FBI stands for F[ascism] B[y] I[ncrements]: Citizens’ Academies for Groupies, Socialites and Walter Mitty Types
The ghost of “J Edna” Hoover and his “partner” Clyde Tolson live on at the FBI.
Like with Petraeus, the more that comes out on Hoover and Tolson the sleazier and more over-rated they appear. The only award I could see for them as appropriate would be the Mr J Edna and Mrs, Clyde Tolson Hoover Award for Pioneering Achievements in Same Gender Marriage
The J Edna Hoover Building. Imagine a shelter for battered women named after Ted Bundy. Imagine a building of the B’nai Brith named after Adolf Eichmann. That is what a building of the FBI and “Justice Department” named after a corrupt fascist thug, megalomaniac, extortionist of presidents, blackmailer and associate of mobsters is like. That this building is still named after Hoover after all the lives he destroyed also says where the FBI is till at today in terms of its culture.
Apparently the new FBI still does DODT (Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell) when it comes to the legacy of J.Edna Hoover and Clyde Tolson.
FASCISM AND THE FBI:
Fascism is a system in which corporate power and state power are organically fused to form a corporate state that uses both the velvet glove and iron fist to maintain the rule of monopoly capital via agents of the state. The term fascism was coined by Mussolini to indicate the corporate state; the term came from a symbol of the Roman Imperium the “fasces” a bundle of rods with an ax blade symbolizing the power of the Emperor and Empire carried into conquered territories.
The FBI has long included a long list of fascists like Hoover in its ranks. After all, who could be more anti-Communist than fascists as they are mortal enemies like the mongoose and the cobra. And America has had a long tradition of the bogus and bankrupt logic of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend”. America has had a long tradition of training, arming, supporting, installing and defending fascist regimes, death squads, terrorists, outright Nazis, wanted war criminals all under the banner of “anti-Communism”. For some people F.B.I stands for F[amous] B[ut] I[ncompetent]; for others it stands for F[ascism] B[y] I[ntrigue].
Fascism does not just fall out of the sky one day. In every single case of fascism past and present, the political, legal, constitutional, economic, cultural and socio-cultural foundations are laid over protracted periods of time, under various guises, masks and pretexts. But always it has to do with the promise to “keep the public safe” from designated enemies of the state in return for unquestioning obedience and turning a blind eye to, sanctioning and even aiding and abetting all sorts of patently constitutional rights and protections and serial breaches of them under various pretexts.
The FBI Citizens’ Academies require background checks. The following will attest to what kinds of background checks were done on Jill Kelley and her sister and husband, along with Paula Broadwell, also by the quality of vetting by the intelligence staffs of Generals Allen and Petraeus. It is interesting to note that immediately after the scandal broke, the Kelleys lost their preferred access to MacDill AFB and Broadwell had her security clearances suspended but not withdrawn and neither Allen nor Petraeus lost their clearances yet even for the breaches in security on general officers and authorizations of access to classified materials on issues that Broadwell had no need to know and no standing to even request.
FBI MCSO Terrorist Flyer Front
FBI MCSOTerrorist Flyber Back
Petraeus Scandal is like Forrest Gump’s Box of Chocolates
We know now that when one has friends in the FBI as did Jill Kelly and her twin sister, all things are possible to grease the skids on an investigation. And of course, just like the proverbial “box of chocolates” of Forest Gump, “Gawlee Gee Whiz, you never know what you’re going find in a box of chocolates.”
You may just out of nowhere find a mistress of a former 4-star general now head of CIA, a socialite climber playing at being wealthy that is deep in debt, another four-star general derelict in basic security, counter-intelligence tradecraft and in choices of child custody cases to try to influence. You may just expose networks of right-wingers, proto-fascists, groupies, Walter Mitty types, climbers and wannabe influence traders given special handling and all sorts of special insider access, costly in public dollars.
How did Jill Kelly get her special access to FBI and other military and non-military agencies and top brass? She basically schmoozed, dined, crashed some parties, used marginal access to leverage more with photo ops [“see here I am with my close friend General Petraeus…”] and lavish parties that it turns out were thrown with credit cards maxed out and a phony charity for collecting monies few of which went anywhere near the charity.
