McAuliffe under investigation by FBI and federal prosecutors, officials say
By Patrick Wilson
The Washington Post |
May 24, 2016 at 7:36 AM
Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Gov. Terry McAuliffe (Steve Earley)

Federal prosecutors are investigating campaign contributions to Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and what they consider to be suspicious personal finances, as part of a public integrity probe that has lasted for more than a year, according to two officials familiar with the inquiry.

Justice Department officials would not confirm or deny the investigation. Many details, including what prompted it, remain unclear, and one official said there is skepticism among prosecutors about whether it will lead to charges.
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That official said investigators have been scrutinizing McAuliffe's finances – including personal bank records, tax returns and public disclosure forms that date back many years – and are interested in foreign sources of income.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and those who discuss it might face discipline. CNN first reported the probe and said that investigators were interested in a contribution to McAuliffe from a Chinese businessman, Wang Wenliang, through his U.S. businesses.

A McAuliffe spokesman referred questions to lawyer Marc Elias, who said in a statement: "We cannot confirm the CNN report. Neither the Governor nor his former campaign has knowledge of this matter, but as reported, contributions to the campaign from Mr. Wang were completely lawful. The Governor will certainly cooperate with the government if he is contacted about it."

McAuliffe – a longtime ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a prolific fundraiser – worked as an unpaid director for the Clinton Foundation until he was elected governor. The official said the inquiry includes McAuliffe's time on the board. Neither the Clinton Foundation nor leading Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton is a target of the probe.

Wang is a donor to both McAuliffe and the foundation. West Legend Co., the New Jersey affiliate of Rilin Enterprises, a Chinese firm led by Wang, gave $120,000 to McAuliffe's 2013 campaign and inauguration. His $2 million pledge to the foundation drew attention this year, first from CBS News and then other outlets, because of his connections to the Chinese government – both as a member of the National People's Congress and as a contractor entrusted to build China's embassies.

Wang's companies ship soybeans through Virginia ports.

Foreign nationals are prohibited under federal law from making political contributions, except immigrants who hold green cards. An American subsidiary of a foreign corporation cannot contribute campaign funds if it is financed in any way by its parent company or if individual foreign nationals are involved in the decision to make the donation.

But Wang holds U.S. permanent resident status, which makes him eligible to donate to McAuliffe's campaign.

Clinton is separately wrestling with an investigation into her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state – which critics say could have allowed classified information to fall into the wrong hands. People familiar with that case have said it seems unlikely – at least at this juncture – to produce criminal charges, though FBI agents are still investigating and hope to interview Clinton herself in the coming weeks.

The report could affect McAuliffe's status as Clinton's surrogate in Virginia as she tries to win the presidency. Republicans had already been critical of his closeness to her, and their criticism heated last month when McAuliffe issued an executive order to restore voting rights to about 206,000 released felons.

"He's going to be questioned constantly about this," said Quentin Kidd, a professor of political science at Christopher Newport University. "It may go nowhere. It may be nothing. But because it's going on and because it's been linked to the Clinton Global Initiative, I really think that it makes Hillary Clinton's job in Virginia that much harder."

The McAuliffe probe is being conducted at least in part by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia, which last year won a conviction against former Virginia governor Robert McDonnell and his wife, Maureen, on public corruption charges. That case, though, has made its way to the Supreme Court, where justices seemed concerned that upholding the conviction could criminalize everyday interactions between politicians and campaign contributors or supporters.

McAuliffe is a wealthy man – he earned $9.5 million and paid $2.7 million in taxes in 2012, according to a summary of his tax returns released by his gubernatorial campaign. He has dabbled in a variety of business ventures that were sometimes controversial. Federal investigators, for example, probed whether a company he founded known as GreenTech Automotive received preferential treatment from U.S. government officials. McAuliffe resigned as chairman of the company in 2012.

Pilot writer Patrick Wilson contributed to this report.

I knew it!

got dam eye hope we can keep this degenerate faggot out of office

McAuliffe’s Cozy Ties with Communist China Haunts Him in Governor’s Race
McAuliffe’s Cozy Ties with Communist China Haunts Him in Governor’s Race

April 5, 2021

As former Governor and failed businessman Terry McAuliffe makes his third run for the Governor’s mansion, his cozy relationship with China and his empty promises of job creation will be a key issue on the minds of Virginians.

