ELDER PATRIOT - Bernie Sanders and his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders have been under investigation for bank fraud since the small liberal arts college Mrs. Sanders was president of went bankrupt.
We reported this more than more than two months ago. But the sudden avalanche of reporting by on this by the MSM yesterday - more than two months later – doesn’t smell right.
The facts of the case haven’t changed over the last two months. To recap: while she served as president of Burlington College in Vermont Mrs. Sanders arranged for a $6.5 million loan to allegedly finance a $10 million expansion of the school.
As a condition of the loan, the bank required proof of $3.5 million in capital on the part of the college. Jane Sanders signed loan documents swearing under penalty of perjury that the money was in place. It wasn’t.
The school defaulted on their commitment and as a result the Catholic Church lost $2 million, Vermont’s taxpayers lost $150,000, the bank is out an yet to be undetermined amount pending resolution of the bankruptcy, and the school is closed.
The Sanders’, God bless their socialist hearts, suffered no financial harm. In fact, while Jane Sanders was supposed to be expanding the college she was using the money to pad the pockets of her family and of the bank’s board members who approved the loan:
- Mrs. Sanders created six-figure jobs for her daughter and the son of a family friend
- In 2008 Burlington College spent $47,000 on its study abroad program in the Caribbean. Sometime during 2008 the son Burlington College board member Jonathan Leopold purchased a small resort in the Bahamas and an accompanying hotel.
- Shortly after Leopold became the owner Burlington College began writing checks that consumed half of that program’s budget over the next three years. The younger Leopold, under deposition said the payments were for boat tours and snorkeling trips “on behalf of Burlington College.” These payments stopped when Mrs. Sanders left the school.
- Jane Sanders’ daughter Carina Driscoll, Sanders’ stepdaughter, was paid more than $500,000 through the Vermont Woodworking School that she ran for classes that were held more than 30 miles from campus.
- Burlington College even established a Master of Fine Arts program in woodworking and leased space at her daughter’s school for its major facility. That program was eliminated after Mrs. Sanders left her position as president at the school.
While the existence of grand juries are usually kept under wraps it now appears that the F.B.I. investigation has turned up enough evidence that the case has either been presented to, or is being prepped by prosecutors to present to a grand jury.
Senator Sanders’ culpability should not be dismissed. The fact that the bank essentially looked the other way when it came to satisfying the equity requirements of the loan suggests that someone with significant influence helped convince the bank’s board that it was in their best interests to approve it.
The Vermont senator appears to be the only person in this equation with that kind of clout. Despite Sanders carefully scripted public persona, he has a history of playing fast and loose with other peoples’ money.
The Washington Free Beacon reported back in early January of 2016 that:
“Bernie Sanders and his wife have on numerous occasions steered money from organizations under their control to friends and family members, public records show.
“The payments benefitted the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, his stepdaughter, and the son of a former colleague in city government whom Sanders has described as a close friend.”
So Bernie and his wife stretched the limits of legality why should that shock anyone? He’s a politician after all. In the overall scheme of thing he hadn’t sold nuclear and missile technology to the Chinese and North Koreans. He hadn’t sold uranium to Russia. There’s no trail of dead bodies in his wake.
So why send the MSM after him at this time? It’s important to remember that Andrew McCabe – a Clinton Democrat – is still running the F.B.I.
Consider this: Over the last couple of days both Obama and Hillary have announced their return to the political stage for 2018. Bernie had proven his ability to command the party’s rank and file in 2016. Yes he lost but there were too many questions about the manner in which the DNC conducted its business.
If Trump’s Voter Integrity Commission successfully cleans up the process the candidates backed by Obama and Hillary could be in real trouble with the result that they lose control over the levers of government necessary to protect the corrupt Obamanoids and Clintonoids that comprise the swamp.
It’s hard to imagine that Sanders backed candidates would show any mercy to anyone associated with either Obama or Clinton after how he was treated – cheated - by the DNC.
Former F.B.I. Director James Comey and now Bernie are being sacrificed in a desperate last-ditch attempt to protect Washington’s criminal enterprise. But, if they can’t remove President Trump from office Trump’s promise to drain the swamp may very well come to pass.
For the corrupt political members swimming in the swamp success in 2018 is their last best chance to avoid prosecution.