For the past four years, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton have jetted around on Vinod Gupta’s corporate jet, to Switzerland, Hawaii, Jamaica, Mexico—US$ 900,000 worth of travel. The former president secured a US$ 3.3 million consulting deal with Gupta’s technology firm. His presidential library got a six-figure gift, too.

Gupta, whose big donations to the Democratic Party earned him a Lincoln Bedroom overnight when Bill Clinton was president, has emerged as a key benefactor of Clinton’s post-presidency—and Hillary Clinton’s presidential candidacy.

Gupta’s generosity toward the Clintons has proven so controversial within his firm that it prompted a shareholder lawsuit complaining that hiring the former president for the “extremely vague purpose” of providing his “strategic growth and business judgment” was a “waste of corporate assets”.

Founded in 1972, Gupta’s firm InfoUSA is now valued at US$ 600 million and says that it provides database marketing and processing services to more than 4 million customers.

The Clintons are not parties to the lawsuit, filed earlier this year, nor are they accused of any wrongdoing. In fact, the lawsuit refers only to a “former high-ranking government official” and his wife. But company officials, shareholders and aides to the Clintons confirmed that they are the couple in question.

The jet travel for the Clintons was charged to the company as “business development” expenses, the lawsuit said. The company jet took them to vacation spots, whisked the former president to an international conference in Geneva and to a commemorative speech in Oklahoma City, and shuttled Hillary Clinton to a campaign fundraiser in New Mexico.

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