This case of Jill Kelly, along with Petraeus’ Mistress Broadwell, highlights several issues:
1) Selective and unvetted uses of public resources for public relations, image management, manufacturing popular consent on national security issues;
2) Uses of high-level officials, their endorsements, resources, personal aircraft and other government resources, many of which are classified to give special access to military facilities and operations on basis of personal relationships and cronyism and nepotism;
3) Lack of vetting of the real backgrounds, intentions, capabilities, representations of those given special access, references, endorsements and handling by Petraeus, Allen and others along with their own aides and subordinates and organizations;
4) What are the real reasons, costs, legal authority and agenda of these FBI Citizens’ Academies and of those who want to enroll in them? Why are most of the appointments from recommended FBI or previous graduates of this program? Do they constitute a para-police or para-military force to be used in some future scenarios and contexts?
Suggested Link to Spy Academy
5) What are the real costs when FBI resources are tasked as personal favors more than as a result of an objective and uninfluenced examination of the Treat Matrix and scarcity of resources to respond to all threats on the matrix equally?
6) What are the implications of the vast majority of these “Community Leaders” going to these “Citizens’ Academies” being recruited mostly from recommendations of FBI personnel and graduates of these academies? Is this ideological incest and if so, what is the dominant ideology being promoted and what about the mandate of the Hatch Act for all public employees not to be involved in politics while on duty or in any official capacities? How many of these attendees are Republicans vs Democrats? Why are they recruiting religious leaders when the First Amendment mandates separation of Church and State? Do business leaders get some special access or preferences on government contracts with their associations and networking? Is that their primary motive in joining this program?
Notice the FBI “Citizens’ Academies” recruit “Community Leaders”. How do they identify “Community Leaders”? According to their webpage:
Want to find out first hand how the FBI works? Hear how the Bureau tracks down spies and terrorists? Learn how to collect and preserve evidence? See what it is like to fire a weapon and put yourself in the shoes of a Special Agent making a split-second, life-or-death decision?
If you are a leader in your community, you just might be able to do that and more––through an FBI Citizens’ Academy, open for business in all 56 of our field offices.
Who attends? Business, civic, and religious leaders. You must be at least 18 years old (with no prior felony convictions) and must live and work in the area covered by the field office sponsoring the academy.
Who teaches? Special Agents in Charge of a field office, their senior managers, and senior agent experts.
For how long? Classes generally meet 10 times (eight on weeknights and two on Saturday) for three hours each session. Each session has around 20-30 students.
The curriculum? Fascinating!
• Practical problems involving evidence collection and preservation.
• FBI jurisdiction and congressional oversight.
• Structure and operation of FBI field offices and resident agencies.
• Fingerprint, forensic, technology, training, and other services
• Policies and issues: ethics, discipline, communications, civil rights,
and criminal trends.
• Firearms training.
To find out more about Citizens’ Academies, contact your local field office.
For more information:
• FBI Citizens’ Academies: An Eye-Opening Experience
Community Outreach Links
Community Outreach Home
Our Community Programs
– Citizens’ Academies | Story
– Community Relations Executive Seminar Training (CREST)
– Community Partnerships
– Adopt-a-School | Junior Special Agents | Junior Scientists
– Honoring Community Leaders
– Our Outreach Partners
– News and Features
– Photo Gallery
Resources
– Be Crime Smart
– Publications
– Parents Against Gangs
– The School Shooter (pdf)
– Workplace Violence (pdf)
– Numbers to Know & Websites to Visit
This story continues to unravel. But I am more troubled by the evolving unanswered questions about this FBI program for “Citizen Leaders” and how and why the likes of Jill Kelly are recruited into it and put into positions of influence and leverage over 4-star generals and heads of CIA along with being given tandem parachute jumps with members of highly classified Special Operations units at a highly restrictive military base like MacGill AFB.
TOP TEN ODDEST FACTS RELATED TO JILL KELLEY
Top 10 Oddest Facts Related to Jill Kelley, Axis of David Petraeus’s Love Pentagon From the National Journal under FAIR USE Doctrine
Jill Kelley’s involvement in the David Petraeus and John Allen scandals gets stranger by the day. Here are the top 10 oddest facts, relevant or not, dug up by the national media about this socialite-turned-whistle-blower.
NUMBER 10:
Kelley once crashed a Republican fundraiser, and had her picture taken with Sen. Marco Rubio.
http://www.businessinsider.com/jill-kelley-marco-rubio-2012-11 andhttp://www.nationaljournal.com/almanac/member/1856
NUMBER 9:
Kelley went skydiving with paracommandos at MacDill Air Force Base in 2010.
NUMBER 8:
Charlie Crist, former governor of Florida, publicly denied that he once dated Kelley’s twin sister.
NUMBER 7:
The FBI agent whom Kelley tipped about Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell’s threatening e-mails once sent her a shirtless photo of himself.
