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Jet-setting global bureaucrats can join an exclusive five-star country club outside Washington without coughing up a dime — all part of lavish perks that are effectively subsidized by the US government, The Post has learned.
Staffers at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank raking in six-figure, tax-free salaries at both global bodies qualify for free memberships at the Bretton Woods Recreation Center in Maryland, according to documents obtained by The Post.
Stiff initiation fees at the IMF-owned course — which range from $12,000 to $20,000 — are automatically waived for all employees on the payroll of the two institutions, according to the documents, which are not in the public domain.
Even elite IMF directors taking home as much as $420,000 tax-free yearly are also eligible, as are Bank executives who can make up to $500,000 a year without handing over a cent to Uncle Sam.
The optics are awkward at best. The IMF lectures governments worldwide on how to manage their economies, demanding harsh austerity measures from debt-laden nations such as Greece. In July 2021, its experts told Joe Biden to junk all of Donald Trump’s first-term tariffs and end his ‘Buy American’ policies.
The World Bank, meanwhile, has a mandate to fight poverty and global warming. In October, left-wing British charity Oxfam accused it in a report, strongly contested by officials, of “losing track” of $24 billion in climate funding.
The US is the largest donor to both organizations. A 2022 report by the Congressional Research Service shows that this country contributes $117 billion to the IMF’s funding — nearly 18% of its current five-year budget.
A separate study by the CRS from this past May shows the US also provides 16% of the World Bank’s $318 billion total capital at its disposal, with $3.5 billion splashed out on administrative expenses.
“The relationship between the IMF and the Bretton Woods Recreation Center is one of landlord and tenant,” said an IMF spokesperson, confirming its ownership of the swanky club.
The spokesperson also claimed that the luxury resort is “operationally and financially independent from the IMF.” But the available latest tax filings from 2022 reviewed by The Post show that two of the Fund’s top brass, Robert York and Olivier Fleurence, have been parachuted in to sit on its board.
A World Bank spokesperson added: “Staff membership (of the club) is voluntary and is in no way subsidized by the World Bank.”
The 285-acre Bretton Woods resort, worth an estimated $20 million, boasts an 18-hole golf course, two swimming pools as well as dining and banquet rooms. Lucky members can also sign up for tennis lessons with coach David Johnson, who is paid $166,000 a year for working just 45 hours a week, according to tax filings.
“Blending exceptional sports and recreational facilities with the gorgeous natural scenery along the banks of the Potomac River, Bretton Woods Recreation Center has been a favorite destination for our members and their guests since 1968,” the club’s website reads.
Emails seen by The Post show that club managers say that at least 80% of their 1,300 members are IMF or World Bank staffers.
They boast of preventing too many members of the general public from joining to “maintain the integrity” of the posh venue, which is 22 miles from downtown Washington DC, as an exclusive networking club.
Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, accused IMF and World Bank officials of “living the high life” at the expense of US taxpayers.
“For far too long, globalist elites have been freeloading off the American people,” the former aide to late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher told The Post. “These lavish perks for unelected bureaucrats will undoubtedly be placed under close and intense scrutiny by the new US administration.”
The revelations come as President-elect Trump is plotting to take a knife to wasteful spending under his new Department of Government Efficiency, which will be headed by Tesla titan Elon Musk and GOP firebrand Vivek Ramaswamy.
The Post reported exclusively on Nov. 15 that World Bank staffers were “running around like headless chickens” after Trump’s victory amid fears they could be asked to rein in their lavish spending habits.
Joe Grogan, who served in the Office of Management and Budget during President Trump’s first term, told The Post that global bodies are “100%” in the administration’s sights for possible cuts.
“These international organizations are going to need to buckle down. They will be on the target list,” said Grogan, who oversaw domestic healthcare spending of $1.3 trillion during his two-year stint at the spending watchdog. “Why the hell does the IMF own a golf course? It’s insane.”
Formally set up as a nonprofit “social welfare organization” with the IRS, the club receives just over half of its revenues from IMF and World Bank staffers, filings show.
Tax filings show that it picked up nearly $4 million in membership fees from employees largely drawn from the two international organizations.
IMF employees who pick up $162,699 or less pay monthly dues between $142 and $312 a month, with senior IMF executives who earn over that sum asked to fork out $355 a month.
Joining fees are also waived for World Bank staffers, the club documents show, but they must hand over between $213 and $532 a month for the pleasure of playing there.
By contrast, regular Joes have to pay both the five-figure initiation fees and dues ranging from $235 to $585.
Stressed-out IMF and World Bank staffers are also offered the chance to relax with the club’s regular yoga sessions “overlooking the beautiful Bretton Woods landscape.”
“Unwind from your day, stretch, strengthen, and balance your body, and catch the sunset, followed by complimentary wine, charcuterie & other tasty treats,” an online post promoting the classes reads.
The cushy benefits will be seen as controversial when ordinary Americans have been battling a cost-of-living crisis under four years of the Biden-Harris Administration.
“If you’re earning a massive tax-free salary, surely you can just pay the initiation fees like everybody else?” said one staffer who plays elsewhere.
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