infoUSA and Bill and Hillary Clinton’s tax returns

On Friday, the Clinton campaign released the tax returns of Bill and Hillary Clinton which showed that the former president received income of $400,000 a year for his role as an advisor to infoUSA in 2007 and 2006.

On Thursday of this week, infoUSA, a database provider based in Omaha, got some unwelcome news in the form of a warning from the NASDAQ market stating that the company risks the prospect of being delisted from the exchange because they had not filed their annual report or Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 in a timely fashion.

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One of the reasons for the delay cited by the company was due to a shareholder lawsuit which alleges that “the company misspent millions, some of it on former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton”

The Associated Press has a report out today about the delisting that includes this information…

infoUSA formed a special board committee to respond to the SEC investigation and shareholder lawsuit, which alleges that the company misspent millions, some of it on former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

The shareholder lawsuit questions why infoUSA founder Vin Gupta used private corporate jets to fly the Clintons on business, personal and campaign trips, why Gupta gave Bill Clinton a $3.3 million consulting contract and why the company paid for extravagant luxuries Gupta enjoyed.

According to the lawsuit, infoUSA has spent nearly $900,000 since 2001 flying the Clintons to domestic and international locations and political events.

Gupta has been a major donor to Democrats and gave at least $1 million to Bill Clinton’s presidential library in Arkansas. Gupta also took part in a June fundraiser for Sen. Clinton in Manhattan.

In a press release issued by infoUSA on Friday the company they said…

infoUSA today announced that, as expected, and in accordance with NASDAQ rules relating to the delay in filing an Annual Report on Form 10-K, it has received on April 2, 2008 a NASDAQ staff determination notice stating that the Company is not in compliance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4310(c)(14) because it has not timely filed with NASDAQ its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 (the “2007 Form 10-K”) and, as a result, the Company’s common stock is subject to delisting from the NASDAQ Global Select Market.

InfoUSA will request a hearing to review the matter. During the appeal request period InfoUSA’s stock will continue to be traded on the NASDAQ market, according to the company.

The press release then goes on to refer to shareholder litigation…

As disclosed previously, effective December 24, 2007, the Board of Directors of infoUSA formed a Special Litigation Committee (the “SLC”) in response to the consolidated complaint In re infoUSA, Inc. Shareholders Litigation, Consol. Civil Action No. 1956-CC (Del. Ch.), and a related informal investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (”SEC”). In light of the ongoing investigation, infoUSA was unable to file the 2007 Form 10-K by the SEC’s filing deadline.

Laurie Bennett has as story on Muckety from July, 2007 that looks at Vinod Gupta, infoUSA’s chairman and CEO…

Six of the company’s eight directors, including Gupta, have strong ties to Omaha or Nebraska, a Muckety analysis shows. A seventh is a name partner in a law firm that did more then $1 million in business with infoUSA last year.

On The Web
infoUSA press release
Associated Press (via NY Times)
Gupta picks home-grown board members
Google News search (infoUSA Clinton Gupta lawsuit)
Google Blog search (infoUSA Clinton Gupta lawsuit)

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