In his two previous bids, McAuliffe portrayed himself as a “leader” in the electric hybrid car market, citing his ties to the now-bankrupt GreenTech Automotive. McAuliffe was later sued by investors who claimed they were “exploited.”

The lawsuit alleged that McAuliffe ran a multi-million-dollar scam that attempted to trade investments in GreenTech Automotive for work visas. The investors claimed McAuliffe and Tony Rodham, brother of Hillary Clinton, promised to get the visa applications to the “top of the pile, and then be approved.”

The Washington Times: “‘These Defendants — through a labyrinth of corporate fronts — exploited the Plaintiffs’ desire to become permanent residents in our nation by, in sum and substance, making the following offer: invest $500,000 in our electric car company and we will leverage our political connections to ensure you immigration papers will get to the top of the pile, and then be approved,’ the lawsuit says.”

This isn’t the first time McAuliffe’s questionable ties to Chinese firms have come under scrutiny. While Governor, McAuliffe touted his business acumen at a ribbon cutting in Appomattox County for Chinese Lindenburg Industry, LLC. The company received $1.4 million from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and pledged to create 349 new jobs in the small rural county while investing $113 million into a former furniture factory to produce ceramics. However, Lindenburg defaulted on their promise and the state later had to file a lawsuit against the company in an attempt to recover the $1.4 million investment.

“Washington insider Terry McAuliffe’s shady business dealings with the Chinese Communist Party will not go unchecked.” Said Virginia Rising Executive Director Tucker Davis. “Anyone who attempts to sell the gift of American citizenship to the highest bidder while giving millions of taxpayer dollars to Chinese shell companies should be on a court docket, not a ballot.”

Flashback: Biden’s DHS Nominee Tied to China, Visas-for-Sale Swamp Scandal
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FILE - In this July 25, 2013, file photo Alejandro Mayorkas, President Obama's nominee to become deputy secretary of the Homeland Security Department, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on his nomination. President-elect Joe Biden is filling out his administration …
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Michael Patrick Leahy26 Jan 20211,870
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President Joe Biden’s nominee to head the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used his government job in 2011 to green-light a citizenship-for-sale swamp scheme that included top Democrats, Chinese investors, and $141 million.

The scandal looms large in the confirmation battle for Biden’s nominee, Alejandro Mayorkas, in part because it revives old questions about what role, if any, then-Vice President Biden’s staff may have played in that project to deliver green cards to Chinese investors.

Career officials under Mayorkas at the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency tried to stop the 2011 giveaway of EB-5 green cards. A U.S. startup, GreenTech Automotive, and a visas-for-money outfit called Gulf Coast Management pushed the deal.

The McAuliffe-Nelson meeting took place in Joe Biden’s office suite, a source told Breitbart News in 2013:

Breitbart News has learned from a source that the meeting at the White House was held in the offices of Vice President Joe Biden in the Old Executive Office Building. Breitbart News has requested a list of the members of the Vice President’s staff who participated in this October 13, 2010 meeting with Terry McAuliffe, but the Vice President’s office has not responded as of the time this story was published. The circumstances surrounding the October 2010 meeting with members of Vice President Biden’s staff emphasize the very high level of political connections that characterized McAuliffe’s tenure as chairman of GreenTech Automotive.

Breitbart News added that “Rick Wade, who was hired as Senior Vice President and Head of China Operations at GreenTech Automotive in 2011, was at the time of the October 2010 meeting a top aide to Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke. Locke was a member of Vice President Biden’s Task Force on the Middle Class in 2009 and 2010.”

Rick Wade is currently a Senior Vice President at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The chamber is cheerleading some of Biden’s immigration policies. Wade’s bio there makes no mention of his executive role at GreenTech Automotive, which ended in 2013.

The Washington Free Beacon reported, “The White House and [Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry] McAuliffe [D-VA] campaign are attempting to downplay a meeting between Terry McAuliffe and a White House official [Greg Nelson] in [October] 2010 about GreenTech.”

Greg Nelson, the White House official who hosted the meeting, sketched his job in a White House post:

Greg was Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement focused on public-private partnerships and setting up the White House’s private sector outreach, including as Deputy Director of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He focused the first two years of the Administration on energy, innovation, and technology policy.

