Day 6 and it looks like McInnis hasn’t even contacted the Hasans
It’s been six days now since Scott McInnis promised to repay $300,000 in water-fellowship funds paid to him by Hasan Family Foundation, but it appears that McInnis has not returned any money yet and that he hasn’t even contacted the foundation about returning the cash, according to Muhammad Ali Hasan, the eclectic film maker, former political candidate, and Hasan family member.
Emphasizing that he “cannot speak for the Foundation” because he’s not on the Board, Hasan told me via email that in “discussions with Board members,” he’s gathered this information:
“1. To my knowledge, McInnis has not returned the money as of yet – I have also heard that McInnis has not contacted the Foundation since his repayment announcement – I cannot confirm for sure, but that is what I’m hearing
2. I’m pretty sure the Foundation will inform the public about any returned monies.”
Journalists should ask McInnis’ ASAP about specific plans for repayment, including specific dates and amounts. With the story all over the news, this is basic follow-up that needs to be done.
The question has become more complicated since we now know that $112,500 of McInnis’ $300,000 from the Hasan foundation was paid to a corporation called “Invest 2, LLC,” not to McInnis personally.
This corporation was dissolved on July 27, 2006, raising the question of how McInnis plans to refund money paid to a corporation that no longer exists.
Furthermore, we don’t know if Scott McInnis was even an owner of this corporation–or how many other owners it might have had. If other owners were involved, as is likely due to the structures of McInnis other LLCs, then the question arises of whether McInnis will ask the co-owners of Invest 2 LLC to return the Hasan money they presumably received as partial owners of Invest 2, LLC.
UPDATE: Asked today by the Colorado Independent why he asked the Hasan Foundation to pay him through Invest 2 LLC, McInnis said, “There is no reason.”
The answers to these questions won’t be easy to find, but they obviously deserve further investigation, and certainly questions for Lori McInnis (as well as Scott) are in order, as she is the only person formally associated with Invest 2, LLC.
Invest 2, LLC, was not listed among the corporations mentioned in The Denver Post back in April, when the McInnis campaign allowed a Post reporter to review but not copy portions of McInnis’ tax returns starting in 2005. Companies with similar names were listed in the Post article as assets, but Invest 2, LLC, was not among them. Here’s a portion of the Post article:
Over the years, McInnis listed Invest Partnership, Invest 1 and S & L McInnis LLP as assets. All were various investments with some or all of his five siblings and wife, his campaign said. The partnerships invested in real estate, oil and gas, and water.
So, given that we don’t have access to McInnis’ income-tax returns, we also don’t know whether he paid income tax on the $112,500 of the Hasan money that was apparently paid to Invest 2 LLC.
Reporters should turn to Scott and Lori McInnis for clarity about this complex topic.