Private Investigators Tell House Subcommittee Clintons Could Owe Taxes on Hundreds of Millions of Dollars

WASHINGTON—Two financial investigators say they have submitted thousands of documents to the IRS that they believe show the Clinton Foundation, founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton, potentially evaded paying taxes on millions if not billions of dollars, a House subcommittee on government operations heard Dec. 13.

Lawrence Doyle and John Moynihan of DM Income Advisors said they first submitted their complaints to the IRS office in Ogden, Utah, in August 2017.

“We filed a claim of probable cause that the foundation operated outside the bounds of its approval that came from the IRS,” Moynihan said.

They looked at the foundation’s tax returns, other publicly available data, and interviewed several foundation employees. They tried to match what was being spent on charitable giving and how much was set aside for things such as travel, salaries, and administration expenses.

“We attempted to reconcile all those donations with expenses. The basis of our claim is that we were unable to do that,” said Moynihan.

Among other things, they found that about 60 percent of the foundation’s income was spent on things like salaries, travel, and grants. Moynihan said he believed a good charity would only spend about 15 percent on such things.

Rather than a charity, Doyle and Moynihan called the foundation a “closely held partnership.”

Further, they said they reviewed some emails that showed the Clintons had been approved to accept funds for Bill Clinton’s presidential library but were in talks with potential donors about health programs that weren’t part of the library’s mission, according to the articles of incorporation.

Based on their research, Doyle and Moynihan believe the Clintons owe taxes on between $400 million and $2.5 billion; if the IRS finds that the foundation isn’t a charity, its donors might also be liable for taxes owed on their contributions. They also said that, while not looking for this specifically, they did find instances of “pay-to-play” behavior between the donors, the foundation, and Hillary Clinton’s position as secretary of state, which she held from 2009 to 2013.

Based on an interview with a former employee, they said Bill Clinton regularly “mixed and matched, on an ongoing basis, his business with that of the foundation.”

FBI Investigation

John Huber, the U.S. attorney for Utah who was assigned by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to look into potential wrongdoing by the Clinton Foundation, declined to testify at the hearing.

Moynihan and Doyle told the subcommittee that, in addition to the IRS, they also have turned over their 6,000-plus documents to the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Salt Lake City. They say they believe there is now an open criminal investigation by the FBI into the foundation.

“If you’re telling me there’s an open criminal investigation, maybe that makes sense why Mr. Huber was not here,” said Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the subcommittee. “If he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation, perhaps that’s why he didn’t show up.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated figures for the amount of tax the Clinton Foundation might owe. The figures were what the Clintons might have to pay tax on. The Epoch Times regrets the error.