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Posted on 10/15/2026 8:53:36 AM PDT by Libloather
FIRST ON FOX - The price tag for the beleaguered Obama Presidential Center is now projected to top $1 billion, nearly triple its original estimate, the foundation overseeing construction of the Chicago facility told Fox News Digital.
Confirmation of the 10-figure cost marks another chapter in the troubled history of the much-delayed project, which opened five years behind schedule amid controversy over its use of public parkland and claims that subcontractors were stiffed out of millions of dollars. It comes as newly released financial records reviewed by Fox News Digital offer a fresh look at the finances of the Obama Foundation, the former president's private nonprofit that oversaw construction of the billion-dollar project.
The sprawling campus on the Windy City's south side was originally expected to open in 2021, with construction costs estimated at $300 million to $350 million. But years of federal reviews, legal challenges and construction delays preceded its eventual opening in June 2026, by which time projected costs had skyrocketed to approximately $850 million.
Hailed by Democrats and supporters as a historic investment in the community and a tribute to the former president's legacy, the center was promoted as a catalyst for jobs, economic growth and new opportunities for underserved communities.
"While we continue to reconcile costs and plan ahead for additional capital improvements, we anticipate our total cost for constructing the campus is approximately $1 billion — again, all raised in private contributions," Emily Bittner, the Obama Foundation's vice president of communications, told Fox News Digital. "This includes investments in additional public art, insurance, scope changes in our Home Court, project management and exhibit installation, among other categories."
The campus serves as both a museum dedicated to Obama's presidency and the headquarters of the Obama Foundation. It also features a public library branch and an athletic...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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How much did the Imams get?
“Obama’s billion-dollar tar-baby”- There, fixed it for you.
They had to out-ugly the Clinton Center.
So just like any other Democratic public works project, it’s a carnival of corruption and graft. Quelle surprise!
It’s a Somalian [African] scam, Jim...
The Obama Presidential Center “says” it was funded and managed through the Obama Foundation, which raised money from private donors to pay for the campus.
The center (estimated between $850 million and $1 billion) was built using private philanthropic contributions gathered by the “Obama Foundation.”
Unlike traditional presidential libraries managed by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Obama Center operates as a privately run museum and foundation headquarters on Chicago’s South Side.
While construction costs rose significantly, the Obama Foundation has maintained that the project is privately funded, though critics and reports have raised questions regarding local tax-paid infrastructure costs........ and “endowment targets.”
cont
The Obama Foundation says it raised the money for the Obama Presidential Center and its global programs entirely through private contributions and philanthropic donations from tens of thousands of individual donors, corporate sponsors, and high-profile tech leaders.
Key funding sources include Private Donors and Mega-Donors: The foundation received major multi-million-dollar contributions, including $100 million gifts each from Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
The foundation has raised funds from over 90,000 individual donors, with strong fundraising hauls such as $311 million in 2022 alone. The Obama Foundation set an overall fundraising target of $1.6 billion to cover construction of the Chicago campus, ongoing global leadership programs, and endowments.
While the private foundation covers the construction and campus costs (projected at roughly $1 billion), tax dollars separately funded local infrastructure and surrounding road or park improvements connected to the site.
Looks like a Nazi Flack Tower.
I always like to compare the Obama Death Star to this, the only known building, or museum belonging to 13th President, Millard Fillmore, located in East Aurora, NY.
He was considered a "failed President" but certainly operated strictly within the bounds of the Constitution in his time. This country house is all that remains of his possessions, and the Library of Congress has a special collection of his documents. That's it.
The practice of establishing "Presidential Libraries" started with FDR and his cult of progressives. Turning Presidents into gods, like Roman Emperors, has become so perverse that narcissists like Obama are now building $1 billion Temples to themselves while they are still very much alive.
How are they laundering THAT money?
.....a tribute to the former president’s [obama’s] legacy.....
obama doesn’t have much of a legacy! Just like James Buchanan!
It probably came in under budget...all that extra spending is on grift and kickbacks.
He once headed the Obama Foundation then Biden appointed Nigerian Wally Adeyomo Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, as the agency’s Chief Operating Officer.
Adeyomo’s administrative duties included implementing sweeping economic packages like the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act—which total trillions of dollars in federal legislation—some connected him to “untraceable payouts” ...... wrt uncontrolled federal spending.
Recent reports by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) highlighted over $4.7 trillion in federal payments that DOGE categorized as problematic or poorly tracked. These funds were managed or distributed under Adeyemo’s individual authority.
Nigerian Wally Adeyemo’s present job is Group Head of Strategy and Transformation, Public Policy, and Corporate Responsibility at Barclays Bank in October 2025. In this position, he serves on the bank’s Group Executive Committee, managing its long-term strategic direction and overseeing interactions with governments, regulatory bodies, and media platforms.
Alongside his executive role at Barclays, he also holds several other prominent positions:
• Principal at WestExec Advisors, a strategic and geopolitical risk advisory firm.
• Board Member for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
• Carnegie Distinguished Fellow at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA).
He previously served as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury under the Biden administration from March 2021 until January 2025.
Clinton Center looks like a double-wide up on stilts getting repaired.
