Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire, Mr.
Gilbert Chagoury, has denied United States media reports alleging that
he capitalised on his donations to the Clinton Foundation to seek
favours from the US Department of State, when Democratic Party
presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.
Following donations of between $1
million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, an aide of former
President Bill Clinton, Doug Band, was reported to have pushed for
access for Chagoury after Hillary Clinton took over at the State
Department.
In 2009, Band wrote his friends in the
department. “We need Gilbert Chagoury to speak to the substance guy in
Lebanon. As you know he’s key guy there and to us and is loved in
Lebanon. Very imp.”
Huma Abedin, a longtime aide and
confidante to Clinton and now vice-chairwoman of her presidential
campaign, had suggested to former U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Jeffrey D.
Feltman.
However, the Los Angeles Times newspaper
quoted both Feltman and Chagoury’s friend and spokesman Mark Corallo on
Monday as saying that no meeting ever happened.
Chagoury wanted only to pass along
insights on Lebanese politics, Corallo said, adding that “nothing ever
came off it” and that Chagoury never talked to anyone at the State
Department. Band declined to comment, reported the L.A. Times.
When Band’s email was made public this
month, Republican Party presidential candidate and real estate
billionaire Donald Trump had pounced on it, calling the Chagoury episode
“illegal” and a “pay-to-play” scheme.
In the report, the L.A. Times described
Chagoury as one of Africa’s richest men, who has built a reputation as a
giant of global philanthropy.
According to the newspaper, his name is
on a gallery at the Louvre in Paris and a medical school in Lebanon, and
he has received awards for his generosity to the Catholic Church and
St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
He owns a seven-bedroom hilltop mansion
in Beverly Hills, and he has a high-level network of friends from
Washington to Lebanon to the Vatican, where he serves as an ambassador
for the tiny island nation of St. Lucia. His website shows him shaking
hands and laughing with Pope Francis.
“I never imagined what the future would
hold for me,” Chagoury once said of his boyhood in Nigeria. “But I knew
there was a vision for my life that was greater than I could imagine… I
consider it a duty to give back.”
Since the 1990s, Chagoury has also
cultivated a friendship with the Clinton family — in part by writing
large checks, including a contribution of at least $1 million to the
Clinton Foundation.
By the time Hillary Clinton became
Secretary of State, the relationship was strong enough for Bill
Clinton’s closest aide to push for Chagoury to get access to top
diplomats, and the agency began exploring a deal, still under
consideration, to build a consulate on Chagoury family land in Lagos,
Nigeria.
But even as those talks were underway,
bureaucrats in other arms of the State Department were examining
accusations that Chagoury had unsavoury affiliations, stemming from his
activities and friendships in Lebanon. After a review, Chagoury was
refused a visa to enter the U.S. last year.
Chagoury is a prominent example of the
nexus between Hillary Clinton’s State Department and the family’s
Clinton Foundation, which has come under renewed scrutiny during her
presidential run. The organisation, founded as a way for the Clintons to
tap their vast network for charitable works, has tackled some of the
steepest challenges in the developing world, including rebuilding Haiti
and fighting AIDS in Africa.
It has also come under fire for its
willingness to accept money from foreign governments with interest in
swaying U.S. policy during Clinton’s time as secretary of state, and the
controversial histories of some donors.
Abacha’s Inner Circle
Chagoury was born in 1946 in Lagos to
Lebanese parents, and as a child attended school in Lebanon. He sold
shoes and cars in Nigeria, according to a biography on his website,
before marrying the daughter of a prominent Nigerian businessman.
During the rule of General Sani Abacha,
who seized power in Nigeria in 1993, Chagoury prospered, receiving
development deals and oil franchises.
In the 1990s, Chagoury portrayed himself
as an Abacha insider as he tried to influence American policy to be
more friendly to the regime. Soon after, President Clinton named Donald
E. McHenry a special envoy to Nigeria in 1995. Gilbert and brother
Ronald Chagoury visited McHenry in his office at Georgetown University
in Washington.
The U.S. was pushing for the return of
democratic rule in Nigeria; Abacha, meanwhile, was eager to have his
country taken off a U.S. list of nations that enabled drug trafficking,
McHenry said.
“Their effort was to try and influence
anyone who they thought could influence the U.S. government,” McHenry
said, adding that the approach was heavy-handed. “They tried every key
on the piano.”
Abacha turned out to be “one of the most
notorious kleptocrats in memory,” stealing billions in public funds,
acting Assistant Atty. Gen. Mythili Raman later said.