In August 2010, USCIS rejected the deal. That rejection decision was reversed, in large part, due to Mayorkas.
USCIS eventually approved the deal in September 2011, clearing the way for more than 100 Chinese nationals to receive initial approval for green cards — the first step in a path to U.S. citizenship — in return for investments that ultimately totaled $141 million in the now-bankrupt GreenTech Automotive,
Chinese national Charles Wang founded the company. He made sure to include McAuliffe as company chairman from 2010 to the end of 2012. McAuliffe is no minor figure — he was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

A subsequent report by the DHS’s Inspector General released in 2015 concluded that Mayorkas acted inappropriately to secure that reversal by subordinate DHS officials in September 2011.

The career USCIS officials pressured by Mayorkas to reverse course had concluded the GreenTech Automotive EB-5 funding scheme failed to address two key elements required by law: (1) the risk of the investment (2) the level of managerial control exercised by the investors. They also derided the business plan as “pie in the sky.”

The concerns of career USCIS officials proved well-founded. The $141 million in loans from the more than 100 Chinese nationals who received approval for green cards evaporated in a flurry of litigation, the bankruptcy of GreenTech Automotive, a defaulted loan to the State of Mississippi, and the temporary creation of just a handful of jobs for Americans in Mississippi, all of which are now long gone.

Democrats appear to be rushing Mayorkas’ confirmation process before Republicans can get the issue into the media. Press reports indicate that the Senate Homeland Security Committee may vote on his nomination as early as Tuesday morning.

Breitbart News first reported on the details of the GreenTech Automotive saga in August 2013:

[Shortly] after Terry McAuliffe became chairman of GreenTech Automotive in March 2010, a decision by the California regional director of the Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) found that the manner the firm was raising money from investors [through a Regional EB-5 Center GreenTech Automotive controlled called Gulf Coast Management] was “impermissible,” which crippled the company’s ability to solicit funds from foreign investors.

Fundraising had been going well until that time. Under the terms of a 2009 Private Placement Memorandum, GreenTech Automotive obtained $2.5 million from five Chinese national EB-5 investors before McAuliffe became chairman, and an additional $5 million from ten more Chinese national EB-5 investors in McAuliffe’s first four months. With $7.5 million in cash, and prospects of an additional $5 million in loan financing from the state of Mississippi, the financial future for GreenTech Automotive seemed secure.

But when the California regional director of the USCIS determined [in August 2010] that the terms of the 2009 PPM “constituted an impermissible redemption agreement” as defined in the 1990 law that established the EB-5 foreign national investor and immigration program, the USCIS stopped approving the I-526 petitions submitted by foreign nationals who invested in GreenTech’s 2009 PPM, and the pool of Chinese investment that had been flowing into GreenTech’s coffers dried up.

On December 15, 2010, McAuliffe sent a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano asking her to reverse the August 2010 decision by career USCIS officials to deny the Gulf Coast request to “change nature of investment” and to add Virginia and Tennessee to its area of operations, which originally encompassed Mississippi and Louisiana, according to the 2015 DHS IG’s report.

On February 3, 2011, McAuliffe and Mayorkas met in person, as Breitbart News reported:

According to the New York Times, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano “popped in” to a 2011 meeting between Terry McAuliffe, at the time chairman of GreenTech Automotive, and Alejandro Mayorkas, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) branch, as the two men were discussing issues related to the issuance of temporary residential visas for foreign national EB-5 investors in McAuliffe’s company.

Five months later, on July 11, 2011, the Administrative Appeals Offices (AAO)–the office in USCIS responsible for appeals “prepared to issue denial Gulf Coast Appeal for three reasons: (1) providing the directors with common stock was an “impermissible redemption,” (2) investors did not have a sufficient managerial role (3) proposal did not entail a single contiguous region,” according to the 2015 DHS IG’s report.

That same day, Mayorkas said he wanted to review the decision.

On July 21, 2011, “Mayorkas chairs internal meeting, indicating he disagrees with AAO draft decision and offers to write the opinion himself,” according to the DHS IG’s report.

Three weeks later, on August 16, 2011, “Mayorkas speaks with senior official, indicating he wants to speak with AAO adjudicator.”

The following week, on August 22, 2011, “Mayorkas speaks with AAO chief, wants final decision revised quickly.”

