Whitewater Witness Gets 28-Month Term
David Hale, the prosecution’s chief witness in the Whitewater trial of three former associates of President Clinton, was sentenced Monday to 28 months in prison and fined $10,000 under a plea agreement made two years ago.
Hale, a former Arkansas businessman and onetime municipal judge, also was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution to the federal government.
Hale pleaded guilty in March 1994 to defrauding the Small Business Administration through his government-backed venture capital company, Capital Management Services Inc., which was chartered to loan money to disadvantaged or minority business borrowers.
He has charged that Clinton, while Arkansas governor, pressured him into making an illegal $300,000 loan in 1986 to Susan McDougal, who along with her then-husband, James B. McDougal, was an investment partner with the Clintons in the Whitewater real estate development. The McDougals and Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who succeeded Clinton in office, are on trial in Little Rock, Ark., for conspiracy and loan fraud.
Clinton has called Hale’s charge “a bunch of bull.” Hale is expected to testify within the next two weeks, and Clinton has been subpoenaed to give videotaped rebuttal testimony for the defense.
The president also has denied allegations that he and his wife benefited personally from the loan when the McDougals passed $30,000 of the money through the account belonging to the Whitewater land venture.
In all, the McDougals and Tucker are charged with obtaining about $3 million in loans from Hale under false pretenses.
Defense attorneys have attacked Hale’s credibility, claiming that he lied to obtain a reduced sentence for his offenses. Hale faced a maximum possible punishment of 10 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines. He also faces state charges in Arkansas.
In recommending a reduced sentence, independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr told the court: “Mr. Hale has been not just useful but highly useful to the government,” adding that his cooperation with prosecutors has “exposed his family to risk and inconvenience.”
U.S. District Judge Stephen M. Reasoner, who imposed sentence, chastised Hale: “You’re not a victim. You’re anything but a victim.”
