MoveOn Files Complaint with DOJ Over Romney Retroactive Retirement Claims

MoveOn.Org has submitted a complaint to the Department of Justice urging an investigation into Romney’s alleged violation of the False Statements Act. The pain in Romney’s “retroactive” retirement from Bain grows.

Move On points out that “substantial evidence contradicts Romney’s claim that he was not “active” in Bain Capital in “any” way after 1999.” They add, “Substantial evidence that Mitt Romney may have committed a felony by lying on his financial disclosure forms justifies a criminal investigation—that’s the conclusion of a legal analysis released today by MoveOn.org Political Action.”

Read letter to the DOJ and the full legal analysis:

New Legal Analysis Finds Strong Possibility of Romney Criminal Liability for Misrepresentation He Made in F…

Excerpts read:

This morning, MoveOn.org submitted the 7-page legal analysis and a letter calling for an investigation to the U.S. Department of Justice. The analysis contends that there is good reason to believe GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney may be criminally liable for false statements he made in 2011 in his federal financial disclosure filing (form SF-278)—in apparent violation of the federal False Statements Act (18 U.S.C. §1001).

Romney claimed in his disclosure filing that he departed from “any” active role in Bain Capital in 1999, which would be politically convenient because it was before Bain Capital was most heavily involved in outsourcing jobs. However, the legal analysis released today, which includes a review of state law in Delaware, where Bain Capital was incorporated, concludes that existing evidence is “clearly inconsistent with flat disavowal of ‘any’ involvement in the ‘operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way’” after 1999.

This story goes back to the retroactive retirement claims. As I explained on July 12, FactCheck said Romney wouldn’t dare have lied on his federal financial disclosure forms or he would be guilty of a federal felony.

In 2003, Romney claimed on his Massachusetts financial disclosure that he was still the 100% stock holder of Bain in 2002 and was paid for being a “Bain executive” in 2001 and 2002. Yet, on federal forms, Romney certified that he left active management of Bain in 1999.

The MoveOn letter points out that Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) concurs with their call for an investigation, which is important in the sense that while MoveOn is partisan, CREW is not. “CREW strongly supports a Department of Justice investigation into the evidence that Mitt Romney remained involved with Bain Capital after 1999, given that he stated the exact opposite in his financial disclosure forms in apparent violation of the False Statements Act,” Sloan said.

MoveOn reports that their members are making calls to the Department of Justice to urge an investigation into Romney’s alleged violation of the False Statements Act.

We said in July that Mitt Romney should be held to the same standards as any other American would be, thus he should be investigated. Now that MoveOn has filed a complaint, we will find out if justice is remotely blind to money. We are not holding our breath, but that does not mean the people shouldn’t bang on the doors of justice insisting on equal treatment under the law for all Americans. The legal system only works as intended when it is applied to everyone equally regardless of their status.