Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich

by Peter Schweizer

  5. Mayr, Walter, “Ex-Stepson Talks in Family Feud: Tapping Kazakstan’s Natural Resources,” Spiegel, May 19, 2009, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/ex-stepson-talks-in-family-feud-the-long-arm-of-kazakhstan-s-president-a-625720-2.html.

  6. Love, James, “The Well-Connected Dictator,” Huffington Post, May 25, 2011, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/the-wellconnected-dictato_b_67423.html. Kilner, James, “Copper Tycoon Tops Kazakhstan’s Rich List,” The Telegraph, May 15, 2012, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/kazakhstan/9268133/Copper-tycoon-tops-Kazakhstans-rich-list.html. Buckley, Neil, “ENRC Founders Made Good in Kazakhstan,” Financial Times, May 3, 2013, http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/71a13774-b3e0-11e2-ace9-00144feabdc0.html#axzz351P7vNvu.

  7. Hoffman, Andy, “Renaissance Man,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), June 27, 2008, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/renaissance-man/article17988489/?page=all. Humphreys, Tommy, “Stop Taking Yourself so Seriously, Says Tycoon Frank Giustra,” Mining.com, June 28, 2013, http://www.mining.com/web/stop-taking-yourself-so-seriously-says-tycoon-frank-giustra/.

  8. Cernetig, Miro, “Frank Giustra: A Man of Many Hats,” BC Business, November 5, 2011, http://www.bcbusiness.ca/people/frank-giustra-a-man-of-many-hats. Smith, Elliot Blair, “Clinton Used Giustra’s Plane, Opened Doors for Deals (Correct),” Bloomberg.com, February 22, 2008, http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aa2b8Mj3NEWQ.

  9. Canada’s Globe and Mail explained Giustra’s approach this way: “A mining promoter will buy a cheap ‘shell’ company already listed on the stock exchange, gather some friends to help fund the acquisition, and then, some time down the road, load it up with mining assets (remember the shuffle?) and do another share offering. These deals can be very lucrative, especially if you’re in the promoter’s ‘circle of trust.’” Hoffman, Andy, and Sinclair Stewart, “How to (Still) Get Rich in Mining,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), globeadvisor.com, May 19, 2007, https://secure.globeadvisor.com/newscentre/article.html?/servlet/GIS.Servlets.WireFeedRedirect?cf=sglobeadvisor/config_blank&vg=BigAdVariableGenerator&date=20070519&archive=gam&slug=RCOVER19.

  10. Hoffman, “Renaissance Man.”

  11. Remnick, David, “The Wanderer: Bill Clinton’s Quest to Save the World, Reclaim His Legacy—and Elect His Wife,” The New Yorker, September 18, 2006, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/09/18/the-wanderer-3.

  12. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  13. Jenkins, Iain, “Fun and Games with Penny Stocks,” New York Times, March 9, 1996, http://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/09/your-money/09iht-penns.t.html. McNish, Jacquie, The Big Score: Robert Friedland and the Voisey’s Bay Hustle (Toronto: Doubleday Canada, 1998), ix, 45.

  14. “Corporate Info,” Diamond Fields International Ltd., http://www.diamondfields.com/s/Management.asp (accessed 2014). Morais, Richard C., “Friends in High Places,” Forbes, August 10, 1998, http://www.forbes.com/global/1998/0810/0109038a.html.

  15. Morais, “Friends in High Places.”

  16. McNish, The Big Score, ix, 40.

  17. Morais, “Friends in High Places.”

  18. McNish, The Big Score, ix, 45.

  19. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  20. Hoffman, Andy, “Who Sold Key Asset to Uranium One?” Globe and Mail (Toronto), May 29, 2009, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/who-sold-key-asset-to-uranium-one/article4274871/.

  21. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  22. Clinton, William J., “President’s News Conference with President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan,” American Presidency Project, February 14, 1994, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=49652.

  23. Nichol, “Kazakhstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests.”

  24. US Department of State, “Visits to the U.S. by Foreign Heads of State and Government—1999,” http://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/15730.htm. “Kazakh President, Clinton to Meet,” American Metal Market, December 21, 1999. Kazakhstan Goldfields Corp., “Open Letter to President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan,” December 20, 1999, http://www.infomine.com/index/pr/Pa034388.PDF.

  25. Sidorov, Dmitry, “An Interview with Sergei Kurzin,” Forbes, April 20, 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/04/17/clinton-sergei-kurzin-opinions-contributors-sidorov.html.

