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As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One\u2019s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation\u2019s donors.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n From the New York Times<\/em> article:\u00a0Cash Flowed to Clinton Foundation as Russians Pressed for Control of Uranium Company<\/a><\/p>\n If you looked at the U.S. economy under a microscope, what you\u2019d see is a gigantic cancerous blob of cronyism surrounded by tech startups and huge\u00a0prisons. If you zeroed in on the cancerous tumor, at the nucleus you\u2019d see a network of crony institutions like the Federal Reserve, intelligence agencies, TBTF Wall Street banks and defense contractors. Pretty close to that, you\u2019d probably find the Clinton Foundation. A veritable clearinghouse for cronyism masquerading as a charity.<\/p>\n This year has seen a great deal of investigative work on the shadiness of the Clinton Foundation, much of which\u00a0has been highlighted here at Liberty Blitzkrieg<\/a>. Here\u2019s the tally so far:<\/p>\n Hillary Clinton Exposed Part 1 \u2013 How She Aggressively Lobbied for Mega Corporations as Secretary of State<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Hillary Clinton Exposed Part 2 \u2013 Clinton Foundation Took Millions From Countries That Also Fund ISIS<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Clinton Foundation\u2019s Deep Financial Ties to Ukrainian Oligarch Who Pushed for Closer Ties to EU Revealed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n This is How Hillary Does Business \u2013 An Oil Company, Human Rights Abuses in Colombia and the Clinton Foundation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n More Hillary Cronyism Revealed \u2013 How Cisco Used Clinton Foundation Donations to Cover-up Human Rights Abuse in China<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The latest controversy\u00a0is related\u00a0to donations to the Clinton Foundation by parties with interests in\u00a0uranium deals with Russia while Hillary was Secretary of State. It leverages the work of Peter Schweizer from\u00a0his upcoming book \u201cClinton Cash,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which is already the year\u2019s most highly anticipated political work ahead of its release date of May 5th.<\/p>\n Interestingly, at the very center of the latest story is Canadian businessman Frank\u00a0Giustra, a very close friend of Bill Clinton. He was also at the center of\u00a0the story about the oil company and human rights abuses in Colombia referenced earlier. Here\u2019s an excerpt from that prior piece:<\/p>\n The details of these financial dealings remain murky, but this much is clear: After millions of dollars were pledged by the\u00a0oil company\u00a0to the Clinton Foundation \u2014 supplemented by\u00a0millions\u00a0more\u00a0from Giustra himself \u2014 Secretary Clinton abruptly changed her position on the controversial U.S.-Colombia trade pact. Having\u00a0opposed\u00a0the deal as a bad one for labor rights back when she was a presidential candidate in 2008, she now promoted it,\u00a0calling\u00a0it \u201cstrongly in the interests of both Colombia and the United States.\u201d The change of heart by Clinton and other Democratic leaders enabled congressional passage of a Colombia trade deal that experts say delivered big benefits to foreign investors like Giustra.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n The details of her family\u2019s entanglements in Colombia echo\u00a0talk\u00a0that the Clintons have blurred the lines between their private business and philanthropic interests and those of the nation. And\u00a0Hillary Clinton\u2019s connections to Pacific Rubiales and Giustra intensify recent questions about whether big donations influenced her decisions as secretary of state.<\/b><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Remember the name Frank\u00a0Giustra as you read the following excerpts from the blockbuster New York Times<\/em> article<\/a>:<\/p>\n The article, in January 2013, detailed how the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosatom, had taken over a Canadian company with uranium-mining stakes stretching from Central Asia to the American West. The deal made Rosatom one of the world\u2019s largest uranium producers and brought Mr. Putin closer to his goal of controlling much of the global uranium supply chain.<\/em><\/p>\n But the untold story behind that story is one that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n At the heart of the tale are several men, leaders of the Canadian mining industry, who have been major donors to the charitable endeavors of former President\u00a0Bill Clinton<\/a>\u00a0and his family. Members of that group built, financed and eventually sold off to the Russians a company that would become known as Uranium One.