FBI Agent Humphries from FBI Counter-Intelligence and a friend of Jill Kelly for whom his special handling of her complaint of cyber threats from Broadwell that led to this whole cascading Blowback that has given so many so much Schadenfreude. Which one is the dummy?
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/shirtless-fbi-agent-article-1.1203108
NUMBER 6:
Last year, Kelley attended an FBI “citizens’ academy.” According to the FBI’s website, the academy is for people who want to “find out firsthand how the FBI works,” and “hear how the bureau tracks down spies and terrorists.”
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/october/citizensacad_102609
10/26/09
“My exposure to the FBI was very limited, just what I saw on TV,” said Shannan Menya, Minneapolis.
“[The FBI] couldn’t be trusted,” believed Rev. Dr. Rocky Brown, Philadelphia.
“The agency was little more than interstate police,” explained Azra Hussain, Phoenix.
This was what three community leaders thought they knew about the FBI before they completed our Citizens’ Academy Program.
And after the program?
“I learned so many things!” says Menya.
“FBI employees are decent, down-to-earth, regular people concerned about the well-being of America and the world,” says Rev. Dr. Brown.
“Its job is so much more than just policing…it’s involved in so many different areas,” adds Hussain.
For more than 15 years, our local Citizens’ Academies have given some 10,000 community leaders an up-close and personal look at the mission and capabilities of the FBI—and changed plenty of hearts and minds along the way. Why is that so important to us? Because by building stronger partnerships with civic leaders, we are better able to do our jobs.
The graduates of our Citizens’ Academies enable us stay better attuned to the needs and issues of our communities, are more willing to pick up the phone and call us with information that could help solve or prevent crimes, become “ambassadors” of the FBI who dispel myths and misunderstandings about the Bureau, and often go on to join alumni chapters that work directly with us on all kinds of public safety initiatives.
We asked some of the graduates about their experiences…
What was your favorite part of the program?
Chuck Matthews, Phoenix: “Investigating a mock kidnapping case. We got to go out into the field and work on a simulated crime scene under the guidance of the Evidence Response Team and several agents. We collected and processed evidence…interviewed likely suspects…and after analyzing the data, determined the likely perpetrator.”
Suzanne Koepplinger, Minneapolis: “Meeting my classmates—people I might not have had a chance to meet otherwise—and establishing really good relationships with them.”
Sarjit Bains, Minneapolis: “Learning about some of the FBI’s behind-the-scenes work, like how they provide assistance to local law enforcement agencies.”
What did you learn that you didn’t know before?
Dr. Saeed Fahia, Minneapolis: “The fact that you have a civil rights department that follows up on hate crimes. (Dr. Fahia noted that he grew up in Somalia, “where people had a somewhat negative view of police.”)
Cathy Mick, Philadelphia: “The FBI is involved in a lot more danger than I realized. Also, they want to interact more with the public as a friend, not a foe.”
Zafar Siddiqui, Minneapolis: “How the FBI handles the threats of espionage, white-collar crime, and hate crimes.”
Knowing what you know now, how confident are you in the FBI’s ability to protect the nation from a terrorist attack or other threats to public safety?
Jerry Fogel, Kansas City: “No doubt in my mind that except for the FBI being on duty 24/7, who knows what terrible situation we might find ourselves in…I know we’re in good hands.”
Stacy Irving, Philadelphia: “I’m more confident than ever that the FBI, working in partnership with the private sector and other law enforcement agencies, keeps our nation and our communities safe from those who wish to do us harm.”
Charles Jean Baptiste, Kansas City: “I’m 100 percent confident…although we can totally depend on the agency, the support of the community is also important.”
Like many other graduating classes, members of a recent Minneapolis Citizens’
Academy traveled to the FBI Academy in rural Virginia for a tour of our training facility. They also visited FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
If you’re interested in applying to attend a Citizens’ Academy, contact your local field office.
Resources:
– Citizens’ Academy Program
– Partnerships and Outreach
NUMBER 5.
Kelley once hosted a party to celebrate “Tampa’s Gasparilla Pirate Fest.” Twenty-eight police officers escorted Petraeus to the party.
