Company run by Clinton supporter under investigation

Houston Chronicle:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched an investigation into InfoUSA, a Nebraska company that used corporate funds to fly Hillary Rodham Clinton around the country, and one of only two companies to put Bill Clinton on its payroll after he left the White House.

The firm, a major provider of database-processing services, disclosed little about the probe in a filing to shareholders released Wednesday. Calls to an InfoUSA spokesman and to an SEC official were not returned.

Two sources familiar with the company's troubles suggested that investigators would focus their attention on executives' use of company money to feather their own nests. The company's founder, Vinod Gupta, has been a major financial supporter of the Clintons since the mid-1990s.

...
Clinton is reported to have reimbursed the company for the flights. Gupta has been a huge contributor to the Clinton Library and has also paid Bill Clinton large sums for a consulting contract which was questioned in a shareholder suit that was dismissed in August in a Delaware court. Delaware is notorious for corporate friendly laws. Such a dismissal would not preclude the SEC from investigating. It is reasonable to assume the investigation may have something to do with whether proper disclosures have been made to investors about the companies finances, which may include the payments to Clinton.

The Washington Post has more on the Gupta connection to the Clintons:

...

Two sources familiar with the company's troubles suggested that investigators would focus their attention on executives' use of company money to feather their own nests. Gupta has been a major financial supporter of the Clintons since he met the president in the mid-1990s. Gupta and his company donated $1 million to help underwrite a lavish year 2000 New Year's Eve celebration at the White House and on the Mall.

He paid the former president $200,000 to deliver a speech to InfoUSA executives in Papillion, Neb., and signed the former president to a $3.3 million consulting deal. For the past four years, both Clintons have used Gupta's corporate plane, flying to Switzerland, Hawaii, Jamaica and Mexico -- about $900,000 worth of travel, The Post reported in May.

...

The chancery court stated in that ruling that while some stock options granted to Bill Clinton may have been approved improperly, the shareholders had failed to prove his consulting arrangement was a waste of money. "Indeed, the company has estimated that the relationship with former President Clinton might be responsible for up to $40 million in sales," the court wrote.

...


If I were running an SEC investigation, I would be curious about what the former President did to generate $40 million in sales, and who was buying.

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