  26. “A Russian’s Underground Route to the Stock Market,” The Telegraph (UK), February 15, 2004.

  27. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  28. Sidorov, “An Interview with Sergei Kurzin.”

  29. “Wall Street Journal Publishes Letter from Frank Giustra that Corrects Misinformation,” Reuters, May 01, 2008, http://webcache.googleusercontent.cohttp://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UsTisocqOKUJ:www.reuters.com/article/2008/05/01/idUS188740+01-May-2008+PRN20080501&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us.

  30. Clinton Foundation, “Statement on Frank Giustra from President Clinton,” January 15, 2009, http://www.clintonfoundation.org/main/news-and-media/statements/statement-on-frank-giustra-from-president-clinton.html.

  31. Clinton Foundation, “Statement on Frank Giustra from President Clinton.”

  After “Borat-gate” broke, certain points of fact and interpretation were vigorously disputed by both Frank Giustra and the Clintons. Their objections can be summarized into two categories. First, the agreement struck by Giustra and his partners was with private parties in Kazakhstan and not with the government in general or Kazatomprom in particular. Second, as Giustra and his partners had been working on the transaction for over a year inside Kazakhstan, they did not need President Clinton to complete the deal.

  The first objection is misleading in that it uses the answer to one question—did Giustra and his partners pay a private party for the right to mine uranium in Kazakhstan? While the answer is technically yes, this obscures two much more pertinent questions. First, did UrAsia enter into a commercial relationship with the Kazakh government through its state nuclear agency, Kazatomprom? And second, was the deal in its entirety contingent upon Kazakh government approval? The answer to those two questions is an unequivocal yes. What Giustra secured in 2005 were two joint ventures encompassing three uranium mining sites, each of which featured Kazatomprom as a commercial partner by UrAsia’s own corporate filings. For at least one of the sites, the Kazakh government transferred the rights a mere five days after Clinton’s trip. Giustra et al. paid $350 million for the rights to that site and one other (to the Betpak Dala LLP). Without that transfer of rights, Giustra would have had nothing to buy.

  The objection is more straightforwardly wrong for three other reasons. First, accounts of the deal given either before or without reference to its controversy treat it as a deal with the Kazakh government—and Kazatomprom in particular—from start to finish. This is true not only of Giustra et al.’s early 2006 victory lap in Canada’s Financial Post, but also a mining trade publication’s interview with Sergey Kurzin, with whom Giustra had done business in Kazakhstan, off and on, since the mid-1990s. Kurzin recounts that the deal started with a meeting he arranged for himself, Giustra, and other figures crucial to the deal with Mukhtar Dzhakishev, head of Kazatomprom. Second, in late May 2009 Dzhakishev was arrested and brought up on criminal charges related to the UrAsia deal. By this time UrAsia’s successor company, Uranium One, had taken over the disputed holdings. Anxious to calm investors, Uranium One’s then president Jean Nortier stated in no uncertain terms that both UrAsia’s and Uranium One’s mining rights enjoyed explicit governmental approval: “UrAsia’s acquisition of these assets, as well as Uranium One’s subsequent acquisition of UrAsia, were completed in accordance with the requirements of Kazakh law, and both transactions were approved by the Kazakh authorities.” Third, UrAsia and Uranium One’s own corporate filings unequivocally demonstrate that any transfer of subsurface mineral rights in Kazakhstan must be approved by Kazkhstan’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Righ
ts (MEMR). Incidentally, MEMR’s head in 2005, Vladimir Shkolnik, later became head of Kazatomprom after Dzhakishev was arrested. Not long after, his son-in-law, Vadim Jivov, ascended to the board of Uranium One (he eventually became its president) while Giustra’s good friend and Clinton Foundation donor Ian Telfer was chairman of the board. In any case, the key fact revealed by the evidence is not so much Kazatomprom’s commercial participation with UrAsia, but the Kazakhstan government’s complete authority over the company’s acquisition of mining rights and its subsequent operations within the country. There would have been no deal had Kazakh authorities failed to sign off on it.

