A search for hidden assets is sometimes actually a quest for greater transparency. A financial transfer lacking transparency may delay investigators trying to unravel a fraud. A lack of transparency can also multiply forced collection or asset forfeiture proceedings. This is so because such a financial transfer can obscure the true source or beneficial ownership of funds. Furthermore, a financial transfer lacking transparency is not always improper, but may naturally come under greater scrutiny.
Chicago Tribune reporter Andrew Zajac’s January 13, 2009 article "Undelivered Bill Clinton speech perks up curiosity", essentially asks whether a particular $500,000 donation to the William J. Clinton Foundation lacked transparency. Mr. Zajac’s article identifies Sakura Capital Management as having transferred $500,000 to former President Bill Clinton in 2003, which is: "the highest cash fee he has yet to receive for a speech, for a talk he never delivered." Mr. Zajac additionally reports that Mr. Clinton then donated said $500,000 to his William J. Clinton Foundation.
He also writes that $64 million dollar judgment debtor Theoddor Tsuru had been involved with Sakura Capital Management and that a Mr. Tanaka in Tokyo, was alleged to be a source of funds. According to Mr. Zajac, Sakura Capital Management however, was not named in a list of 208,000 donors released by the former president’s William J. Clinton Foundation. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune earlier reported, the 2,922-page list was released because of an agreement with President-elect Obama. Apparently, disclosure of the list became necessary for the former president’s wife, Senator Hillary Clinton, to be nominated for Secretary of State.
Knowing that I had represented a co-defendant of Mr. Tsuru in some well known litigation, Mr. Zajac called me before publishing "Undelivered Bill Clinton speech perks up curiosity", hoping I might provide information regarding Mr. Tsuru. One thing Mr. Zajac asked me, was whether I could locate Mr. Tsuru. Given all of the foregoing, I contacted a confidential informant to inquire about Mr. Tsuru. The confidential informant then advised: "Mr. Tsuru is a ghost, but he is sometimes in and out of New York".
Copyright 2009 Fred L. Abrams