Two Bill Clinton cronies used their private consulting firm to steer millions in business to the former president while raising funds for the Clinton Foundation — and even called the arrangement “Bill Clinton Inc.”
Doug Band, a top Clinton aide, detailed the complex financial arrangement between his company, Teneo, and the foundation in a memo contained in hacked e-mails released Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
“Teneo partners have raised in excess of $8 million for the foundation, more than $5.25 million of which is in the bank,” the memo reads.
“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.”
The consulting company was formed by Band and former State Department envoy Declan Kelly. The memo about its activities shows the incestuous relationship between the foundation and the private business interests of the former president.
In one arrangement, Kelly introduced Bob McCann, the head of UBS Wealth Management, to Clinton at an event in 2009.
After the meeting, McCann donated hundreds of thousands to the foundation while inviting Clinton to give several paid speeches.
Another arrangement involved the Laureate Foundation, which donated more than $1 million to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Laureate was a “personal advisory services business,” the memo said, paying Clinton “$3.5 million annually to provide advice and serve as their honorary chairman.”
The cozy relationship with the Clintons put the Baltimore-based Laureate at high-profile events with international players who could help it expand its reach around the globe.
The Band memo also includes a section about “For-Profit Activity of President Clinton (i.e., Bill Clinton Inc.).”
Some of the speeches “secured” by Teneo include two $450,000 addresses delivered to UBS in 2011 and 2012, as well as a commitment for three additional paid speeches, if he chose to give them.
Another secured event was a $1 million fee for Clinton to speak at two one-hour sessions during an event in Hong Kong. The fee included $400,000 for a private plane.
“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,” the memo reads.
The relationship between Band and the donors was criticized harshly by daughter Chelsea Clinton in another e-mail.
Chelsea specifically called out Band and Teneo for “hustling’” business opportunities out of the foundation.
“I continue to want — and to try — to disintermediate myself from this muddle, edify the corporate audit and existential process we are in — while also being a responsible board member, daughter and person,” Chelsea wrote in the 2011 e-mail.
The relationship between foundation donors and Hillary Clinton’s State Department was raised through e-mails obtained by Citizens United in which top Hillary aide Huma Abedin appeared to vet donors’ access to the Clintons based on their links to the CGI.
In a December 2012 e-mail in which a CGI official asks for Band and a few others to meet with Hillary during a trip to Ireland, Abedin writes to Band, “Are these legit cgi people?”