LaRouche Not Called to Testify; Defense Rests

Defense lawyers rested their case Wednesday in the tax and mail fraud conspiracy trial of political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. without summoning him to testify.

In their closing arguments, government prosecutors said LaRouche and six associates deliberately deceived supporters who lent his controversial political movement more than $30 million but were never repaid.

They also said LaRouche, 66, a perennial minor party political candidate, conspired to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by having his personal expenses paid by corporations he controls and pretending he had no taxable income.

Seen as Victims

Defense attorneys told the trial jury that LaRouche and his aides were not guilty of all charges and hinted that they were victims of a vengeful government. “These people are not crazy, and they are not foolish,” said William Moffitt, an attorney for defendant Dennis Small, a LaRouche fund-raiser.

LaRouche told a reporter that he was not called to the witness stand because his testimony would only “gild the lily” of the defense case.

Chief U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. said he would send the case to the jury today.

LaRouche and the six associates are charged with raising millions of dollars in loans from supporters without any intention of repaying them. LaRouche also is accused of conspiring to cheat federal tax collectors by allegedly concealing his true income. He has not filed income tax returns since 1978.

If convicted on all 13 counts, LaRouche faces a maximum penalty of 65 years in prison and fines totaling $3.25 million.

Prosecutor John Markham told the jurors the charges contained in a federal grand jury indictment had nothing to do with LaRouche’s political ideas. He said they were based on the way the LaRouche organization raised its money.

“The ends, however noble they may be . . . is not the point and does not justify lying to people to get their money,” Markham said.

Defense lawyer Moffitt said the LaRouche people were not foolish enough to believe their money-raising efforts were certain to be a failure, and he denied that they had set out to deceive their lenders.