IS AMERICA’S TOUGHEST PROSECUTOR INVESTIGATING THE CLINTON FOUNDATION?

Preet Bharara, scourge of corrupt NY politicians, is reportedly 'investigating' the Clinton family charity

by Francesca Chambers

Daily Mail
August 12, 2016

Hillary Clinton escaped prosecution for her conduct during her tenure at the State Department - her family's foundation may not be so fortunate.

The FBI has multiple investigations on the books involving the Clinton Foundation, according to The Daily Caller.

The one in New York City, where the charity is based, is reportedly headed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, a prosecutor who made a name for himself in the midst of the the financial crisis by acting on fraud and public corruption cases.

That the United States Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York is chasing the case could spell trouble for the Clintons.

An official who spoke to The Daily Caller said an investigation by Bharara's office 'would be seen by agents as a positive development as prosecutors there are generally thought to be more aggressive than the career lawyers within the DOJ.'

Bharara's pursuit of insider trading cases beginning in 2009 earned him a Time magazine cover and the title of 'top cop' to Wall Street.

His office twice forced Citibank to pay substantial sums in 2012 and 2014 for pushing risky loans. In 2012 it also pursued, and won, a mortgage-fraud case against Bank of America.

Several of Bernie Madoff's associates we convicted as a result of Bharara's office's work. Madoff's bank, JPMorgan, forfeited $1.7 billion in a separate settlement.

His reach has extended beyond the big banks to public officials. State senators, New York city council men and women, even State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, have found themselves in his crosshairs.

Silver was arrested in 2015 and convicted. New York now has its first black State Assembly Speaker, Carly Heastie.

Bharara's case against New York's Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos sent the politician to jail for five years.

He warned New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo this spring to stay in line, or he'd come after them, too.

The Indian-born prosecutor who is a naturalized U.S. citizen was reportedly considered to replace Eric Holder at the Justice Department when he stepped down. The job was offered to his colleague Loretta Lynch, also of New York, instead.

FBI Director James Comey would not confirm the existence of any investigations into the Clinton Foundation when he testified last month before Congress on the bureau's investigation into the former secretary of state's emails.

'I'm not going to comment on the existence or nonexistence of other investigations,' he said at the time.

At least one proposed probe aside from the one reported by the Caller is now known to the public. It came to light this week on CNN.

Donald Trump has accused Hillary Clinton of using her position in the Obama administration to orchestrate kickbacks to the foundation her husband started and now bears both their names.

A release of emails this week between her State Department employees and a Clinton Foundation aide, Doug Band, revealed that he urged her office on one occasion to make a specific hire and on another occasion to introduce a donor to a person of 'substance' handling U.S. affairs in Lebanon.

The emails, obtained through a court order by conservative government oversight group Judicial Watch, restarted conversations about the Democrat's ability to keep up a firewall between her family's interests and the federal government.

It is unclear if Clinton is elected how involved Bill and Chelsea will be in non-profit that was once on Charity Navigator's watchlist over concerns it was acting as a 'slush fund' for the former first family.

As Hillary Clinton geared up to make her own bid for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, investigatory articles into its conduct while she was in the employment of the government turned up results that Republicans like Trump have said are nothing short of concerning, if not criminal.

The foundation was required by the State Department to disclose its donations from foreign governments that had not previously written checks or those that 'materially' increased their gifts once she assumed her role atop the powerful government agency.

And yet it did not inform the Obama administration of a $500,000 donation from Algeria in 2010.

Foreign governments have given a significant amount of money to the Clinton Foundation since its creation in 2001 after Bill and Hillary moved out of the White House.

A Washington Post review of its funds last year concluded that foreign donations have accounted for a third of it contributions of a collective $1 million or more over the organization's lifetime.

Overall, the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation has raked in $2 billion and counting in the 15 years since it was created from domestic and overseas corporations and private individuals, in addition to foreign governments, the Post determined.

The Daily Caller article on the FBI's current investigation, which it says is being jointly coordinated by field offices and headquarters in a unique arrangement, did not say what crime or crimes prosecutors suspect the foundation and its employees of committing.

It makes reference to the Washington Post's findings and a CNN report this week that three FBI offices recommended a public corruption investigation into the Clinton Foundation this year but were waved off by the Department of Justice.

The proposed investigation stemmed from suspicious banking activity of one of the foundation's foreign donors. CNN did not share the name of the donor in its report.

Had the investigation went forward, all of the Clinton Foundation's foreign donations would have been subject to review, the Caller observed, as well as Clinton's activity as secretary of state.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Daily Caller published this report the same day the Washington Examiner reported that the Justice Department denied requests from three FBI field offices that wanted to open public corruption probes of the Clinton Foundation. So, who to believe?