  As to whether President Clinton’s participation was necessary to close the deal, consider the words of Gordon Keep, longtime Giustra associate and officer for UrAsia: “we had only six weeks to complete a fourteen-week deal.” By the time Clinton joined Giustra in Kazakhstan his friends at Canaccord and GMP Securities had raised $504 million Canadian and put it on the line to capitalize the venture, a figure cited in the Canadian financial press as a first for such an enterprise. Stipulating Giustra’s commitment to global charity, it beggars credulity that an investor so experienced and shrewd with $504 million worth of credibility on the line, would have introduced President Clinton, a politician legendary for his ability to strike a deal, into the delicate negotiation’s closing moments if his presence was not integral to it. Kazakhstan’s dictator, Nursultan Nazarbayev, obviously had the power to kill the venture at whim, nor were Nazarbayev and Kazakhstan lacking for other prospective investors in uranium. Nazarbayev’s eagerness for bribes was well known, including, allegedly, from multibillion-dollar Western companies such as Chevron. What would he have expected from an effective, but comparatively small-time player such as Giustra? Furthermore, as discussed below, Clinton had something very real to offer Nazarbayev: an endorsement for the OSCE chairmanship, an honor that would have opened diplomatic and commercial doors in Europe otherwise closed to him. The Kazakh embassy posted notice of the endorsement online the same day, a fact that speaks for itself.

  32. Stewart, Sinclair, and Andy Hoffman, “Uranium One Ensnared in Kazakh Scandal,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), May 27, 2009, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/uranium-one-ensnared-in-kazakh-scandal/article4211504/.

  33. Chapman, David, “Glowing Prospects for 6 Uranium Miners,” Moneyshow.com, April 17, 2012, http://www.moneyshow.com/articles.asp?aid=Global-27436. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  34. US Department of State, “Kazakhstan: Business as Usual in the Uranium Mining Sector,” WikiLeaks, June 17, 2009, https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09ASTANA1033_a.html.

  35. Seccombe, Allan, “Kazakh Move Stuns Uranium One,” MiningMx, May 27, 2009, http://www.miningmx.com/news/energy/kazakh-move-stuns-uranium-one.htm. See note 51.

  36. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  37. Pan, Philip P., “Clinton Adviser Intervened with Uranium Deal, Ex-Kazakh Official Says,” Washington Post, February 24, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/24/AR2010022403290.html.

  38. In 2008 Dzhakishev was arrested by Kazakh security forces along with three other top Kazatomprom officials. It was part of a broader purge that included the head of the state-owned rail and energy companies. According to a leaked State Department cable, the arrests were “denounced as politically motivated” by nongovernment observers. As with so much in Kazakh politics, the events were imbedded with intrigue. Allegations were made that President Nazarbayev’s family actually owned part of Kazatomprom and was profiting from the deals. The arrests were allegedly designed to cover it up. Dzhakishev was also a longtime friend of Nazarbayev’s estranged son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev. In exile in Europe, Aliyev called Dzhakishev “a political detainee of Nazarbayev’s regime.”

  US Department of State, “Kazakhstan: Changes and Charges at Kazatomprom,” WikiLeaks, June 3, 2009, https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09ASTANA943_a.html. Pan, “Clinton Adviser Intervened to Help with Uranium Deal.”

  39. Ibid., and videos of Dzhakishev: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Ze93MxqaQKPVHLkKmVpeQ; translation by Dr. David Meyer.

  40. Lenzner, Robert, “Clinton Commits No Foul in Kazakhstan Uranium Deal,” Forbes, January 12, 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/12/giustra-clinton-kazakhstan-pf-ii-in_rl_0912croesus_inl.html.

  41. Bronson, Lisa, “Testimony on Cooperative Threat Reduction Program before the Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities,” March 10, 2004, http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/congress/2004_h/040310-bronson.pdf.

  42. Pan, “Clinton Adviser Intervened with Uranium Deal.”

  43. Ibid. Tufts University, “Board Members: Tim Phillips,” http://www.tuftsgloballeadership.org/about/boards-and-staff/tim-phillips. “About Us,” Beyond Conflict, http://www.beyondconflictint.org/about-us/staff/timothy-phillips/.

  44. Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, “Weekly News Bulletin,” September 7, 2005, http://prosites-kazakhembus.homestead.com/090705.html.

  45. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  46. Nichol, “Kazakhstan: Recent Developments and U.S. Interests.”

  47. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, “Promises to Keep: Kazakhstan’s 2010 OSCE Chairmanship,” official transcript, July 22, 2008, http://csce.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContentRecords.ViewDetail&ContentRecord_id=434&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0&ContentType=H,B&ContentRecordType=H&CFID=13299032&CFTOKEN=93551824.

  48. Signature Resources Ltd., “Signature Enters into Acquisition Agreement with UrAsia Energy Ltd,” September 20, 2005, http://www.infomine.com/index/pr/Pa299684.PDF.

