Carly Fiorina has been talked about a lot recently, but not all of this attention has been positive. Especially after it was uncovered that a substantial part of her wealth may have come from illegal activities.
Now that the trade embargo against Iran has been relaxed, there are many businesspeople and companies in the United States that are putting together strategies on how they can earn by selling to the country, which was previously isolated as a result of it. But Fiorina, the GOP presidential hopeful, has already managed to make millions thanks to Iran. It is alleged that during her time working at Hewlett-Packard, she had made a substantial amount of profit selling computers and other electronics to Iran. This wasn’t just a one-time deal with an Iranian company. Her continued efforts to ship US technology to Iran have made HP products very popular there. In fact, close to 50 percent of all printers in the country by 2007 were HP products.
Fiorina’s action were very helpful for the Iranians, as they let the country bypass the trade embargo and cheat on sanctions imposed by the United States. Reports indicate that she had used a subsidiary in Dubai to ship products to Iran while skirting the embargo. This would indicate that she knowingly violated trade sanctions in order to make huge profits and now casts doubt over whether she would be truly suited to lead our country.
Fiorina’s alleged misdeeds don’t end at selling IT technology to Iran in violation of trade embargoes. News has come out recently that Hewlett-Packard has been in trouble for giving out bribes to foreign government officials with the objectives of securing their business. It is believed that Fiorina is responsible for giving out millions of dollars in bribes to various officials in Mexico, Russia and Poland. Apparently, the returns on this “investment” were quite good, as they helped increase revenues for HP by billions, some of which have ended up back in Fiorina’s coffers. The allegation that she saw nothing wrong with giving out millions in bribes during her time at HP now makes many believe that, if elected, she would have no problems using her office for personal gain by giving out bribes to officials in foreign country. Another interesting question to consider is if Fiorina was so eager to give out bribes, what says that she wouldn’t be just as happy to accept them herself.
For now, she has never issued any apology about her actions while employed by HP. There is no word yet on what her supporters will think now that the issue has come to light and whether it will prove to have negative consequences for her campaign.