This DD, the billionaire boys club part 6 is the latest instalment in the series of citizen journalism attempting to uncover and expose the super wealthy, and particularly those involved in international finance.
Billionaire boys club part 6: Smile for the camera Kenny!
This one has been a bit of a journey too. I don't have all the answers here, so again... I leave it to you to make your own interpretations... THIS IS MERELY A DISCOVERY JOURNEY OF PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION.
SMILE FOR THE CAMERA KENNY
So today's episode of BBC is going to start out at the public-facing image they want you to look at. For Kenny and his Wife at the time, that comes in form of the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation.
(They like this format: Bill and Linda Gates Foundation)
The headline for the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation is:
The Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation believes that powerful ideas change the world. We identify and support pioneering leaders whose visionary ideas introduce new thinking and drive results. We focus on education, healthcare and the arts because these pursuits form the core of a vibrant, creative, and productive society.
And the Fact they have PLEDGED $100 million to charitable and philanthropic causes since 2009
This is their tagline in the media. Source: https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/kenneth-and-anne-griffin-foundation-likely-to-close-due-to-divorce
SO I DECIDED TO FACT CHECK THIS
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FIRST OFF - Let's address the fact that these numbers are all pledged!
When you hear about X Billionaire donating to X cause, from what I can tell... this is usually in the form of a pledge, not a donation. So they get the headlines for setting up a Direct Debit to these causes so to speak... 10 million, might be 1 million a year for 10 years.
SECOND OFF - Take note of the year... $100 million since 2009
I decided to WAYBACK MACHINE this shit, and found the website:
Ok... so they do claim $100 million in pledges on their website, but... they claim since 1999.
(10 years earlier than what the media reports)
SO....
The foundation officially announced it would shut down in 2014.
So if you were to go with what the website claims, the foundation ran from 1999 - 2014.
(Let's do some math)
That's 15 years!
OR... if you were to go by what the media claims or Wikipedia states, the foundation ran from 2009 - 2014....
(Math pause...)
That's 5 years!
BUT... when we look at the IRS Form 990s... (Which you can freely search here) it will only show the company final letters (Which you would think are a confirmation of them disbanding, but is actually their confirmation of tax-exempt status)
-- There were actually 2 of these listings for Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation with the same Final letters.
-- BUT... I found out this was the normal process for the IRS. They no longer make public the records for charitable organizations that have shut down...
CONVENIENT...
Luckily... after a bit of Google Detectiving, I found a website that archives at least SOME of these old tax-exempt organizations.
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But before we jump into the nitty-gritty... let's take a quick pause to appreciate some puppy pics...
Aww.... who's a good little boy??? Yes! You're a good little boy!!
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THE KENNETH AND ANNE GRIFFIN FOUNDATION - FORM 990S.
Listed as $1.7 million donated
Listed as $0 approved for future payment
Sideways Reading - (These pages are always sideways on the IRS website for some reason...)
- $1.6 million paid to
- Breast Cancer Research Foundation: $10k
- Chicago Council on Global Affairs: $25k
- Children’s Hospital of Chicago Foundation: $550k
- Robin Hood Foundation: $1 million
- Rush Mother’s Milk Club: $5k
- Usher III Initiative: $50k
In this Filing… as of Oct 1, 2014 both Ken and Anne signed a statement saying that they have $650k of funds remaining in the foundation and a remaining commitment of $2 million to Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Remaining funds and outside funds will pay this off.
Foundation will be liquidated and dissolved
(Also in here… is that final letter confirming Dissolution that should prob be on the IRS website? But maybe I’m wrong.)
2013:
$6.9 million in contributions (All Kens Contributions)
Contributions out $5.1 million
Excess of Revenue $1.7 million which carried forward
Donated to:
- Children’s Hospital of Chicago: $4 million
- Rush Mothers Milk Club: $55k
- Weill Cornell Medical College: $833k
2012:
Only $1 of revenue went through the foundation
Source: HERE
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Didn't our earlier math tell us that they had somewhere 15 and 5 years depending on what source you referenced?
SO WHY THE FUCK IS THERE ONLY 2 YEARS OF FORM 990s? - 1 OF WHICH IS THE COMPANY WINDING DOWN?
And let's do a LITTLE BIT MORE MATH...
According to the foundation's Form 990 the total ACTUALLY paid out was:
2014: $1,642,788
2013: $4,888,334
So that’s a total of… (Hang on let me fetch my calculator)...
