Mitch McConnell’s Freighted Ties to a Shadowy Shipping Company

[mother earth]

Mitch McConnell’s Freighted Ties to a Shadowy Shipping Company
After drugs were found aboard the Ping May, a vessel owned by his wife’s family’s company, Colombian authorities are investigating.
http://www.thenation.com/article/186689/mitch-mcconnells-freighted-ties-shadowy-shipping-company#

The seizure of the narcotics shipment in the Caribbean port occurred far away from Kentucky, the state in which Senator Mitch McConnell is now facing a career-defining election. But the Republican Senate minority leader has the closest of ties to the owner of the Ping May, the vessel containing the illicit materials: the Foremost Maritime Corporation, a firm founded and owned by McConnell’s in-laws, the Chao family.

Though Foremost has played a pivotal role in McConnell’s life, bestowing the senator with most of his personal wealth and generating thousands in donations to his campaign committees, the drug bust went unnoticed in Kentucky, where every bit of McConnell-related news has generated fodder for the campaign trail. That’s because, like many international shipping companies, Chao’s firm is shrouded from public view, concealing its identity and limiting its legal liability through an array of tax shelters and foreign registrations. Registered through a limited liability company in the Marshall Islands, the Ping May flies the Liberian flag.

McConnell has benefitted in many ways from his relationship with his in-laws.
The Republican Senate minority leader’s personal wealth grew seven-fold over the last ten years thanks in large part to a gift given to him and his wife in 2008 from James Chao worth between $5 million and $25 million (Senate ethics forms require personal finance disclosures in ranges of amounts, rather than specific figures). The gift helped the McConnells after their stock portfolio dipped in the wake of the financial crisis that year, and ensured they could pay off more than $100,000 in mortgage debt on their Washington home.

The generous gift made McConnell one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, with a net worth averaging around $22.8 million, according to The Washington Post’s review of his financial disclosures.

Following the gift, McConnell sent a letter of congratulations to an auditorium of Chinese officials in Shanghai who were gathered for an event honoring James Chao’s wife (McConnell’s mother-in-law, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who passed away in 2007). The Shanghai Mulan Education Foundation, created in her honor, regularly hosts students from the University of Louisville, where McConnell has a leadership academy bearing his name that sends students on trips to China.

[Sunlei]

1. wondering how a coal shipper can afford to 'gift' 25 million to a Senate member & why they would.

[mother earth]

2. You mean there are rules? ;) Here's something you might find interesting:

http://www.thenation.com/article/184313/how-mitch-mcconnell-bending-every-last-campaign-finance-rule





How Mitch McConnell Is Bending Every Last Campaign Finance Rule


Post–Citizens United, candidates aren’t supposed to coordinate with “outside” spending groups—but even that minimal restriction isn’t being enforced.

(For an interesting read go to full article.)

Often the sharing of consultants and ad makers means that any “fire wall” is merely symbolic. But there have been no consequences for these potential violations of federal law, because there’s been no enforcement of the law, thanks to partisan gridlock at the Federal Elections Commission (FEC).

The growing phenomenon has been showcased by both Republican and Democratic candidates in the marquee races of the current election cycle.

GOP Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader and the loudest voice on Capitol Hill in support of private influence over election campaigns, is relying upon a constellation of outside groups to shore up his re-election bid as he faces one of the toughest challenges in years, from Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. In many cases, the pro-McConnell outside groups have close personal links to the candidate and his campaign.

[mother earth]

3. More info from Wiki on James Chao & McConnell connection:

In July 2014, it was reported that Chao's Foremost Shipping had 15 ships in its fleet, but construction was underway for an additional 8 capesize bulkers.[12] In August 2014, it was reported Foremost Shipping engaged in the business practice known in the merchant industry as flag of convenience to limit his U.S. tax liability by flagging its ships in Liberia instead of the U.S.. Foremost was singled out in the story because Chao's son-in-law Senator Mitch McConnell expressed disinterest in July for limiting a similar controversial business practice known as corporate inversion.[13]

Drug trafficking[edit]

Chao's shipping firm, Foremost Maritime Corporation, had one of its freight vessels, the Ping May, impounded by Colombian officials in the port of Santa Marta in late August 2014 after approximately 40 kilograms (88 lb) of cocaine were found inside. The cocaine was hidden in a shipment of coal bound for the Netherlands.[14]

Personal life[edit]

He was married to Ruth Mu-Lan Chu Chao (died August 2, 2007).[20] They have six daughters, Elaine, Jeannette, May, Christine, Grace, and Angela[21][22] and six grandchildren.[23] Their daughter, Elaine Chao, served as the 24th United States Secretary of Labor in the Cabinet of President George W. Bush (2001–2009), the first Asian Pacific American woman ever appointed by a President to the Cabinet in American history; she is married to the Republican Leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell.

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And what a shock, he regains his seat as now, the MAJORITY leader. Scandals and laws....those are for the little people, revolving doors and money ties get all the power needed to mold and shape the world. I wonder what will come of any investigation?

[Paladin]

4. Wow! McConnell better watch out---this will make ALL the difference!

[mother earth]

5. Yep, McConnell is laughing his ass off. nt