-Caveat Lector- <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/08/politics/08PARD.html> February 8, 2001 Officials Say Investigation Will Go On Despite Presidential Pardon By MICHAEL MOSS Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles said yesterday that they planned to push ahead with their criminal investigation of a businessman pardoned last month by President Bill Clinton, assured that the clemency applied only to crimes he committed two decades ago. But at the same time, a Justice Department official said the prosecutors had lingering concerns that the pardon granted to the businessman, Almon Glenn Braswell, could hamper their inquiry into possible money laundering and tax evasion involving Mr. Braswell's mail-order vitamin and health supplements businesses. Should any charges be brought, the official said, prosecutors anticipated that Mr. Braswell would try to block the case by arguing that Mr. Clinton had indeed pardoned him in connection with this current matter. Moreover, should any charges result in a conviction, the pardon could lessen a sentence by neutralizing past felonies that would typically increase sentencing for a new crime. Mr. Braswell's pardon was one of many granted in the final hours of the Clinton administration. About two dozen felons and possibly more of the 140 pardons granted bypassed the traditional route through the Justice Department, which takes as long as a year to investigate pardon applicants. Rather, they went directly to the White House, which sent their names to the Justice Department as late as the night before Mr. Clinton left office. Yesterday, turmoil still reigned in the department's office of the pardon attorney, where officials were scrambling to write the last of some 20 letters granting pardons for which there was little documentation because they had arrived at the last minute. Mr. Clinton said this week that he had not known that Mr. Braswell was the subject of a current criminal investigation and that he had intended the pardon to cover only Mr. Braswell's 1983 conviction on mail fraud and perjury stemming from false claims about the effectiveness of a treatment for baldness. Mr. Braswell, who lives in the Miami area and runs his businesses from Marina Del Ray, Calif., has not returned repeated calls for comment in the past week. Several lawyers for Mr. Braswell and his companies have declined to comment or did not return calls. It remains unclear how Mr. Braswell, 57, gained access to the White House. He was a big Republican Party supporter in the past two years, until publicity about his felony record last year prompted Republicans, including President George W. Bush's campaign, to return his donation of tens of thousands of dollars. A Clinton spokesman said yesterday that Mr. Braswell had apparently been represented in his pardon bid by Kendall Coffey, a former United States attorney in Miami and part of former Vice President Al Gore's legal effort in Florida in the aftermath of Election Day. But the spokesman, Jake Siewert, said he believed that Mr. Coffey had never spoken with Mr. Clinton about the matter. Mr. Coffey has not returned numerous calls to his office and home since Friday. Jim Kennedy, Mr. Gore's former press secretary, said this week that he had never heard of Mr. Braswell and was not aware that anyone had interceded on his behalf with Mr. Gore. He also said that Charles Burson, the vice president's former chief of staff, was unaware of any involvement by Mr. Gore in the pardon. Mr. Siewert played down reports that the Justice Department was concerned that Mr. Braswell's pardon might affect the current investigation by pointing to a pardon grant letter prepared by the office of pardons that cites only the 1983 case. But that document, dated Jan. 20, was actually prepared this Tuesday, a Justice Department official said. And it stemmed from an assumption of Mr. Clinton's intent by the pardon attorney, since the pardons office had not received any documents from the White House relating to Mr. Braswell's pardon, the official said. "We're playing junior president here," the official said. A Justice Department spokeswoman said it was customary for the pardon attorney to date all clemency grants on the day the president signed a master warrant granting clemency en masse, which does not provide details on the crimes involved in each case. Yesterday, in advance of a hearing set for today, the House Committee on Government Reform released a letter from the Justice Department indicating that the list of problematic pardons may be longer than previously thought. More than 30 people who received pardons or were let out of jail early had not applied to the Justice Department, as is customary. Fourteen others were scrutinized by the department, but their applications were dormant for two years, during which their circumstances might have changed. Meanwhile, the pardons office said it had one last quandary regarding Mr. Braswell: where to send his pardon. An official said the Justice Department had no address for Mr. Braswell or for a representative. "I guess we could ask the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles," the official said. 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