New LaRouche Fraud Trial Set for October

A federal judge said Friday that the new fraud and conspiracy trial of Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. and his associates could last a year, but the defense said it would try to keep the proceedings from starting in October.

At a hearing in U.S. District Court, lawyers for the political radical said they would appeal Judge Robert E. Keeton’s decision ordering a new trial.

LaRouche, six aides and five political organizations are charged with conspiring to obstruct a federal grand jury investigation into allegations that LaRouche’s 1984 presidential campaign raised more than $2 million through credit card and loan fraud.

The defense has maintained that the FBI and CIA infiltrated LaRouche’s organizations to fabricate evidence of fraud.

Keeton, who ordered the new trial Thursday, three months after a mistrial was declared, said he plans to schedule daily court sessions starting Oct. 3 and will screen prospective jurors to guard against complaints about the trial’s eventual duration.

Keeton halted the trial in May, after four jurors complained about the length and conduct of the case and were excused. The first trial began last December.