Kamala’s brother-in-law ‘legally’ funneled billions of dollars to leftist NGOs
By Andrea Widburg www.americanthinker.com
The federal government is often involved in civil (as opposed to criminal) litigation, both as a plaintiff and a defendant. Most of these suits are settled. What people noticed once Obama entered office is that those settlements, sometimes in the millions or billions of dollars, didn’t go to wronged individuals if the government was a defendant or into the Treasury if it was a complainant. Instead, they went to leftist activist groups. It turns out that Kamala Harris’s brother-in-law, Tony West, was the one who created this sophisticated money laundering.
Several people sent me a link to a New York Post exposé describing how West figured out how to use civil litigation to hand out billions in unauthorized “grants” to leftist groups. I urge you to read the whole essay because the details are worth your time, but here’s the gist.
It used to be that if the government settled a case requiring a payout, Congress had to approve settlements over $100,000. That was because Congress has the power of the purse, meaning that it’s the steward of taxpayer monies. (Remember, the government is supposed to be our employee, not vice versa.)
Image: Tony West (cropped). YouTube screen grab.
However, by 1977, whether because of an explosion of cases or because Congress got lazy, Congress told the DOJ to take care of all settlements. Until 2009, the DOJ carried out that mandate honestly. Or at least, we assume it did because the feds keep a tight lock on information about how the “Judgment Fund” is used (including, we know, for payouts due to malfeasance by individual members of Congress).
This secrecy worked because the settlement payouts weren’t a big deal. You know how it goes...a million here, a million there, and no one really notices. What was also kept secret was the fees attorneys received for their work on these cases. I’m sure that many of these fees were legitimate.
All that changed, however, when Obama entered the White House. He put West in charge of the DOJ’s Civil Division, which defends suits against the feds and files suits against people and corporations accused of non-criminal wrongdoing.
According to the article in the NY Post, West’s deputy was very explicit about West’s goals:
Once West arrived, his deputy emailed colleagues asking “can you explain to Tony the best way to allocate some money toward an organization of our choosing?”
Settlements became the vehicle for paying off political allies.
The way it worked was that an activist organization would file a bogus lawsuit. Then, the DOJ’s Civil Division would immediately settle the lawsuit for vast sums of money (taxpayer money, of course). Here’s one example:
For example, in late 2010, after a Supreme Court victory, DOJ lawyers were on the cusp of winning a decade-long fight against discrimination claims by 91 Hispanic and female farmers.
That’s when West intervened and, as The New York Times put it, “engineered a stunning turnabout.”
DOJ agreed to a $1.33 billion settlement which included thousands of farmers who had never claimed bias.
The deal was made over the “vehement objections” of the department’s career lawyers.
The Times’s investigative report described West’s settlement as a “runaway train, driven by racial politics . . . and law firms that stand to gain more than $130 million in fees.”
The projected settlement size ballooned to over $4.4 billion as additional plaintiffs were added, including Native American farmers.
West’s division also started shaking down corporations when it sued them. The government would demand exorbitant settlements through donations to Democrat-allied organizations, rather than refunding taxpayers or consumers.
For example (and this is my example, not one from the essay), if the DOJ sued a bank for allegedly charging unreasonably high fees for checking account overdrafts, the settlement would give pennies on the penny (not even pennies on the dollar) to the affected individuals. However, the settlement would also mandate that the bank “donate” billions to leftist consumer groups, with the settlements written to ensure that no money went to conservative groups.
It’s important to note that the defendants in these suits often settled because a settlement, no matter how aggressive, was still cheaper than years of litigation against the federal government. While individuals pay attorneys and costs out of their own pockets, and corporations pay using monies that would go to shareholders and employees, the government has unlimited funds. If it needs more money, a friendly congressman tacks a request onto a spending bill, and taxpayers pay up. If they refuse, they’ll find the IRS and the FBI at their door. That’s a bottomless deep pocket.
Leftist groups were so thrilled by this scam that “An email circulated saying they ought to build a ‘statue’ to West and ‘bow down to this statue each day after we receive our $200,000+.’” Naturally, when California was involved in these “lawsuits,” Kamala enthusiastically signed off on these corrupt settlements.
The system continues today, even though Obama and West are long gone. Moreover, the corruption has escalated. Even when nothing is settled at all, leftist groups still get their money:
In 2021, a billion-dollar settlement with illegal immigrants claiming emotional distress was scotched only after public outcry.
Even then, DOJ quietly agreed to pay attorneys’ fees to the ACLU lawyers in the long-running case.
The settlements also flow when there’s manifestly no claim. Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who promised to ensure Trump’s downfall, and his FBI paramour, Lisa Page, conducted their affair and their schemes using government-issued phones. This means that they had no privacy rights and certainly no expectation of privacy. Nevertheless, on Biden’s watch, the DOJ settled with them for $2 million when they claimed it had breached their privacy.
As I said, I’ve just skimmed the article’s surface. Read the whole thing to understand how Democrats weaponize the government to provide their allies with endless taxpayer funds. The Democrat party is no longer a recognizable American political party. Instead, it’s a cross between a crime syndicate and a purely fascist organization. If that bothers you, I strongly suggest that you vote for Trump (whether you like him personally or not) because he’s currently the only thing standing opposed to this corruption.
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