Judicial Watch has unearthed long-buried FBI files that once again place the Clinton political machine and its inner circle under a cloud of suspicion.
According to the Gateway Pundit, the conservative watchdog group forced the release of 77 pages of heavily redacted FBI records after years of stonewalling and a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, revealing that Anthony Tony Rodham, the late brother of Hillary Rodham Clinton, was the subject of a 1996 criminal investigation into possible wire and mail fraud.
The inquiry, run out of the FBIs Miami Field Office under case number 196D-MM-79121 with the 196 classification reserved for wire fraud centered on Rodhams role in a dubious import scheme involving East European Imports, Inc. (EEI), a Coral Gables, Florida, company tied to a failed plan to bring Romanian-made ARO four-wheel-drive vehicles into the United States.
The FBI files describe how associates operating through EEI claimed they held exclusive U.S. rights to import the Romanian ARO vehicles and aggressively targeted auto dealers nationwide. Dealers were pressed to put down deposits exceeding $30,000 for exclusive franchises and Parts, Special Tools and Sign Packages, with the remaining balance due upon acceptance of the vehicles that were supposedly on the way.
No vehicles ever arrived. The Bureau ultimately concluded there was very little likelihood any ARO vehicles would ever be imported into the United States through EEI, a damning assessment that strongly suggested the operation was a classic advance-fee scam rather than a legitimate business venture.
The records further reveal that the individuals behind EEI had already run a nearly identical scheme years earlier, between 1986 and 1987, under the name Roman Motors Corporation. This pattern of alleged fraud unfolded while Hillary Clinton was serving as First Lady of the United States, raising obvious concerns about how closely the Clinton orbit intersected with questionable commercial ventures.
According to the FBI documents, Tony Rodham traveled to Romania with EEIs principals, met with Romanian officials, and actively promoted the project. His involvement was not peripheral; the files portray him as a key figure helping to sell the purported import deal to foreign authorities and lending the Clinton names political weight to the enterprise.
Crucially, the Bureaus records state there were credible allegations that Rodham was explicitly informed the EEI associates had submitted fraudulent and inflated financial statements to Romanian officials in order to burnish their credibility. Despite this warning, the documents indicate Rodham continued to promote EEI to the Romanian government as a legitimate importer, effectively ignoring red flags that would have caused a responsible actor to distance himself from the scheme.
The FBI itself acknowledged the political sensitivity of the case in stark terms, underscoring the potential conflict between law enforcement and the power of a well-connected political dynasty. The investigation has assumed sensitive political aspects because it has been determined that ANTHONY TONY RODHAM, a brother of HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON, may have played a role in securing the alleged ARO importation rights on behalf of EEI, one passage reads, highlighting how the Clinton name complicated the Bureaus work.
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton argued that the newly released records raise broader questions about what else the government is still concealing regarding the Clintons and their network. After more than two decades of delay, these FBI records reveal a criminal investigation involving Hillary Clintons brother and raise serious questions about what remains hidden in the governments files not only about Hillarys brother but Hillary Clinton herself, Fitton stated, underscoring the groups longstanding contention that federal agencies have shielded the Clintons from full accountability.
The FBI has already acknowledged that it holds more than 13,000 additional pages of responsive records on Tony Rodham, along with audio and video materials, stemming from an earlier FOIA request. Yet much of that trove remains out of public view, obscured by sweeping redactions and bureaucratic delays that have become all too familiar whenever inquiries touch the Clinton political apparatus.
Judicial Watch notes that Rodham spent decades leveraging his family name and connections to advance his private interests, often in ways that intersected uncomfortably with U.S. foreign policy and disaster relief. Rodham described himself as a facilitator and had a range of opportunities, like addressing Chinese investor conferences and joining an advisory board of a company seeking permission to mine for gold in Haiti, the group recounted, adding that he also pursued contracts in post-earthquake Haiti, seeking a $22 million housing deal while Bill Clinton co-chaired the recovery commission, a proposal that collapsed.
The pattern extended into the Obama years, when Hillary Clinton served as secretary of State and the Clinton network continued to blur the line between public office and private gain. While she was at the State Department, former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and Rodham became embroiled in controversy over their use of the EB-5 cash-for-visas program, raising at least $46 million from foreign investors for their GreenTech Automotive electric-car venture, a company that ultimately filed for bankruptcy in February 2018.
Judicial Watchs prior FOIA work has already exposed how this culture of access and favoritism operated inside the State Department. In August 2017, the group uncovered records from the State Department revealing repeated use of unsecured communications for classified information and numerous examples of Clinton Foundation donors receiving special favors from former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons, with emails also showing Rodham apparently trying to capitalize on his status as the secretarys brother.
Those records describe how, in January 2010, Clintons confidential assistant Monica Hanley forwarded to deputy chief of staff Huma Abedin a request from Rodham on three separate matters: One involved help on a green card renewal, another involved a visit by someone of which Abedin said they wanted to regret, and a third involved a job for someone whose CV Rodham forwarded to State. The implication was clear proximity to the Clintons could open doors at the highest levels of government, even for routine immigration and employment favors.
Further documents obtained in July 2017 showed Huma Abedin using her position to provide special State Department treatment to major donors to the Clinton Foundation and allied political campaigns, again reinforcing the perception of a pay-to-play culture. The heavily redacted emails from Abedins non-government account included a message from Rodham to Abedin indicating he was acting as an intermediary for Clinton Foundation donor Richard Park, while other records showed Clinton Foundation executive Doug Band instructing Abedin to show love to prominent donor Andrew Liveris.
Taken together, the newly released FBI files on Tony Rodham and the earlier State Department disclosures paint a consistent picture of a political family and its associates treating public office as a gateway to private opportunity, with accountability repeatedly delayed or deflected. With more than 13,000 pages of FBI records on Rodham still shielded from public scrutiny, the central question remains whether federal agencies will finally allow a full airing of the facts, or whether the Clinton brand will once again be protected at the expense of transparency and equal justice under the law.
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