'Very good reasons' for Marc Rich's pardon?

[Doug Henwood]

Brad DeLong wrote:

>That's it. I'm formally getting off the train. I've had enough of 
>this m*****f***** Clinton.

There's more...


New York Times - January 24, 2001

Influential Backers Helped Commodities Trader Win Pardon
By PATRICK McGEEHAN and ALISON LEIGH COWAN

As part of his successful last- minute bid for a pardon from 
President Clinton, Marc Rich, the commodities trader who had evaded 
prosecution for 18 years, received letters of support from dozens of 
politicians, financiers and officials of charitable organizations 
that were given to Mr. Clinton last month.

While Mr. Clinton's pardon of Mr. Rich on Saturday stunned United 
States law enforcement officials, the effort to obtain it was no 
secret to dozens of influential people in this country, Europe and 
Israel. The list of people who wrote letters for or about Mr. Rich in 
the last two months of 2000 is a virtual Who's Who of Israeli society 
and Jewish philanthropy. It includes Shabtai Shavit, a businessman 
who once headed Israel's secret intelligence arm; Zubin Mehta, the 
managing director of Israel's Philharmonic; two former mayors of 
Israeli cities, and several museum directors.

More than 20 people joined Mr. Rich's ex-wife, Denise Rich, in 
addressing letters to President Clinton seeking a pardon, and more 
than 50 others wrote letters to Mr. Rich or his charitable foundation 
simply attesting to his generosity. The letters were attached to a 
request for a pardon that was sent directly to President Clinton in 
December by three lawyers representing Mr. Rich.

The application makes no mention of contrition on the part of Mr. 
Rich, emphasizing instead his philanthropic efforts and the suffering 
it says he has endured in exile in Switzerland and Spain. The only 
blame is reserved for federal prosecutors and the lawyers who handled 
Mr. Rich's original defense, which, his current lawyers wrote, 
"followed an unfortunate" strategy of no communication and no 
negotiation.

Mr. Rich and his former partner, Pincus Green, have lived in Europe 
since they fled the United States during an investigation into their 
oil- trading activities that led to a 1983 indictment on 51 counts of 
tax evasion, racketeering and violating sanctions against trading 
with Iran. Neither man is now a United States citizen, the 
application to Mr. Clinton says, though it does not address how that 
came about.

The pardons granted to both men on Saturday eliminated the charges 
and freed them to return to the United States, said Robert F. Fink, a 
partner in the Manhattan law firm Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe. 
Mr. Fink teamed with Jack Quinn, a former chief of staff to Vice 
President Al Gore and a former counsel to President Clinton, and 
Kathleen Behan, a lawyer in Washington.

The pardon has drawn harsh criticism from prosecutors and former 
prosecutors, including Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was the United 
States attorney in Manhattan when the men were charged. The first 
word of the pardon, which did not make the usual rounds inside the 
Justice Department, reached lawyers in the United States attorney's 
office on Saturday morning, leaving them "shocked and absolutely 
flabbergasted," said one person who works there.

In their petition, Mr. Rich's lawyers argued that the "recalcitrant 
and unreasonable refusal" by the federal prosecutors to negotiate 
with them unless Mr. Rich returned left a presidential pardon as the 
only way to "resolve the controversy."

Mr. Clinton said on Sunday that Mr. Quinn had persuaded him to grant 
pardons to Mr. Rich and Mr. Green, but he did not elaborate and he 
referred questions to Mr. Quinn. Mr. Quinn referred calls to Mr. 
Fink, who said he believed the president had been convinced that the 
criminal charges against the men had not been justified.

Ms. Rich, a prominent fund-raiser for the Democratic Party, also 
called the White House to ask for a pardon for her ex-husband, Mr. 
Fink said. A spokesman for Ms. Rich had said on Monday that she had 
not been involved in the effort to obtain a pardon and was surprised 
when it was granted.

Yesterday, Ms. Rich hired a new spokesman, Howard J. Rubenstein, and 
is said to be looking to hire a lawyer. Mr. Rubenstein said: "Denise 
Rich is happy for her children that her ex-husband has been pardoned. 
Of course, she supported his application."

Mr. Rich's lawyers were able to call in favors from many high-level 
executives and officials in Israel who had crossed paths with Mr. 
Rich. "Marc Rich has been one of our most important private 
individuals involved in the leading issues of our times," said Yaakov 
Neeman, Israel's finance minister, in a letter dated Nov. 29.

Shabtai Shavit, the head of Israel's intelligence arm, Mossad, from 
1989 to 1996, and now a businessman, wrote a letter dated Nov. 28 in 
support of the application. "As head of Mossad," he wrote, "we 
requested his assistance in looking for M.I.A.'s and help in the 
rescue and evacuation of Jews from enemy countries."

Many of the letters attesting to his years of good works were faxed 
to the attention of Avner Azulay at the Rich Foundation in Tel Aviv.

For instance, Israel's Philharmonic "has been privileged to enjoy a 
close and special friendship with the Rich Foundation," wrote Zubin 
Mehta on Nov. 20.

No kindness was too small to recall: "Thank you again for the air- 
conditioner for the blind couple," wrote Shlomo Lahat, the former 
mayor of Tel Aviv, on Nov. 26.

Some letter writers could not resist including some dismay about 
gifts not made. Jonathan Halevy, the director-general of Shaare Zedek 
Hospital, acknowledged the gifts his organization received from 1981 
to 1994 but could not resist adding, "The hospital has regretfully 
received no further support from the foundation since 1994."