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Obama Presidential Center deposits just $1M into $470M reserve fund aimed to protect taxpayers
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When the Obama Foundation snagged a sweetheart deal to build its beleaguered Obama Presidential Center on a Chicago public park, it pledged to create a $470 million reserve fund to spare taxpayers should the project ever go belly up.
But new tax filings show the foundation has only deposited $1 million into the fund and has not added to it in years, with critics saying the empty promise could potentially leave Chicagoans on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Under its agreement with the city, the foundation was required to create the fund, known as an endowment, in order to take control of the sprawling 19.3-acre section of Jackson Park — often described as Chicago’s Central Park equivalent — where the complex is now slowly rising.
The foundation ultimately secured the public land for just $10 in 2018, under a 99-year deal.
Former President Barack Obama is pictured next to construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, Illinois, a project facing delays, soaring costs and mounting scrutiny over its finances. (Scott Olson/Getty Images; REUTERS/Vincent Alban)
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But when former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama turned the sod at the site in September 2021, just $1 million — or 0.21% of the pledged funds — had been deposited into the endowment, and that figure has remained unchanged ever since.
With construction progressing at a snail’s pace and costs ballooning from an original estimate of $330 million to at least $850 million, the lack of progress on the promised endowment has fueled fears the Obama Presidential Center could leave taxpayers holding the can if finances spiral into the red.
It comes as the Obama Foundation’s latest tax return shows its finances under strain with revenue swinging wildly year to year, fundraising shortfalls and unfulfilled donor pledges.
On news that the endowment has largely remained unfunded, Illinois GOP Chair Kathy Salvi slammed the project as an «abomination» while blasting Democrats for potentially exposing taxpayers with the deal.
«It should come as no surprise that the Obama Center is potentially leaving Illinois taxpayers high and dry — it’s an Illinois Democrat tradition,» Salvi told Fox News Digital in a statement. «Democrats in this state, when not going to prison for corruption, treat taxpayers like a personal piggy bank giving sweetheart deals to their political benefactors.»
The Obama Presidential Center under construction in July. (Fox News Digital)
Scholar sounds alarm
Richard Epstein, a University of Chicago law professor emeritus and a New York University law professor, has raised concerns about the endowment for years and advised the local nonprofit Protect Our Parks with legal challenges to try to stop the Obama Center’s construction.
Epstein argues the foundation’s failure to fund its endowment confirms his long-held view that the city never should have signed over the large section of Jackson Park.
«They put a million dollars into a $400 million endowment, so it’s endowed. That gets you in jail as a securities matter,» Epstein told Fox News Digital. «An endowment means that you have the money in hand… But they have nothing. They just have the same $1 million that they put in in 2021 as far as I can tell. So I regard this as something of a public calamity.»
An endowment is a pot of money meant to earn enough interest each year to cover operating costs without touching the principle in order to avoid the taxpayer stepping in.
«Without an endowment, they’ll have to scramble every year to cover $30 million in operating costs,» Epstein said. «The whole point of an endowment is to avoid that volatility. They just haven’t endowed it. Of that I’m 100% sure.»
Epstein argues that if the foundation or center falters, the public could be saddled with traffic rerouting costs, environmental impacts, or even the bill for an incomplete building.
«Nobody knows exactly who is responsible for what if the project is abandoned or incomplete,» Epstein said. «There is a risk that the public will then have to bear that loss because the foundation won’t have the money.»
Epstein said the city has effectively looked the other way, declaring the foundation «compliant» on the endowment despite only $1 million ever being deposited. Proof, he argues, that officials never intended to enforce the requirement.
The Obama Foundation told Fox News Digital that it will be making «significant investments in the endowment in the coming years» as it has been prioritizing fundraising for the center and leadership programs.
«The Obama Presidential Center is fully funded and it will open in the spring of 2026,» a spokesperson for the foundation said.
CharityWatch, a nonprofit watchdog, told Fox News Digital that the foundation technically complied with its agreement by creating an endowment because the deal never set a dollar figure. The group also said that the foundation remains «well-funded» overall while also acknowledging the pledge risks, volatility and lack of a real endowment.
