Is this a conflict of interest for James Comey, FBI Director?

Now this is old news. It is from last year when we found out that the Clinton Foundation had been less than honest about how many millions of dollars they had received in government grants and foreign donations.

As Hillary prepared to launch her campaign for president, they quietly filed amended returns to clean up their "errors" that covered up this hidden money.

Unreported donations and grant money by the Clinton Foundation

In 2010, 2011 and 2012, for example, the Clinton Foundation did not list any government grants.

Overall, the refiled tax returns revealed $20.1 million in government grants that were kept off the original versions of the forms.

This was taken care of quietly and without fanfare. If that had been anyone but the Clintons, all hell would have broken loose regarding the deceit, fraud, and dishonesty in attempting to hide donations and grant money, especially for as long as they did.

But, quietly, the firm hired to do this independent audit and subsequent "fix" was a firm that donates to the charity, so the returns were quietly updated and Mrs. Clinton went on to tackle her goal of becoming the Democrat nominee for president of the United States.

This D.C. law firm that did this audit and clean-up assist is DLA Piper.

Our FBI Director's brother, Peter Comey, works for them as Senior Director, Real Estate Operations. He's been there over five years.

Now...there is a bank that is well known for corruption and has been in serious trouble many times and paid billions of dollars to settle money-laundering charges and mortgage abuses....HSBC. Also HSBC has connections to the Clinton Foundation. www.theguardian.com...

In March of 2013, Comey became a board member, a director, and a Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee member of HSBC Holdings. He was actually nominated for that post by none other than Barack Obama himself. I have no clue as to what connection Obama had that allowed him to make that nomination. After serving a few months, James Comey resigned from HSBC's board when Obama appointed him director of the FBI.

HSBC Holdings and its various philanthropic branches routinely partner with the Clinton Foundation. For instance, HSBC Holdings has partnered with Deutsche Bank through the Clinton Foundation to “retrofit 1,500 to 2,500 housing units, primarily in the low- to moderate-income sector” in “New York City.”

“Retrofitting” refers to a Green initiative to conserve energy in commercial housing units. Clinton Foundation records show that the Foundation projected “$1 billion in financing” for this Green initiative to conserve people’s energy in low-income housing units.

Retrofitting housing

I'll stop here for now. But, do you see any conflict of interest for James Comey and why he may have been soft on Hillary.

I just get an icky feeling J.C. is not being forthright, is covering for something, is being promised something or is as caught up in all the money-laundering, bank and foundation scams, and corruption as the rest of the Washington cartel of high stakes political players.

If so, we are in deep doo-doo.


ETA: Correction: The statement that Obama appointed Comey to the board of HSBC is uncertain. Further investigation leaves me doubtful that Obama had anything to do with the HSBC appointment. See posts below.

As you've laid this out...Yes. There appears to be a conflict of interest.
But it involves the (C)lintons..so we'll just ignore it.

Is this just another money laundering scam?

“Retrofitting” refers to a Green initiative to conserve energy in commercial housing units. Clinton Foundation records show that the Foundation projected “$1 billion in financing” for this Green initiative to conserve people’s energy in low-income housing units.

I can't help but wonder if there is something in it for Peter Comey and if this influenced his brother in any way?

a reply to: queenofswords

In March of 2013, Comey became a board member, a director, and a Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee member of HSBC Holdings. He was actually nominated for that post by none other than Barack Obama himself.

I'm having a difficulty believing this bit here. Where did you get the information from?

a reply to: theantediluvian

I'll find the source. I should have posted it when I saw it. My jaw dropped, too, when I read it. I couldn't (and still can't) figure out what Obama's connection would be to be able to nominate him to that post. I'll see if I can relocate that piece of the puzzle.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Some of the information appears off.

Former US Deputy Attorney General joins HSBC Board

James Brien Comey, Jr. (52), former United States Deputy Attorney General, has been appointed a Director of HSBC Holdings plc with effect from 4 March 2013. He will be an independent non-executive Director and a member of the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee.

