Clinton-McAuliffe Connected Electric Vehicle Startup Execs. Have More Legal Problems

Torque News has been reporting on the politically-connected electric vehicle startup, GreenTech Automotive for over five years. It first struck us as odd that a product with taxpayer support like an electric vehicle would have so many high-level political connections. Almost all of the top officials in the company had some direct or indirect connection to the Clintons. One official is Hillary Rodham Clinton's brother. Two others, including Terry McAuliffe, worked for the Bill Clinton administration. Bill himself posed for photo ops to lend his star power to its marketing efforts. Maybe we were just naive.

GreenTech Automotive bills itself as an electric vehicle manufacturer, and in a sense it is. However, these are small, neighborhood electric vehicles, not EVs you can buy at a local car dealership you've ever heard of. The company did have higher aspirations and sought investment funding from China. And got it. The trade was millions of dollars to GreenTech for U.S. residency by the investors.

That move drew the attention of Securities and Exchange Commision in 2013. Whether by coincidence or smart planning, current Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe cut ties with the company around this time. Now the Chinese investors are suing him for his role in the jobs for millions deal, that, surprise surprise, went sour. The jobs that were to have resulted from the trade of residency status never resulted and the company closed a factory that was in part paid for by the taxpayers of the State of Mississippi. Another of the company's founders was Haley Barbour, the former governor of Mississippi. Governor Terry McAuliffe and Hillary Clinton's brother, Anthony Rodham, are now being accused in court of fraud.