On September 2, 2011, “AAO issues final decision denying Gulf Coast amendment because it is not geographically contiguous, but rules favorably on management control and investment risk.”

The ruling on management control and investment risk opened the EB-5 from China funding floodgates for GreenTech Automotive to get Chinese investor money through Gulf Coast Management and related entities. Over the next 12 months, from September 1, 2011, to September 1, 2012 — as Breitbart News reported, “Over the next year, according to the New York Times, an additional $25 million from 50 Chinese nationals flowed into the coffers of investment funds whose sole use of proceeds was to provide cash to GreenTech Automotive. By the end of 2013, that funding had grown to $141 million.

Richmond.com reported on the details of GreenTech Automotive’s bankruptcy filing in 2018:

The company shut down its plant in Mississippi last year, and the company has faced a series of lawsuits filed by investors in the company, who have called GreenTech a “scam perpetrated by savvy and politically connected operatives and businessmen” to exploit Chinese investors hoping to come to America.

The bankruptcy filing cites a $7.5 million judgment won by 12 investors and says several similar suits are pending.

According to its bankruptcy filing, GreenTech raised $141.5 million from investors between 2009 and 2013 as part of the EB-5 visa program that offered immigrant investors permanent residency

Mayorkas was confirmed as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security in a straight party-line vote in 2014 — even though he was under investigation at the time for three EB-5 decisions by the DHS Inspector General (IG).

In 2015, following Mayorkas’ confirmation as Deputy Secretary, the DHS IG released his report that concluded Mayorkas “acted improperly.”:

In a report released Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General looked at three instances in which Alejandro Mayorkas, then-Director of USCIS but currently the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, was alleged to have exerted undue influence on the processing and adjudication of Employment-Based Fifth Preference (EB-5) program benefits.

“The juxtaposition of Mr. Mayorkas’ communication with external stakeholders on specific matters outside the normal procedures, coupled with favorable action that deviated from the regulatory scheme designed to ensure fairness and evenhandedness in adjudicating benefits, created an appearance of favoritism and special access,” the IG’s report reads.

The report looked at various instances of alleged favoritism. It named Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and the Las Vegas Regional Center as well as an electric car company on which now-governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe was a board member and Anthony Rodham — the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — was involved.

According to the report in each of the matters it considered, were it not for “Mr. Mayorkas’ intervention, the matter would have been decided differently.”

The IG explained that it began the investigation into Mayorkas’ interventions following a whistle-blower allegation in September 2012. The IG noted that in the course of its investigation an unusually high number of witnesses at different levels of authority, “more than 15.”

“Their allegations were unequivocal: Mr. Mayorkas gave special access and treatment to certain individuals and parties. They told us he created special processes and revised existing policies in the EB-5 program to accommodate specific parties. According to the employees, but for Mr. Mayorkas’ actions, the career staff would have decided these matters differently. Employees felt uncomfortable and pressured to comply with managers’ instructions that appeared to have come from Mr. Mayorkas or those working directly for him,” the report reads.

Overall, the employees charged that Mayorkas’ favoritism was offered to the politically connected.

“Many employees concluded, not unreasonably, that the pressure exerted on them was because the individuals involved were politically connected,” the report reads.

You can read the full report here.

The DHS Secretary at the time, Jeh Johnson, responded to the 2015 DHS IG’s report by stating “I continue to have full confidence in Ali Mayorkas. He is doing an outstanding job as Deputy Secretary. . . I believe there are lessons to be learned from the Inspector General’s report — by Ali, and all of us who are leaders in public service.”

Last week at Senate confirmation hearings, Mayorkas defended his actions while director of USCIS.

Mayorkas, while deputy secretary at DHS, was reported by multiple USCIS staffers for intervening in three specific EB-5 visa cases where foreign investors had been denied visas. In 2015, Obama’s DHS IG John Roth documented the inappropriate actions.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) asked Mayorkas about the IG report, to which the former DHS deputy secretary said it was his responsibility to “fix problems” and that he had intervened in “hundreds of cases” while leading USCIS.

“These weren’t the only three cases I was involved in,” Mayorkas said. “There were dozens and dozens.”

According to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), though, Mayorkas previously told Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that he had never intervened in visa cases while at USCIS.

