Foreign Billionaire Involved with Fortenberry Indictment Has Extensive Ties to Clintons

Recently conservative Rep. Jeff Fortenberry has found himself caught up in an investigation carried out by the FBI involving the alleged inappropriate reception of funds from overseas donors.

While the investigation itself is seen by many as being potentially politically motivated, one of the primary figures involved is a foreign billionaire with deep and longstanding ties to the Clintons.

Gilbert Chagoury, the mysterious billionaire who Fortenberry is now accused of taking illegal donations from through an intermediary is 75 years old and although he is legally a resident of Nigeria is actually of Lebanese descent.

“Gilbert Chagoury,…who has sponsored speeches by Bill and committed $1bn to the Clinton Global Initiative… pic.twitter.com/EbJJxqzJVS

— Disruptive Solidarity (@ojoscriollos) May 14, 2016

But more importantly his ties to the Clintons are shockingly deep and involved and stretch back years.

In addition, Chagoury is also known for his involvement with the former dictator of Nigeria as well as the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

According to reports Chagoury contributed over one million dollars to the Clinton initiative alone but as the LA Times has reported, that’s just the tip of iceberg when it comes to Chaoury’s long relationship with the Clintons:

He has used some of that money to build political connections. As a noncitizen, 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, Doug 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 kilometers 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.

In addition to his longstanding ties to the Clintons Chaoury rumors have also long swirled about his potential connections to international terrorism including to Lebanese Hezbollah, as The Chicago Tribune has reported:

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 categorized as a “selectee,” meaning he can fly but receives extra scrutiny, Homeland Security documents show. The agency later wrote to Chagoury to apologize “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 organizations; Chagoury later told reporters that agents asked him what bank he used in Nigeria.

…

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 organization 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.

Given Chaboury’s longstanding ties to shady actors, everyone from the Clintons, to the Vatican, to foreign terrorist groups, the question remains as to why Chaboury, who as a Nigerian billionaire could easily flee US justice abroad with little to no consequence, has chosen to cooperate with the federal agents who have been pursuing the case against Fortenberry.

It is alleged Chaboury dumped $30,000 into Fortenberry’s campaign (which Fortenberry claims he didn’t know about) through an intermediary.

For a multibillionaire like Chaboury, $30,000 isn’t much money at all. Could it be that he was simply trying to buy access to a Republican congressman, or perhaps is the real answer, especially in light of his connections to the Clinton machine, that there is something far more foul afoot?

Matthew Williams