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.
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.
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.
-
Marisa Silver’s 6 favorite books that capture a lifetimeFeature The author recommends works by John Williams, Ian McEwan, and more
-
Book reviews: ‘We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution’ and ‘Will There Ever Be Another You’Feature The many attempts to amend the U.S. Constitution and Patricia Lockwood’s struggle with long Covid
-
Philadelphia’s Calder GardensFeature A permanent new museum
-
Electronic Arts to go private in record $55B dealspeed read The video game giant is behind ‘The Sims’ and ‘Madden NFL’
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fineSpeed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in IntelSpeed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to ChinaSpeed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with DisneySpeed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B dealSpeed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance mergerSpeed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profitsSpeed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
