In March 1995, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno secured the appointment of an Independent Counsel, David Barrett to investigate allegations that Cisneros had lied to FBI investigators during background checks prior to being named Secretary of HUD. He had been asked about payments that he had made to former mistress Linda Medlar, also known as Linda Jones. The affair had been ‘public knowledge’ for a number of years - during the 1992 presidential campaign, U.S. Treasurer Catalina Vasquez Villalpando publicly referred to Cisneros and candidate Clinton as “two skirt-chasers” - but Cisneros lied about the amount of money he had paid to Medlar. The investigation continued for three and a half years.
In December, 1997, Cisneros was indicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, giving false statements and obstruction of Justice. Medlar used some of the Cisneros hush money to purchase a house and entered into a bank fraud scheme with her sister and brother-in-law to conceal the source of the money. In January, 1998, Medlar pleaded guilty to 28 charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and obstruction of justice.
In September, 1999, Cisneros negotiated a plea agreement, under which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI, and was fined $10,000. He did not receive jail-time or probation. He was pardoned by President Bill Clinton in January 2001 ( See: List of people pardoned by Bill Clinton). The independent counsel investigation continued after the pardon focusing on alleged obstruction of justice. In May 2005, Senator Dorgan (D-ND) proposed ending funding for the investigation; negotiators refused to include the provision in a bill funding military operations in Afghanistan. The funding at that point for the investigation totaled $21 million.
According to a New York Daily News report on October 3, 2005, “lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress. ... Lawyers at the Washington firm Williams and Connolly who work for Cisneros and both Clintons have argued to judges overseeing the case that allegations of illegal activity, for which no charges were filed, should be snipped before the report is made public.” [2].
JANUARY 14, 2000 : (SENIOR US DISTRICT JUDGE SPORKIN RETIRES; WAS FORMER GENERAL COUNSEL TO THE CIA & ALSO ENFORCEMENT CHIEF OF THE SECURITIES & EXCHANGE COMMISSION — See CISNEROS) Senior U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin is retiring today after 14 years on the federal bench, ending a judicial career in which he won respect from area lawyers, not only for his legal opinions but for the colorful remarks he made in court. Sporkin, 67, was appointed to a federal judgeship in Washington by President Ronald Reagan after working as general counsel to the Central Intelligence Agency and as enforcement chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He heard dozens of high-profile matters, including an independent counsel’s case against former housing secretary Henry G. Cisneros, who pleaded guilty to a charge of lying to the FBI.
Sporkin said he planned to continue working in private practice, adding that he will begin exploring career options. Fellow judges, court employees and attorneys crowded into his courtroom yesterday and gave him a standing ovation as he completed his last scheduled proceedings. Chief Judge Norma Holloway Johnson praised him in court as an exceptional model of judicial independence, fairness, courage and compassion. - “Federal Judge Stanley Sporkin Retires,” Washington Post Metro Section, page B03, on Friday, Jan. 14, 2000, Metro in Brief :