Legal News

With Rich, Libby and Holder in the News ? It?s Like 2001 All Over Again

By Ashby Jones

With today’s news about Eric Holder (pictured, left) being candidate uno for the AG slot, it nearly guarantees we’ll soon be reacquainted with some names from the recent past, like Scooter Libby and Marc Rich. Back then, Holder, Rich and to a lesser degree, Libby (pictured, right), were at the center of one of the more controversial maneuvers of President Bill Clinton’s eight years, which took place in the waning hours of his presidency.

Early on Jan. 20, 2001, hours before George W. Bush was to take office, Clinton pardoned billionaire financier Marc Rich. In 1983, Rich had been indicted in federal court of evading more than $48 million in taxes. He was also charged with 51 counts of tax fraud and with running illegal oil deals with Iran during the hostage crisis. The indictment happened while Rich was in Switzerland, and he refused to return to the U.S. to stand charges. He stayed on the FBI’s most-wanted list for years.

Clinton defended the pardon, saying tax experts (including Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s husband, Georgetown tax guru Marty) had told him that Rich had committed no crime. Still, Clinton got pilloried for allegedly allowing the pardon to be “bought” — Rich’s wife Denise had given large donations to both Clinton’s presidential library and the Democratic Party during Clinton’s term. Ultimately, an investigation was held, but U.S. Attorney James Comey found no criminal behavior.

Where do Libby and Holder come in? Libby was Marc Rich’s lawyer for over a dozen years. Eric Holder, it turns out, was still a deputy attorney general in Washington in January 2001, and signed off on Marc Rich’s pardon. According to this AP story, Holder has publicly apologized for what he said was a snap decision that he should have paid more attention to. Had he taken more time to review the case, he would have advised against a pardon, he said.

Fast forward to, well, today. For starters, it may well be Libby looking for a pardon soon (Libby was convicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges last year). And whether Eric Holder gets confirmed by the Senate as AG for the U.S. might turn on how Senate Republicans view his signing off on the Rich pardon.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).