Then it can't be called non-partisan. lol
Nigerian Wally Adeyomo's official govt portrait.
Press Release For Immediate Release
Nov 7, 2022
US Attorney’s Office
Central District of California
Nigerian Sentenced to 11 Years in Federal Prison
<><> Conspired to Launder Tens of Millions of US Dollars from Online Scams
<><>Criminal Known Online as ‘Ray Hushpuppi’ Laundered Proceeds of School Financing Scam,
<><>Business Email Compromise Fraud and Other Cyber Schemes
LOS ANGELES – A prolific international fraudster who conspired to launder tens of millions of dollars through a series of online scams and flaunted his luxurious, crime-funded lifestyle on social media was sentenced today to 135 months in federal prison. Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, a 40-year-old Nigerian national, also known by his Instagram handle, “Ray Hushpuppi,” was sentenced by United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II, who also ordered Abbas to pay $1,732,841 in restitution to two fraud victims.
Abbas pleaded guilty in April 2021 to one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He was arrested in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in June 2020 and has remained in federal custody since his expulsion from the UAE. “Abbas bragged on social media about his lavish lifestyle – a lifestyle funded by his involvement in transnational fraud and money laundering conspiracies targeting victims around the world,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada. “Money laundering and business email compromise scams are a massive international crime problem, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement and intl partners to identify and prosecute those involved, wherever they may be.”
“Ramon Abbas, a.k.a. ‘Hushpuppi,’ targeted both American and international victims, becoming one of the most prolific money launderers in the world,” said Don Alway, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “Abbas leveraged his social media platforms – where he amassed a considerable following – to gain notoriety and to brag about the immense wealth he acquired by conducting business email compromise scams, online bank heists and other cyber-enabled fraud that financially ruined scores of victims and provided assistance to the North Korean regime. This significant sentence is the result of years’ worth of collaboration among law enforcement in multiple countries and should send a clear warning to international fraudsters that the FBI will seek justice for victims, regardless of whether criminals operate within or outside United States borders.”
Abbas colluded with Ghaleb Alaumary, 37, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, a convicted money launderer, to launder funds derived from various crimes, including bank cyber-heists, business email compromise (BEC) schemes and other online frauds. BEC schemes typically involve gaining unauthorized access to a business email account and attempting to trick a victim business into making an unauthorized wire transfer.
In January 2019, Abbas conspired with Alaumary to launder funds stolen from a bank in Malta by providing account information for banks in Romania and Bulgaria. The United States has charged North Korean hackers with committing the bank cyber-heist in Malta, and alleged that those funds were destined for the North Korean government. Abbas has admitted that the intended loss with respect to the Maltese bank was approximately $14.7 million.
In May 2019, Abbas conspired with Alaumary to launder millions of pounds stolen from a professional soccer club in the United Kingdom as well as a British company. In connection with that scheme, Abbas provided Alaumary with details for a bank account in Mexico that “could handle millions and not block,” according to court documents.
Abbas also fraudulently induced a New York-based law firm in October 2019 to transfer approximately $922,857 to an account that a co-conspirator controlled under someone else’s name. Alaumary was charged separately and pleaded guilty in November 2020 to one count of conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He is serving a 140-month federal prison sentence and was ordered to pay more than $30 million in restitution.Abbas also admitted in his plea agreement to conspiring with others to defraud an individual in Qatar who sought a loan of $15 million to build a school.
At today’s sentencing hearing, Judge Wright ordered Abbas to pay $922,857 in restitution to the law firm victim and $809,983 in restitution to the businessperson in Qatar.Abbas and another conspirator duped the victim businessperson into paying approximately $330,000 to fund an “investor’s account” to facilitate the loan. Abbas specifically directed the victim to send $100,000 to a bank account controlled by a co-conspirator, and $230,000 to the bank account of a luxury watch seller. Abbas used those funds for his personal benefit, including purchasing a $230,000 Richard Mille RM11-03 watch, which he arranged to have brought to him from New York to Dubai. The watch made numerous appearances on Abbas’ wrist on his now-defunct Instagram account, often with the hashtag #RichardMille.
Approximately $50,000 of proceeds from the scheme were used to fraudulently acquire a St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and Nevis citizenship and a passport for Abbas through a sham marriage to a St. Kitts citizen. In January and February 2020, Abbas and another conspirator corresponded with the victim businessperson, attempting to fraudulently induce a further payment of $575,000 in purported taxes to release the $15 million loan. In February 2020, the victim sent approximately $299,983 to Kenyan bank accounts specified by another conspirator. In March 2020, Abbas fraudulently induced the victim to send another $180,000 to U.S.-based bank accounts; those funds were subsequently laundered with assistance from several co-conspirators.
“By his own admission, during just an 18-month period defendant conspired to launder over $300 million,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “While much of this intended loss did not ultimately materialize, [Abbas’] willingness and ability to participate in large-scale money laundering highlights the seriousness of his criminal conduct.” The FBI investigated this matter as part of Operation Top Dog. The FBI thanks the government of the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Police Department for their substantial assistance in this matter. Asst US Atty Khaldoun Shobaki of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section prosecuted this case. The Justice Department Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in this matter.
In other words, a failure.
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