Reply #200: These links are very quick and dirty, but it gets the main jist across

[MADem]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Rich
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3071886/
It's not like he got off scott-free, either. I'll bet if Ken Lay made FULL restitution, people wouldn't mind if he got a deferred sentence or probation, or a pardon, so much.

There are some who aver that he was pardoned, not for his ex-wife's active and generous role in politics (she wanted her children's father to retain his freedom) but because he was a US or possibly allied intelligence asset. It was interesting that many very high-level Israeli officials were also lobbying hard for his pardon. He has a file at CIA that Congress asked for, but they refused to hand it over. Beyond that, who really knows what the full story was.