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Beyond mines in Kazakhstan that are among the most lucrative in the world, the sale gave the Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States. Since uranium is considered a strategic asset, with implications for national security, the deal had to be approved by a committee composed of representatives from a number of United States government agencies. Among the agencies that eventually signed off was the State Department, then headed by Mr. Clinton\u2019s wife,\u00a0Hillary Rodham Clinton<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n As the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation. Uranium One\u2019s chairman used his family foundation to make four donations totaling $2.35 million. Those contributions were not publicly disclosed by the Clintons, despite an agreement Mrs. Clinton had struck with the Obama White House to publicly identify all donors. Other people with ties to the company made donations as well.<\/em><\/p>\n And shortly after the Russians announced their intention to acquire a majority stake in Uranium One, Mr. Clinton received $500,000 for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock.<\/em><\/p>\n Whether the donations played any role in the approval of the uranium deal is unknown. But the episode underscores the special ethical challenges presented by the Clinton Foundation, headed by a former president who relied heavily on foreign cash to accumulate $250 million in assets even as his wife helped steer American foreign policy as secretary of state, presiding over decisions with the potential to benefit the foundation\u2019s donors.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Right, because the Clintons were able to grow their assets to $250 million thanks to\u00a0unicorns and leprechauns\u00a0sprinkling free\u00a0cash on their heads.<\/p>\n Either way, the Uranium One deal highlights the limits of such prohibitions. The foundation will continue to accept contributions from foreign individuals and businesses whose interests, like Uranium One\u2019s, may overlap with those of foreign governments, some of which may be at odds with the United States.<\/em><\/p>\n Now, after Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea and aggression in Ukraine, the Moscow-Washington relationship is devolving toward Cold War levels, a point several experts made in evaluating a deal so beneficial to Mr. Putin, a man known to use energy resources to project power around the world.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Somehow the New York Times<\/em> failed to mention the Ukrainian coup. I won\u2019t hold my breath for a correction.<\/p>\n The path to a Russian acquisition of American uranium deposits began in 2005 in Kazakhstan, where the Canadian mining financier Frank Giustra orchestrated his first big uranium deal, with Mr. Clinton at his side.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Here\u2019s Frankie boy again.<\/p>\n The two men had flown aboard Mr. Giustra\u2019s private jet to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where they dined with the authoritarian president, Nursultan A. Nazarbayev. Mr. Clinton handed the Kazakh president a propaganda coup when he expressed support for Mr. Nazarbayev\u2019s bid to head an international elections monitoring group, undercutting American foreign policy and criticism of Kazakhstan\u2019s poor human rights record by, among others, his wife, then a senator.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Dining with an authoritarian Kazakh leader. Seems like the sort of thing you\u2019d do while running a massive global charity.<\/p>\n Within days of the visit, Mr. Giustra\u2019s fledgling company, UrAsia Energy Ltd., signed a preliminary deal giving it stakes in three uranium mines controlled by the state-run uranium agency Kazatomprom.<\/em><\/p>\n The Times published an article revealing the 2005 trip\u2019s link to Mr. Giustra\u2019s Kazakhstan mining deal. It also reported that several months later, Mr. Giustra had\u00a0donated $31.3 million<\/a>\u00a0to Mr. Clinton\u2019s foundation.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Though the article quoted the former head of Kazatomprom, Moukhtar Dzhakishev, as saying that the deal required government approval and was discussed at a dinner with the president, Mr. Giustra insisted that it was a private transaction, with no need for Mr. Clinton\u2019s influence with Kazakh officials. He described his relationship with the former American president as motivated solely by a shared interest in philanthropy.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes, we all know Bill was merely there for the Kazakh oligarch funded orgies\u00a0(actually, this is possible).<\/p>\n As if to underscore the point, five months later Mr. Giustra held a fund-raiser for the Clinton Giustra Sustainable Growth Initiative, a project aimed at fostering progressive environmental and labor practices in the natural resources industry, to which he had pledged $100 million. The star-studded gala, at a conference center in Toronto, featured performances by Elton John and Shakira and celebrities like Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Robin Williams encouraging contributions from the many so-called F.O.F.s \u2014 Friends of Frank \u2014 in attendance, among them Mr. Telfer. In all, the evening generated $16 million in pledges, according to an article in The Globe and Mail.