Bill Clinton got a big payday after Hillary intervened in a diplomatic dispute with a Swiss banking giant

Hillary Clinton and Swiss foreign minister Micheline Calmy-Rey announcing UBS agreement

(Image credit: AFP/Stringer/Getty Images)

Soon after becoming secretary of state, Hillary Clinton in 2009 cut a deal with Swiss authorities that resolved an Internal Revenue Service inquiry into the Swiss bank UBS about secret accounts held by American citizens. Afterward, the bank dramatically upped its donations to the Clinton Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Bill Clinton, and paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for a series of Q&A sessions, according to an investigative report in The Wall Street Journal.

The deal resulted in UBS handing over information related to 4,500 accounts, well below the 52,000 that the IRS had originally sought. The Journal describes Hillary Clinton's involvement in brokering the deal as "an unusual intervention by a top U.S. diplomat." UBS's response also raised eyebrows:

From that point on, UBS's engagement with the Clinton family's charitable organization increased. Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according the foundation and the bank.The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former President Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House. [The Wall Street Journal]

There is no evidence that Hillary Clinton got involved in the matter for the benefit of her husband or his foundation. Indeed, it appears the deal was part of a diplomatic give-and-take involving other U.S. interests. UBS denied a link between the settlement and the donations.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

But the story does highlight the serious conflicts of interest posed by her husband's post-presidential activities, which are sure to be examined in even greater depth as the campaign goes on. It is an ongoing saga that is, to say the least, not a good look for Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Explore More

Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.