An aerial view shows construction of the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park, Chicago, Illinois, where costs have soared and questions remain about the project’s funding. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
While the foundation’s agreement with the city required it to create an endowment, it did not specify an amount. The $470 million figure was being reported on as the city council deliberated on the deal and the foundation committed to that sum in its 2020 annual report.
In 2021 documents, the foundation said that first-year operating costs would be as much as $40 million. By that math, the center would actually need an endowment of between $800 million to $1 billion to fund operations without tapping the principle.
It’s also unclear how much revenue the foundation expects to generate each year.
Epstein said the lack of funds has long been the project’s Achilles heel. Without the endowment it promised, the project’s financial underpinning remains shaky, he said.
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Despite financial pressures, the Obama Foundation has already spent about $600 million constructing the center, which aims to honor former President Barack Obama’s political career and be a civic hub. It consists of a 225-foot-tall museum, a digital library, conference facilities, a gymnasium and a regulation-sized NBA court. It will also house the Obama Foundation.
The new tax filings show the foundation ended 2024 with $116.5 million in cash, down nearly $80 million from the year before, while still owing about $234 million in construction costs. Of the funding gap, $216 million comes from firm pledges — promises of future donations — while another $201 million is tied up in conditional pledges that may never materialize if benchmarks aren’t met.
Epstein said the foundation’s financial assurances ring hollow, because a large chunk of the money it counts on is tied up in pledges and credit rather than cash in hand — leaving the center vulnerable to donor fatigue and year-to-year uncertainty.
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Public trust doctrine
In the Protect Our Parks lawsuit, Epstein argued that handing Jackson Park to the Obama Foundation violated the public trust doctrine — which bars cities from giving away public land without a clear public benefit. The plaintiffs said the city gave away land worth nearly $200 million without securing enforceable returns for taxpayers.
However, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey, an Obama appointee, dismissed the case in 2019, ruling that the Obama Center qualified as a public use and that courts should defer to the city’s determination. The Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal in 2020 and various other challenges by the plaintiffs have also failed on the public trust doctrine argument.
Epstein now points to the foundation’s failure to fund its promised endowment as proof the project never truly met the public benefit test and that a core part of his argument was valid.
As well as not being able to fill the endowment, the foundation is also financing a $250 million revolving credit line that it has yet to draw down but is costing the foundation hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual fees, according to the tax filings.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (L) joins former U.S. President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama in a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park on Sept. 28, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. At the time, around $1 million was in the endowment and it has remained relatively the same since. ( Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Easing oversight
Epstein argues the endowment shortfall is just one example of how the project has skirted safeguards.
Its 99-year deal with the city was rebranded as a «use agreement,» instead of a land lease, a legal pivot that he said let the city sidestep public-trust oversight and other regulatory checks.
The move grew out of an earlier fight over filmmaker George Lucas’s bid to build a Museum of Narrative Art on the lakefront. In 2016, a federal judge ruled the city’s plan to hand Lucas a 99-year lease of public parkland violated the public trust doctrine, sending Lucas packing for Los Angeles.
When the Obama Foundation arrived the following year, city officials adopted the new user agreement label. The terms were effectively the same — exclusive control for nearly a century in exchange for $10 — but by calling it a «use agreement,» the city claimed it no longer triggered the same scrutiny.
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Epstein called it a textbook case of bending the rules. «You can’t get out of a government regulatory relationship by changing the name on something,» he said.
Epstein said the foundation’s finances have never been fully scrutinized and his team was never allowed to examine the center’s internal records — from construction contracts to day-to-day statements — leaving the true state of its fundraising and shrouded in secrecy.
«They’ve gotten a free pass on both the environmental side and the financial side,» Epstein said. «Unless somebody cracks open the books, nobody really knows if they can actually fund this project. And if they can’t, it’s the public that will be left holding the bag.»
The offices of Mayor Brandon Johnson, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Illinois did not respond to requests for comment.