$6,531,122
And let’s not forget… the outstanding balance of $2 million to the Chicago Children’s hospital
So…
$8,531,122
BUT… the donation to the Children’s hospital ALONE was supposed to be $16 million announced in 2010 --- BY THE FOUNDATION… which hadn’t even been setup yet.
So let me see…
$100 million - $8,531,122 = $91,468,878
Hey Kenny? I think we may have a problem here…
And further down the rabbit hole we go...
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BUT... before we do... let's take a moment. A puppy Moment!
SMILE FOR THE CAMERA! No look over here... over here good boy... fuck it, just take it!
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So after a little digging on this curiosity string, I remembered an Article stating that the foundations commitments would be taken on by the Citadel Foundation.
Source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-griffin-foundation-0906-biz-20140906-story.html
So let's take a look at that...
(Yup, Citadel have their own Foundation)
But there ain't a whole load going on here...
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The first Form 990 for the Citadel Foundation appears in 2016 (Bit of a gap in the records there)
This shows a mere 90k of donations in…
And a Total of $461,484 in donations out to:
- Latin School Chicago
- Council For Economic Education
- Muscular Dystrophy Association
- Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation
- Hartford Hospital
- Leadership Greater Chicago
- University of Chicago Lab Schools
- Francis W Parker School
- Merit School of Music
- Jewish United Fund
- Hedge Funds Care
- Jewish Enrichment Center
- WITS
- All Stars Helping Kids
- Thresholds Phychiatric Rehabilition Center
- St Jude Childrens Research Hospital
- Autisism Science Foundation
No mention of the Chicago Childrens Hospital
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THE KENNETH C. GRIFFIN CHARITABLE FUND
I found MANY references to Kenny boy making donations to various causes, under ever increasing amounts, referencing The Kenneth C. Griffing Charitable Fund.
(Here's a couple)
On Citadels OWN WEBSITE:
On Citadels Twitter account:
But GUESS WHAT...
Search for Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund on the IRS website. <<HERE>>
GO ON... I DARE YOU!!!
I DOUBLE DARE YOU!!!
You WILL NOT FIND IT!
I tried every variation of the name of this fund but I can't find anything!
This sent me on a LONG SEARCH APES...
This search almost had me at breaking point.
I had almost given up... and was about to post this post as is...
When it hit me!
Can you guess what it was>?>?
I have mentioned it in this DD... and trust me when I say this... it was hidden as 1 sentence in the mass of notes I've taken while researching this.
I almost missed it.
WHILE I WAIT TO SEE IF YOU APES CAN FIGURE OUT THE KEY PIECE OF INFORMATION...
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PUPPY BREAK!
Who's got my finger... is it a WOLF... no! It's only this cute little monster!
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Ok did you get it?
-- There were actually 2 of these listings for Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation with the same Final letters.
There were 2 SEPERATE ENTITIES - listed under the name Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation in the Form 990s...
How is it possible to have 2 separate companies, using the same name... collecting tax-exempt status?
WELL... APES... LET ME TELL YOU...
I decided to do a fancy google search for the EIN number (Unique identifier) for each of these companies... and I stumbled across another archive database.
This archive has a lot less information it would seem...
But it does have this...
2011 - Form 990 - COMPANY: The Blue Knight Foundation
2012 - Form 990 - COMPANY: The Blue Knight Foundation
And if you check these out... you'll notice in the company name field, you'll see:
THE BLUE KNIGHT FOUNDATION AKA THE KENNETH AND ANNE GRIFFIN FOUNDATION
So Kenny tends to name his charities one thing and tell the media that's it's through an Alias name?
Why the fuck would you want to do that?
So if he's willing to do that once... could he be doing it again with the Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund?
Is there a fund out there that Kenny is managing, that like we previously showed... has the potential to be a whale in the stock market?
Why did the Kenneth and Anne Griffin Foundation, claim to PLEDGE $100 million since 1999, tell the media it was actually founded in 2009... and yet actually only have records under that name from 2013 and 2014...???
Why does this article talk about:
In October 2006, the Griffins together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation founded a new charter school in Chicago named the Woodlawn High School. Griffin’s charitable foundation
????????????????????????????
So many more questions Apes... so little time...
Stay tuned for the NEXT EPISODE of the BBC!
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