POLITICS CAPITAL JOURNAL
Clinton Foundation’s Fundraisers Pressed Donors to Steer Business to Former President
Hacked email memo published by WikiLeaks details lucrative arrangements made for Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in September. ENLARGE
Bill Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in September. PHOTO: ZUMA PRESS
By JAMES V. GRIMALDI and ANUPREETA DAS
Updated Oct. 26, 2016 8:43 p.m. ET
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Two chief fundraisers for the Clinton Foundation pressed corporate donors to steer business opportunities to former President Bill Clinton as well, according to a hacked memo published Wednesday by WikiLeaks.
The November 2011 memo from Douglas Band, at the time a top aide to Mr. Clinton, outlines extensive fundraising efforts that Mr. Band and a partner deployed on behalf of the Clinton Foundation and how that work sometimes translated into large speaking fees and other paid work for Mr. Clinton.
The memo, part of a cache of emails stolen from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, resurfaces an issue that she has had a hard time shaking: questions over the relationship between the Clintons’ charity work and their personal business.
Mr. Band and an associate introduced top corporate executives to the former president, on the golf course and elsewhere, and then asked them to contribute money to the Clinton Foundation or attend the Clinton Global Initiative, an annual foundation event.
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Mr. Band wrote the memo to lawyers at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP who were reviewing the Clinton Foundation’s activities and links to Mr. Band. The Clintons’ daughter, Chelsea, had sought the review because she worried that Mr. Band was “hustling business” for his consulting firm, Teneo Holdings, at the Clinton Global Initiative, according to a 2011 email by Ms. Clinton.
In the memo, Mr. Band explained how he helped the foundation and former president, and found donors among his own firm’s clients. Mr. Band responded to the review by writing: “We appreciate the unorthodox nature of our roles, and the goal of seeking ways to ensure we are implementing best practices to protect the 501(c)3 status of the Foundation.”
The Clinton campaign has refused to confirm or deny the authenticity of any of the hacked emails and, along with top U.S. intelligence officials, blamed Russia for stealing them from the account of Mrs. Clinton campaign manager John Podesta.
In 2009, according to the memo, Declan Kelly, an Irish-American businessman and ally of the Clintons, introduced a senior UBS Group AG executive, Bob McCann, to Mr. Clinton at a charitable event. “Mr. Kelly subsequently asked Mr. Mccann to support the foundation … [and] also encouraged Mr. Mccann to invite President Clinton to give several paid speeches, which he has done,” according to the 12-page memo. Mr. Clinton earned $1.5 million from those speeches.
UBS said last year that the speeches by Mr. Clinton and the donations were part of a program to respond to the 2008 financial crisis. Former President George W. Bush also spoke to the Swiss bank as part of the program.
In another example, Mr. Band wrote that he and another Clinton aide persuaded a Dubai-based company, Gems Education, to establish a relationship with the foundation. “That relationship has grown into a business relationship for President Clinton and a donor relationship for CGI,” the memo said. Representatives of Gems couldn’t be reached for comment.
Messrs. Band and Kelly launched their consulting firm in 2011. By that November, partners of Teneo had raised more than $8 million for the Clinton Foundation and also arranged for Mr. Clinton to deliver more than $3 million worth of paid speeches, according to the memo.
A spokesman for Mr. Clinton didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. After a falling out with Chelsea Clinton, starting in 2012, Mr. Band no longer works for the former president and isn’t as involved in Clinton Foundation activities as he once had been.
Teneo spokesman Stephen Meahl said in a statement: “As the memo demonstrates, Teneo worked to encourage clients, where appropriate, to support the Clinton Foundation because of the good work that it does around the world.” He added, “It also clearly shows that Teneo never received any financial benefit or benefit of any kind from doing so.”
When he founded Teneo, Mr. Kelly was serving as the U.S. economic envoy to Northern Ireland, appointed by Mrs. Clinton, who was secretary of state. A public-relations specialist, he also had been a top fundraiser in her bids for the Senate and, in 2008, the White House.
Mr. Kelly had three major clients in 2009, Coca-Cola Co., Dow Chemical Co. and UBS Wealth Management. He asked all three to give money to the Clinton Foundation.
The memo said that Mr. Kelly introduced Mr. Clinton to Muhtar Kent, the chief executive of Coca-Cola, during a meeting at Mr. Clinton’s home in Washington in 2009. Mr. Kelly asked Mr. Kent to give $5 million to the foundation, which he pledged in early 2010, the memo said.
The memo said that Mr. Kelly arranged for Mr. Band to serve on Coke’s International Public Policy Advisory Board. Mr. Band said in the memo that he then used that post to push Coke to sponsor foundation initiatives and to support political candidates whom Mr. Clinton was supporting.
A Coke spokesman said the board didn’t engage in political activities.
Teneo, which markets itself as a one-stop shop for CEOs to get advice on a wide range of issues, including mergers and acquisitions, handling crises and managing public relations, has grown to more than 575 employees. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Teneo was exploring an initial public offering or sale of the firm as early as 2017.
Mr. Clinton initially served as Teneo’s honorary chairman when the firm opened in 2011, but he stepped down the following year. Of the $3 million he stood to collect, he was ultimately paid $100,000.
In the memo, Mr. Band explains that he frequently negotiated personal income for Mr. Clinton at the same time that he served as a primary fundraiser for the Clinton Foundation. Mr. Band wrote that he and another aide to Mr. Clinton “have in effect served as agents, lawyers, managers and implementers to secure speaking, business and advisory service deals.”
Mr. Band said they had secured “more than $50 million in for-profit activity” for Mr. Clinton but received no fee or cut of it. The two aides also arranged another $66 million of potential future payments from speaking and other engagements for the former president.
Teneo regularly used its access to Mr. Clinton to introduce its clients to the former president. In 2009, Mr. Kelly invited one of his longtime clients, Dow Chemical Chief Executive Andrew Liveris, to play golf with Mr. Clinton and Mr. Band. Afterward, Dow paid $500,000 as a sponsor of the Clinton Global Initiative. Dow also paid another $150,000 to the Foundation to have Mr. Clinton attend a dinner the chemicals company was hosting in Davos.
The memo says Mr. Liveris provided Dow Chemical’s corporate plane to fly Mr. Clinton and his staff from California to North Korea, and back, saving the foundation more than $100,000.
A Dow spokeswoman said that the company’s senior executives have participated in Clinton Global Initiative events because their efforts are aligned with aspects of Dow’s business.
Teneo’s proximity to the Clintons appears to have been mutually beneficial. Mr. Band notes that Gems Education became a Teneo client after the company sought Mr. Clinton’s services as an adviser.
The charitable arm of Gems has given the Clinton Foundation between $1 million and $5 million. The for-profit education company has paid Bill Clinton about $6.2 million since 2010 for consulting work, according to tax returns released by the campaign of Mrs. Clinton.
Write to Anupreeta Das at anupreeta.das@wsj.com
