Politics

Major Hillary Donor Conducted Review Of Erroneous Clinton Foundation Tax Returns

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
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The international law firm that conducted the review of the Clinton Foundation’s inaccurate tax returns is a major donor to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, records show.

DLA Piper has donated $171,200 to Clinton so far in the 2016 election cycle, making it the fifth largest corporate donor to the Democrat’s campaign. DLA Piper employees also gave $700,530 to Clinton’s two Senate campaigns, records from the Center for Responsive Politics show. That’s in addition to $496,700 the firm’s employees gave Clinton during her 2008 White House bid.

The Clinton Foundation, which has received between $50,001 and $100,000 in donations from DLA Piper, tapped the firm to oversee the review of its tax returns for between 2010 and 2013 after the discovery of numerous inconsistencies.

“I advised the Foundation that it had no legal obligation to file amended returns,” Kathy Keneally, DLA Piper’s chair of tax litigation, said in a statement. “I also advised the Foundation, as I would advise any client, that if it decided to file amended returns, those amended returns should correct any and all errors.”

Keneally, who worked in the Obama Justice Department’s tax division, said that DLA Piper — which also employees two bundlers for Clinton’s campaign — brought in an outside CPA firm, CohnReznick, to help with the review.

She said that the review discovered that lines on tax returns concerning government grants were left blank. Revenue from those grants and from speeches given by former President Bill Clinton were improperly lumped in with other revenue. But nothing suggested that the Foundation “intended to conceal the receipt of government grants,” Keneally claimed.

“The Foundation’s decision to file amended returns reflects an extraordinary commitment to disclosure and thoroughness,” she stated.

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