Anthony (Tony) Dean Rodham

Anthony Dean Rodham (August 8, 1954 – June 7, 2019) was an American consultant and businessman who was the youngest brother of Hillary Clinton and brother-in-law of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Early life and education Born in Chicago on August 8, 1954, Rodham was raised in a United Methodist family in suburban Park Ridge, Illinois. He managed a successful small business in the textile industry. He was the younger brother of Hillary and Hugh.

Rodham subsequently attended Iowa Wesleyan College and the University of Arkansas, although he never received a degree from either school.

Career Early career Rodham worked on future brother-in-law Bill Clinton's 1974 nomination campaign for Congress. He then worked at a metal equipment company in Texas, and worked as a prison guard,

By 1994, Rodham had left his position at the Democratic National Committee and described himself as "a consultant ... [in] all kinds of businesses. I'm a general consultant. I just bring different peoples together. I help them negotiate deals. I solve problems for people." The U.S. State Department and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger became upset, however, when the Rodhams' local business connection in Batumi turned out to be Aslan Abashidze, a major political opponent of Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, then a key U.S. ally in the region. extending the American tradition of troublesome presidential siblings to the brother-in-law category. The pardon was granted over the objections of the U.S. Justice Department. The Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigated the matter and concluded that Tony Rodham had in fact been paid. This earned him renewed unfavorable publicity, including the headline "HILL'S BROTHER A DEADBEAT" in the New York Post.

By the early 2010s, after a string of unsuccessful ventures in oil and gas, water, housing, pharmaceuticals, and tutoring, Rodham was in financial distress, behind on his mortgage payments, facing home foreclosure, and being sued by his lawyer in the child support case for lack of payment. Rodham did not play a large, hands-on role in this effort, however, and a trip to China that he made to recruit investors went sour due to Chinese resentment of various Clinton administration actions, including the 1999 United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

Rodham found himself in the news again in 2013 when it was disclosed that Alejandro Mayorkas, the director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services and President Obama's nominee for United States Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, was being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General for Mayorkas' role in helping Gulf Coast Funds Management secure approval for participating in the EB-5 visa program for foreign investors. Rodham had been president and CEO of Gulf Coast Funds Management, a financing firm, since 2010 or so. The firm had been granted the go-ahead even though the original application had been denied and an appeal had been rejected. At least one of the visas that Rodham's firm was trying to acquire was for Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications company sometimes accused of close connections with Chinese intelligence operations. but passed no particular judgment on either Rodham or McAuliffe.

Following the 2010 Haiti earthquake and with Bill Clinton co-chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission, Rodham and some partners proposed a $22 million deal to rebuild homes in the devastated nation, with funding to come from the Clinton Foundation. The deal never went forward and the Clinton Foundation said it was unaware of the proposal. By 2015 the project had become controversial due to possible environmental effects and the level of foreign ownership; for his part Rodham objected to any inference that he had gotten this position due to his family: "I'm a very accomplished person in my own right. I raise money for a lot of people. That's what I basically do."

During the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign, he and Hugh appeared with her at a rally in their childhood summer home of Scranton, Pennsylvania in April 2016. He otherwise kept a low profile during the campaign.

The GreenTech Automotive matter reemerged in November 2017 when McAuliffe and Rodham were hit with a $17 million lawsuit from a group of thirty-two Chinese investors in it, charging fraud. However, in April 2018, a federal judge dismissed both McAuliffe and Rodham from the case. On June 12, 2019, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling from the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia judge who said the suit was not specific enough about how allegedly misleading and false statements from McAuliffe and Rodham induced the Chinese nationals to invest in the project.

Personal life and death At a party in East Hampton, New York, following the 1992 Democratic National Convention, Rodham met Nicole Boxer, daughter of a U.S. Congresswoman from California and U.S. Senate candidate, Barbara Boxer, and the two began dating. it was the first White House wedding since Tricia Nixon married Edward Cox in 1971. (who later held a unique distinction in that he was simultaneously the grandson and nephew of sitting U.S. senators). Rodham and his wife separated by 2000, Although the situation was difficult, both sides of the greater family continued to work together politically and be involved in Zachary's life. A man who said he saw Rodham having sex with his girlfriend broke into the cottage and assaulted him; Hugh Rodham and the woman restrained the attacker. The man subsequently entered a plea of guilty to trespassing, assault, and making terroristic threats.

By 2002, Rodham was in dispute with his former wife over child support payments, with Nicole Boxer saying he had not paid them in six months. Rodham had two children with Madden named Simon and Fiona, and settled in Vienna, Virginia.