Ex-Prosecutor to Probe Ronald Brown Finances : Ethics: Special counsel Daniel Pearson will examine if commerce secretary filed inaccurate disclosure reports.

A federal appeals court Thursday named Daniel S. Pearson as an independent counsel to look into the financial affairs of Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown. The Miami attorney is the fourth special counsel named to investigate Clinton Administration officials.

Pearson, 64, a former state judge and federal prosecutor, will be asked to determine if Brown broke the law in his private financial dealings or in his public reports of those transactions. Legal sources said the investigation of Brown, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, probably will last well into the 1996 presidential campaign.

Reid Weingarten, Brown’s attorney, said he and his client will cooperate with Pearson, who “has a reputation for being scholarly, experienced and fair.” Pearson is a member of Holland & Knight, Florida’s largest law firm, which has offices throughout that state and in Washington.

Miami attorney Neal R. Sonnett, former president of the National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said Pearson “brings all the right qualities” to his assignment.

*

“He’s extremely bright, with a marvelous reputation for integrity,” Sonnett said. Myles Malman, a former federal prosecutor in Miami, said Pearson has “a good judicial mind-set--he tries to examine an issue from all sides and render a fair judgment.”

Pearson, a graduate of Yale University Law School, was an assistant U.S. attorney for South Florida from 1961 to 1963. He later served as a state appellate judge for nine years and taught courses in trial advocacy at the University of Miami. Although he has defended white-collar crime cases, his practice in recent years chiefly has involved appellate work.

Pearson’s office in Miami said that he would have no immediate statement on the inquiry.

Other independent counsels appointed in recent months are investigating former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy, who resigned last year after allegations that he had accepted favors from companies regulated by his department, and Housing Secretary Henry G. Cisneros, who allegedly provided the FBI with false information about payments he made to his former mistress.

Another special counsel is looking into the financial affairs of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton before they came to Washington, focusing on investments that they made in Whitewater Development Corp., an Arkansas real estate venture.

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, after a 90-day preliminary investigation by the FBI, asked the U.S. Court of Appeals last May to appoint a counsel to consider whether Brown had violated federal law “with his acceptance of things of value” from Washington businesswoman Nolanda Hill and a company in which they both formerly held an interest.

*

The panel of three appellate judges that appointed Pearson adopted Reno’s recommendation, including instructions that Pearson should consider whether Brown filed inaccurate annual financial disclosure reports as a Cabinet member and made false statements on his loan application to purchase a town house two years ago.

Questions chiefly have been raised about a large payment that Brown received from Hill when he severed his ties to their Washington-based First International Communications Corp. upon assuming his government post. The firm owned television properties and was involved in investment banking.

Although he invested no money in the venture, Brown received nearly $500,000 from Hill in a buyout of his 50% interest. As part of that buyout, Hill repaid $190,000 of Brown’s debts for legal bills, credit lines and two mortgages. Hill gave Brown the buyout while she was defaulting on a $24-million obligation to the government by another of her companies, Corridor Broadcasting.

Weingarten said the allegations Pearson will examine are “politically inspired and wholly without merit.” He predicted that Pearson “will quickly put them to rest” after fully reviewing them.