Is the FBI probing Bain Capital?
A letter the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request suggests that an investigation of Bain Capital–the company that Mitt Romney worked at for many years, and from which the New York Times has reported continues to receive significant compensation–is ongoing or possibly commencing within the Bureau. The letter, viewable on Scribd.com, has had the name of the person requesting information redacted, as well as the date it was written. The top of the letter reads “Subject: Bain Capital” The relevant paragraph in the letter, signed by the FBI’s David Hardy, Records/Information Dissemination Section Chief, reads in part,
“I have determined that the records responsive to your request are law enforcement records; that there is a pending or prospective law enforcement proceeding relevant to these responsive records; and that the release of the information contained in these responsive records could reasonably be expected to interfere with the enforcement proceedings.”
I am not an expert on FOIA requests, nor FBI procedure, so it’s possible that this is an innocuous correspondence, but it does seem to merit attention from inquiring reporters. Thanks to my longtime author Kenneth D. Ackerman who tipped me to the website Historiographic Anarchy‘s coverage of the FBI letter.
At the very least, some reporter with clout should go forth and get the Romney and FBI to go the record as to whether or not Mitt is a target of the investigation.
As for the FBI’s response, it is the standard reply for FOIA requests that involve an ongoing investigation that the target or targets are aware of. If the investigation had still been secret, the FBI could have flat out denied having any records.
I agree, some reporter with heft should burrow into this question. I shared my post and yours with reporters at a couple different blogs last Friday and will follow up this week. I hope this prompts some more coverage, and I’ll let you know if I see any. It looks as if Romney’s claims about job creation at Bain Capital are starting to get some scrutiny, so this FBI question might feed into that. Meantime, thanks for bringing this to light in the first place, and for your comment on my blog. Cheers, Philip