“I became involved in a lot of cases …. and I did my job,” Mayorkas told Johnson. “I learned of problems and I fixed them.”

Mayorkas said he learned that he must “better guard against the perception” of favoritism in visa programs where he intervenes in cases on behalf of applicants.

The group White Collar Workers of America, which advocates on behalf of American workers against U.S. job outsourcing, slammed Mayorkas for claiming to have merely fixed problems when asked about the IG report.

Subsequent to his resignation as Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security in 2016, Mayorkas became a partner at the high powered Washington legal firm of Wilmer Hale:

Alejandro Mayorkas is a counselor and litigator for companies facing their most significant and sensitive matters. He has held executive leadership positions at the highest levels of the US government, and he has tried more than 35 cases to a jury. Recognized as one of the “50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers in America” by the National Law Journal, and one of the most influential Latino leaders in the nation by Latino Leaders, Mr. Mayorkas has been one of the country’s most prominent litigators and impactful government leaders in a private sector and public service career spanning more than 30 years.

Mr. Mayorkas has represented corporations in their times of crisis, often involving parallel civil, criminal, and congressional proceedings and subjects ranging from securities enforcement, consumer protection, and environmental regulation to public corruption, cybersecurity, the False Claims Act, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Building on his experience leading the US Department of Homeland Security’s response to Ebola and Zika, Mr. Mayorkas currently leads WilmerHale’s COVID-19 [Chinese coronavirus] Coronavirus Task Force. . .

Mr. Mayorkas joined WilmerHale in November 2016 and resumed his representation of clients in their most significant and high-stakes litigation, internal investigations, and parallel proceedings. With his diverse experience in both the public and private sectors, Mr. Mayorkas helps companies address crises that span from the courtroom to the halls of Congress and in the public eye.

According to financial disclosure documents filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics as part of the review process for his nomination to be head of DHS, Mayorkas was paid $3.3 million last year by WilmerHale. His clients included Uber, the Blackstone Group, Cisco, and Denver Great Hall LLC.

Youngkin ahead in even the liberal polls. McAuliffe seen crying, still not wearing a mask.

Beijing Biden's colossal failures are dragging down the entire Democrat Party.

Coonman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Youngkin ahead in even the liberal polls.
> McAuliffe seen crying, still not wearing a mask.

There are going to be a lot of liberal meltdowns in November. I can't wait.

Your getting warmer.

Oh yeah. Sounds like Johnny Huang, Charlie Tree and James Riady giving money to the Clintons so they could get access to our nuclear research and development and misile technoclogy for China.

Oh... Terry McAuliffe is a good friend of Bill and Hillary? No kidding. Is he a customer of Lippo Bank also?

Guess what else they own?
Never gonna belive it.

All Democrats are bought and paid for scum. As Mikey Bloomberg said, "Democrats, best politicians money can buy."

Get rid of the Dominion machines…otherwise, no election will be accurate or fair

Is sketchy and suspicious always has been , but do 38% of the (D) voters forever who are the welfare leeches well off butter soft hands pompous ass liberal elites or other new welfare seekers care , they don't as long as he's in the (D) box on the ballot nor does the leftist media who cover for him

Your forgetting that Bill Clinton's home state ...

Is a major producer of Soy Bean.

CHINA REFUSED IMPORTS OF USA SOY BEAN AND RICE DURING SHORTAGES during George Bush.

CHINA'S REASON: THEY DIDN'T WANT TO RELY ON ANY USA IMPORTS.

That a fucking Hindu in Maryland is controlling grocery store imports and repackaging / relabeling them as made in usa and with other false labeling. And that Walmart is a buyer - and that Hillary Clinton is a lawyer for Walmart which, we may as well say, is a CHINESE COMPANY.

china has gotten billions if not trillions in USA DONATIONS

they've used this to attack usa and shut it down and build nuclear weapons

democrats are being paid to "look the other way" AND NOT ASK FOR THE DEBT AND INTEREST TO BE PAID - which china desperately need to alter history books concerning if they wish to keep building nuclear weapons, space projects to get USA out of space and make even the outer atmosphere OUTSOURCED, like there's no such thing as money

according to google maps, most of n, ne, nw, se, sw, middle china is farm land

What will China do to McAuliffe if he can't rig another victory? Will he end up as another mysterious suicide victim associated with the Clinton/China machine?