4/23/2015 5:27 PM PST // The Clinton's are such liars and cheaters. Disingenuous, greedy, arrogant scoundrels who some in the Dem party adore. Shows you where there morals are. Good grief, we can do better....more See More //Like//Reply//Share Jeroboam and Badgerfan22 gary45 4/23/2015 4:25 PM PST // How about Cheney being CEO of a war supplies company and then pushing to start a war where his ex-company made out like bandits? How about the Bushes being involved with the Carylyle Group? At least, the Clinton Foundation was designed to make peace, not war and nothing was done secretly....more See More //Like//Reply//Share LPERAJ1 SCSOCAL 4/23/2015 5:29 PM PST // Before you start taking down Cheney, you should do some of your own homework. All you are is a useful idiot for this corrupt administration and the MSM....more See More //Like//Reply Badgerfan21 flippancy 4/23/2015 3:33 PM PST // I see there are a lot of stupid people here today. She didn't get one cent from the foundation and most of the money is spent overseas to help the needy and so foreign donations make sense. All charities work that way, but only when you can try to irrationally dirty your betters you go at it full bore. And I don't even like Hillary....more See More //Like//Reply//Share LPERAJ1 WylieD 4/23/2015 4:04 PM PST // It's not that simple:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/for-clinton... ...more See More //Like//Reply Badgerfan2 and Jeroboam2 SCSOCAL 4/23/2015 5:32 PM PST // And the Russian deal that was just revealed today. The Russians own about 25% of our uranium mines now because they gave money to the Clinton Foundation and they paid Billy boy $500,000. for speaking to their group. Do you really think this isn't pay to play politics? IT is illegal and the Clinton's signed an agreement with Obama to disclose all these donors and didn't. How much more corrupt do the Clinton's have to be, before you people wake up?...more See More //Like//Reply Badgerfan21 joseph22 4/23/2015 5:35 PM PST // What do you mean by most of the money? Just what is their administrative overhead?...more See More //Like//Reply WylieD 4/23/2015 2:59 PM PST // Chelsea must be seeking advice from her ex-con father-in-law, fast Eddy Mezvinsky, another corrupt Democrat....more See More //Like//Reply//Share Badgerfan2 and SCSOCAL2 LunaTics 4/23/2015 11:15 AM PST // Are ya happy now? /Of course not./...more See More //Like//Reply//Share Tobit 4/23/2015 10:24 AM PST[Edited] //

The Washington Post

The Washington Post Here are the seven biggest donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation

Sunday, April 26 2015 Post Politics

Here are the seven biggest donors to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation

<#> By Rosalind S. Helderman February 19

A Washington Post analysis shows that since its creation in 2001, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation has raised nearly $2 billion in cash donations and pledges, a whopping figure that illustrates the Clintons' global reach.

Frank Giustra, founder of the Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership, speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative's meeting in New York on Feb. 10. Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate, is one of the Clinton Foundation's largest donors and a board member. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)

The review found that there is strong overlap between the family's political base and the foundation and that a substantial number of the foundation's largest donors - those who have given at least $1 million - are based outside of the United States. Financial institutions also make up the largest portion of the foundation's corporate giving.

So who are the foundation's absolutely largest donors? There are seven contributors who, according to an updated donor list posted to the group's Web site this month, have given more than $25 million each since they started giving to the foundation. They are:

*The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation*: The charity launched by the founder of Microsoft to give his private wealth away is one of the largest and best known nonprofits in the world. It has had a longstanding relationship with the Clinton Foundation, including joining with Hillary and Chelsea Clinton in 2013 to launch an initiative aimed at improving the lives of women and girls.

*Frank Giustra, the Radcliffe Foundation*: Giustra, a Canadian mining magnate who also founded Lions Gate Entertainment, sits on the Clinton Foundation's board of directors. The Radcliffe Foundation is Giustra's Vancouver-based charity.

*Clinton Giustra Enterprise Partnership: *The partnership was launched by Giustra and Bill Clinton in 2007 to spur economic development in some of the world's most impoverished regions.

*Fred Eychaner*: A Chicago-based media magnate, Eychaner has also been a major Democratic supporter, giving millions, for instance, to political action committees aimed at helping Democrats winning House and Senate majorities.

*Nationale Postcard Loterij: *A major lottery based in the Netherlands. Winners are chosen using local residents' postal codes. The lottery distributes hundreds of millions of dollar each year to dozens of charities around the world. Bill Clinton has served as an appointed ambassador of the organization.

*The Children's Investment Fund Foundation*: A major London-based charity that works to eliminate malnutrition and poverty among children in developing countries. It was founded by British hedge fund manager Christopher Hohn and his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn.

*UNITAID: *Based in Geneva, the organization aims to fight HIV/AIDs and other diseases in developing countries. Started in 2006 as a partnership between the governments of Brazil, Chile, France, Norway and Britain, it is funded largely through a surcharge on airline tickets sold in more than two dozen countries.* *

Rosalind Helderman is a political enterprise and investigations reporter for the Washington Post.



