Politics

Fed Judge favors lawsuit against Clinton Foundation. Clinton Foundation Whistleblower Complaint Can Proceed, Federal Judge Rules.

A federal judge on Oct. 8 ruled that a whistleblower complaint against the Clinton Foundation can proceed, saying that the IRS “abused its discretion” in attempting to dismiss allegations of wrongdoing by the nonprofit organization.

U.S. Tax Court Judge David Gustafson last week found that the complaint, brought by whistleblowers Lawrence Doyle, a corporate tax compliance expert, and John Moynihan. a former Drug Enforcement Agency official, “provided ‘specific credible documentation’ supporting their allegations” that the Clinton Foundation potentially evaded paying taxes on millions if not billions of dollars.

The judge struck down the IRS’s request for a summary judgment. He said that its Whistleblower Office (WBO) was wrong in denying the whistleblowers’ claims, based on an email from the agency’s Criminal Investigation (CI) office that said the complaint was closed.

The record “fails to support the WBO’s conclusion that CI hadn’t proceeded with any action based on petitioners’ information. Accordingly, we deny the motion on the grounds that the WBO abused its discretion in reaching its conclusion, because not all of its factual determinations underlying that conclusion are supported by that record,” Gustafson wrote.

Gustafson also said that based on evidence, he had reason to believe that the FBI was involved in an IRS investigation. He cited information contained within IRS records that had until now been kept from the public, in which Doyle and Moynihan discuss their contacts with law enforcement officials.

Lawrence Doyle (L) and John Moynihan testify before the House Subcommittee on Government Operations on Dec. 13, 2018. (Screenshot/NTD)

 

“The FBI in [redacted] has thanked us profusely and praised our report excessively. As one individual close to the investigation commented to me, ‘you and your colleagues have saved numerous federal agents thousands of hours of work,’” the judge cited in his ruling.

The two financial investigators said they first submitted their complaints that they believe show the nonprofit, founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton, evaded taxes, to the IRS office in Ogden, Utah, in August 2017. They told a House subcommittee on government operations in December 2018 that they had submitted thousands of documents to the IRS.

Doyle and Moynihan looked at the foundation’s tax returns, other publicly available data, and interviewed several foundation employees. They tried to match what was being spent on charitable giving and how much was set aside for things such as travel, salaries, and administration expenses.

Among other things, they found that about 60 percent of the foundation’s income was spent on things such as salaries, travel, and grants. Moynihan said he believed a good charity would only spend about 15 percent on such things.

Rather than a charity, Doyle and Moynihan called the foundation a “closely held partnership.”

Further, they said they reviewed some emails that showed the Clintons had been approved to accept funds for Bill Clinton’s presidential library but were in talks with potential donors about health programs that weren’t part of the library’s mission, according to the articles of incorporation.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton in Las Vegas on Feb. 19, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

 

Based on their research, Doyle and Moynihan believe the Clintons owe taxes on between $400 million and $2.5 billion; if the IRS finds that the foundation isn’t a charity, its donors might also be liable for taxes owed on their contributions. They also said that, while not looking for this specifically, they did find instances of “pay-to-play” behavior between the donors, the foundation, and Hillary Clinton’s position as secretary of state, which she held from 2009 to 2013.

Based on an interview with a former employee, they said Bill Clinton regularly “mixed and matched, on an ongoing basis, his business with that of the foundation.”

In the whistleblowers’ latest filing, they have requested court permission to take a deposition from Jimmy Corley, the chief of accounting compliance for Arkansas. According to Just the News, the request has been sealed by the court.

Corley and the Clinton Foundation didn’t immediately respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.

Author: Isabel van Brugen is an award-winning journalist, currently working as a news reporter at the Epoch Times. She is a Distinction MA Newspaper Journalism graduate at City, University of London and a language graduate from Queen Mary, University of London. She has worked with a variety of publications such as The Times, London Evening Standard, Grazia UK, Daily Express and Bang Showbiz.

@isabelvanbrugen

Holly Kellum contributed to this report.