Reply #26: Interesting editorial from NYT from 1993:

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The last two paragraphs stand out. Remember - Bill never mentions one word about BCCI in his book.


The End of the B.C.C.I. Case?


Published: August 19, 1993



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The verdict confirms that however much B.C.C.I. sought a foothold in American banking, its major criminal mischief in the form of drug financing, money laundering and banking fraud occurred abroad. That's where most of the victims, depositors and shareholders in a $12 billion bust reside, and where several nations must continue to search for wrongdoers.

To his credit, Mr. Morgenthau prodded investigators in Congress and the Justice Department to inquire into B.C.C.I.'s alleged control of First American Bank, once the largest bank in the nation's capital. Seeing a basis for alleging a scheme to defraud New York State bank regulators, he brought more far-reaching charges than the Justice Department did and took the charges to trial first.

Unlike the Federal grand jury, Mr. Morgenthau added a questionable charge of bribery. Mr. Clifford and Mr. Altman, officers and lawyers for First American, made millions by purchasing stock in their bank with money loaned by B.C.C.I. It was a greedy transaction, but was it a bribe? The trial judge said there wasn't enough evidence even to submit that charge to the jury.

In earlier testimony before a Senate investigating committee, Mr. Clifford and Mr. Altman said they had naively assured Federal regulators that First American was free of B.C.C.I.'s control. They said they had been duped about the international bank's illegal activities. Intentionally or not -- and intent matters a lot -- they were highly compensated for putting their own reputations on the line for B.C.C.I. The jury verdict found no crime -- either because there was insufficient proof of B.C.C.I. control, or insufficient proof of intent to mislead, or both.

The acquittal may prompt the Justice Department to abandon any plans it may have had to prosecute its own case. That would extricate both men from criminal liability, though not from pending civil lawsuits -- including one from the Federal Reserve Board, which insists that it was deceived about B.C.C.I.'s role in American Bankshares. Mr. Morgenthau, meanwhile, still hopes to bring B.C.C.I.'s overseas leaders to trial in New York.

Perhaps other investigations at home and abroad will bring more telling evidence to the surface. Even though the New York inquiry hit an embarrassing snag, it is much too soon for the Justice Department to walk away from the unanswered questions -- including why Justice itself failed for years to help Mr. Morgenthau and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts in their efforts to expose B.C.C.I.'s corruption.