Jill Kelley’s role in scandal exposes Tampa family’s dirty laundry
By Allen G. Breed, Tamara Lush and Donna Cassata
Associated Press
Posted: 11/15/2012 09:55:27 AM PST
Updated: 11/16/2012 05:04:35 AM PST
Related Stories
• Nov 15:
• Shirtless FBI agent in Petraeus sex scandal posed with bullet-ridden target dummies
• Petraeus scandal: One spiteful email led to exposure
• Nov 14:
• FBI agent in Petraeus case is counterterror investigator
• Paula Broadwell loses security clearance; Jill Kelley loses base pass
• Nov 13:
• Before scandal, Tampa socialite Jill Kelley was known for hosting parties
for military brass
• Generals Petraeus, Allen both backed socialite’s twin sister in custody case
• Sex scandal widens to probe of top U.S. general’s emails with socialite
• Nov 12:
• Petraeus was shocked to hear of jealous emails, friends say
• Nov 11:
• Official: Harassing emails to Florida woman set off Petraeus probe
• FBI said to have stumbled into news of Petraeus affair
• Nov 10:
• Paula Broadwell: Petraeus’ lover a military reservist, scholar
• Nov 9:
• David Petraeus resigns as CIA chief because of extramarital affair — reportedly discovered by FBI
TAMPA, Fla. — Jill Kelley’s climb to the top of Tampa’s social ladder may be as spectacular as her fall from it.
Accounts of lavish parties at her bay-front mansion with politicians and military generals have been replaced by reports of her family’s financial woes and other dirty laundry, and claims she used her close friendship with David Petraeus to try to further lucrative business dealings. Now, even her “Friends of MacDill” Air Force base access pass has been unceremoniously revoked.
The tangled web enveloping the daughter of Lebanese refugees, her twin sister, former CIA chief Petraeus, and Marine Gen. John Allen, who succeeded Petraeus as the top American commander in Afghanistan, has spread to include questions about a cancer charity Kelley and her doctor-husband, Scott, founded.
Although Petraeus’ affair with his biographer, Army Reserve officer Paula Broadwell, was the immediate cause of his downfall, Kelley and her relations with the Tampa base and the U.S. Central Command have surfaced as a sort of connective tissue for the growing scandal.
On Wednesday, a New York businessman said Kelley was introduced to him at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August as someone whose friendship with Petraeus would help facilitate a no-bid deal with South Korea on a coal-gasification project. She would supposedly be in a position to help broker the billion-dollar deal directly with the Korean president, and expected a 2 percent commission, said Adam Victor, president and chief executive officer of TransGas Development Systems.
Kelley is an honorary consul for South Korea, a ceremonial position, and got diplomatic plates for her car. But after flying Kelley to New York to discuss how she could help, Victor says he concluded she had little to offer in the way of deal-making expertise or connections with Korean leaders.
The AP also learned Wednesday that Kelley attended an FBI “Citizens’ Academy” last year. It was Kelley’s complaints to an FBI agent about alleged threats from Broadwell that led to the general’s resignation last week and has sidelined Allen’s nomination to become the next commander of U.S. European Command and the commander of NATO forces in Europe.
The agent was Frederick W. Humphries, 47, a veteran counterterrorism investigator in the Tampa office, and he was among the FBI employees Kelley met during the academy, which lasted from Sept. 13 to Nov. 30, 2011, the AP learned.
Both Petreaus and Allen have been guests at the Kelleys’ 5,000-square-foot home on Bayshore Boulevard, which records show they purchased in 2004 for about $1.5 million. Jill Kelley’s twin sister, Natalie Khawam, also lives there.
The five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bath brick Colonial with its stately white columns is on the main parade route for the Gasparilla Pirate Festival, Tampa’s answer to Mardi Gras. And the couple soon gained a reputation for their sumptuous and well-attended affairs.
Jill Kelley, 37, and her husband — a cancer surgeon — are members of the Tampa Yacht and Country Club.
The relationship between the Kelleys and Petraeus began in late 2008, when he came to MacDill to assume command of CENTCOM. The couple threw a welcome party for him, and he reportedly watched his first Gasparilla pirate parade from the Kelleys’ lawn.
Kelley’s overtures to the military brass are, in and of themselves, nothing extraordinary. In fact, most of these civilian-military relationships begin innocently enough.
For instance, the connection of another local couple, John and Leslie Osterweil, with MacDill and CentCom started more than two decades ago, when a teacher at their son’s exclusive prep school asked him to take a general’s boy “under his wing.”
That boy’s father was then CentCom commander in chief, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf. Since then, John Osterweil has become a regular presence on the base. He counts Allen and Petraeus as close friends, and each has visited the other’s home.
“You know, a lot of people are enamored by people who are high-ranking generals and admirals,” he says. “I mean, a lot of people look at them in some type of a different light. I look at them as nice people that are my friends.”
But Petraeus aides say Jill Kelley took it to another level, winning the title of “honorary ambassador” for her extensive entertaining at her home on behalf of the command, throwing parties that raised her social status in Tampa through the reflected glow of the four-star general in attendance.
