Cause of Action, a public advocacy group, has released a $60 million Private Placement Memorandum for GreenTech Automotive. The memorandum states that Democratic Virginia gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe was still an executive with the company on March 12, 2013. McAuliffe chaired Green Tech from 2010 to 2012. March 12, 2013 was the date the fundraising document was made available to potential investors, several months after McAuliffe announced his candidacy for governor of Virginia.
On April 5, Politico broke a story based on information from confidential sources whose headline read “Terry McAuliffe left car firm in December.” According to the article, “In a letter dated December 1, GreenTech Automotive CEO Charles Wang wrote to McAuliffe to accept his resignation as chairman of the company. McAuliffe had announced only a few weeks earlier, on Nov. 8, that he would mount his second campaign for governor of Virginia.”
In that same article, Politico also reported that, “disclosure documents filed last week with the state of Virginia show that McAuliffe holds GreenTech stock worth more than $250,000. In a section of the same disclosure forms where candidates list their corporate attachments, McAuliffe listed no current paid officer or director positions.”
Politico reported “that documentation was shared . . . in response to a question about the Democratic candidate’s ongoing relationship with GreenTech.” Presumably, the McAuliffe campaign shared that documentation with Politico.
On April 5, hours after Politico broke the story that McAuliffe “left car firm in December,” the Washington Post reported “[i]n an e-mail Friday, campaign spokesman Josh Schwerin said McAuliffe ‘verbally’ announced his intention to resign from GreenTech before filing to run for governor.”
However, pages 42 and 43 of the 70-page March 12, 2013 GreenTech Automotive Private Placement Memorandum list McAuliffe as an executive officer of the company. His position is described as “Chairman Emeritus of the company.” As such, the document states McAuliffe “will have such duties and responsibilities as designated by the Board of Directors from time to time.”
McAuliffe’s is the first biography listed in the part of the document that describes the backgrounds of the company’s management team. “Terrence R. McAuliffe, Co-Founder, has been the Chairman of GreenTech Automotive since October 2009 and has been Chairman of GreenTech Automotive, Inc. since November 2, 2011,” it states. “Mr. McAuliffe,” the document continues, “is currently the largest individual shareholder of the Company. On December 5, 2012 Mr. McAuliffe announced his plans to run for Governor of the State of Virginia. Following his announcement, his position changed from Chairman to Chairman Emeritus.”
The document continues: “On December 5, 2012, Terence R. McAuliffe announced his intention to run for Governor of the State of Virginia. The election will take place on November 5, 2013. Until the election, Mr. McAuliffe will dedicate his full time to the election campaign but will remain as a shareholder of GTA’s Parent. If Mr. McAuliffe becomes Governor of Virginia, federal and state law requires that he resign all positions with GTA and appoint a representative to vote his shares of GTA’s Parent. On January 7, 2013, the board of directors of GTA assigned to Mr. McAuliffe as Chairman of the Company the duties and responsibilities appropriate for a Chairman Emeritus during the course of his gubernatorial campaign.”
The Washington Post broke the story of McAuliffe’s continued role as an executive with GreenTech Automotive on Sunday, based upon its receipt of a copy of the March 12, 2013 GreenTech Automotive Private Placement Memorandum provided to it by Cause of Action.
The Post reported that “McAuliffe’s campaign declined to make him available for an interview” about their story. In an email to the Post, however, McAuliffe campaign spokesman Josh Schwerin said the March 12, 2013 Greentech Automotive Private Placement Memorandum “appears to have been written long after Terry resigned and he never saw or approved of this document. Terry left the company in early December and since then has had no official role and no responsibilities. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply not correct.”
The Post also reported that “GreenTech, in an e-mailed statement, said that McAuliffe was ‘no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the company’ and that his emeritus title ‘recognizes his previous contributions to the board’s efforts.’ “
Breitbart News has asked both the McAuliffe campaign and GreenTech Automotive to comment on McAuliffe’s status with the company. Specifically, Breitbart News wants to know if McAuliffe was listed as a company executive and Chairman Emeritus of GreenTech Automotive on March 12, 2013, as the Private Placement Memorandum of that date states; if he remains today as a company executive and Chairman Emeritus; and if he is no longer a company executive and Chairman Emeritus, the date of his resignation from that role.
Neither the McAuliffe campaign nor GreenTech Automotive have responded to our questions as of the time of this story’s publication.
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