The Office of Independent Counsel's (OIC) investigation into the receipt of gifts and gratuities by former Agriculture Secretary Alphonso Michael Espy revealed a pervasive pattern of improper behavior by Secretary Espy and his top aide, and by persons and companies regulated by or with business before the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The investigation disclosed that, among other offenses, companies with financially important matters pending before USDA gave Secretary Espy - either directly or via members of his family or his girlfriend - numerous gifts in an effort to garner his favor. (A complete list of gifts OIC found Espy to have received from agricultural interests appears at Section II.A.)
OIC's investigation culminated in the return of a 39-count indictment against Espy, charging multiple violations arising out of his acceptance of things of value from persons and entities regulated by USDA, his concealment of these gifts from the public, and other abuses of his office. The indictment charged that he had received more than $30,000 in gifts and benefits from agricultural interests. At trial, Espy did not dispute receipt of the gifts, but he argued that these gifts did not affect the decisions he made and that he did not have the criminal intent required for a conviction. After a two-month trial, the jury found former Secretary Espy not guilty on all counts.
All told, OIC charged thirteen individuals (including Espy) and six business entities (2) with criminal violations regarding the provision of gifts and gratuities to the former Secretary of Agriculture, the concealment of gratuities from federal investigators, and/or related offenses. Of these, 14 were convicted of or pleaded guilty to one or more offenses (3), and four were acquitted of all charges (4); one person was placed into a pre-trial diversion program (5). OIC also instituted civil prosecutions against two corporations (6) and referred several matters to other federal enforcement agencies. (7)
In addition to the gratuities given directly to Espy and his girlfriend, the investigation focused on election campaign contributions given to the account of Espy's brother, Henry Espy. The donors were persons and companies regulated by the Department of Agriculture who saw Henry Espy's campaign debt, and Secretary Espy's personal concern over that debt, as an avenue to gain the Secretary's favor. Beyond the impropriety of seeking to gain an advantage before a governmental agency in this manner, many of these contributions and related activities were substantively illegal under the election laws and other federal statutes. The illegal contributions exceeded $50,000. Consequently, this area of the investigation resulted in several prosecutions and convictions.
The investigation further disclosed that Secretary Espy's chief of staff, Ronald Blackley, accepted money from persons with business before USDA and concealed this fact from the public, and that Mississippi farmers with ties to Secretary Espy defrauded USDA of federal subsidies. This part of the investigation resulted in criminal convictions of Blackley and several persons and one corporation he had represented.
OIC's investigation led to a number of significant prosecutions. The investigation of Crop Growers Corporation, then the second-largest private seller of federal multi-peril crop insurance, led to the first indictment and conviction in an Independent Counsel proceeding of a publicly-held company and resulted in the largest fine, $2 million, secured by any Independent Counsel up to the time. OIC's prosecution of John J. Hemmingson, Crop Growers' chief executive officer, and Alvarez T. Ferrouillet, a Louisiana lawyer who chaired an effort to retire the congressional-campaign debt of Secretary Espy's brother Henry, was the first to charge and convict individuals for money laundering in connection with illegal federal-election campaign contributions. OIC's investigation later led to the first conviction in approximately 100 years for giving a gratuity to a sitting Cabinet member, with the guilty plea of Tyson Foods, Inc., the nation's leading poultry producer. The plea resulted in a $4 million criminal fine and a $2 million payment toward OIC's investigative costs. The prosecution of Sun-Diamond Growers of California, a large, multi-crop agricultural cooperative, resulted in a Supreme Court decision clarifying the scope of the federal gratuities statute. The civil actions OIC brought against Smith Barney, Inc. and Robert Mondavi Corporation, Inc. were apparently the first instances in which an Independent Counsel resolved charges through civil litigation.
In total, OIC collected more than $10 million in criminal fines, civil recoveries, and restitutionary orders for the United States Treasury. OIC also referred three matters to the Department of Justice for prosecution and one matter to the Federal Election Commission for civil disposition, resulting in the recovery of an additional $560,000 for the United States.
But I thought Espy's case was thrown out of court on appeal? Do you mean to tell me that our Justice System doesn't work?
And here it is made evident that the jury just refused to convict him regardless of the evidence. Two of the counts were for receiving gifts from meat producers. These two counts were under a law that did not require any intent and was not an issue of bribery, merely accepting the gifts at all was illegal, and Espy admitted to accepting the gifts. Ironically, Espy himself voted for this law while a member of Congress.
Now wait just a doggone second! I DISTINCTLY remember Boy Clinton expressing his outrage that this "harrassment" of Espy had turned up absolutely nothing.
Of course, I can also recall Carville saying Ken Starr was on a partisan witchhunt and had come up with absolutley nothing in Whitewater--even though multiple indictments and eventual prison terms came out of the investigation.