Petraeus honored the couple with an award, given to them in a special ceremony at the Pentagon just before he departed the military for his post at the CIA, an aide said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the matter publicly.
Aaron Fodiman, who’s been publisher of Tampa Bay Magazine for 27 years, said people like Petraeus and Allen usually don’t know anyone when they arrive, and that people like Kelley act as “the welcome wagon.” But while he described the hostess as “outgoing and effervescent,” he said her parties “were like everybody else’s parties.”
“Nothing different or special,” who has attended several events at the Kelley home. “Standard procedure. Have a caterer. Feed people. Give them something to drink. And let them mix.”
But behind the scenes, this veneer of upward mobility was showing signs of cracking.
Hundreds of pages of court files in numerous cases portray the occupants of 1005 Bayshore Boulevard as both litigious and financially strained.
The Kelleys’ investment in a Tampa office building went sour when a $28,000-a-month tenant balked at payment because of problems with the air conditioning system. The couple later defaulted on the mortgage and the property went into foreclosure.
An attorney who represented the Kelleys in that case, Barry Cohen, ultimately became the target of a lawsuit over his legal fees. Chase Bank sued Scott Kelley over a $25,880.56 unpaid credit card bill.
Meanwhile, Khawam, Kelley’s twin, has had legal troubles of her own.
She sued Cohen’s firm, where she was an attorney, claiming sexual harassment by the chief financial officer.
In court responses, Cohen said Khawam “has a judicially documented recent history and continuing propensity for the commission of perjury.” He cited a court filing in the District of Columbia that described Khawam as having a “willingness to say anything, even under oath, to advance her own personal interests at the expense of … others.”
Khawam, who earned $270,822 in 2010, according to a court filing, has filed for bankruptcy.
During a news conference Wednesday, Cohen said both sisters had been heard dropping Petraeus’ name often, though he never heard Allen’s name invoked. He said both subscribed to the idea that you should “join these clubs and have these parties and drop these names.”
Referring to Jill Kelley, he said: “She does what she thinks is necessary to be perceived as being important.”
Her apparent importance and connections were described to Victor, when the New York businessman was introduced to her.
“We went down to the convention to spread our message about coal gasification and I met someone who seemed to be very well connected in Tampa” — and was described as a friend of Petraeus and someone who could deal with the president of South Korea.
In an interview, Victor continued: “It was Jill Kelley. She was a very vivacious woman. She seemed eager to assist us in our project and she confirmed that she was very close to Gen. Petraeus …”
Victor said she talked about helping with a non-competitive bid. “And so that if the (South Korean) president liked it, as a favor to Gen. Petraeus, there would be one no-bid contract. Every developer likes a no-bid contract, or sole source. This certainly seemed worthwhile pursuing.”
Victor said his company flew Kelley to New York, first class, for meetings, and then she flew to Hawaii, allegedly for meetings on the deal.
They discussed her compensation, Victor said. “I said, ‘what do you think a fair fee would be?’” And she emailed me back, 2 percent of the deal,” which he said could have amounted to tens of millions of dollars.
The company decided to work through others on the deal. “We decided that she simply was not a skilled negotiator in these large projects, she’s never been in these large projects and I sort of felt that I wasted my time,” Victor said.
In 2005, the Kelleys established Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation Inc., with themselves and Khawam as its sole directors, according to the Florida Department of State. Its mission statement says the organization, which was based out of the Kelley home, was created to “conduct research studies into efforts to discover ways to improve the quality of life of terminally-ill adult cancer patients.”
In 2007, the last year for which it filed paperwork, the foundation reported revenues of $157,284 to the Internal Revenue Service, all from direct donations, according to its tax filing. The document lists expenses totaling precisely the same amount, including $43,317 for meals and entertainment, $38,610 for travel, $25,013 in legal fees, $8,067 for supplies and $5,082 in phone bills.
The filing claims $58,417 of its expenses went toward program services, but it’s unclear what those services entailed.
Christopher Pietruszkiewicz, dean of the Stetson University Law School and expert on nonprofits and taxation, said the foundation’s filing “raises a lot more questions than it does provide answers.”
“I’m not sure that we can come up with any conclusions about how the money was spent by the organizers of the charitable organization, but it does give us a sense about how $157,000 was spent,” he said. “And I do think it raises some issues that either the Internal Revenue Service or the State of Florida may be interested in looking at.”
