Bill Clinton profits from company tied to felon, China

Washington Times ^ | March 7 2008 | Jim McElhatton

[Daffynition]

The spring before his wife began her White House campaign, former President Bill Clinton earned $700,000 for his foundation by selling stock that he had been given from an Internet search company that was co-founded by a convicted felon and backed by the Chinese government, public records show.

Mr. Clinton had gotten the nonpublicly traded stock from Accoona Corp. back in 2004 as a gift for giving a speech at a company event. He landed the windfall by selling the 200,000 shares to an undisclosed buyer in May 2006, commanding $3.50 a share at a time when the company was reporting millions of dollars of losses, according to interviews.

A spokesman for the William J. Clinton Foundation declined to identify the buyer who was willing to pay so much for a struggling company's stock, saying only that the transaction was handled by a securities broker. It occurred seven months before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her bid to run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

The spokesman, Ben Yarrow, declined last week to say whether Mr. Clinton knew about the Chinese government's connection to Accoona or the felony fraud conviction of one of the company's founders.

"President Clinton gave a speech; he did not endorse a product," Mr. Yarrow said.

The $700,000 capital gains was listed on the tax returns of Mr. Clinton's foundation that were reviewed by The Washington Times.

The lack of disclosure about the buyer and the general activities of former presidents' foundations troubles some ethics experts.

CONTINUED

[Signalman]

This is the kind of stuff Obama is going to have to start using against the Clinton crime family. Because they’re sure going to use things like this against him.

[Conservative4Ever]

Hillary is a Morlock?...who knew!

[Zhang Fei]

This is much ado over nothing. He gave a speech in 2004 and they gave him shares (which were worth substantially less before the Chinese bubble)* worth maybe a couple of hundred grand. Tony Blair just gave a speech in China back in November 2007, and he got $500,000 cash for his trouble. The nature of these speeches has nothing to do with bribery. Thousands of Chinese businessmen sign up for them at about $1,000 a plate so they can have their picture taken with some important foreign personage. These pictures are then framed and placed in each businessman's conference room or office so that any client that comes by gets the impression that the company's proprietor knows that foreign VIP on a personal basis, thereby enhancing his personal prestige.

* In 2004, the Chinese index was around 1400. Today, that index is 4200. That's a triple.

[TBP]

More Red Chinese connections for the Klintoon Mob.

[Know et al]

I know there has got to be a revelation in this news item but I can't find it. (sarc)