A long time Clinton crony is facing a lawsuit claiming the use of a company jet to fly Hillary Rodham Clinton around the country on business, personal and campaign trips is a waste of company resources.
This lawsuit claims Vinod Gupta has received more than $3 million worth of contracts from former President Bill Clinton to provide consulting services for Mr. Gupta's Nebraska based company infoUSA. These contracts are set to run from 2003 to 2008.
It is estimated Mr. Gupta has spent roughly $900,000 since 2002 flying Sen. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton on international trips to promote Clinton Foundation business and political events.
This lawsuit only mentions a "high ranking" company official and his wife, but Clinton campaign staffers and unnamed company officials did confirm this case involves Mr. Gupta and the Clintons.
A message left on Saturday for a spokesman of the former president was not returned.
This suit will give the American public a rare view of how far a Clinton crony will go in order to gain the favor of these two very powerful politicians. This suit alleges Mr. Gupta spent $145,000 to fly the Clinton's, and himself, on a 2002 vacation trip to Acapulco, Mexico.
Gupta has always been a major contributor to Democratic fundraisers, and his loyalty was paid off when former President Clinton invited him to sleep in the White House's Lincoln bedroom. Mr. Gupta showed his appreciation for this night in the Lincoln bedroom by donating $1 million to the Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark.
FEC records show Gupta controlled entities supplied jets for Sen. Clinton on at least seven different occasions since 2002. Clinton campaign, and other political committee, staffers did pay the equivalent price of first-class air seat for those trips. These payments are required by law, but they are also a significant discount when compared to the actual cost of charter jet service.
So far, it does not appear Mr. Gupta has supplied any flights to Sen. Clinton for use during her presidential campaign stops.
Aides to Sen. Clinton say the 2008 Democratic Presidential hopeful paid $450,000 on flights during the first three months of her presidential campaign. Payment records show the $450,000 was for full charter flight service. The actual details of these expenses do not have to be reported until July 15.
FEC records also show that in addition to providing jet service for Sen. Clinton, Mr. Gupta has also donated $19.500 dollars to Hillary's Senate campaign, presidential campaign and her political action committee since 2001.
Before bringing the lawsuit against Mr. Gupta, Dolphin Limited Partnership did try to place three directors on the infoUSA board of directors.
Mr. Gupta also sent a letter to infoUSA directors in 2005 to defend his expenditures on a boat and sky-box by saying these items are used to woo large clients and top performing company employees.
Read more about this lawsuit at Yahoo News
This lawsuit claims Vinod Gupta has received more than $3 million worth of contracts from former President Bill Clinton to provide consulting services for Mr. Gupta's Nebraska based company infoUSA. These contracts are set to run from 2003 to 2008.
It is estimated Mr. Gupta has spent roughly $900,000 since 2002 flying Sen. Clinton and former President Bill Clinton on international trips to promote Clinton Foundation business and political events.
The suit, filed by infoUSA shareholders last year, claims those expenses as well as millions of others unrelated to the Clintons were a "serial misuse of corporate assets and resources." The Clintons are not a party to the suit.Details of this lawsuit first appeared in a February edition of The Deal, a business publication. Further accounts of this lawsuit also appeared in Saturday editions of the New York Times and Washington Post.
This lawsuit only mentions a "high ranking" company official and his wife, but Clinton campaign staffers and unnamed company officials did confirm this case involves Mr. Gupta and the Clintons.
Messages left Saturday with lawyers for infoUSA and for Dolphin Limited Partnership, a hedge fund that brought the suit, were not immediately returned Saturday. Stamford, Conn.-based Dolphin owns 3.6 percent of infoUSA stock.Phil Singer, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign said all flights were properly reimbursed and disclosed as outlined by FEC ( Federal Election Commission) rules. Mr. Singer also said Sen. Clinton followed Senate ethics rules in regards to these flights.
A message left on Saturday for a spokesman of the former president was not returned.
This suit will give the American public a rare view of how far a Clinton crony will go in order to gain the favor of these two very powerful politicians. This suit alleges Mr. Gupta spent $145,000 to fly the Clinton's, and himself, on a 2002 vacation trip to Acapulco, Mexico.
Gupta has always been a major contributor to Democratic fundraisers, and his loyalty was paid off when former President Clinton invited him to sleep in the White House's Lincoln bedroom. Mr. Gupta showed his appreciation for this night in the Lincoln bedroom by donating $1 million to the Clinton library in Little Rock, Ark.
FEC records show Gupta controlled entities supplied jets for Sen. Clinton on at least seven different occasions since 2002. Clinton campaign, and other political committee, staffers did pay the equivalent price of first-class air seat for those trips. These payments are required by law, but they are also a significant discount when compared to the actual cost of charter jet service.
So far, it does not appear Mr. Gupta has supplied any flights to Sen. Clinton for use during her presidential campaign stops.
Aides to Sen. Clinton say the 2008 Democratic Presidential hopeful paid $450,000 on flights during the first three months of her presidential campaign. Payment records show the $450,000 was for full charter flight service. The actual details of these expenses do not have to be reported until July 15.
FEC records also show that in addition to providing jet service for Sen. Clinton, Mr. Gupta has also donated $19.500 dollars to Hillary's Senate campaign, presidential campaign and her political action committee since 2001.
Before bringing the lawsuit against Mr. Gupta, Dolphin Limited Partnership did try to place three directors on the infoUSA board of directors.
Both in its suit and in its quest to alter the board, Dolphin has maintained that Gupta squandered company money not only on the Clintons but on a stadium sky-box and on a private yacht with an all-female crew.Documents filed by Mr. Gupta defend this spending by indicating Mr. Gupta paid for the sky-box at the University of Nebraska with his own money, and then transferred the sky-box to infoUSA.
Mr. Gupta also sent a letter to infoUSA directors in 2005 to defend his expenditures on a boat and sky-box by saying these items are used to woo large clients and top performing company employees.
InfoUSA is a marketing information company that provides electronic, print and data processing services to its clients.InfoUSA has come under intense heat and scrutiny not only because of Mr. Gupta's spending habits, but because of customer data sold by the company that ended up being used by crooks in bilking older people. The company has since issued a statement saying measures have been taken to ensure a sale such like this will not happen again.
Read more about this lawsuit at Yahoo News
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