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INTERNACIONAL
World Economic Forum faces fresh scrutiny as Epstein ties revive past scandals, criticism
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The ghost of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has struck again. This time, even though he died in 2019, his is still adding to the stress and criticism of the World Economic Forum.
On Feb. 26, WEF president and CEO Børge Brende resigned after revelations that he had three dinners, and some emails and SMS communications with Epstein. His ouster followed an independent investigation earlier in February.
Brende said he wasn’t aware of Epstein’s sex crimes.
«Had I known about his background, I would have declined the initial invitation to join Rod-Larsen and any subsequent dinner invitations or other communications,» he said.
That response hasn’t been well received by observers, given that Epstein’s conviction occurred in 2008 and would have been easy to uncover. As Norway’s foreign minister from 2013 to 2017, perhaps he should have been more cautious, some observers say.
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«If you are standing on a public stage, you have to know who you are standing with,» said Ben Habib, right-leaning leader of the British political party Advance UK, and an entrepreneur.
An illuminated logo during a panel session on the opening day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023. The annual Davos gathering of political leaders, top executives and celebrities runs from January 16 to 20. (Photographer: Stefan Wermuth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Founder of the U.K.-based Henry Jackson Society, Alan Mendoza, added, «The moral is that people in positions of authority should be very careful with whom they have dinner. Mendoza also wonders how many people with a criminal record have attended the WEF.
The news of Brende’s resignation comes hot on the heels of other scandals and bad publicity for the WEF, commonly known as Davos, after the Swiss village in the Alps where the annual meeting takes place. Last year, Klaus Schwab, the founder of the WEF, stepped down in July after accusations that he had misused WEF funds and treated employees inappropriately.
Jeffrey Epstein is seen in Cambridge, Mass., on Sept. 8, 2004. The financier had ties to several prominent figures, including politicians, actors and academics, and was later convicted of soliciting sex from a minor. (Rick Friedman Photography/Corbis via Getty Images)
Both Schwab and his wife were both ultimately cleared by the WEF board for any material wrongdoing, though a board of trustees statement noted in part that, «Minor irregularities, stemming from blurred lines between personal contributions and Forum operations, reflect deep commitment rather than intent of misconduct.»
Others have a beef with the WEF. Two years ago, Argentina’s President Javier Milei spoke at Davos.
«The Western world is in danger,» Millei said. «It is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism, and thereby to poverty.»
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File photograph of WEF Executive Chairman and founder Klaus Schwab addressing attendees during the official opening session of the Annual Meeting 2016 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland January 20, 2016. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich (Ruben Sprich/ Reuters)
Milei also noted that many countries have ditched freedom for collectivism, a.k.a., socialism.
«We’re here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that afflict the citizens of the world; rather, they are the root cause,» he said at Davos in 2024.
Since 2023, when Milei took office as Argentina’s president, inflation has dropped from more than 200% to 32%, according to data from Trading Economics.
Likewise, others have a lot to tell the WEF, most of it not positive.
«Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America,» said U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at this year’s Davos meeting. «It’s a failed policy. It is what the WEF has stood for.»
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The fact is, America has been left behind in the global economy as the WEF has encouraged offshoring manufacturing to places with cheap labor, Lutnick said. He also encouraged other countries to follow the «America First» model, which is that the workers come first.
Lutnick also attacked Europe’s alternative energy push, which includes solar and wind energy. «Why would Europe agree to be net zero in 2030 when they don’t make a battery? he said at Davos. Achieving net zero means countries aim to have no increase in overall carbon emissions by 2050.
Pedestrians walk past the USA House during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Alpine resort of Davos on January 19, 2026. (Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP via Getty Images)
But if Europe does pursue Net zero, then the EU will be subservient to communist China, Lutnick says. China is by far the dominant producer, accounting for approximately one-third of global renewable energy, compared with 11% in the U.S.
«The WEF is the embodiment of power and wealth,» Habib said. «Big money is diverting policy. It’s fascism.» He says the world may have been tricked into believing the economic promises made by globalist organizations. «The shine is now off. It is failing and not gaining traction.»
