July 22, 2010 08:59 PM UTC

Day 6: McInnis Hasn't Even Contacted the Hasans

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• by: Jason Salzman

(It’s hard to “put this behind you,” as McInnis has said he thinks he is doing, when you don’t make a move to do so. – promoted by Colorado Pols)

It’s been six days now since Scott McInnis promised to give back $300,000 in water-fellowship funds to the Hasan Family Foundation, but it appears that McInnis has not returned any money yet and that he hasn’t even contacted the foundation about returning the cash, according to Muhammad Ali Hasan, the eclectic film maker, former political candidate, and Hasan family member.

Emphasizing that he “cannot speak for the Foundation” because he’s not on the Board, Hasan told me via email that in “discussions with Board members,” he’s gathered this information:

“1. To my knowledge, McInnis has not returned the money as of yet – I have also heard that McInnis has not contacted the Foundation since his repayment announcement – I cannot confirm for sure, but that is what I’m hearing

2. I’m pretty sure the Foundation will inform the public about any returned monies.”

Journalists should ask McInnis’ ASAP about specific plans for repayment, including specific dates and amounts. With the story all over the news, this is basic follow-up that needs to be done.

The question has become more complicated since we now know that $112,500 of McInnis’ $300,000 from the Hasan foundation was paid to a corporation called “Invest 2, LLC,” not to McInnis personally.

This corporation was dissolved on July 27, 2006, raising the question of how McInnis plans to refund money originally paid to an entity that no longer exists.

UPDATE: Asked today by the Colorado Independent why he asked the Hasan Foundation to pay him through Invest 2 LLC, McInnis said, “There is no reason.”

Furthermore, we don’t know if Scott McInnis was even an owner of this corporation-or how many other owners it might have had. If other owners were involved, as is likely due to the structures of McInnis other LLCs, then the question arises of whether McInnis will ask the co-owners of Invest 2 LLC to return the Hasan money they presumably received as partial owners of Invest 2, LLC.

The answers to these questions won’t be easy to find, but they obviously deserve further investigation, and certainly questions for Lori McInnis (as well as Scott) are in order, as she is the only person formally associated with Invest 2, LLC.

Given that we don’t have access to McInnis’ income-tax returns, we also don’t know whether he paid income tax on the $112,500 of the Hasan money that was apparently paid to Invest 2 LLC.

Reporters should turn to Scott and Lori McInnis for clarity about this complex topic.