Alleged Pay-for-Pardon Bid by Roger Clinton Is Probed

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating allegations that former President Clinton’s brother, Roger Clinton, solicited payment to help an Arkansas man obtain a presidential pardon in January, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The Roger Clinton matter becomes part of an investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office there, where a federal grand jury was convened recently to investigate the former president’s pardon of ex-fugitive commodities broker Marc Rich. The investigation has since broadened to include other allegations of improper influence over the granting of pardons by the Clinton White House.

Federal prosecutors in New York initiated the investigation after being told by Justice Department officials that Phillip David Young reportedly had been approached by Roger Clinton seeking $15,000 to help secure a pardon, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Young, the owner of a North Little Rock, Ark., restaurant, was said to have turned down the purported offer. He ultimately was pardoned by Clinton for his conviction for illegally transporting game fish across state lines.

Washington officials first learned of Roger Clinton’s alleged role from Young’s attorney, who telephoned them twice in early January. The lawyer said that his client had been approached by a “certain individual” who said he “could make it happen, but that it would cost $15,000.”

Lawyer Eugene O’Daniel of Little Rock wanted to know whether that was proper, and what he should do about it.

A week later, sources said, O’Daniel called back and identified the man soliciting the payment as Roger Clinton. He said that his client had turned the offer down, the sources added.

The lawyer made the phone calls after the Justice Department had made a recommendation on the Young pardon application, but before the president had decided to grant the request, the sources said.

Young, who was sentenced in Louisiana in 1992 to 10 months in prison, had applied for a pardon in November 1998.

Roger Clinton, 44, now lives in Torrance. A sometime rock musician, he often has turned to his older half-brother for help. The president pardoned him on Jan. 20 for a 1980s drug conviction. While he has confirmed trying to get his brother to pardon a half-dozen of his “closest friends,” Roger Clinton insisted in an interview with The Times last month that he never solicited or accepted any money from them.

Young’s name, however, was not on the list that Roger Clinton left in the White House for his brother’s consideration.

New York prosecutors are seeking to determine if Roger Clinton solicited money from Young and, if so, whether he had broken the law by committing fraud, extortion or solicitation of a bribe.

Young, O’Daniel and Roger Clinton could not be reached for comment Wednesday, despite repeated attempts to contact them. A spokesman for Mary Jo White, the U.S. attorney in New York, declined to comment.

Last week, staffers from the Justice Department’s pardon attorney’s office briefed officials of the House Government Reform Committee on a number of irregularities in Bill Clinton’s pardon process. They advised them of the allegation involving Roger Clinton and Young, sources said.

Among those attending the meeting were Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the committee, and pardon attorney Roger C. Adams.

Officials with the pardon attorney’s office said in that session that they would turn over their information “to the criminal division to look at” the matter involving Roger Clinton, one source said.

Burton declined Wednesday to discuss the Roger Clinton matter, but said: “The pardon attorney covered a number of matters. We’re continuing to look into them. I don’t believe that it’s appropriate to disclose those matters at this time.”

On Feb. 22, the Burton committee wrote to Roger Clinton asking him if he had “worked on behalf of any individual who was seeking a pardon or commutation from President Clinton.” He also was asked whether he had “received any payment” for working on behalf of any pardon applicant.

However, the committee did not specifically ask Roger Clinton whether he had solicited any payments or, if so, whether he had been turned down.

But the committee did ask him to “describe any role” he had in the “pardon or commutation requests” for Young and four others.

The letter to Roger Clinton also said that “the committee has received reports that you were involved in representing individuals seeking pardons from President Clinton.”

Committee sources said that Roger Clinton has yet to respond to the letter or to produce any supporting documents, even though the panel had asked him to do so by March 1.

“We’re trying to be reasonable here,” said a committee source. “We’ll give them a few more days.”

Asked what is next, the source said: “We’ll see what he says first.”

Roger Clinton is one of three relatives of the former president who lobbied for pardons. The others are his two brothers-in-law.

Hugh Rodham accepted--and later said he returned--more than $400,000 to press for a commutation for convicted Los Angeles drug dealer Carlos Vignali and a pardon for herbal remedy marketer Almon Glenn Braswell.

Tony Rodham has acknowledged helping a couple who operate a Tennessee-based carnival company obtain a pardon last year for their 1980s convictions on bank fraud.

The New York prosecutors, in their inquiry seeking information about Roger Clinton, also have asked the pardon attorney’s office for any materials relating to the commutations for four Hasidic Jews from New Square, N.Y.

But, one source said, “this was the first time they [the prosecutors] asked about Roger Clinton.”