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The WEF isn’t the only organization that is running roughshod over multiple countries. The European Union is also doing similar work with the countries in its bloc through a multitude of regulations, Habib said.
THE Associated Press contributed to this report.
globalism,scandals,global economy,europe
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The Obama Foundation is looking for 100 unpaid volunteers to work alongside the former president’s highly paid cronies at the $850 million Obama Presidential Center in Chicago when it opens in June.
Officials are pitching the no-paycheck gigs as rooted in former President Barack Obama’s legacy of civic engagement. The recruitment campaign comes after Fox News Digital reported that the organization’s CEO, former top Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, earned $740,000 in 2024.
Foundation officials told Fox News Digital the volunteers will complement about 300 full- and part-time employees at the long-delayed center, which the organization is promoting as a $3.1 billion economic catalyst for the Windy City’s South Side.
The new program will see 75 to 100 volunteers, known as «ambassadors,» greet and direct visitors around the campus and share information about exhibits at the 22-story museum tower, athletic center and Chicago Public Library branch, among other amenities. It is expected to expand in the future.
The foundation describes the volunteer program as a key component of its mission, saying volunteers represent its values both onsite and in the community.
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Obama Foundation Democracy Forum Chicago December 2024 (REUTERS/Vincent Alban)
It is unclear what the salary range for those paid workers will be. However, the foundation’s most recent tax filings provide insight into compensation at the organization’s senior levels.
Federal filings viewed by Fox News Digital show Jarrett earned $740,000 in 2024, 2023 and 2022, while several former Obama White House officials have collected six-figure salaries as foundation executives.
Total salaries and benefits at the foundation climbed from $18.5 million in 2018 to $43.7 million in 2024 as staffing expanded to 337 employees and annual revenue reached nearly $210 million, according to the filings. The foundation’s main office is located in Chicago’s Hyde Park, where it runs leadership and community programs in the U.S. and abroad.
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Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett, left, and the Obama Presidential Center under construction in Chicago’s Jackson Park, right. The Foundation reported nearly $210 million in total revenue in 2024, according to federal filings. (Fox 32; Steven Ferdman/Getty)
Still, the foundation is looking to have a cohort of unpaid volunteers help out at the new presidential center. It’s common for presidential libraries, museums and nonprofit cultural institutions to employ unpaid volunteers.
«Volunteerism has been central to President Obama’s vision of civic life since his earliest days as a community organizer on Chicago’s South Side,» the foundation said in a press release.
Jarrett, one of the Obamas’ closest advisors, said in a statement that the center will be «a place where the world meets the best of the city of Chicago, and our volunteers will help bring that vision to life every day.»
She became CEO in 2021 and is overseeing development of the 19.3-acre campus in Jackson Park.
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The foundation has promoted the center as a catalyst for economic revitalization on Chicago’s South Side, citing $3.1 billion in projected economic activity over 10 years and 5,000 construction jobs tied to the $850 million campus. Those figures come from an economic assessment conducted by Deloitte Consulting LLP.
According to the foundation, more than 50% of construction contracts have been awarded to diverse firms, 33% of the construction workforce has come from South and West Side communities, and 798 residents have enrolled in construction pre-apprenticeship programs.
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The main tower of the Obama Presidential Center rises above Jackson Park in Chicago as construction continues on the privately run campus. (Fox 32 Chicago)
The center is scheduled to open on Juneteenth, the federal holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.
Other former Obama administration officials have also earned substantial compensation at the foundation in past years, including former White House political director David Simas, who earned more than $600,000 annually while leading the organization from 2017 to 2020, and Adewale Adeyemo, who later became Biden’s deputy Treasury secretary and earned roughly $540,000 during his tenure.
Several other senior leaders with Obama administration ties have earned between roughly $300,000 and $400,000 annually, according to tax filings.