Jim Comey is a Senior Research Scholar and Hertog Fellow on National Security Law at Columbia University Law School in New York. From 2010 to 2013, he was General Counsel of Bridgewater Associates, LP and, from 2005 to 2010, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. From 2003 to 2005, he served as United States Deputy Attorney General and was responsible for supervising the operations of the Department of Justice and chaired the President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force. From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Comey was United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and supervised the prosecution of executives on fraud and securities related charges and created a specialised unit to prosecute international drug cartels.

As a non-executive Director Mr. Comey will not have a service contract with HSBC Holdings plc. He will be paid a Director’s fee of £95,000 per annum, as authorised by shareholders at the 2011 Annual General Meeting. Mr. Comey will also receive a fee of £30,000 per annum as a member of the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee as approved by the Directors in January 2013.

Mr. Comey does not have any interests in the shares of HSBC Holdings plc within the meaning of Part XV of the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

No shareholder is entitled to exercise or control the exercise of 10% or more of the voting power at any general meeting of the Company.
There are no matters relating to the appointment of Mr. Comey that need to be disclosed pursuant to Listing Rule 9.6.13(2) to (6) of the Listing Rules of the Financial Services Authority. Save as disclosed above there is no other information required to be disclosed pursuant to Rule 13.51(2) of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Stock Exchange of the Hong Kong Limited.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Found it.

www.euroinvestor.com...

Another source....but I'm not too sure about who they are, but they say the same thing:

James Comey was nominated by Obama for a post on HSBC’s Board of Directors in June 2012, and he was subsequently appointed to the board on March 4, 2013. He served on the HSBC’s Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee. Comey’s appointment was for three years, however, he resigned effective Sept. 4, 2013, following his confirmation to serve as FBI Director.[/extruthfeed.com...

a reply to: theantediluvian

From the Horses mouth...

www.hsbc.com...

a reply to: BestinShow

Nice find!

James B Comey, Jr., an independent non-executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc (‘HSBC’), has resigned from the Board with effect from 4 September 2013, following his confirmation by the US Senate as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr Comey was nominated for that post by President Barack Obama in June 2013.

Seems like some of the wording got a bit jumbled when the right wing blogs took off with this.

a reply to: queenofswords

Ah, I think you misread the source:

LONDON--Banking giant HSBC Holdings PLC (HSBA.LN) said Wednesday James B Comey, Jr., an independent non-executive Director, has resigned from the Board with effect from Sept. 4, following his confirmation by the U.S. Senate as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

MAIN FACTS:
-Mr. Comey was nominated for that post by President Barack Obama in June.
-Mr. Comey was appointed to the HSBC Board on March 4 and served on the Financial System Vulnerabilities Committee

"that post" refers to FBI Director.

I'm thinking now, that Comey's appointment to the HSBC board was not by Obama. The wording of the first source I linked is vague, but I think, now, it references his post to the FBI. The second source, as I said, is unfamiliar to me and I can't be certain of their validity, so I am not going to put any stock in that one.

a reply to: BestinShow

Not really sure why your quip got 10 stars because the OP was mistaken and you either misread the OP or you are as well. Obama didn't nominate Comey for a position with HSBC.

From the PDF you linked (first paragraph):

James B Comey, Jr., an independent non-executive Director of HSBC Holdings plc (‘HSBC’), has resigned from the Board with effect from 4 September 2013, following his confirmation by the US Senate as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr Comey was nominated for that post by President Barack Obama in June 2013

Here again, "that post" refers to his nomination for Director of the FBI not the position at (UK bank) HSBC.

a reply to: theantediluvian

However, antediluvian, the gist of this OP is not about who appointed him to HSBC's board. That's minor.

The OP is about the conflicts of interest involved with the connections Comey has to that bank and the Clinton Foundation, as well as the law firm that did the audit and fix on the Clintons' tax forms correcting their "errors" in reporting money from foreign donors and government grants.

a reply to: queenofswords

Yes. The wording was poor but it's referring to the his nomination for FBI Director. Innocent mistake. There's a bit to process here so that's one less wrinkle.

So the gist is this:

1. James Comey held a paid position with HSBC prior to being nominated as FBI Director and HSBC has participated in projects organized by the Clinton Foundation.

