Thursday, April 23, 2015

Radioactive High Level Cronyism: Hillary Clinton and Uranium One

Russians have ended up with control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.

Since uranium is considered by the United States government to be  a strategic asset, with implications for national security, any uranium purchase has to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of U. S. government agencies.

NYT reports stunning eyebrow raising payments made to  Bill Clinton and Bill and Hillary Clinton-related entities. by those with ties to a Russian firm buying  uranium resources:
Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One’s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.

And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.

At the time, both Rosatom and the United States government made promises intended to ease concerns about ceding control of the company’s assets to the Russians. Those promises have been repeatedly broken, records show.
This, my friends, is an object lesson in how government rules and regulations result in the establishment of power centers that create incredible opportunities for personal profit, for the crony elite to exploit.

This kind of stuff goes on a lot, but it is usually much better hidden. The Clintons really look like greedy amateurs here.

 -RW

1 comment:

  1. Exclusive: Clinton charities will refile tax returns, audit for other errors NEW YORK | By Jonathan Allen

    (Reuters) - Hillary Clinton's family's charities are refiling at least five annual tax returns after a Reuters review found errors in how they reported donations from governments, and said they may audit other Clinton Foundation returns in case of other errors.

    The foundation and its list of donors have been under intense scrutiny in recent weeks. Republican critics say the foundation makes Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, vulnerable to undue influence. Her campaign team calls these claims "absurd conspiracy theories."

    The charities' errors generally take the form of under-reporting or over-reporting, by millions of dollars, donations from foreign governments, or in other instances omitting to break out government donations entirely when reporting revenue, the charities confirmed to Reuters.

    The errors, which have not been previously reported, appear on the form 990s that all non-profit organizations must file annually with the Internal Revenue Service to maintain their tax-exempt status. A charity must show copies of the forms to anyone who wants to see them to understand how the charity raises and spends money.

    The unsettled numbers on the tax returns are not evidence of wrongdoing but tend to undermine the 990s role as a form of public accountability, experts in charity law and transparency advocates told Reuters.

    "If those numbers keep changing - well, actually, we spent this on this, not that on that - it really defeats the purpose," said Bill Allison, a senior fellow at the Sunlight Foundation, a government transparency advocacy group.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/23/us-usa-election-clinton-taxes-exclusive-idUSKBN0NE0CA20150423


    FOUNDATION DEFENDS TRANSPARENCY...wafj.

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