The Tampa Bay Times reported Wednesday that as late as February 2010, Jill Kelley was soliciting contributions in the foundation’s name to fund a dinner for the homeless. The paper cited an email in which she asked prospective donors for “in kind’ donations (i.e. more food, drinks, banners, decorations)” and noted that the charity was a “tax write-off.”
As the Pentagon looks into up to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents — some characterized as “inappropriate communications” — between Jill Kelley and Allen, MacDill’s commander on Tuesday revoked her access pass.
Kelley was issued the pass, one of about 800 handed out under a program to promote interaction with the civilian population, in November 2010, according to a military source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment on the situation. It was renewed this past February.
Several months ago, Jill Kelley was appointed an honorary local consul for South Korea, said Kristen Smith, executive assistant at the South Korean consulate in Atlanta, which also covers Florida. The license plate on Kelley’s silver Mercedes-Benz reads, “Honorary Consul 1JK.”
Smith was not authorized to say anything more about Kelley’s activities on that country’s behalf, although she confirmed that Kelley still maintained her position. When Kelley called police Tuesday to complain of reporters staking out her home, she cited her honorary position and requested “diplomatic protection.”
During last year’s FBI citizens academy, which Kelley attended, Natalie Shepherd, a reporter with Channel 8 in Tampa, was one of two media representatives also invited. Among the 30 people on the list was the head of the host committee for the Republican National Convention, a vice president of security for Walt Disney Corp., and the Hillsborough County tax collector.
“She’s the only person on the list who’s just listed as her name,” Shepherd said.
Each Tuesday evening session at the local field office covered a different topic, such as domestic terrorism, international terror or cybercrime. Shepherd said agent Humphries led one talk about Afghanistan.
Shepherd recalled Kelley as attentive and inquisitive, but otherwise low-key — especially given recent revelations.
“She wasn’t dropping names or alluding to those connections at all,” she said. “She seemed like one of the normal people in the class.”
The FBI did not immediately return a call requesting information on Kelley and the class.
Frodiman, the magazine publisher, said there’s a sense that Kelley’s many efforts to rise socially have been undercut by the scandal.
“I think she has now been tainted,” he said. “Just too much has come out, that even if it’s not true, people will remember. I would imagine that they will ultimately leave the community.”
——
Cassata reported from Washington. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky and Tony Winton in Tampa, and Adam Goldman in Washington.
NUMBER 4:
Kelley and her husband ran a cancer charity that spent most of its money on parties, entertainment, and travel, and relatively little cash on actual research.
Jill Kelley, Woman Who Sparked Petraeus Scandal, Ran Questionable Charity
Video, David Petraeus, General John Allen, Jill Kelley, Jill Kelley David Petraeus, Jill Kelley Foreclosure, Jill Kelley Petraeus, John Allen, PAULA BROADWELL, CIA, Jill Kelley Charity, John Allen Jill Kelley, Politics News
WASHINGTON — Tampa, Fla.,
Socialite and military hostess Jill Kelley, one of the women at the center of the ever-expanding scandal that brought down former CIA Director David Petraeus, founded a questionable charity for cancer patients with her surgeon husband, Scott Kelley.
Based out of the couple’s mansion, the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation claimed on its tax forms that it “shall be operated exclusively to conduct cancer research and to grant wishes to terminally ill adult cancer patients.”
http://www.guidestar.org/organizations/20-4037520/doctor-kelley-cancer-foundation.aspx
From the records, it appears that the charity fell far short of its mission. While the origins of the seed money used to start the charity in 2007 are unclear, financial records reviewed by The Huffington Post reveal that the group spent all of its money not on research, but on parties, entertainment, travel and attorney fees.
By the end of 2007, the charity had gone bankrupt, having conveniently spent exactly the same amount of money, $157,284, as it started with — not a dollar more, according to its 990 financial form. Of that, $43,317 was billed as “Meals and Entertainment,” $38,610 was assigned to “Travel,” another $25,013 was spent on legal fees, and $8,822 went to “Automotive Expenses.”
The Kelleys also listed smaller expenses that appear excessive for a charity operating from a private home, including $12,807 for office expenses and supplies, and $7,854 on utilities and telephones.
Jill Kelley’s sister, Natalie Khawam, was listed as the only other officer of the charity. This past April, Khawam filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing more than $3.6 million in liabilities, including $53,000 owed to the Internal Revenue Service and $800,000 owed to her sister and brother-in-law.
Efforts to reach the Kelleys and Khawam were unsuccessful.
