-Caveat Lector- <http://www.time.com/time/nation/printout/0,8816,99807,00.html> Saturday, February 17, 2001 Bill, How Low Can You Go? Apparently it may be a bottomless pit. TIME's Elaine Shannon and Viveca Novak investigated the pardon of Harvey Weinig and mined some gems. BY ELAINE SHANNON AND VIVECA NOVAK President Clinton's pardon of fugitive billionaire Marc Rich ignited the firestorm ‹ but inside the Justice Department, career prosecutors are also burning over the clemency grant for Manhattan lawyer Harvey Weinig, sentenced in 1996 to 11 years in prison for facilitating an extortion-kidnapping scheme and helping launder at least $19 million for the Cali cocaine cartel. In Weinig's case, Clinton didn't bypass the Department of Justice ‹ he defied it. When Weinig petitioned DOJ for a commuted sentenced last April, US Attorney Mary Jo White of New York ‹ whose office also indicted Rich ‹ objected. Justice Pardon Attorney Roger Adams agreed, and so did Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder, who sent a formal memorandum to White House counsel Beth Nolan with the department's negative views. But Reid Weingarten, Weinig's well-connected lawyer, took his case to Nolan, Clinton chief of staff John Podesta and Presidential confidante Bruce Lindsey, pleading that Weinig's law professor wife Alice and two sons had suffered enough. "I submitted a binder that made people cry," Weingarten told TIME, though he wouldn't release the names of those who wrote letters on Weinig's behalf. "It was very compelling." Perhaps even more persuasive was former White House aide David Dreyer, who is related by marriage to Weinig. "I think of him as my cousin," Dreyer says, explaining that he appealed to Podesta and Nolan for "an act of mercy." "Harvey went to prison, he knew he'd made a mistake, both his sons were profoundly affected by this and his wife was laboring on alone," Dreyer says. "It was my hope something could be done to save this family." Weingarten says Weinig's sentence was longer than any of his 22 co-defendants ‹ and besides, he was not a mastermind, but, as one of his defense team put it, "uncommonly stupid." Weingarten and Dreyer say they did not talk to Clinton personally, but the message got through. In his last hours as President, Clinton slashed Weinig's sentence to five years and 270 days. Last week, White, reportedly fuming, released transcripts of secret government tapes that recorded Weinig's scheme to embezzle $2.4 million from the Cali drug lords. They appear damning, and evidence of, if not uncommon stupidity, at least an uncommon lack of regard for the vengeance of drug kingpins: "We're dealing with people who are total assholes who are out of control, who are scumbag, lying cheats," Weinig told his skittish partner. "F___ 'em.! F___ 'em! I'm taking a million dollars and let's see (them) get it from me. " Weinig will be going home in April ‹ just in time to face fresh cadres of investigators. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
