Clifford Ordered to Stand Trial
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NEW YORK — In a major victory for prosecutors, a state judge ruled Monday that former Secretary of Defense Clark M. Clifford must stand trial in Manhattan on charges of fraud in connection with the BCCI scandal--despite his claims that the legal ordeal would kill him.
Clifford, 85, a confidant of every Democratic President since World War II, had said his serious heart condition would be threatened by a trial. But the judge, rejecting arguments that the indictment should be dismissed because of Clifford’s poor health, said he had read all 9,500 pages of the grand jury proceedings and “the impression on the reader is that the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.”
Clifford and his law partner, Robert Altman, were indicted last July 29 on coordinated state and federal charges that they plotted to hide the Bank of Credit & Commerce International’s ownership in the biggest bank holding company in Washington.
The indictment by Manhattan Dist. Atty. Robert M. Morgenthau charged that Clifford and Altman, 45, received bribes from BCCI “in the form of sham loans and stock deals for themselves and money (designated) as fees for their law firm.”
Monday’s ruling by State Supreme Court Justice John A. K. Bradley left open the possibility that Clifford and Altman could be tried separately.
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