FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS EXECUTIVE IN GRATUITIES CASE.Byline: David Johnston David Johnston can refer to more than one person:
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 Times A federal grand jury in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden has indicted INDICTED, practice. When a man is accused by a bill of indictment preferred by a grand jury, he is said to be indicted. an executive at a huge California agricultural cooperative on charges that he gave $10,780 worth of illegal gifts to Mike Espy, then agriculture secretary, and orchestrated a scheme to funnel illegal political contributions to Espy's brother. The 19-count indictment against the executive, Richard Douglas, a close friend of Espy, was brought by Donald C. Smaltz, the independent prosecutor investigating whether Espy violated gratuities laws that prohibit Cabinet officials from accepting most gifts. The indictment was returned Tuesday evening and announced Wednesday. From 1983 to 1996, Douglas was a senior vice president for public affairs at Sun-Diamond Growers of California, the agricultural group whose 4,500 grower-members last year produced $670 million worth of raisins, walnuts, prunes, figs, hazelnuts and other commodities. Douglas' lawyer, John M. Dowd John M. Dowd (born February 11, 1941), an American lawyer. He received his J.D. from Emory University School of Law. Career As of 2006 Dowd is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer and Feld. , said Wednesday that he would fight the charges and he accused the prosecutor of racial bias in bringing the case in California. ``Mr. Douglas' former employer, Sun-Diamond, was already tried in the District of Columbia District of Columbia, federal district (2000 pop. 572,059, a 5.7% decrease in population since the 1990 census), 69 sq mi (179 sq km), on the east bank of the Potomac River, coextensive with the city of Washington, D.C. (the capital of the United States). for Douglas' alleged gratuities to Michael Espy,'' Dowd said. ``The case against Douglas should be brought in Washington, D.C. Instead, for reasons that appear to be racially motivated, the independent counsel has chosen to avoid this forum and bring the gratuity Money, also known as a tip, given to one who provides services and added to the cost of the service provided, generally as a reward for the service provided and as a supplement to the service provider's income. case in California.'' Douglas is African-American, and Dowd said he believed the special prosecutor special prosecutor: see independent counsel. had avoided the District of Columbia as the venue for the case because of the likelihood that the jury pool would reflect the city's majority African-American population. A spokesman for Smaltz denied the accusation. The charges against Douglas, which included making false statements to investigators, came as little surprise after Sun-Diamond was convicted in Washington last month of illegally giving gifts to Espy when he was in the Clinton Cabinet. Neither Douglas nor any other corporate official was charged in the case, but Douglas was the official who spent the cooperative's money for Espy's benefit. A conviction of the most series charges against Espy, mail and wire fraud, carry a prison sentence of five years and a fine of $250,000 for each count. The charges brought the inquiry one step closer to Espy. But his lawyer has denied that Espy ever did a favor for Douglas or that the gifts were barred by the gratuities law because the two men have been close friends for 26 years, since they attended Howard University. Espy resigned as secretary of agriculture in December 1994. ``This is yet another attempt to coerce someone to say something bad about Mike Espy,'' said Reid Weingarten, Espy's lawyer. ``One wonders how many decent, honorable people like Richard Douglas will have to get hurt before this independent counsel realizes that Mike Espy has committed no crimes.'' In the period Douglas spent the money on behalf of Espy, the Agriculture Department was weighing changes to an export grant program affecting the company and was considering whether to phase out the use of methyl bromide methyl bromide Toxicology An insecticide and rodenticide, which is a volatile fumigant 3-fold denser than air and absorbed through skin, producing narcosis, pulmonary edema, renal tubule damage, jacksonian convulsions, CNS depression, peripheral neuropathy; , a chemical used by some growers to fumigate fu·mi·gate v. To subject to smoke or fumes, usually in order to exterminate pests or disinfect. fu walnuts, prunes and figs. The prosecutors said Douglas bought Espy a $2,427 luggage set, $665 in meals and a framed print and a crystal bowl that cost $524. The prosecutor said that Douglas once spent $9,000 on a weekend outing in New York in which he provided Espy and a friend with limousine service and $2,295 worth of tickets to the U.S. Open tennis tournament. Sun-Diamond reimbursed Douglas for most of his expenses. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Mike Espy Inquiry gets closer to him |
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