Perhaps it’s because they are growing tired of targeting conservatives–because now the IRS is investigating the Clinton Foundation (and it is totally separate from the FBI’s investigation of Clinton emails or the FBI’s investigation of the Clinton Foundation/Pay For Play
As reported in the Dallas Observer:
Earlier this year, 64 GOP members of Congress asked the IRS to investigate why the foundation can keep its nonprofit status. The letter includes “media reports” claiming pay-to-play relationships between former President Bill Clinton, who received large speaking fees, and decisions made by Hillary Clinton to approve choices that benefited foundation donors.(…)
In July, the IRS sent letters back to the Congress informing members the review had begun. The letter also noted that the Tax Exempt and Government Entities Division (TE/GE) office in Dallas would be conducting the review.
IRS spokespeople in Dallas and Washington won’t say why the review is being conducted in Dallas. Spokespeople claim even this information would violate rules — Code 6103, staff make sure to cite — that stop them from discussing ongoing examinations. IRS officials declined to provide details about the Dallas office, including its size, or comment on the TE/GE work in general.
At issue is inurement, “inurement” is an arcane term for “benefit.” The inurement prohibition forbids the use of the income or assets of a tax-exempt organization to directly or indirectly unduly benefit an individual or other person that has a close relationship with the organization or is able to exercise significant control over the organization.”
The IRS says “a 501(c)(3) organization must not be organized or operated for the benefit of private interests, such as the creator or the creator’s family, shareholders of the organization, other designated individuals, or persons controlled directly or indirectly by such private interests. No part of the net earnings of a section 501(c)(3) organization may inure to the benefit of any private shareholder or individual. A private shareholder or individual is a person having a personal and private interest in the activities of the organization.”
Or to put it a different way according to the IRS pay for play is a bad thing for a 501(C)(3) .”The TE/GE folks [are]looking for specific examples of inurement. Instead of money changing hands, the IRS is looking to see if the Clintons traded money for preferential treatment.”
“Clinton and her staff have consistently denied any conflicts of interest or improper enrichment and cite reporting holes in the media stories and books claiming pay-to-play relationships. But since July, more information has been revealed, via hacked email correspondences of Clinton adviser John Podesta released by Wikileaks. The emails reveal that Chelsea Clinton ordered an audit of the foundation and ‘some interviewees reported conflicts of those raising funds or donors, some of whom may have an expectation of quid pro quo benefits in return for gifts.’”
The Chelsea audit is not the only thing raising IRS red flags the now famous Doug Band, Bill Clinton Inc. memo that revealed for the first time the cash flows between the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, Band’s firm Teneo Consulting, and the Clinton family’s private business endeavors.
Then there’s Bubba’s travel. Bubba used the Clinton Foundation to pay for travel that blurred the lines between foundation activities and personal profit. In 2013 the NY Post reported, “According to previously undisclosed data provided by the Clinton Foundation, presidential trips accounted for 13 percent of the 2010 travel budget and 10 percent of the 2011 travel budget. That puts Bill Clinton’s single-year travel tab for 2011 at more than $1 million. A foundation official wouldn’t say how many presidential trips occurred in that time frame.”
But when Bubba traveled he liked to multi-task, while on trips paid for by the Foundation he would do foundation business as well as some of those speeches where he made $500K a shot–that’s another example of an inurement, paying Bills travel costs when he was doing more than foundation business.
Oh if any of the Board of Directors knew of any of these abuses they could be violating the law. Two present members of the BOD are Chelsea Clinton and former President Bubba Clinton. Oh and Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was on the BOD until she was to announce her campaign for the oval office in 2015. In other words if the IRS found that there was inurement, Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea could all be found liable.
