In addition to being vast, the finances of Bill and Hillary Clinton are apparently also incredibly complex and mysterious.
The Associated Press has discovered that former President Bill Clinton has a shell company with “no apparent employees or assets” he use as “a ‘pass-through’ company designed to channel payments to the former president.”
The company, WJC, LLC, was set up in 2008 in Delaware, then set up again in 2013. It was also set up in 2009 in New York, according to the AP, and “did not appear among holdings in the Clintons’ financial disclosure released last week or in previous Hillary Clinton disclosure reports between 2008 and 2013, when she resigned as secretary of state.”
Clinton appears to have established the company to handle consulting work the former president did for major Democratic Party donors while his wife was secretary of state.
Requests were sent by Clinton’s legal council to State Department ethics officials in 2009 asking for permission to consult with three firms tied to big money Democrats. According to the AP:
State Department officials approved Bill Clinton’s consulting work for longtime friend Steve Bing’s Shangri-La Industries and another with Wasserman Investments, GP, a firm run by entertainment executive and Democratic party donor Casey Wasserman. The ethics officials turned down Bill Clinton’s proposed work with a firm run by entertainment magnate and Democratic donor Haim Saban because of Saban’s active role in Mideast political affairs.
Steve Band, Clinton’s counsel, also requested clearance in 2011 for Bill to advise his consulting firm, Teneo Strategy, LLC. In his request, Band noted “consulting services provided by President Clinton through WJC, LLC.” A contract for three years was approved by the State Department.
None of the ethics submissions contained information on how much the former president would be paid for consulting, and Hillary Clinton made no mention of WJC, LLC in 2011. Her 2011 disclosure form did, however, mention that Bill was the recipient of “non-employee compensation over $1,000 from Teneo.”
Federal disclosure rules do not require the inclusion of exact figures of payment, just that income sources over $1,000 be disclosed.
The exact nature of WJC, LLC, how much money passed through it, and from where, to the former First Family, is not yet known.