The FBI has released documents about former US president Bill Clinton's pardon of the husband of a wealthy "Democratic donor". They released the heavily redacted 129-page report over the pardon of trader Marc Rich. Marc Rich is once one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives on charges of tax evasion.
The documents were published online on Monday, and was posted on Tuesday on a Twitter account for the Federal Bureau of Investigation's division managing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Rich was indicted on federal charges of tax evasion in the United States. He was a fugitive from the Department of Justice he is one of the FBI's most wanted and was living in exile in Switzerland at the time of his indictment. He died there in 2013.
In a controversial move, Bill Clinton pardoned him on his last day in office on January 20, 2001. The FBI opened its investigation into the pardon later that year.
Rich's ex-wife Denise Eisenberg Rich has been a major political donor to the Democratic Party, and these donations may have been intended to influence the fugitive's pardon. Some of the donations went to the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, the predecessor to the Clinton Foundation, according to the document. Denise Eisenberg Rich donated $100,000 to Hillary's 2000 Senate campaign, $450,000 the Clinton Library, and $1 million to the Democratic Party.
The FBI document dated February 15, 2001 said "It appears that the required pardon standards and procedures were not followed."
William J. Clinton Foundation: This initial release consists of material from the FBI's files related to the Will... https://t.co/Y4nz3aRSmG— FBI Records Vault (@FBIRecordsVault) November 1, 2016
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