WikiLeaks-released memo reveals Bill Clinton's wealth was tied to Clinton Foundation

Donald Trump's campaign has lashed out at the Clintons after a new WikiLeaks-released "Bill Clinton Inc" document showed the "blurred" money connections between the Clinton Foundation and former US president Bill Clinton's personal interests and Hillary Clinton's tenure as secretary of state. In a November 2011 memo made public on Wednesday (26 October), longtime Bill Clinton aide Doug Band described how he worked to obtain "in-kind services for the president and his family - for personal travel, hospitality, vacation and the like".

The latest dump of leaked emails stolen from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's account also reveals how Band's company Teneo helped secure a series of for-profit contracts for the former president from donors who were giving to the Clinton Foundation.

"Independent of our fundraising and decision-making activities on behalf of the Foundation, we have dedicated ourselves to helping the president secure and engage in for-profit activities - including speeches, books, and advisory service engagements," Band wrote. "In that context, we have in effect served as agents, lawyers, managers and implementers to secure speaking, business and advisory service deals."

UBS, Barclays, BHP and Laureate International Universities each made significant payments to Bill Clinton for speeches or "advisory services" while contributing to the Foundation as well.

Referring to the former president's for-profit enterprises as "Bill Clinton, Inc", Band said he and another long-time aide, Justin Cooper, were not separately compensated for helping Bill Clinton secure the money-making ventures.

"We do not receive a fee for, or percentage of, the more than $50m in for-profit activity we have personally helped to secure for president Clinton to date or the $66m in future contracts, should he choose to continue with those engagements," Band noted.

The revelations also add fuel to Republican criticism of the blurred lines between the Clinton Foundation and their personal and professional interests.

"Just today we read about Clinton confidant Doug Band bragging that he had funnelled tens of millions of dollars to 'Bill Clinton Inc' through the Foundation donations, paid speeches and consulting contracts," Trump said at a rally in Ohio. "Mr Band called the arrangement 'unorthodox.' The rest of us call it outright corrupt."

In a statement on Thursday, GOP chairman Reince Priebus called the memo a "smoking gun for how the Clintons used their foundation to create a massive for-profit paid speaking and consulting business to enrich themselves."

The possibility of potential conflicts of interest also triggered serious concerns within the Clinton camp about how the tangled web of donors and clients would appear to the public.

In one email, Chelsea Clinton accused her father's aides of taking "significant sums of money from my parents personally" and "hustling business" during the charity organisation's events to gain clients. In another case, she alleged that advisers called British members of parliament claiming to speak on behalf of her father but instead acted for their own commercial clients including Dow Chemical. She later hired an outside law firm to review the Clinton Foundation's practices and relationships.

The subsequent audit warned that some corporate donors "may have an expectation of quid pro quo benefits in return for gift".

Bill Clinton has since severed ties with Teneo which said in a statement that it "worked to encourage clients, where appropriate, to support the Clinton Foundation because of the good work that it does around the world".

The latest revelations come as part of the near-daily trickle of stolen emails by WikiLeaks. Hillary Clinton's campaign has not verified or confirmed the authenticity of the emails so far. They have blamed Russia for the hack, claiming that President Vladimir Putin is attempting to skew the election's outcome in favour of Donald Trump.

"If the Clintons were willing to play this fast and loose with their enterprise when they weren't in the White House, just imagine what they'll do if given the chance to once again control the Oval Office," Trump said. "The more emails WikiLeaks releases, the more lines between the Clinton Foundation, the secretary of state's office and the Clinton's personal finances - they all get blurred."