Clifford, Ex-Partner Settle Last of BCCI Civil Charges
In a quiet end to an affair that once rocked the capital, venerable Washington insider Clark M. Clifford and his former law partner agreed to pay $5 million to settle civil fraud charges in the BCCI banking scandal.
Under a settlement with the Federal Reserve Board announced Tuesday, the 91-year-old Clifford and his protege, Robert Altman, will compensate the depositors and creditors of the now-defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
Altman and Clifford, a Defense secretary under President Johnson and advisor to several other Democratic presidents, neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. In addition, Altman, 50, who practices law in Washington, agreed not to reenter the banking industry without the Fed’s approval. The central bank did not demand such action against Clifford because of his age and ill health.
Clifford and Altman said in a joint statement that they were confident they would have prevailed in fighting the reduced charges against them. However, they said continuing to battle the years-old case “made no sense” because of the expense and Clifford’s frailty.
Clifford and Altman were charged in July 1992 in separate federal and New York state indictments, in addition to the Fed’s civil action, with making millions in illegal profits. They pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting bribes and participating in a massive criminal conspiracy that officials said was designed to give the corrupt, foreign-owned BCCI secret control of U.S. banks.
BCCI illegally owned four U.S. banks, including Washington’s biggest bank holding company at the time, First American Bancshares. Clifford and Altman were BCCI’s principal lawyers in this country and were chairman and president, respectively, of First American.
The Justice Department later dropped its charges against the two men, and Altman was acquitted of New York state charges in 1993 after a lengthy trial. A New York judge dropped all charges against Clifford.
The Federal Reserve eventually dismissed some of its civil fraud allegations against the pair.
“When this case arose seven years ago, we publicly denounced the sensational charges against us as wholly untrue,” Clifford and Altman said in their statement Tuesday. “Subsequent events have proven the accuracy of our statements.”
The ruling family of the Persian Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi owned 77% of BCCI before it collapsed amid allegations of arms smuggling, drug money laundering and financing of terrorists. It operated in 70 countries.
BCCI pleaded guilty in December 1991 to federal fraud charges and forfeited $550 million in assets, the biggest forfeiture in U.S. history. In a plea bargain, the foreign bank acknowledged that it illegally owned First American and the three other U.S. banks.
