WASHINGTON — Call it Clinton Inc.: Congressional financial disclosure reports released Thursday show that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Bill Clinton have assets valued from $10 million to $50 million, with the former president bringing in speaking fees of more than $10 million in just the last year.
The disclosure forms filed by the New York Democrat detail the couple's remarkable financial transformation since they left the White House in 2001 encumbered by millions of dollars in legal debts.
The reports show that Sen. Clinton is one of the wealthiest members of Congress running for president. She is, however, well behind Republican Mitt Romney, a former venture capitalist and governor of Massachusetts, whose campaign has said he is worth $190 million to $250 million.
Presidential candidates were required to file financial reports with the Federal Election Commission last month, but some, including Romney, Clinton and McCain, received extensions. House and Senate members who are running for president must file separate disclosure reports to the FEC and to Congress.
Thursday's Senate filings showed that almost all of the $24.3 million in assets reported by McCain are held by his wife, Cindy, and their dependent children. In Arizona, Cindy McCain controls an Anheuser-Busch distributorship, said to be among the largest in the nation.
By contrast, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), and his wife, Michelle, reported assets ranging from more than $450,000 to $1.1 million.
Most of the presidential candidates serving in the Senate reported receiving income from books. Obama listed $572,490 in royalties and advances for his books; Clinton reported royalties of $350,000 for one of hers.
Clinton's disclosure form also shows that her husband formed two Delaware investment companies whose assets include interests in Yucaipa Global Partnership Fund and Yucaipa Global Holdings, both controlled by Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle, a longtime supporter of the Clintons; and in a British jeweler, Garrard, which was purchased by Burkle's Yucaipa Cos. last year.
According to the report, the former president also held stock options in InfoUSA, an Omaha company that is the subject of ongoing shareholder litigation. The options, which were not exercised and expired two months ago, should have been reported in previous disclosure filings, said a spokesman for Sen. Clinton's campaign.
