Hillary Clinton's brother linked to alleged political favors

The Department of Homeland Security's investigator general named former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's brother, Tony Rodham, at various points in a new report published Tuesday about a firm that allegedly received preferential treatment. 

Among other things, the report criticizes a top DHS employee for appearing to go out of his way in 2010 and 2011 to assist "a politically connected regional center," Gulf Coast Funds Management.

"Throughout the time period of the events we reviewed, Anthony Rodham was listed as the Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Coast," the report noted.

Clinton - a former presidential candidate, US senator, and first lady - is the Democratic front-runner for president in 2016. 

Rodham is not specifically named as her brother in the report and Clinton herself is not referred to anywhere in the document. However, CNN, Politico, and other outlets identified him as her brother and previous media stories covered his involvement with Gulf Coast.

According to the investigation, employees complained that then-United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas was "politically motivated" in his intervention on behalf of Gulf Coast. The company was a participant in the USCIS EB-5 program, which seeks to attract foreign investment in the US. The USCIS denied some of Gulf Coast's efforts to expand its "industrial scope" in 2010 and a lengthy saga followed the subsequent appeals process in which Mayorakas was apparently heavily involved.

The investigator general found that when Rodham emailed Mayorkas about "delays in processing petitions," Mayorkas forwarded the email to DHS staff with a "high importance" designation.

Along with Clinton's brother's role at the company, Gulf Coast was also highly linked to now-Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), a staunch Clinton ally, McAuliffe served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee when Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, was in office. McAuliffe, whose name appears in the report far more than Rodham's, did not return a request for comment from Business Insider, but his office told CNN he did nothing wrong at the time. 

Rodham could not immediately be reached for comment and Politico wrote that he did not return emails and phone calls on the matter. Mayorkas, who is now a deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, released a statement saying he disagreed with the report but "will certainly learn from it and from this process." 

View the full investigator general account below: