LaRouche Gets 15-Year Sentence for Conspiracy and Fraud

Defiantly declaring his innocence, political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. was sentenced to 15 years in prison Friday for scheming to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and deliberately defaulting on more than $30 million in loans from his supporters.

Chief U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan also imposed lesser prison terms and fines on six LaRouche aides who were convicted last month on 35 counts of mail fraud and conspiracy for their roles in the fund-raising effort.

While Bryan was handing down the sentences in Alexandria, government prosecutors dropped all charges in a related case against LaRouche, six associates and five political organizations in U.S. District Court in Boston.

That case, involving charges that LaRouche’s 1984 presidential campaign had raised more than $2 million through credit card and loan fraud, ended in a mistrial last May. A new trial had been slated to begin in February.

In a petition filed in the Boston court Friday, the U.S. attorney’s office said that the criminal convictions against LaRouche and others on Dec. 16 had served the government’s interests “from the point of view of both deterrence and punishment” and that further prosecution was not warranted.

While about 60 followers sang, chanted and picketed outside the Alexandria courthouse, LaRouche told Bryan in a presentencing appeal that he was the victim of a government campaign to “eliminate me from the political scene.”

But the judge scoffed at such claims by LaRouche, a four-time fringe candidate for President, and the other defendants. “I reject that as arrant nonsense,” Bryan said.

Undaunted, LaRouche said, “The vital interests of the United States have been put in jeopardy” by his trial and conviction. “It is time for this evil and reckless prosecution to be brought to a halt before further damage is done.”

“This is not a political case,” retorted U.S. Atty. Kent Robinson. “This was a case of theft.”

Robinson urged Bryan to impose a harsh sentence or “they just might do it again.”

LaRouche’s 15-year term was substantially less than the maximum possible penalty of 65 years in prison and fines totaling $3.25 million for his conviction on 13 counts of tax and mail fraud and conspiracy.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Markham said LaRouche will serve at least five years before he is eligible for parole.

All seven defendants sentenced Friday will appeal, said LaRouche attorney Odin Anderson of Boston. He said LaRouche’s “many powerful enemies have had their day.”

LaRouche is 66 and his lawyers said he suffers from a degenerative eye condition. LaRouche himself has predicted that he will be killed by other inmates if he goes to prison.

Bryan also sentenced William Wertz, fund-raising chief for LaRouche, to five years’ imprisonment and an $11,000 fine. Legal coordinator Edward Spannaus, who complained of a “20-year effort by the FBI and the Department of Justice to crush our philosophical association,” received a five-year term and a $10,000 fine.

Four LaRouche fund-raisers sentenced Friday were Michael Billington and Dennis Small, who each were given three-year terms and $8,000 fines, and Joyce Rubenstein and Paul Greenberg, each sentenced to three years in prison and fined $6,000.

U.S. Atty. Henry Hudson called it “a very satisfying culmination to a very long journey.” But he added: “This will never repay all those victims who have been swindled out of millions of dollars over the years. I feel sorry for those people.”

LaRouche had no visible reaction when Bryan imposed his sentence.

Shortly after noon, he and the other defendants--all wearing handcuffs--were led from the rear of the courthouse to a van that took them to the Alexandria city jail for processing and assignment to a federal prison.

LaRouche did not speak to reporters but smiled and waved to a small knot of supporters from a grilled window of the van as it sped away.

LaRouche spokeswoman Dana Scanlon said demonstrators were mounting a round-the-clock vigil in Lafayette Park with a large, lighted sign reading, “Pardon LaRouche,” visible at the White House across the street.