After Abacha’s death in 1998, the
Nigerian government hired lawyers to track down the money. The trail led
to bank accounts all over the world — some under Gilbert Chagoury’s
control. Chagoury, who denied knowing the funds were stolen, paid a fine
of 1 million Swiss francs, then about $600,000, and gave back $65
million to Nigeria; a Swiss conviction was expunged, a spokesman for
Chagoury said.
Ties to the Clintons
In the years afterwards, Chagoury’s
wealth grew. His family conglomerate now controls a host of businesses,
including construction companies, flour mills, manufacturing plants and
real estate.
He has used some of that money to build
political connections. As a non-citizen, he is barred from giving to
U.S. political campaigns, but in 1996, he gave $460,000 to a voter
registration group steered by Bill Clinton’s allies and was rewarded
with an invitation to a White House dinner. Over the years, Chagoury
attended Clinton’s 60th birthday fundraiser and helped arrange a visit
to St. Lucia, where the former president was paid $100,000 for a speech.
Clinton’s aide, Band, even invited Chagoury to his wedding.
Chagoury also contributed $1 million to
$5 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to its list of donors.
At a 2009 Clinton Global Initiative conference, where business and
charity leaders pledge to complete projects, the Chagoury Group’s Eko
Atlantic development — nine square kilometres of Lagos coastal land
reclaimed by a seawall — was singled out for praise.
During a 2013 dedication ceremony in
Lagos, just after Hillary Clinton left her post as secretary of state,
Bill Clinton lauded the $1-billion Eko Atlantic as an example to the
world of how to fight climate change.
“I especially thank my friends Gilbert and Ron Chagoury for making it happen,” he said.
By last summer, U.S. diplomats had
selected a 9.9-acre property at Eko Atlantic as the preferred site for a
new Lagos consulate, State Department documents obtained by the Los
Angeles Times show. Two months ago, James Entwistle, then the U.S.
ambassador to Nigeria, wrote to Washington, asking permission to sign a
99-year lease.
No deal has been signed, State
Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. She did not answer
questions about whether the Clintons recommended Eko Atlantic. She said
at a recent briefing that she was unaware of whether Hillary Clinton
knew the site was under consideration; it was on a list of possibilities
submitted by a real estate firm in 2012, Trudeau said in response to
questions from The L.A. Times.
A spokesman for Clinton’s campaign noted
that the State Department has said the process has been managed by
“career real estate professionals.” Chagoury declined requests for an
interview. Corallo said Chagoury was a generous and “peace-loving” man
unfairly scrutinised because of his association with the Clintons.
He said Chagoury last saw Hillary
Clinton at a 2006 dinner. The Clinton Foundation and a spokesman for
Bill Clinton did not respond to requests for comment.
Chagoury also has given to Republicans:
He and his brother, along with Eko Atlantic, are listed as sponsors for a
2014 art exhibit at the George W. Bush Presidential Center.
Suspicions Emerge in the U.S.
In spite of his network of powerful
friends, Chagoury has aroused the suspicions of U.S. security officials.
In 2010, he was pulled off a private jet in Teterboro, N.J., and
questioned for four hours because he was on the Department of Homeland
Security’s no-fly list. He was subsequently removed from the list and
categorised as a “selectee,” meaning he can fly but receives extra
scrutiny, Homeland Security documents show. The agency later wrote to
Chagoury to apologise “for any inconvenience or unpleasantness.”
That letter did not explain why Chagoury
was on the no-fly list, but another Homeland Security document shows
agents citing unspecified suspicions of links to terrorism, which can
include financing extremist organisations; Chagoury later told reporters
that agents asked him what bank he used in Nigeria.
Chagoury believes it was unfair for
government officials to disclose the episode and to “suggest that he was
a potential threat,” Corallo said. He said that Chagoury’s lawyers
resolved the issue and that he never asked anyone else for help.
Chagoury told ABC News and the Center
for Public Integrity at the time that he was miffed because his travel
problems made him miss seeing the Lakers in the playoffs. “I just love
the Lakers,” he said.
His visa troubles stem at least in part
from his involvement in the tangled politics of Lebanon. Chagoury has
contributed to charitable projects there, advocated on behalf of the
country’s Christians and formed political alliances, including with
Michel Aoun, a Lebanese Christian politician who served as army
commander and prime minister during the country’s civil war.
For a decade, Aoun’s party has been part
of a political coalition with Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim group backed
by Iran that has seats in Lebanon’s parliament. Hezbollah is classified
as a terrorist organisation by the U.S., which holds the group
responsible for the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut and a
Marine barracks blast that year that killed 241 American servicemen.
