Posted on 06/15/2007 7:56:10 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
Bill and Hillary Clinton have dissolved the blind trust that has managed their investments since they entered the White House in 1993, converting all stocks to cash to avoid financial conflicts as she runs for president, according to documents to be filed today with federal ethics officials.
The documents reviewed by The Washington Post provide the most complete accounting of how the Clintons accrued $5 million to $25 million in wealth -- nearly all since leaving the White House -- through investments in foreign companies, oil giants and drugmakers without their input or knowledge and without public disclosure.
The former president has also derived substantial income from speeches to companies and interest groups as his wife runs for the White House, earning nearly $6 million in the first five months of this year on top of the $40 million he earned over the prior five years, the documents show.
In one such engagement this March, the Boys and Girls Club of Los Angeles paid Bill Clinton $150,000 to hear him speak, the papers show.
The former president also is working on another book and last year formed a limited-liability corporation to manage his share of an investment partnership run by longtime friend and California supermarket magnate Ronald Burkle, the Office of Government Ethics filing shows.
The Clintons were told earlier this year by federal ethics officials that they would need to reorganize their blind trust to comply with laws for presidential candidates, which differ from those for senators.
The couple chose instead to dissolve the trust on April 27 and convert all their stocks to cash to avoid any questions about possible conflicts of interests, the Clintons' legal and financial advisers said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
If she's as good a market timer for stocks as for cattle futures, there will soon be a huge drop in the stock market - that's she's suddenly out of.
Have they paid all of their legal and financial bills yet? I seem to recall that they owed out a lot of money to their lawyers as well as a few others from Slick Willie’s indiscrestions. Also, doesn’t her majesty owe money to people?
Great - Air America and Bill Clinton. Yeah, that makes me want to reach for my checkbook and give to BGCA.
In this instance, the word "earning" is used loosely.
Looseness seems poetic here.
Thanks for posting. Great FReeper comments bump!
This blind trust seems to have included hedge funds and offshore holdings, making it pretty hard to get a grip on.
But IMHO this is only the tip of the iceberg. The clintons raked in several billions while they were in the White House. Big speaking fees are peanuts in comparison with getting a percentage of the drug cartel imports across the Mexican border, or selling nuclear secrets to China, or giving special deals to their crooked friends through Ron Brown.
Vince Foster was their bag man, until they got rid of him. Then Hillary was sure to make at least annual trips to Switzerland, taking the money over in diplomatic bags and trunks and putting it into Swiss numbered accounts.
Do I know this for sure? Can I prove it? Of course not. But keep in mind that no Mexican president in living memory has retired from office with less than a billion dollars in his bank accounts. And I’m sure the clintons did a lot better than that.
$25 million is nothing but pocket change for these people.
“COVERUP- this somehow will allow Hillary to hide more of waht she and Bill have been up to.”
Exactly. She knows how to cover like her cattle deal. Someday these two will be held accountable for their criminal acts and behavior. I know it seems like it will never happen; but it will.
“and slick willy took $150,000 from the boys and girls clubs for speaking to them.”
why, doncha know, he did it for the children.
Which means the conflicts of interest were so large and invasive the only option was complete dissolution. Now, when queried, Shrillary can say “I divested myself in that, I did the right thing>”
Never mind the 16 years of profits gained in industries and markets they publicly chastise.
FBI files show up in the WH, yet I'm expected to believe they had a 'blind trust'?
I thought a blind trust meant your beneficiaries were unaware of the investments? Are they the beneficiaries? Do they honestly NOT know what their money is invested in?
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