A federal court has ruled that the Internal Revenue Service “abused its discretion” in dismissing allegations brought forth by whistleblowers that the Clinton Foundation had avoided paying taxes and abused its non-profit status.
US Tax Court Judge David Gustafson ruled that the information brought forth in a complaint, by whistleblowers Lawrence Doyle and John Moynihan. Doyle is a corporate tax compliance expert and Moynihan is a former Drug Enforcement Agency official.
Judge Gustafson’s ruling found that the information Doyle and Moynihan filed in their complaint “provided ‘specific credible documentation’ supporting their allegations” that the Clinton Foundation most likely evaded paying taxes on millions, if not billions of dollars.
The record, Gustafson wrote, “fails to support the [IRS’s] Whistleblower Office’s conclusion that Criminal Investigation Office had not proceeded with any action based on petitioners’ information. Accordingly, we deny the motion on the grounds that the Whistleblower Office abused its discretion in reaching its conclusion, because not all of its factual determinations underlying that conclusion are supported by that record.”
IRS attorneys had requested for a summary motion which Judge Gustafson denied saying that the IRS’s Whistleblower Office erred in denying the whistleblowers’ claims.
Federal Judge Allows Clinton Foundation Whistleblower Complaint To Proceed, Rules IRS 'Abused Its Discretion' https://t.co/2X9MWHOLrT
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Judge Gustafson also there was evidence that the FBI was involved in the IRS investigation. He cited information contained within IRS records that had, until now, been kept from the public.
Doyle and Moynihan first submitted their complaints showing the non-profit, founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton, evaded taxes in 2017, to the IRS office in Ogden, Utah. They also testified before a House subcommittee on government operations on their findings in 2018.
Included in what they discovered during their examination:
- Approximately 60 percent of the foundation’s income was spent on salaries, travel, and grants. Traditionally a 501c charity would limit that spending to about 15 percent
- Rather than a charity the Clinton Foundation operates as a “closely held partnership”
- Approved to accept funds for Bill Clinton’s presidential library, the Clintons were in talks with potential donors about health programs that were not part of the library’s mission
- Former-President Bill Clinton regularly “mixed and matched, on an ongoing basis, his business with that of the foundation”
Based on the information and data they examined, Doyle and Moynihan believe the Clintons could very well owe taxes on between $400 million and $2.5 billion. Additionally, if the IRS determines the Clinton Foundation operated outside the authority of the 501c laws, its donors would be liable for taxes owed on their contributions.
Doyle and Moynihan also said they found specific instances of “pay-to-play” behavior between the donors, the Clinton Foundation, and the US Secretary of State’s Office during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state, which lasted from 2009 to 2013.