In her adopted hometown of Tampa, Jill Kelley was well known for her glamorous parties and close ties to top military brass. String quartets, expensive cigars and lavish spreads were reportedly features of Kelley’s hospitality. Now her role as a sort of one-woman USO has come under scrutiny with the revelation of her links to the scandal that has spurred Petraeus’ resignation and started a second investigation into the conduct of another high-ranking general.
It’s not Kelley’s public efforts but her private ones that have caused the most stir. After allegedly receiving threatening emails from biographer Paula Broadwell, who reportedly had an affair with Petraeus, Kelley complained to the FBI. That investigation led to Petraeus’ resignation the past Friday. A FBI agent has also come under criticism for allegedly sending shirtless photos of himself to Kelley. Late Monday, news broke that Kelley’s email exchanges with Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, have become the focus of yet another inquiry, which could jeopardize his career.
Beyond her hosting efforts, The Washington Post reports that, according to a military officer who served on Gen. Petraeus’ staff, Kelley was a “‘self-appointed’ go-between for Central Command officers with Lebanese and other Middle Eastern government officials.”
But according to Tampa-based lifestyle writer Shawn Alf, high society events in the Tampa Bay area don’t have much in common with parties in ultra-rich communities like the Hamptons or the Upper East Side of New York City. “It seems like an oxymoron to say ‘high society’ in Tampa,” Alf said in an interview. “Tampa doesn’t have the tradition of wealthy people being here for generations, so if you’re wealthy in Tampa, you’re going to spend half your time interacting with regular people.”
While Kelley cultivated an unofficial position as grand hostess and diplomat, the Post and the Tampa Bay Times report that she and her husband lived above their means. In the last few years, they faced foreclosure threats on two properties and creditor lawsuits involving thousands in credit card debt.
Whatever financial turbulence the Kelleys experienced, it apparently didn’t show in public. “She is a very philanthropic woman, a wonderful lady,” said an employee of Events by Amore, a Tampa catering company that the Kelleys hired. The employee requested anonymity due to the nature of the scandal. “I don’t want to stick my name out there.”
The catering employee added that seeing military brass appear at local events, such as the ones hosted by the Kelleys, wasn’t unusual.
NUMBER 3:
Kelley is an honorary diplomat to South Korea, and has the license plates to prove it. Citing her position, she once asked Adam Victor, a New York CEO, for $80 million to broker a business deal in the South Korea. According to Victor, Kelley told him she was able to get access to senior levels of the Korean government.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/15/jill-kelley_n_2136648.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Businessman: Jill Kelley Asked for $80M, Bragged of Petraeus Connection
By BRIAN ROSS | ABC News – Thu, Nov 15, 2012
Type of photo Jill Kelly tried to use to leverage connection with Petraeus into lucrative connections
A New York businessman who discussed a multi-billion-dollar Korean business deal with Jill Kelley said the Tampa woman at the center of the Petraeus scandal told him Gen. Petraeus had arranged for her to become an honorary consul for South Korea and promote free trade, and then asked him for $80 million to complete the deal.
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“Ms. Kelley made it clear to me that General Petraeus put her in this position, and that’s why she was able to have access to such senior levels [of the Korean government],” said Adam Victor, president and CEO of TransGas Development Systems, “that they were essentially doing a favor for General Petraeus, and that she had access solely because of her relationship with General Petraeus.”
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Victor, who met Kelley at the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August, said he was disappointed in Gen. Petraeus for helping Kelley become an honorary consul. “Frankly, I blame Gen. Petraeus for this as a lapse of judgment,” he said. “The general should have known better.”
Gen. Petraeus resigned as CIA director last Friday after an FBI investigation turned up evidence of an affair between Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, co-author of the Petraeus biography “All In.” The investigation began when Kelley, a Tampa socialite, told an FBI agent she knew about “harassing” emails that turned out to originate from Broadwell.
According to Victor, he went to Tampa to promote coal gasification and met a friend of Kelley’s who suggested that they meet to discuss a possible international deal. “The person who introduced me to her said that she was well known to be a very close friend of Gen. Petraeus,” said Victor.
Victor said that he and Kelley met in “the VIP section” at the convention, where Kelly said that “she was a very good friend of Gen. Petraeus,” and that “he arranged for her to get this position of honorary consul for South Korea” to promote free trade. She also allegedly said she had access to senior government officials in Korea.
Victor said he thought it made sense that Petraeus would want to put a trusted aide in charge of promoting free trade. When Kelley named her fee for brokering the deal, however, Victor balked. The coal gasification plants under discussion were worth $4 billion, said Victor — and Kelley wanted a two percent cut. “That’s an $80 million fee,” he said. “And I mean that is problematic . . . No broker gets $80 million. I mean that’s two whole orders of magnitude higher than what they would get.”
