Vincent J. Curtis
30 Oct 2016
In the posting
headlined Chelsea Clinton: Foundation an
Ethical Mess, I report Chelsea Clinton discovered the all conflicts of
interest at the Foundation, her alarm at the tactics employed by fundraisers
like Doug Band, and the need to bring in a governance review lest her father’s
good name be tarnished. The effect of
that governance review was to push Doug Band from his position of high influence
at the Foundation. Band bitterly
denounced Chelsea Clinton in emails to John Podesta for her interference as he
struggled to maintain control, and expressed anger and bitterness at the
ingratitude of Bill after all Band had done for him.
Band had been Bill
Clinton’s “body man” during the latter part of Bill’s presidency, and he
maintained that role in the years following.
He had become something of a gatekeeper to Bill Clinton in respect of
everyone but his family. Band discovered
to his dismay that, for Bill, blood is thicker than water; and when Chelsea spoke
to her father about her problems with the Foundation, Band saw, and bitterly regretted,
the political knifing characteristic of the Clintons used against him.
In the course of
defending himself to the lawyer running the governance review, he prepared a
thirteen page memorandum explaining the relationship of himself, Teneo, and his
close associates in Teneo, with the Clinton Foundation. The section reproduced below concerns what he
and his associates did to help Bill make money, and how self-sacrificing they
were in helping the great manTM keep body and soul together over the
years in retirement.
Thanks to
WikiLeaks, we have Doug Band explaining what he called “Bill Clinton Inc.”
For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton, Inc.)
Independent of our
fundraising and decision-making activities on behalf of the Foundation, we have
dedicated ourselves to helping the President secure and engage in for-profit
activities – including speeches, books, and advisory service engagements. In that context, we have in effect served as
agents, lawyers, managers and implementers to secure speaking, business and
advisory service deals. In support of
the President’s for-profit activity, we also have solicited and obtained, as
appropriate, in-kind services for the President and his family – for personal
travel, hospitality, vacation and the like.
Neither Justin nor I are separately compensated for these activities (e.g., we do not receive a fee for, or
percentage[1] of, the more than $50
million in for-profit activity we have personally helped to secure for
President Clinton to date or the $66 million in future contracts, should he
choose to continue with those engagements).
With respect to
business deals for his advisory services, Justin and I found, developed and
brought to President Clinton multiple arrangements for him to accept or reject.
Of his current 4 arrangements, we secured all of them; and, we have helped
manage and maintain all of his for-profit business relationships for the past
11 years. Since 2001, President
Clinton’s business arrangements have yielded more than $30 million for him
personally, with $66 million to be paid out over the next nine years should he
choose to continue with the current engagements.
President
Clinton Paid Speeches:
In support of the
President’s paid speech activity, Teneo partners have created and secured the
following paid speeches for President Clinton.
UBS – $900,000 - $450,000 in 2011; $450,000 to be paid in 2012
Mr. Kelly asked
UBS to offer President Clinton paid speeches based upon a concept he developed
with Bob Mccann for the firm’s clients.
In addition to the $540,000 UBS contributed to the Foundation, Teneo
partners have secured a commitment from UBS for President Clinton to deliver
three additional paid speeches for them in 2012, should he choose to do so.
Ericson – $750,000 plus $400,000 for a private plane
After meeting one
of Director of Ericsson on a business trip, I learned that they were sponsoring
an inaugural event in China. I pursued them to invite President Clinton to
China to speak at this event. I
negotiated a fee for President Clinton of $1 million dollars to speak for two
one-hour sessions in Hong Kong, which he did this past weekend. In addition to the $1 million speaking fee, I
negotiated additional coverage of the cost of a private plane.
BHP – $175,000 in 2012
BHP is hosting a
board of directors meeting in June of 2012. Teneo is organizing the event for
BHP and encouraged them to do it in NY and pay Presdent Clinton through Walker.
The offer is currently at the state department being vetted.
Mati Kochavi
President Clinton
recently turned down a 2 year, $8 million offer to become Honorary Chairman of
Mati Kochavi’s new media business venture. Mati is a former client of Teneo who
we were referred to through Marty Edelman. I went back to Mati and proposed a
new structure without any business connectivity other than 4 speeches for $1
million and $250k to the foundation should President Clinton choose to accept
it. That would also include any broadcasting of foundation events or anything
President Clinton would like exposure for on his website. This offer will be
presented to President Clinton in Walker speech invitations which he can choose
to decline or accept with no role or relationship with the company.
Barclays
Teneo cultivated
its client relationship to help secure two paid speeches in 2010 and 2011
totaling more than $700,000.
Other Matters:
Justin Cooper and
I have, for the past ten years, served as the primary contact and point of
management for President Clinton’s activities – which span from political
activity (e.g., campaigning on behalf
of candidates for elected office), to business activity (e.g., providing advisory services to business entities with which
he has a consulting arrangement), to Foundation activity (e.g., supporting his engagement on behalf of the initiatives and
affiliated entities of the Foundation), to his speech activity (e.g.,
soliciting speeches and staffing and supporting him on speech travel) to his
book activity (e.g., editing his
books and arranging and supporting him on book tours) to supporting
family/personal needs (e.g., securing
in-kind private airplane travel, in-kind vacation stays, and supporting family
business and personal needs). In the
unique roles in which we have had the opportunity to serve, we have been able
to help balance the multiplicity of activities that demand his time and
engagement to best fulfill his personal, political, business, official former
President, and Foundation/non-profit goals.
We appreciate the
unorthodox nature of our roles, and the goal of seeking ways to ensure we are
implementing best practices to protect the 501(c)3 status of the Foundation.[2] As we go forward, we welcome the opportunity
to identify better strategies for serving the President, the Foundation and its
affiliated entities.”
*
Justin Cooper we
saw previously as being instrumental in setting up Hillary’s off-the-books-server. The principals of Teneo have done rather well
for themselves after separating themselves from the Clintons. Despite all the money accounted for by Doug
Band, it doesn’t come close to explaining how the Clintons collectively came to
be worth north of $250 million. There
must be more shenanigans going on at the Foundation by which the Clintons
enriched themselves that Band was not aware of.
This corruption is
just the tip of the iceberg, and if the Clintons regain control of the Oval
Office again, the political drama in Washington, D.C. will be unending. A Republican controlled Congress will be in a
political war with the executive branch as the Congress tries gain the information
required to cripple a Hillary Administration and perhaps lay the groundwork for
another impeachment of another Clinton.
Hillary brought this
upon herself and is bringing it upon America.
The election will decide if the American electorate has the stomach for four
more years of this contention or if it wants America to go in a different
direction.
-30-
[1] For example, the Harry Walker agency, the
President’s speaking agent, receives a10% fee on every paid speech without
regard to whether they originated the speech.
The agency conservatively estimates that in the last decade, $20 million
in speeches for the President have derived sole from Justin and my efforts.
[2] For example, I
understand our policy on uncompensated (comped) passes to attend CGI is being
reviewed. Historically, CGI has
accommodated as many paying members as we can identify; the majority of members
that attend are comped. In the absence
of an established policy, there are a variety of methods used to determine who
receives comped passes. We have comped
individuals that fall primarily into the following categories: spouse of CGI employees, government
employees, potential donors being cultivated – including target Teneo clients,
President Clinton’s family and friends, family and friends of Foundation
employees, guest requests of foreign dignitaries, and celebrities. As the Foundation identified a formal policy
for comped passes, we encourage the creation of a policy that will be commonly
applied – as opposed to applied by exception.
We are happy to help identify the range of instances where comped passes
benefit the goals of the Foundation so the final policy operates in service of
the Foundation’s goals.
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