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Any relation to \u201cFriends of Angelo?\u201d<\/p>\n Bill certainly keeps some very interesting friends. Let\u2019s not forget serial pedophile Jeffery Epstein (see:\u00a0Oligarch Justice \u2013 Powerful Pedophiles Roam Free as Journalist Barrett Brown Returns to Jail<\/a><\/strong>)<\/p>\n Three days later, a wholly owned subsidiary of Rosatom completed a deal for 17 percent of Uranium One. And within a year, the Russian government would substantially up the ante, with a generous offer to shareholders that would give it a 51 percent controlling stake. But first, Uranium One had to get the American government to sign off on the deal.<\/em><\/p>\n When ARMZ, an arm of Rosatom, took its first 17 percent stake in Uranium One in 2009, the two parties signed an agreement, found in securities filings, to seek the foreign investment committee\u2019s review. But it was the 2010 deal, giving the Russians a controlling 51 percent stake, that set off alarm bells. Four members of the House of Representatives signed a letter expressing concern. Two more began pushing legislation to kill the deal.<\/em><\/p>\n Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, where Uranium One\u2019s largest American operation was, wrote to President Obama, saying the deal \u201cwould give the Russian government control over a sizable portion of America\u2019s uranium production capacity.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Still, the ultimate authority to approve or reject the Russian acquisition rested with the cabinet officials on the foreign investment committee, including Mrs. Clinton \u2014 whose husband was collecting millions of dollars in donations from people associated with Uranium One.<\/em><\/p>\n Before Mrs. Clinton could assume her post as secretary of state, the White House demanded that she sign a memorandum of understanding placing limits on her husband\u2019s foundation\u2019s activities. To avoid the perception of conflicts of interest, beyond the ban on foreign government donations, the foundation was required to publicly disclose all contributors.<\/em><\/p>\n To judge from those disclosures \u2014 which list the contributions in ranges rather than precise amounts \u2014 the only Uranium One official to give to the Clinton Foundation was Mr. Telfer, the chairman, and the amount was relatively small: no more than $250,000, and that was in 2007, before talk of a Rosatom deal began percolating.<\/em><\/p>\n But a review of tax records in Canada, where Mr. Telfer has a family charity called the Fernwood Foundation, shows that he donated millions of dollars more, during and after the critical time when the foreign investment committee was reviewing his deal with the Russians.<\/strong> With the Russians offering a special dividend, shareholders like Mr. Telfer stood to profit.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Naturally, now that the Clintons have been caught, they are going to\u00a0refile five years of taxes<\/a>\u00a0ahead of the release of Mr.\u00a0Schweizer\u2019s book. Standard operating procedure.<\/p>\n The Clinton campaign left it to the foundation to reply to questions about the Fernwood donations; the foundation did not provide a response.<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Telfer\u2019s undisclosed donations came in addition to between $1.3 million and $5.6 million in contributions, which were reported, from a constellation of people with ties to Uranium One or UrAsia, the company that originally acquired Uranium One\u2019s most valuable asset: the Kazakhstan mines. Without those assets, the Russians would have had no interest in the deal: \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the goal to buy the Wyoming mines. The goal was to acquire the Kazakh assets, which are very good,\u201d Mr. Novikov, the Rosatom spokesman, said in an interview.<\/em><\/p>\n Amid this influx of Uranium One-connected money, Mr. Clinton was invited to speak in Moscow in June 2010, the same month Rosatom struck its deal for a majority stake in Uranium One.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The $500,000 fee \u2014 among Mr. Clinton\u2019s highest<\/strong> \u2014 was paid by Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank with ties to the Kremlin that has invited world leaders, including Tony Blair, the former British prime minister, to speak at its annual investor conference.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Ah, Tony Blair. One of the most unabashed war criminal profiteers alive today. Recall:<\/p>\n![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Screen-Shot-2015-04-24-at-6.40.26-AM.png\")
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\n\u201cNone of this would have been possible if Frank Giustra didn\u2019t have a remarkable combination of caring and modesty, of vision and energy and iron determination,\u201d Mr. Clinton told those gathered, adding: \u201cI love this guy, and you should, too.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n
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