-Caveat Lector-
Lawyer Aided by Bill Joined in Kidnap Plot
By GREG B. SMITH
New York Daily News Staff Writer
Federal prosecutors, furious that former President Bill Clinton
cut a corrupt Manhattan lawyer's sentence in half, have released
documents showing the attorney was involved in a "chilling"
kidnap plot, the Daily News learned yesterday.
On his way out of office, Clinton trimmed the prison sentence of
lawyer Harvey Weinig from more than 11 years to less than six,
despite aggressive opposition by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Mary Jo
White.
Weinig pleaded guilty in 1995 to helping launder $19 million in
drug money for the Cali cocaine cartel.
Late last week, White quietly asked Judge Kevin Duffy to unseal
secret presentence reports detailing Weinig's involvement in a
kidnapping by one of his co-conspirators.
The documents reveal that the other man had kidnapped a business
partner who he said owed him money.
"He seized a person," Weinig told his law partner, Robert Hirsch,
who was cooperating with the FBI and taping the conversation.
"He'll be released as soon as the family produces money."
Hirsch asked Weinig, "He's holding a person, and you really don't
see any problem with that?" He then worried that the kidnap
victim might call the police.
Weinig replied nonchalantly, "He's not in a position to call the
police ... and when he's let go, will he want to call the police
and say, 'I was held hostage'?"
Later, Weinig tried to justify the kidnapping, reasoning that the
victim owed his co-conspirator money.
"You know he's kidnapping someone who owes him money here. ...
It's not drug money, it's money. He's lost some good money,"
Weinig said while being taped.
He then arranged to have the victim's family drop the ransom
payment at his law office. He made sure to be out of the office
when the payment arrived.
In a March 1996 letter to Duffy unsealed Feb. 9, prosecutor Lev
Dassin argued, "Under any standard, Weinig's conduct —
particularly as a lawyer — was chilling."
Dassin also revealed a recorded talk in which Weinig boasted
about pocketing $1 million in drug money.
As a result, Duffy slammed Weinig — a wealthy lawyer with homes
on Riverside Drive and in Amagansett, L.I. — with the maximum
sentence.
But Weinig hired Reid Weingarten, who represented Mike Espy, then
Clinton's agriculture secretary, in a corruption case. Unlike
other Clinton pardons, such as the Marc Rich case, which did not
go through the usual channels, Weinig's commutation request was
submitted to the Justice Department.
Weinig is scheduled to walk out of New Jersey's Fort Dix federal
prison April 16 — five years ahead of schedule.
Original Publication Date: 2/16/01
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
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