Charity watchdog: Clinton Foundation a 'slush fund'


By Isabel Vincent

April 26, 2015 | 7:47am

Charity watchdog: Clinton Foundation a 'slush fund' The Clinton family discusses the Clinton Global Initiative. Photo: Reuters

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The Clinton Foundation 's finances are so messy that the nation's most influential charity watchdog put it on its "watch list" of problematic nonprofits last month.

The Clinton family's mega-charity took in more than $140 million in grants and pledges in 2013 but spent just $9 million on direct aid.

The group spent the bulk of its windfall on administration, travel, and salaries and bonuses, with the fattest payouts going to family friends.

On its 2013 tax forms, the most recent available, the foundation claimed it spent $30 million on payroll and employee benefits; $8.7 million in rent and office expenses; $9.2 million on "conferences, conventions and meetings"; $8 million on fundraising; and nearly $8.5 million on travel. None of the Clintons is on the payroll, but they do enjoy first-class flights paid for by the foundation.

In all, the group reported $84.6 million in "functional expenses" on its 2013 tax return and had more than $64 million left over - money the organization has said represents pledges rather than actual cash on hand.

Some of the tens of millions in administrative costs finance more than 2,000 employees, including aid workers and health professionals around the world.

But that's still far below the 75 percent rate of spending that nonprofit experts say a good charity should spend on its mission.

Charity Navigator , which rates nonprofits, recently refused to rate the Clinton Foundation because its "atypical business model . . . doesn't meet our criteria."

Charity Navigator put the foundation on its "watch list," which warns potential donors about investing in problematic charities. The 23 charities on the list include the Rev. Al Sharpton 's troubled National Action Network , which is cited for failing to pay payroll taxes for several years.

Other nonprofit experts are asking hard questions about the Clinton Foundation's tax filings in the wake of recent reports that the Clintons traded influence for donations.

"It seems like the Clinton Foundation operates as a slush fund for the Clintons," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government watchdog group where progressive Democrat and Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout was once an organizing director.

In July 2013, Eric Braverman, a friend of Chelsea Clinton from when they both worked at McKinsey & Co., took over as CEO of the Clinton Foundation. He took home nearly $275,000 in salary, benefits and a housing allowance from the nonprofit for just five months' work in 2013, tax filings show. Less than a year later, his salary increased to $395,000, according to a report in Politico .

Braverman abruptly left the foundation earlier this year, after a falling-out with the old Clinton guard over reforms he wanted to impose at the charity, Politico reported. Last month, Donna Shalala, a former secretary of health and human services under President Clinton , was hired to replace Braverman.

Nine other executives received salaries over $100,000 in 2013, tax filings show.

The nonprofit came under fire last week following reports that Hillary Clinton , while she was secretary of state, signed off on a deal that allowed a Russian government enterprise to control one-fifth of all uranium producing capacity in the United States. Rosatom, the Russian company, acquired a Canadian firm controlled by Frank Giustra, a friend of Bill Clinton's and member of the foundation board, who has pledged over $130 million to the Clinton family charity.

The group also failed to disclose millions of dollars it received in foreign donations from 2010 to 2012 and is hurriedly refiling five years' worth of tax returns after reporters raised questions about the discrepancies in its filings last week.

An accountant for the Clinton Foundation did not return The Post's calls seeking clarification on its expenses Friday, and a spokesperson for the group refused comment.



Clinton Foundation has received a subpoena


* The Washington Post first reported on that the Clinton Foundation had received a subpoena Thursday * It came from the State Department's Inspector General

(CNN)A representative for the charitable foundation set up by Bill and Hillary Clinton confirmed they received a subpoena from the State Department's Inspector General, but said they are not the focus of the government watchdog's investigation.

The Washington Post first reported on the subpoena Thursday, saying it was sent to The Clinton Foundation last fall, and sought "documents about the charity's projects that may have required approval from the federal government during Hillary Clinton's term as secretary of state," as well as records on Clinton aide Huma Abedin. The Post report said there is no indication the Inspector General is looking at Clinton herself.

A foundation representative would not comment on details of the subpoena. The representative did say that the investigation has been narrowed since the initial subpoena and that the Clinton Foundation was not the focus of the Inspect General investigation.

A spokesperson for the Inspector General's office declined to comment.

The nature of the Inspector General's inquiry is unclear, but the revelation is the latest in a series that have brought increased scrutiny to Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State.

Read More

Most notably, the FBI is in the process of investigating the security of a private email server used by Clinton to conduct official business while in office. The State Department is also in the process of reviewing the former secretary's emails for public release, and conducting a separate review into whether any information on the server was classified at the time it was sent.

Abedin, who served as Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff at the State Department and is now a top official on her presidential campaign, was the focus of an audit by the Inspector General last year, which found she had been overpaid by nearly $10,000 while at State.

A representative for Abedin did not respond to CNN request for comment.

Abedin's employment at the State Department under a "special government employee" provision, which allowed her to work for the Clinton Foundation and a private firm during the same period, has also been the focus a congressional inquiry led by Senate Judiciary chairman Charles Grassley.

Brian Fallon, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's campaign, told CNN's Wolf Blitzer the Inspector General's office has been conducting "fishing expeditions."

Fallon said "questions need to be asked about the independence of that office," and called out a couple OIG staffers by name, including a woman who used to work for Grassley.

/CNN's Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report. /