  49. Becker and Van Natta, “After Mining Deal, Financier Donated to Clinton.”

  50. Ibid.

  51. Ibid.

  52. “Kazakhstan Timeline,” Knowledge Ecology International, July 30, 2007, http://keionline.org/content/view/110/1. Kazakhstan News Bulletin, www.kazakhembus.com, 5, no. 52, December 7, 2005, http://prosites-kazakhembus.homestead.com/December_7.pdf.

  53. Canadian System of Electronic Disclosures (SEDI), http://www.sedi.ca: “Access Public Filings,” “View Summary Reports,” “Insider Transaction Detail,” “Select ‘Insider Family Name,’” “Search ‘Ian Telfer,’” “Select ‘Date of Transaction,’” “Search ‘January 1, 2000-present day,’” “Urasia Energy.” Hoffman and Stewart, “How to (Still) Get Rich in Mining.”

  54. Moriarty, Bob, “Girls and Peak Gold: Wheaton River Jr.,” 321gold.com, October 7, 2007, http://www.321gold.com/editorials/moriarty/moriarty103007.html (accessed November 2, 2014).

  55. Hoffman, Andy, “Ian Telfer: ‘I’m More of an Opportunist than a Visionary,’” Globe and Mail (Toronto), May 27, 2011, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/careers-leadership/ian-telfer-im-more-of-an-opportunist-than-a-visionary/article582085/?page=all.

  56. Kirby, Jason, “Uranium Blockbuster,” National Post (Canada), January 31, 2006, http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=c8c388e6-ba0b-4ed3-bc67-21a05ec652c2.=.

  57. “Coming Soon! A New Uranium Stock,” Stocks, Uranium, Exchange, Symbol, November 7, 2005, http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/p/158426/2044148.aspx#2044148 (accessed November 2, 2014). “Uranium Mining and Exploration Post #2119,” Investors Hub, November 7, 2005, http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=8398619 (Accessed November 02, 2014). See also “Uranium Blockbuster: Canaccord Adams-led IPO Financing of Uranium Producer UrAsia Energy Faced Language Barriers, a 14-hour Time Difference and a Drop in the Equity Markets. But the Deal Was Done,” Financial Post (Canada), January 31, 2006.

  58. Uranium One, “Uranium One and UrAsia Energy Announce Combination to Create Emerging Senior Uranium Company,” news release, February 12, 2007, Uranium1.com, http://www.uranium1.com/index.php/en/component/docman/doc_download/256-uranium-one-and-urasia-energy-announce-combination-to-create-emerging-senior-uranium-company.
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br />   59. Lenzner, Robert, “Clinton Commits No Foul in Kazakhstan Uranium Deal,” Forbes, January 12, 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/12/giustra-clinton-kazakhstan-pf-ii-in_rl_0912croesus_inl.html.

  60. Becker, Jo, and Don Van Natta, Jr., “Ex-President, Mining Deal and a Donor,” New York Times, January 30, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&.

  61. Despite initially denying the meeting, Giustra later recanted and “his aides explain that the manner in which the Times’ fact-checking questions were asked was misleading and did not prompt them to recall the Chappaqua meeting.” Lenzner, “Clinton Commits No Foul in Kazakhstan Uranium Deal.” Becker, and Van Natta, “Ex-President, Mining Deal and a Donor.”

  62. Hamm, Nathan, “Joe Biden’s Letter to Nursultan Nazarbayev,” Registannet RSS, March 23, 2007, http://registan.net/2007/03/23/joe-bidens-letter-to-nursultan-nazarbayev/.

  63. Becker and Van Natta, “Ex-President, Mining Deal and a Donor.” Cooper, Helene, and Peter Baker, “Clinton Vetting Includes Look at Mr. Clinton,” New York Times, November 16, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/us/politics/17memo.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  64. Love, James, “The Well-Connected Dictator,” Huffington Post, October 6, 2007, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-love/the-wellconnected-dictato_b_67423.html. “Featured Attendees,” Clinton Global Initiative, http://re.clintonfoundation.org/page.aspx?pid=1263. Official Site of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, September 26, 2007, http://www.akorda.kz/en/page/page_president-nursultan-nazarbayev-takes-part-in-the-clinton-global-initiative-forum_1348723422.

  65. Smith, “Clinton Used Giustra’s Plane, Opened Doors for Deals (Correct).”

  66. Uranium One, “Uranium One and UrAsia Energy Announce Combination to Create Emerging Senior Uranium Company.”