-Caveat Lector-
'Braswell "has probably managed to sell more health-related products with
misleading claims than anyone else in the history of the world. His gross
intake has very likely been over a billion dollars"'
Another Pardon Stirs Controversy
Herbal Marketer Faces U.S. Tax Evasion Probe
By Peter Slevin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 6, 2001; Page A03
When President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 people on his final day
in the White House, wealthy herbal remedy marketer A. Glenn
Braswell made the list. Presidential forgiveness covered
Braswell's 1983 convictions for fraud, perjury and tax evasion,
restoring his civil rights.
Yet, even as Clinton was granting Braswell a pardon, federal
investigators were examining what they called "a massive tax
evasion and money-laundering scheme" allegedly conducted by
Braswell and his California dietary supplement empire.
No charges have been filed in the investigation of what a
prosecutor in California court documents describes as an effort
by Braswell to move millions of dollars offshore through a shell
company.
It is not clear whether Clinton was aware of the current criminal
investigation. The former president has not discussed the case,
and efforts to reach him for comment through spokesman Jake
Siewert were unsuccessful.
Justice Department officials would not discuss Braswell's pardon.
Amid the flurry of last-minute pardons and commutations,
Braswell's name was one of about two dozen announced without
details, suggesting that Clinton had left little time for federal
law officers to evaluate Braswell.
Yet, less than four months before his pardon, Braswell invoked
the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination more than 100
times in a two-hour deposition in a South Carolina civil case,
opposing lawyer Vernon Glenn said yesterday.
After the pardon was announced Jan. 20, federal investigators
worried that Clinton had pardoned Braswell for any criminal
charges that could arise from the current investigation. Assured
yesterday by the Justice Department that the pardon covered only
the 1983 case, Los Angeles prosecutors said they will continue to
pursue the money-laundering and tax matters.
Former Miami U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey, one of former vice
president Al Gore's attorneys in the Florida recount case,
represented Braswell in his effort to obtain a pardon. Coffey did
not return several telephone calls seeking comment. Washington
attorney Gerald Feffer, who represents Braswell in the tax and
money-laundering probe, declined to discuss his client.
Braswell "has probably managed to sell more health-related
products with misleading claims than anyone else in the history
of the world. His gross intake has very likely been over a
billion dollars," said Stephen Barrett, who runs an independent
watchdog organization, Quackwatch.com. "I can't imagine that
anyone who was involved knew what Braswell was all about. If they
did, this is even worse."
In the 16 days since the pardons were announced, Clinton has been
excoriated for his decisions and the last-minute confusion of the
process. In a number of cases, he issued pardons or commutations
without conducting traditional consultations with the Justice
Department.
The pardon of fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich, who
renounced his U.S. citizenship to avoid extradition and trial,
has triggered two Capitol Hill inquiries.
Braswell's companies, including Gero Vita International, sell
herbs and vitamins, and market them through mass mailings and a
company magazine, the Journal of Longevity. Advertisements
proclaim the ability to slow the aging process, cure hereditary
baldness, shrink prostate glands and enlarge breasts, among other
achievements.
Among the doubters are the Food and Drug Administration and the
Federal Trade Commission, which have issued notices critical of
the companies. In 1995, the FDA banned the importation of Gero
Vita products sold on the basis of claims that they can prevent
or treat disease.
The editors of Consumer Reports wrote in 1998: "We see a lot of
misleading marketing, but what spews out of Gero Vita Industries
rivals the worst." They said the company sent glossy booklets
"masquerading as science. The booklets cite actual studies, but
twist the findings to support the company's own unsubstantiated
claims."
"One of the company's most highly hyped products is GH3, a
vitamin and herb medley that costs $29.95 a month," the magazine
continued. "The promotional material calls it an anti-aging
formula. The FDA calls it 'an old health-fraud product.' "
IRS agents raided Braswell's business in Marina Del Rey, Calif.,
in 1999. In a document filed six months later in an unrelated
Santa Monica civil suit, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul H. Rochmes
accused Braswell of conducting a "massive" scheme to ship money
beyond the reach of U.S. tax authorities.
Rochmes alleged that Braswell, "for his own benefit," created a
shell company and directed payments to the firm for no other
apparent purpose than moving money offshore. The prosecutor said
Bermuda-based Deleon Global Trading was paid for products it
purportedly shipped, yet it had no staff, factory or warehouse --
and billed at inflated prices.
Also last year, the George W. Bush campaign and the Florida
Republican Party returned $250,000 of Braswell's contributions
after Braswell embarrassed Bush's brother Jeb, the Florida
governor. The Journal of Longevity printed a doctored letter of
endorsement of alternative medicine under Jeb Bush's byline.
"Do the people who arrange for the pardons investigate?" Barrett
asked. "Whoever is involved in the process should be required to
submit the names to some other government body to investigate.
There should be some oversight."
Special correspondent Jeff Adler and researcher Margot Williams
contributed to this report.
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FROM THE DESK OF:
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