-Caveat Lector- <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38036-2001Jan23.html> Rich's Pardon Bypassed Procedures By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and James V. Grimaldi Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, January 24, 2001; Page A01 Lawyers with close ties to President Clinton sidestepped normal procedures as they conducted a behind-the-scenes campaign to win a pardon for fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich on charges that he cheated the government out of $48 million in taxes, according to documents and interviews. The effort by lawyers at Quinn Gillespie & Associates and Arnold & Porter included arranging letters of support from political leaders such as Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The lawyers also urged Rich's former wife � a political activist who has donated more than $1 million to Democrats and helped raise at least another $300,000 for Democrats � to contact Clinton directly. The emerging details about the successful bid to secure a pardon for Rich, along with his former business partner, Pincus Green, calls into question whether Clinton granted the pardon solely on the merits of Rich's case, as Clinton and his supporters have asserted. Rich and Green were among 140 people Clinton pardoned on Saturday, hours before he left the White House. Rich's attorneys had ties to the former president: Jack Quinn, co-founder of Quinn Gillespie & Associates, was a Clinton White House counsel and a chief of staff to Vice President Gore, and Arnold & Porter has represented the Clinton legal defense fund since it was created in 1998. Current and former federal prosecutors in New York expressed irritation that Rich � who fled the United States for Switzerland in 1983, shortly before he was indicted � was granted clemency without so much as showing up in court. Candidates for pardon typically have been convicted of crimes and are serving, or have served, their sentences. Rich, now 65, faced several dozen charges of conspiracy, tax evasion and racketeering relating to his activity as an oil trader. He was also charged with trading with the enemy for violating trade sanctions with Iran. Rich's ex-wife, Denise Rich, a New York songwriter and Democratic fundraiser who gave $10,000 to the president's defense fund shortly after it was established, called Clinton and had a short conversation with him. On Dec. 6, she also wrote a passionate letter urging Clinton to grant her former husband a pardon. "I support his application with all my heart," she wrote to Clinton, adding that her former husband has "made the lives of countless others better" through charitable work. "You have the power in this matter not just to show mercy, but to do justice," Rich wrote. "I believe with all my heart that this is the right thing to do." Quinn said Clinton was not persuaded by who was arguing the case, and he said he doubted that the president even knew that Arnold & Porter was the attorney of record for his defense fund. Clinton has said he studied the matter at length, telling NBC on Sunday that "Quinn made a strong case, and I would suggest he was right on the merits." Quinn said: "We didn't talk about political support. We didn't talk about humanitarian support. We didn't talk about family support. We talked about the indictment Mr. Giuliani brought 18 years ago was fatally, fundamentally flawed." Rudolph W. Giuliani, now mayor of New York, was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York when he brought the case against Rich. New York lawyer Robert Fink, speaking on Rich's behalf, said other companies engaged in the same kind of activity as Rich but were never charged. "We basically told the president this case never should have been brought," Fink said. Fink said his client also has given more than $200 million to charitable causes since he went into exile, with much of the money going to causes in Israel. "They've done a lot and they've attempted to do a lot, all over the world," Fink said. Giuliani said he found it "very, very hard to understand" Clinton's decision. "He ran away and flouted American law," Giuliani said of Rich. "Now all of a sudden he gets a pardon." "We were totally unaware that pardons for Marc Rich and Pincus Green were even under consideration," U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, a Clinton appointee, said in a statement. Denise Rich was not available for comment. Her spokesman, Bobby Zarem, played down her role in the effort to win a pardon. Like Barak and others, she wrote a letter because she believes her ex-husband deserves a break, Zarem said. But she was not the leader of the effort. "I really believe she had little or no involvement," Zarem said. "At no time was there an extensive conversation between her and the president." Staff researcher Margot Williams contributed to this report. � 2001 The Washington Post Company ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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