The State Department funneled more than $9 million through the Peace Corps into a nonprofit started by Vanessa Kerry, daughter of Secretary of State John Kerry, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Dr. Vanessa Kerry and officials from the State Department and the Peace Corps created the Global Health Service Partnership, then awarded the money to a nonprofit that Kerry created for the Peace Corps program.
Kerry’s nonprofit, Seed Global Health, got a three-year contract in 2012 worth $2 million, and a four-year extension in 2015 which came with an additional $6.4 million.
At the time Vanessa Kerry launched the nonprofit, her father was the chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which supervises both the State Department and the Peace Corps.
The Global Health Service Partnership sends volunteer physicians and nurses to medical and nursing schools in Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Liberia, according to Seed Global Health’s website.
The Daily Caller obtained documents that appear to show a plan to ensure that Seed Global Health got the contract with Global Health Service Partnership and did not have to compete for the bid.
"The process can be fast-tracked and non-competed through a specific grant mechanism," according to the minutes of one meeting.
A Sept. 10, 2015, document said that replacing Seed Global Health would not “satisfy the needs” of Global Health Service Partnership, since Seed was created with Global Health Service Partnership in mind.
Vanessa Kerry drew a salary from the nonprofit for the first time in 2014. She earned $140,000 for 30 hours a week, according to a tax form the Daily Caller obtained.
Seed Global Health spokesman Mark Marino denied that there was a conflict of interest.
He told the Daily Caller, "Dr. Vanessa Kerry is primarily employed by and paid through Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Kerry receives no financial compensation from the Peace Corps or U.S. government. Funding from the Peace Corps, an independent agency in the federal government, represents about 27 percent of Seed’s total $6.3 million budget this fiscal year."
In a February interview with Boston.com, Vanessa Kerry said that Seed is focusing on health care in developing countries because "if we make the investment in global health, so those countries are not constantly relying on outside help and outside investments, we will save money in the long run."
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