2. James Comey's brother Peter Comey has been with DLA Piper for 5 years as the Senior Director, Real Estate Operations (Americas). DLA Piper (which apparently has revenue of approximately $2.5 billion — wow) has donated something like $150,000 in total to the Clinton Foundation and DLA Piper did the audit of the Clinton Foundation.

The HSBC thing isn't much of a conflict of interest ostensbily because he resigned when he was nominated for the FBI directorship and also because it doesn't sound like the HSBC relationship with the Clinton Foundation was anything that would have benefited HSBC in any way that they would have been compelled to influence Comey (assuming they had some sway with him after he resigned) regarding the Clinton investigation.

There also doesn't appear to be anything about the HSBC connection to the Clinton Foundation that would have benefited the Clintons in such a way that they would be compelled to do any specific favors for HSBC (providing another possible motive). Though if you could find something that Clinton did that benefited HSBC in some way that isn't mentioned in your sources, that might be an angle.

As far as Peter Comey goes, DLA Piper is apparently the third largest law firm in the US (as mentioned above, almost $2.5 billion in revenue in 2014) and has 4,200 lawyers working in offices in 30 countries. Let's also remember that it was DLA Piper that uncovered $20.1 million in unreported grants/donations over 4-5 years. That's no small matter. Of course that could be a smoke screen and the real amount could have been some REALLY massive number but there's no evidence or suggestion of that. Furthermore, would Peter Comey have even been aware that DLA Piper was auditing the Clinton Foundation? His position is Senior Director, Real Estate Operations (Americas). That seems wholly unrelated.

What would DLA Piper stand to gain from influencing the outcome of the investigation into Clinton.

That needs to be addressed. It would have to something big. Big enough that it would be worth having Peter Comey approach his brother, the Director of the FBI, about meddling in the outcome of an the Clinton investigation, an outcome which could very well have determined the course of history.

I'm not saying it's not worth investigating further. I'm saying there are some very giant holes, namely in terms of motivation, that Breitbart has attempted to camouflage with a lot of insinuation. I'll keep an eye on the thread to see if somebody comes up with anything.

On a side note, kudos for posting about a conspiracy theory that isn't some moronic crap that like this "earpiece" nonsense (or the van BS or the Reuters cut Trump's feed Twitter hoax). Just like the media has been (mostly) wasting time on sensational Trump gaffes, certain segments of the media have also been going after the low hanging fruit that is easy for idiots to explain to one another but is completely insubstantial.

Even if this doesn't bear fruit, it does underscore (as if it needed it at this point!) the revolving door nature of government and the private sector.

It's difficult to take Breitbart seriously to begin with but with Bannon in the Trump campaign now (that's an undeniable conflict of interest on its face if you ask me but that's how the cronies roll isn't it?), I don't know that I could be much more skeptical of their reporting.

a reply to: queenofswords

Comey left HSBC in July 2013 and we would need to know if he had access / involvement in the Clinton mess that HSBC is involved in.

As much as his decision to substitute his own personal standard in place of what the law requires pisses me off, the connections to create a conflict of interest would need to be clear. It would need to show he was involved in anything related in any way to Clinton or the Clinton foundation.

In simple terms a law enforcement officer who opts to break the law does not automatically mean every other officer on the force is facing a conflict of interest when dealing with the investigation nor does it mean other cases they are working are compromised because of the one officer.

Lawyers are officers of the court and are required to act in a certain manner. There is "conflict of interest" and the "appearance of a conflict of interest". The latter does not automatically mean one exists.

just my 2 cents.

But the MSM told us over and over and over again that James Comey was the most honorable man in all of Washington, D.C.

Right up until the moment he announced that Hillary had committed numerous crimes but 'no reasonable prosecutor' would go after her.

Then the MSM stopped telling us how honorable James Comey was, as even THEIR jaws hit the floor.

a reply to: queenofswords
Apparently, the connection goes a bit deeper. It seems that James Comey's brother, Peter Comey, is also neck deep involved with the Clintons. Here's a new article from Breitbart Exposed: FBI Director James Comey’s Clinton Foundation Connection

nvm.

So, Comey is a Clinton puppet after all. Not surprised.