Victor said he “terminated the relationship” after Kelley asked for $80 million. He decided that while she was not making an inappropriate request on purpose, it showed she was inexperienced and unqualified for the job. He also began to wonder about Petraeus’s judgment.
“It became clear that it did not smell right,” he said. “Gen. Petraeus should not have put an inexperienced person in charge of the Free Trade Agreement with such an important ally as South Korea.”
“It’s a sad day for the country,” concluded Victor. “Gen. Petraeus has served this country well.”
A spokesperson for Jill Kelley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Retired Army Col. Steve Boylan, a friend and former spokesperson for ex-CIA Director Petraeus, said it was “nonsense” that Petraeus had any part in Kelley’s alleged Korean deal. “He knows nothing about it,” insisted Boylan. “What other people do he can’t control.” Another source told ABC News that Petraeus had asked Kelley to stop throwing his name around.
NUMBER 2:
Kelley invoked her quasi-diplomatic status in a call to 911, after she spotted a paparazzi on her lawn. “You know, I don’t know if by any chance, because I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property,” she told the 911 operator. “I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well.”
Jill Kelley Ran a Bogus Cancer Charity, Wants ‘Diplomatic Protection’
Adam Clark Estes 22,385 Views Nov 13, 2012
Jill Kelley does not appreciate the flood of attention she’s been receiving since the investigation into David Petraeus’s affair — the one that she started — captivated the nation. More specifically, she does not appreciate the media on her lawn, taking pictures through her windows and probably ruining her cred. Never mind the inside reporters who have been checking her background and digging up dirty secrets. How dare they do to her what she prompted the FBI to do to others!
The latest Jill Kelley revelation hit the web at the end of the day on Tuesday. It’s a rough one because it cuts right into her reputation as a lauded socialite in the Tampa area, a woman who knew all the top brass and threw them fancy parties with expensive cigars and buffets of expensive caviar. Turns out some of these parties were funded by a bogus cancer charity that she set up with her doctor husband, Scott.
The Kelleys established the Doctor Kelley Cancer Foundation in 2007 with the exclusive mission “to conduct cancer research and to grant wishes to terminally ill adult cancer patients,” according to The Huffington Post. Things did not exactly go as planned. “By the end of 2007, the charity had gone bankrupt, having conveniently spent exactly the same amount of money, $157,284, as it started with — not a dollar more, according to its 990 financial form,” HuffPost’s Jason Cherkis and Christina Wilkie report. “Of that, $43,317 was billed as ‘Meals and Entertainment,’ $38,610 was assigned to ‘Travel,’ another $25,013 was spent on legal fees, and $8,822 went to ‘Automotive Expenses.’” Neither of the Kelleys were able to be reached for comment.
Well, that was then and this is now. It’s not like Kelley’s asking for any special treatment these days, right? Wrong. Frustrated by the media attention, Jill Kelley’s taken to calling 911 multiple times a day. On one of these calls a couple of days ago, the socialite told the dispatcher that someone was lurking in her yard and asked for a little bit of special protection. “You know, I don’t know if by any chance, because I’m an honorary consul general, so I have inviolability, so they should not be able to cross my property,” she said. “I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well.”
It’s true. Jill Kelley is an honorary consul of South Korea. (Who knew?) A diplomatic official confirmed her status to Foreign Policy on Tuesday and explained that she “assumed this position last August thanks to her good connections and network.” He went on to clarify, however, that it’s nothing more than a symbolic title and comes with no special treatment or protection. “She does not work as a real consul,” the official said.
So Jill Kelley is not the head of a cancer charity that’s actually doing work to cure cancer. She’s not eligible for “diplomatic protection.” And she’s not even really on staff at MacDill Air Force Base, where the AP says she’s just an “unpaid social liason.” So what is Jill Kelley? She’s something. That’s what.
Adam Clark Estes
Sources
• Jill Kelley, Woman Who Sparked Petraeus Scandal, Ran Questionable Charity,
Jason Cherkis and Christina Wilkie, The Huffington Post
• Jill Kelley requested “diplomatic protection” in 911 call, My Fox Tampa
• Jill Kelley is an ‘honorary consul’ of South Korea, Josh Rogin, Foreign
Policy
Topics: Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus, Jill Kelley, CIA, John Allen, FBI
NUMBER 1:
E-mail communications with this one woman have figured in scandals surrounding two of the top officials in the U.S. national-security apparatus.
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