Sue Hartigan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
`The office of independent counsel could indict my
dog. They can indict my cat. But I'm not going to lie
about the president. I'm not going to lie about the
first lady or anyone else. My wife and I are
innocent,''
>
Hubbell Indicted for Tax Evasion
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- Striking a second time at President
> Clinton's friend, Whitewater prosecutors charged
> Webster Hubbell, his wife and two associates Thursday
> with conspiring to avoid taxes on hundreds of thousands
> of dollars in payments Hubbell received from Clinton
> supporters.
>
> The 10-count grand jury indictment charged Hubbell with
> evading taxes on income he received from Clinton
> friends and political supporters who sought to assist
> him after he resigned as associate attorney general.
>
> The financial help was set up after a March 1994
> meeting at the White House, alleged prosecutors, who
> have been investigating whether the payments were
> ``hush money'' to discourage Hubbell from cooperating
> in an independent counsel's probe of Clinton's business
> dealings.
>
> Hubbell, who then was first coming under criminal
> investigation, ``performed little or no work'' for the
> consulting fees he received in 1994, the prosecutors
> alleged in the indictment.
>
> Some of Clinton's top aides have acknowledged seeking
> clients and consulting work for Hubbell.
>
> Outside his Washington home, a downtrodden Hubbell told
> reporters the charges were nothing more than
> retribution because he failed to provide any
> incriminating evidence against the Clintons.
>
> ``The office of independent counsel could indict my
> dog. They can indict my cat. But I'm not going to lie
> about the president. I'm not going to lie about the
> first lady or anyone else. My wife and I are
> innocent,'' he said.
>
> The indictment alleges that Hubbell and his wife Suzy,
> who followed the Clintons from Arkansas to Washington
> to work in the administration, owe the government more
> than $894,000 in back taxes and penalties.
>
> It was returned 14 months after Hubbell, a golfing
> buddy of the president and former law partner of
> Hillary Rodham Clinton, was released from prison after
> serving 21 months on charges he defrauded the Arkansas
> law firm where he and the first lady used to work.
>
> The White House said in a statement late Thursday that
> ``the president and first lady are very saddened by the
> developments in this matter and feel bad for Webb and
> Suzy Hubbell'' and the others named in the indictment.
>
> The indictment was the second setback for Clinton and
> his supporters in two days. On Wednesday, it was
> learned that a judge had rejected former White House
> intern Monica Lewinsky's claim that she had been given
> full immunity from prosecution, giving Whitewater
> Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr new leverage to
> compel her testimony before a grand jury.
>
> Hubbell's attorney, John Nields, decried the indictment
> as excessive and said average Americans would never
> have been charged in such a case.
>
> ``He has now paid his debt to society. He has
> confessed. He has been punished and his family has been
> brought to financial ruin and, as he tries to pick
> himself up off his knees, the office of independent
> counsel comes around and tries to prosecute him
> again,'' Nields said.
>
> The indictment accuses the Hubbells, accountant Michael
> C. Schaufele of Little Rock, Ark., and Little Rock tax
> lawyer Charles C. Owen of conspiracy, tax evasion,
> impeding and impairing the Internal Revenue Service and
> mail fraud.
>
> It said the four defendants attempted to ``evade and
> defeat the payment of a large part of the income tax
> due'' by the Hubbells from 1989 to 1992 and 1994-95. It
> accused Hubbell with substantially understating gross
> business receipts, business income and adjusted gross
> income while overstating business expenses.
>
> Schaufele was also accused of aiding in the preparation
> of a false tax return. In Little Rock, Schaufele said
> he was ``pretty shocked'' by the indictment. ``I know
> that I really didn't do anything wrong,'' he said.
>
> The indictment said Hubbell and his wife earned more
> than $1 million between 1994 and 1997, but paid less
> than $30,000 in taxes. Their actual tax liability from
> 1989-92 and 1994 and 1995, the Hubbells actually owed
> more than $500,000 in state and federal taxes, the
> indictment said.
>
> ``The Hubbells spent during the same period over
> $750,000 on personal items, including clothing and
> accessories, private tuition, telephones and domestic
> help payments,'' the indictment said.
>
> Hubbell's problems began in 1993 when his former
> partners at the Rose Law Firm uncovered evidence he had
> stolen money from the firm and its clients.
>
> He resigned as associate attorney general in March
> 1994, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and mail fraud nine
> months later for the theft of nearly $500,000, and
> agreed to cooperate with Whitewater prosecutors.
>
> But his frequent memory lapses and the disclosure that
> some Clinton political supporters -- some at the White
> House's urging -- had paid Hubbell hefty consulting
> fees while he was under investigation prompted a new
> inquiry.
>
> Prosecutors began to explore whether the payments
> amounted to ``hush money'' designed to discourage his
> cooperation. Hubbell and the White House steadfastly
> deny any impropriety.
>
> Among the consulting fees Hubbell received was $100,000
> from the Riady family of Indonesia. Former White House
> chief of staff Mack McLarty, current chief of staff
> Erskine Bowles and ex-Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor
> have all acknowleged trying to help Hubbell find the
> work.
>
> Presidential confidant Vernon Jordan, a key figure in
> the Lewinsky investigation, also introduced Hubbell to
> the vice chairman of MacAndrews & Forbes, a New York
> public relations firm, which paid Hubbell a retainer.
--
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