Drug Enforcement Administration investigations have also found that
Hezbollah is in league with Latin American cartels to launder hundreds
of millions of dollars in drug profits.
Chagoury was “known to have funded”
Aoun, a Lebanese government minister told then-Ambassador Feltman in
2007, according to a cable published by WikiLeaks that didn’t go in
detail about Chagoury’s relationship with Aoun. The minister suggested
that the U.S. “deliver to Chagoury a strong message about the
possibility of financial sanctions and travel bans against those who
undermine Lebanon’s legitimate institutions”.
Chagoury never got a scolding, though.
Instead, Band, Bill Clinton’s aide, pushed for new access for Chagoury
after Hillary Clinton took over at the State Department. In 2009, Band
wrote his friends in the department. “We need Gilbert Chagoury to speak
to the substance guy in Lebanon. As you know he’s key guy there and to
us and is loved in Lebanon. Very imp.” Huma Abedin, a longtime aide and
confidante to Clinton and now vice-chairwoman of her presidential
campaign, suggested Feltman.
When Band’s email was made public this
month, Donald Trump pounced, calling the Chagoury episode “illegal” and a
“pay-to-play” scheme.
But no meeting ever happened, according
to both Feltman and Chagoury’s spokesman. Chagoury wanted only to pass
along insights on Lebanese politics, Corallo said, adding that “nothing
ever came off it” and that Chagoury never talked to anyone at the State
Department. Band declined to comment for this story.
A Clinton campaign spokesman said
Judicial Watch, the conservative organisation that sued to make the
emails public, “has been attacking the Clintons since the 1990s.”
“No matter how this group tries to
mischaracterise these documents, the fact remains that Hillary Clinton
never took action as secretary of state because of donations to the
Clinton Foundation,” spokesman Josh Schwerin said.
This month, the foundation announced
that it would stop accepting donations from foreigners and corporations
should Clinton win the presidency.
U.S. Visa Denial
After Clinton left the State Department,
Chagoury again found himself under suspicion by U.S. security
officials. A 2013 FBI intelligence report, citing unverified raw
information from a source, claimed Chagoury had sent funds to Aoun, who
transferred money to Hezbollah. The source said Aoun was “facilitating
fundraising for Hezbollah”. The U.S. put Chagoury in its database used
to screen travellers for possible links to terrorism, interagency memos
show.
The ties between Chagoury and Aoun ended
years ago in a dispute over oil franchises, said Michel de Chadarev, an
official with Aoun’s party. Chagoury now backs an Aoun rival for the
presidency. De Chadarev said Aoun “categorically denied” any arrangement
where he shared money with Hezbollah or passed funds from Chagoury:
“No, no, no. Of course not. It is not in his principles to act as
transporter to anyone.”
Last summer, when Chagoury planned a
trip to Los Angeles, he applied at the U.S. embassy in Paris for a
visitor’s visa and was refused, according to interviews and government
documents. Based on the FBI report and other allegations from
intelligence and law enforcement sources, the State Department denied
the application. It cited terrorism-related grounds, a broad category
that can apply to anyone believed to have assisted a terrorist group in
any way, including providing money.
Chagoury has denied ties to Hezbollah.
Two years ago, he helped pay for a conference in Washington on the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East; some attendees supported
Hezbollah, but the director of the group that organised the conference
said that didn’t mean Chagoury or other conference organisers were among
them. “Hezbollah is part of the political reality of the country,”
Andrew Doran told the National Review.
Corallo did not answer questions about
the visa denial, but said Chagoury “has been a friend and supporter of
America all his life” and that “any allegation that Mr. Chagoury is
involved in any way with providing material support to any terrorist
organisation, of any stripe, is false, outrageous and defamatory.” He
said Chagoury has no business interests in Lebanon.
The visa decision process is opaque and
provides little recourse for those who are denied entry. Typically, the
person is told of the grounds for refusal, but not the details. The
Secretary of State can grant a waiver, but that is often difficult when
the evidence used to block entry is terrorism-related.
For the last three decades, Corallo
said, Chagoury spent at least a few months each year in Beverly Hills,
where he owns an 18,000-square-foot estate, once the home of actor Danny
Thomas, with commanding views of West Los Angeles and the ocean.
A year ago, after his visa application
was denied, Chagoury’s mansion was put on the market, with an asking
price of $135 million. It’s still for sale.
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