ESPY CASE YIELDS INDICTMENT AGAINST STATE GROWERS GROUP.Byline: Robert Greene Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A California agribusiness agribusiness Agriculture operated by business; specifically, that part of a modern national economy devoted to the production, processing, and distribution of food and fibre products and byproducts. firm lavished gifts on former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy Alphonso Michael Espy, usually called Mike Espy, (born November 30, 1953) was a U.S. political figure. From 1987 to 1993, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi. He served as the Secretary of Agriculture from 1993 to 1994. and his girlfriend and illegally pitched in to help retire his brother's political debts, an indictment alleged Thursday. The indictment against Sun-Diamond Growers, a Pleasanton-based company representing five cooperatives, says the company gave Espy and his girlfriend $9,000 worth of meals, entertainment, gifts and other gratuities from early 1993 through March 1994. The gratuities allegedly were channeled through Richard Douglas, the cooperative's former top lobbyist, who had been Espy's friend since their college days. The indictment is the first in the investigation by independent counsel Donald C. Smaltz to allege To state, recite, assert, or charge the existence of particular facts in a Pleading or an indictment; to make an allegation. allege v. that the former Clinton Cabinet member received gifts from anyone. The investigation was sparked by such allegations, but earlier indictments focused on alleged fraud by farmers and illegal corporate contributions to Espy's brother, Henry. The indictment alleges five counts of illegal gratuities and wire fraud, each punishable by fines of up to $500,000, and four counts of illegal campaign contributions punishable by fines of up to $200,000 each. ``Sun-Diamond Growers categorically denies all charges brought by the independent counsel,'' the cooperative's attorney Eric Bloom said from his Washington office. He said the company would respond in court to the ``impropriety of the prosecution, the incredible overreach overreach the error in a fast gait when the toe of a hindhoof of a horse strikes and injures the back of the pastern of the leg on the same side. overreach boot of the charges and the utter falsity of the charging allegations.'' Douglas, identified in the indictment by position but not by name, took Espy and his girlfriend to the U.S. Open The term U.S. Open is applied to "open" United States national championships in a particular sport, in which anybody, amateur or professional, American or non-American may compete. These include:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of in September 1993 at Sun-Diamond's expense, the document says. Espy's share of tickets, meals and limousines was worth $2,300, the indictment says. Douglas also bought Espy five pieces of Hartmann luggage worth $2,427 in January 1993, $665 worth of meals over several months and a framed print and crystal bowl worth $524, the indictment says. Moreover, it alleges that Sun-Diamond paid $3,100 for travel by Espy's girlfriend to a May 1993 World Tree Nut Congress in Athens, Greece, that Espy also attended. Sun-Diamond's five cooperatives grow raisins, prunes, figs, walnuts and hazelnuts, with combined 1995 sales of $672 million. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion