One of the thing Hillary Clinton claims about the foundation revelations is that there is no evidence that her family enriched themselves from the Clinton Foundation. Thanks to Wikileaks we learn that a consulting firm run by members of her inner circle steered tens of millions of dollars to Bill Clinton while generating lucrative contracts for a consulting practice run by a member of team Clinton.
The 12-page memo from Doug Band, released Wednesday by WikiLeaks and embedded below , was designed to highlight the crucial role he – and his global strategy company Teneo – played in getting money for ex-president Bubba and Clinton’s foundation. It 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. Band called it “Bill Clinton Inc.”
In the Band memo below, the Clinton confidante outlines the relationships between his consulting clients, (mostly big corporations and well-financed foundations) and both the Clinton family’s business and charitable efforts. Band wrote the memo to justify his work and blunt the criticism from others in team Clinton, particularly daughter Chelsea Clinton.
The memo brags:
Throughout the past almost 11 years since President Clinton left office, I have sought to leverage my activities, including my partner role at Teneo, to support and to raise funds for the Foundation. This memorandum strives to set forth how I have endeavored to support the Clinton Foundation and President Clinton personally (page 2).
(…) To date, Teneo partners have raised in excess of $8 million for the Foundation, more than $5.25 million of which is in the bank. Teneo partners also have generated over $3 million in paid speeches for President Clinton, $1.25 million of which has been paid to him thus far (page 4).
Not bad work if you can get it, and apparently Doug Band was getting it for Bubba.
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 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. 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 (page 10).
On a company by company basis Band shows the Teneo clients who became Clinton foundation donors by the time this was written in 2011. The list includes such blue-chip companies such as:
- The Coca-Cola Company
- The Dow Chemical Company
- UBS
- The American Ireland Fund (AIF)
- The All-State Corporation
- Barclays Capital
- Indo Gold
- BHP Billiton Limited
The summary of Band’s letter demonstrates that there was no fire wall between Bubba’s “cash businesses” and the Clinton foundation:
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.
When this new data is combined with the information in Clinton Cash, and the letters between Doug Band/Huma Abedin letters released by Citizens United, showing Band asking Huma to help him get favors for the Foundation/Teneo clients from the Hillary-run state department, it becomes clear that Hillary used those Teneo connections and her role as Sec.of State to help enrich the Clinton family. There is no reason to suspect she will act any different if she (God Forbid!) becomes president.
Note: While the Clinton team has not given an official response, base on their previous reactions to damaging Wikileaks stories, when they do give a response it will be something like, “Russia, Russia, Trump Trump, Trump, Russia, Putin, Trump.”
Read Band’s full memo below:
Teneo Foundation Final by Jeff Dunetz on Scribd