After President Clinton nominated Ron Brown to become secretary of commerce, the Senate moved quickly to confirm the appointment. The 52-year-old lawyer who chaired the Democratic National Committee had helped put Clinton in the White House. Two days after Clinton moved into the Oval Office, Brown as sworn in. The consummate insider, Ron Brown had moved into one of the most important jobs in Washington.
Within a matter of weeks, however, Brown faced allegations that he had agreed to accept a $700,000 payment from the Vietnamese government in exchange for helping lift the United States trade embargo against its former enemy. U.S. News has learned that in late February, the FBI’s Miami field office opened a criminal investigation into the allegations, which warranted the official inquiry because of Brown’s status as a public official. There is no evidence that Brown cooperated with the Vietnamese in any official capacity. If he did, he could face criminal charges. Brown has known of the inquiry for some time and has refused to discuss it. In a statement this week, his office said: “The secretary categorically and unequivocally denies he has ever had any business, financial or professional relationship with any Vietnamese individual, organization or group, or any person claiming to represent Vietnamese government or business interests.”
The inquiry is described by law enforcement officials as “sensitive.” It is being monitored by FBI headquarters and at the Justice Department in Washington. The FBI will neither confirm nor deny the existence of the inquiry, but law-enforcement sources say that, after five month, the investigation is “active.” U.S. News confirmed that witnesses have been interviewed by FBI agents in the past few weeks.
The investigation, nevertheless, appears fraught with problems. The principal source of the allegations against Brown is a man named Ly Thanh Binh. A business consultant who lives in Tamarac, Fla., Binh told FBI agents that Brown was approached by a former partner of Binh’s in November 1992. The man, Florida resident Nguyen Van Hao, wished to enlist Brown’s help in lifting the trade embargo against Vietnam. Binh said. Binh and Hao had been partners in a consulting venture called Vietnam Development Corp., which hoped to create business opportunities in Vietnam. According to Binh, Hao told him the Vietnamese government had agreed to pay Brown $700,000 for his help in getting the trade embargo removed; he said Hao told him the money was being transferred to an account at Banque Indosuez in Singapore.
The FBI has proceeded carefully. According to knowledgeable sources, Binh was administered a polygraph test on February 25; he was found to be “not deceptive.” Binh also gave the FBI what he said were contemporaneous notes of his talks with Hao. It was only after this that FBI agents began pursuing the case actively. There is no indication that any evidence has been presented to a grand jury, however, and Brown has not been contacted by the FBI.
There are many hurdles facing the investigators. For one thing, Binh has told the FBI that he never met or talked to Brown; he says he heard of the alleged scheme only from Hao. Thus, some of Binh’s evidence would be considered hearsay and inadmissible in a criminal trial. Further, Binh had a falling out with Hao as a result of their business dealings; a Hao relative suggests Binh has a motivation to discredit Hao. Binh denies this. Hao, a former top South Vietnamese official who was a onetime economic adviser to the Communist government after the fall of Saigon, declines to discuss the matter. “Hao will not dignify the comments of Binh with a response,” says his lawyer, James McGuirk.
Most troubling to the FBI inquiry is this: There is no evidence to show that Brown received $700,000 or any money through Hao or other parties. The bank account in Singapore has not been located. Indeed, law-enforcement officials say, at this stage in the inquiry, the FBI agents have been unable to determine whether Brown was part of an illicit scheme or merely a victim of other people attempting to trade on his name.
Proper talk. In a series of interviews with U.S. News, Binh described the substance of the allegations he has made to the FBI. This is a summary of his account: Through a middleman, Hao first attempted to get in touch with Brown last year. In mid-November, Hao instructed Binh to send Brown a Federal Express package outlining the Vietnam Development Corp. business plan for Vietnam. A week later, Hao and Brown discussed the plan at a meeting in South Florida. Hao said Brown was interested in representing Vietnam. On November 28, Binh, Hao and two other men flew to Vietnam, where they met with Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. Hao gave the prime minister Brown’s business card and a copy of a newspaper story that identified Brown as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. In the interviews, Binh emphasized that he believed that the discussions between Hao and Brown were entirely proper through this period of time. Brown then was a lawyer in private practice and in the past had earned much of his income as a lobbyist.
By mid-December, things had changed, Binh says. He recalls seeing news reports that Brown had been named to serve as commerce secretary. Binh says he told Hao that they could no longer ask Brown to be involved in their efforts because it would create a conflict of interest for Brown. Shortly after Christmas, however, Binh says, Hao said he intended to continue working with Brown. According to the account Binh provided to the FBI, Hao said Brown planned to help get the trade embargo lifted and that he had asked for a $700,000 fee. In his interviews with U.S. News, Binh also said that Hao bragged that he had access to $50 million for investment in Vietnam; the money, according to Hao, was in a Swiss bank account controlled by deposed Haitian dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.
To proceed with the investigation any further, FBI agents must confirm the essentials of Binh’s account. In the past month, FBI agents have questioned Hao at his Coral Springs, Fla., home. According to someone close to Hao, he denied Binh’s assertions. Agents have also interviewed a Pompano Beach businessman named Marc Ashton, who associate of Duvalier’s. Ashton also knows Hao, who worked as a consultant in Haiti during the 1980s.
FBI agents believe Ashton may have information that would shed light on Binh’s allegations. Binh told the bureau that Hao was introduced to Brown last year by a man Binh had never met. Binh knew the man only by the first name of “Marc.” Hao described Marc as a trusty. friend of Brown’s, Binh said. U.S. News was told that Ashton introduced Hao to Brown last year. This account was provided by an attorney, Robert Wunker, who represents both Hao and Ashton. In an interview, Wunker said there had been “discussions” between Hao and Brown. But the attorney insisted these talks were proper--and that they stopped once Brown was nominated as commerce secretary on December 12. “Nothing happened,” Wunker said. “Brown never was retained.”
Though Binh did not know Ashton, FBI officials are known to believe that Ashton would have been a plausible middleman. The president of a small Florida company that packages and sells gourmet meals, Ashton has known Brown since at least the early 1980s, when Brown worked as a lobbyist for the Duvalier government. Ashton declined to talk with a reporter who visited his office. Ashton’s friendship with Brown was con firmed, however, by Ashton’s sister-in-law Lillian Madsen. “Brown knows everybody,” said Madsen, 49, who describes herself as a “close personal friend” of the commerce secretary’s.
The various players are now being studied by FBI agents. Law-enforcement officials say the investigation has been hampered by Binh’s decision to take his story public to various news organizations. However the FBI investigation turns out, Washington seems to be moving steadily toward better relations with Vietnam. A delegation led by senior U.S. diplomat Winston Lord was in Vietnam last month to discuss a number of matters. Next month, President Clinton must decide whether to renew the U.S. trade embargo. The embargo was imposed in 1975, after North Vietnam took over South Vietnam.