Chinese money and the Clintons

Submitted by metulj on Fri, 2008/03/07 - 9:40pm.

A Jersey City, NJ based company gave its penny stocks to Bill Clinton as payment for services in 2004. What was a $0.66 a share stock in a private company was sold by Bill Clinton for $3.50 a share in 2006 and given to his foundation. The company in question is owned by convicted money launderer and the Chinese government. While not directly tied to Hillary, this is the one of the types of financial dealings that have shown up on the Clintons' tax returns in the past. What's on there now? It's a valid question.

Bill Clinton gets $700K cash windfall

Friday, March 07, 2008; Posted: 01:51 PM

WASHINGTON, Mar 7, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Ethical questions have arisen about former U.S. President Bill Clinton's $700,000 sale of stock given him by a failing Internet company founded by a felon.

Clinton got the non-publicly traded Accoona Corp. stock in 2004, the year the company was created, as a gift for speaking at a company event, The Washington Times reported. Valued at 66 cents a share when issued, he sold the 200,000 shares at $3.50 per shares to an undisclosed buyer in May 2006, while the company, backed by the Chinese government, was reporting losses in the tens of millions of dollars.

His wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, had not announced her intention to seek the Democratic presidential nomination when Clinton sold the stock and plowed the proceeds into the William J. Clinton Foundation, the newspaper said.

The sale was listed on the foundation's tax returns reviewed by the Times. Some ethics experts said they were troubled by the lack of disclosure about the buyer specifically, and the activities of former presidents' foundations generally.

Sheila Krumholtz of the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which studies political money and ethics, said former presidents aren't required to disclose donations and stock transactions to their foundations, but they should to avoid the appearance that money was buying special access.

Accoona, based in Jersey City, N.J., was co-founded by Armand Rousso, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to federal money laundering and other charges. The China Daily Information Co., a subsidiary of the Chinese-controlled newspaper China Daily, holds nearly a 7 percent stake in Accoona.

What's on there now? It's a

Submitted by bizgrrl on Sat, 2008/03/08 - 6:25am.

What's on there now? It's a valid question.

I agree. What I will find interesting is how their tax returns will be explained. Some people will get mad just because they have made a lot of money.

Personally, I am glad that

Submitted by metulj on Sat, 2008/03/08 - 8:41am.

Personally, I am glad that Bill Clinton gets paid a lot of money for being intelligent, I just wish he would think about who is paying him.

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

Clinton Pay

Submitted by SteveMule on Sat, 2008/03/08 - 9:48am.

I don't really care one way or the other how the Clintons made their money. I would just like them (and everyone else) to be honest and up front about it. If it's honest they should be proud, able and willing to say so.
What gets me is that so many make honest money but don't want anyone to know because of what it might 'look' like. Well, my feeling is, tht if you're worried about how it might 'look' either don't do it, or take the hit and explain it. The presidential candidates are going for the highest office in the land and as such they know they are going to be looked at, in great, excruciating detail. It's not like this is a surprise, at least it shouldn't be for them.
Suppose candidate X made their money writting and selling comic book porn. Is it legal? Yes. Is it something we want our president involved with? Probably not. So ... if you're going to run for POTUS don't write comic book porn. If you have the oppertunity to make a lot of money on deal that might look fishy (tho completly legal) wiegh that oppertunity against what it'll do to your POTUS campaign and decide accordingly.
Don't gripe, don't complain, just be honest about it and at least show us that you can be trusted.

Take Care, Be Good and don't play in the street!

SteveMule

More than optics

Submitted by Elrod on Sat, 2008/03/08 - 10:52am.

I think this is more significant than looking too wealthy. There is the very real problem of buying access and favors. With this and the Giustra and Buckler stories and others it looks as if the William J. Clinton Foundation and William Clinton Presidential Library have amassed HUGE sums of money over the last few years. And many of these donors are criminals or foreigners with dubious business demands (Borat-gate). In other words, many of these donors fully expect to be given some sort of access or favor in response. This is very important because it shows how and why a Hillary Clinton White House might easily undermine progressive causes in order to pay back these shady donors.

Funny Money

Submitted by Bbeanster on Sat, 2008/03/08 - 2:16pm.

Link...

There's evidently more than one reason for the Clintons being so secretive about their money.