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INTERNACIONAL
El Oscar 2026 a mejor película extranjera no es solo una competencia entre ‘Valor sentimental’ y ‘El agente secreto’
Valor sentimental de Joachim Trier (Noruega) y El agente secreto de Kleber Mendonça Filho (Brasil) son las grandes favoritas para llevarse el Oscar a “mejor película extranjera”, por encima de Sirat, de Oliver Laxe (España), Fue solo un accidente, de Jafar Panahi (Irán, aunque representa a Francia) y La voz de Hind Rajab (Túnez). Subyacente a los pronósticos y antecedentes de cada una de estas notables películas (todas lo son, en su estilo y formas), subyace un cambio de paradigma en la elección de la Academia de Artes y Ciencias Cinematográficas de Hollywood: el cine del mundo se impone por peso propio.
La edición 98 de los premios de cine más famosos del mundo, con 23 producciones internacionales entre los 50 títulos nominados —de los cuales solo 17 calificaron como completamente extranjeras—, sostiene la tendencia marcada desde la deconstrucción de la anterior categoría de “película en lengua extranjera”. En los últimos seis años, el dato histórico indica que cinco de los seis ganadores del premio británico BAFTA a mejor película internacional repitieron triunfo en los Oscar, una correlación que aumentó la presión sobre los productores y distribuidoras involucrados en la carrera.
A nivel de industria, lo singular de 2026 consistió en la inédita distribución de nominaciones: Valor sentimental tiene nueve candidaturas, incluidas mención para Trier como director, nominaciones individuales de actuación para Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning e Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas. Ningún otro largometraje no angloparlante alcanzó tal apoyo, un indicador clave del grado de penetración de los títulos internacionales fuera de su categoría asignada. También, el thriller político brasileño de Mendonça Filho acumula cuatro nominaciones, incluida una histórica candidatura para Wagner Moura como mejor actor.
La obtención del BAFTA a mejor película internacional por parte de Valor sentimental resulta determinante para los pronósticos de industria: el premio británico, cada vez más alineado con los Oscar desde la apertura del voto a todos los miembros, otorgó al drama familiar de Joachim Trier una proyección estadística superior a la de cualquier otro contendiente. La notable presencia de películas co-producidas entre Estados Unidos y mercados extranjeros, como Bugonia y Hamnet además, instaura una división en la contabilidad de lo internacional: el conteo estricto arroja dos títulos plenamente foráneos entre los diez aspirantes principales, mismo saldo que en el ciclo anterior.
La Academia, tras la ola crítica precipitada en 2015 por la campaña #Oscarssowhite y la publicación de la composición demográfica de su membresía por el diario Los Angeles Times, implementó desde 2020 criterios explícitos de diversidad que comenzaron a impactar la construcción de las nominaciones a partir de 2024. La propia institución pasó de un 94% de miembros blancos en 2012 a un 35% de mujeres y un 20% perteneciente a minorías raciales o étnicas, configuración que, según analistas de la publicación online Vulture, favoreció un panel de candidaturas más abierto a cinematografías extranjeras.
El debate sobre el carácter “local” o global de los Oscar ha redefinido sus estándares en los últimos cinco años. En la edición 2026, el número total de filmes internacionales —23 sobre 50 nominados— marca el salto respecto a ciclos anteriores dominados por producciones netamente estadounidenses y de habla inglesa. Esta transición cristaliza el nuevo equilibrio entre el peso de la industria hollywoodense y la cada vez mayor visibilidad de propuestas no angloparlantes.
La participación consecutiva de títulos extranjeros en la terna a mejor película principal, sumada a los precedentes de 2024 —cuando Anatomía de una caída (Francia) y La Zona de Interés (Reino Unido) lograron nominación en esa rama— y al hito de Parasitos en 2020, expuso la aceleración de un proceso que la propia Academia promovió mediante modificaciones reglamentarias e impulso al voto corporativo sobre el sectorial.
En ese contexto, la cita del director coreano Bong Joon Ho a Vulture en 2019 —“Los Oscar no son un festival internacional de cine. Son muy locales”— iluminó la distancia recorrida: desde 2020, ningún año ha estado exento de presencia internacional en la máxima categoría. El modelo “más internacional” planteado por la Academia en 2026 parece consolidarse como la nueva norma estadística del premio.
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