Portions of the recent House hearing into the Clinton Foundation's alleged fraud and pay-to-play schemes were really riveting, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel told Sputnik. He expressed hope that the hearing may lead to a reform of legislation on charities, to ensure transparency and credibility of their operation.

"I hope the FBI, finally, is engaged in a comprehensive investigation into all elements of the Clinton charity network, and into past failures to prosecute Clinton Foundation frauds, particularly in the 1997 through 2005 period, but also from 2015 forward," said Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel, commenting on the recent hearing concerning the Clinton Foundation at the Subcommittee on Government Operations of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

During the hearing, which took place on 13 December 2018, financial investigators Lawerence W. Doyle and John Moynihan, with MDA Analytics, told Chairman Mark Meadows, R-NC, that FBI agents told Doyle that there is "an open and ongoing investigation" into the Clinton Foundation.

Testimony suggests FBI open criminal investigation into Clinton Foundation. — Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) 13 декабря 2018 г.

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The financial experts, who have been conducting a private inquiry into the charity both nationally and internationally for the last two years, came to the conclusion that "the foundation was not a charitable organization per se, but in point of fact was a closely held family partnership."

The Clinton Foundation "began acting as an agent of foreign governments 'early in its life' and throughout its existence," Moynihan insisted, adding that as such, the organization should have been registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Furthermore, Doyle specified that the Clinton Foundation owes from $400 million to $2.5 billion in taxes as it was actually "not entitled to its 501c3 tax-exempt privileges as outlined in IRS 170 (c)2."

Commenting on the supposed FBI probe into the Clinton charity's wrongdoings. Ortel stressed that "portions of the recent hearing before the House subcommittee… were, indeed, riveting and a resounding success."

"Moynihan and Doyle are professional investigators and analysts who are not political partisans", the investigative journalist highlighted. "At their own expense, these gentlemen and others working with them have taken the time to review substantial portions of a massive set of public filings submitted by the Clinton Foundation and/or by their agents in numerous jurisdictions, inside and outside the United States".

The Wall Street analyst who has been carrying out a separate investigation into the Clinton Foundation's alleged fraud for the past three years, underscored that "numerous Clinton Foundation filings circulating in the public domain are false and materially misleading even as the Clintons and their allies and agents solicit and receive donations across state lines and across national boundaries".

FBI Digging Into the Clinton Foundation

Referring to Doyle's remark about the probe into the charity, Ortel recalled that "from the Inspector General (Justice Department) report of June 2018, we know 'the FBI opened Clinton Foundation investigations' in January 2016".

"Early in 2018, we know that famed Australian investigative journalist Michael Smith (a former detective) pushed the FBI to investigate possible abuses arising from Australian government financial support for certain international initiatives of the Clinton Foundation," the Wall Street analyst continued.

It is also known that the FBI mounted an investigation into the Clinton Foundation between 2001 and 2005. "yet failed to spot obvious frauds that are evident in public records still available readily", he emphasised.

In addition, the FBI and others "did examine some of Hillary Clinton's email traffic while she was secretary of state [2009 — 2013], yet seemingly were not curious enough why so few of the emails that she reluctantly turned over actually dealt with Clinton Foundation matters — a topic that should have given rise to many emails during her four years as US Secretary of State", Ortel pointed out.

First Step in Long Overdue Process

According to the analyst, the reported FBI probe into the Clintons may lead to an indictment. He referred to two recent cases which ended up with convictions.

"In two recent cases, prosecutors won convictions against former US congressmen for fraudulent activities that seem to me far less serious than the long record of Clinton Foundation and Clinton Family abuses begun 23 October 1997 and still ongoing now", he said citing the case of Steve Stockman who was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison and Corrine Brown, who is now in Federal prison for five years.

Ortel opined that "the recent House hearing may have been the first step in a long overdue process — reforming charity laws and regulations specifically to ensure that US charities operating internationally actually do so lawfully and in ways that truly are charitable".

"Whether the network of Clinton Foundation entities, trustees, significant donors, executives and professional advisors is indicted is a matter for prosecutors in many possible jurisdictions, at state and at federal level, as well as internationally", he highlighted, adding that it would be a step in the right direction if even at least one group of prosecutors somewhere in the United States of America prepared to demonstrate that even powerful, politically ambitious persons including the Clintons are not "too big to jail".

Testimonies Delivered. What Next?

The question then arises on how the situation will unfold following the 13 December hearing.

"During 2019 and 2020, Democrats in the House are likely to train attention on perceived transgressions of the Trump Administration and so are not likely to pursue recent revelations concerning the Clinton Foundation", Ortel believes.

However, according to the investigative journalist, "for many reasons, a second special counsel should immediately be appointed to examine criminal violations of the network of Clinton charities".

"Even more important, this special counsel should examine whether the Clintons, the Obama administration and other politically powerful persons engaged in attempts to obstruct justice by impeding open FBI investigations into Clinton Foundation abuses," he underscored.

Meanwhile, Judicial Watch (JW) President Tom Fitton, who also testified on the Hill on 13 December, reported that ex-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton submitted written answers under oath about her private non-secured email system to the conservative watchdog.

​Earlier, a federal judge ordered to find out whether the former Secretary of State used a private email server to deliberately thwart the Freedom of Information Act of 1967.

Thus, Clinton insists that she "decided to use a clintonemail.com account on the system for the purpose of convenience" which Fitton considers not convincing.

"We intend to pursue additional questions with Mrs Clinton", he tweeted.

Mrs. Clinton’s assertion that she used a separate email system as a matter of ‘convenience’ is simply not credible and is belied by evidence and testimony. We intend to pursue additional questions with Mrs. Clinton. https://t.co/MMWEDqcfNL pic.twitter.com/b6R33OakYh — Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) 14 декабря 2018 г.

​The JW president has repeatedly lambasted double standards with regard to widely promoted Special Counsel Mueller probe into the alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia (which has not been proven so far) and the Clinton Foundation scandal and Hillary Clinton's "emailgate" which remain largely neglected by the Democrats and the left-leaning MSM.

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The views and opinions expressed in the article do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.