from Wikipedia on Hugh Rodham
In 1999, Hugh and brother Tony Rodham entered into a $118 million venture to grow and export hazelnuts from the Republic of Georgia.[10] 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.[12][10][18] After initial resistance,[12] Berger and the Clintons prevailed upon the Rodham brothers to drop the deal.[10][2] Hugh Rodham stated that he was only acting as a lawyer for the venture and did not have money invested in it.[12]
Episodes such as these led Hillary Clinton's White House staff to refer to Hugh and Tony as "the Brothers Rodham",[19] extending the American tradition of troublesome presidential siblings to the brother-in-law category;[12] one senior White House official would be quoted as saying, "You never wanted to hear their name come up in any context other than playing golf."[19]
As the Clinton administration came to a close in early 2001, it was discovered that Hugh Rodham received around $400,000 for legal services regarding gaining the Presidential pardon of fraudulent businessman Glenn Braswell and the sentence commutation of drug trafficker Carlos Vignali.[7] While legal experts said that Rodham may well not have done anything wrong, the appearance of possible impropriety certainly existed.[7] Moreoever, coming while the Bill Clinton pardons controversy was already in full force, this was a further embarrassment for the former administration and even got the attention of the Congressional House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.[2] Hillary Clinton, now a newly-sworn-in Senator, said, "He's my brother. I love my brother ... I'm just extremely disappointed in this terrible misjudgment that he made ... I knew nothing about my brother's involvement in these pardons. I knew nothing about his taking money for his involvement."[2] Both Clintons pressured Rodham to return the $400,000, which he promptly did.[10] During this time, Rodham additionally collected media criticism for being overweight and a poor dresser.[10][18]
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