FEDS PROBING HILL By AL GUART
April 28, 2002 -- EXCLUSIVESenior Justice Department officials have traveled to Brazil twice to interview runaway business- man Peter F. Paul about his financial dealings with Bill and Hillary Clinton, The Post has learned.
Paul, 52, claimed Hillary Clinton's campaign for Senate in 2000 reported on federal election records only about $500,000 of the $1.9 million he laid out for a lavish, star-studded fund-raiser in Hollywood on Aug. 12, 2000.
Documents obtained by The Post show Justice officials flew to Sao Paulo for two days last August, and returned for two more days last October to question Paul, a convicted felon in prison there fighting extradition to the United States to answer charges arising from his failed business venture with Stan Lee, the creator of the Spider-Man comic-book character.
Sources told The Post the feds offered Paul a deal in which he would plead guilty to outstanding federal charges in New York and California and become a "cooperating witness" into Clinton fund-raising and "other matters."
As first reported by Post columnist Robert Novak last year, Paul has told investigators he covered the $1.9 million cost of the Hollywood fund-raiser as part of a plan to get Bill Clinton to raise the profile of Stan Lee Media, which at the time owned the Spider-Man rights and wanted to use the character in a worldwide marketing scheme.
When that proposal fell through, Paul approached a Democratic National Committee official about the possibility of a presidential pardon for his past crimes from then-President Clinton, sources said. He was not pardoned.
Paul, who received handwritten letters of thanks from both Clintons after the fund-raiser, later filed a lawsuit to recoup his alleged outlays for the Hollywood event. The suit was dismissed last year, because Paul was a fugitive, but could be re-filed if he returns to the United States.
Paul's lawyer, Larry Klayman, a founder of Judicial Watch - an organization that has filed numerous lawsuits against the Clintons - said "Mrs. Clinton should be significantly worried about this, especially since the Justice Department said everything Peter told them is checking out."
Robin Johansen, a lawyer for the Clintons, called Paul's claims "ludicrous."
Paul's Hollywood event, dubbed the "Bill Clinton Farewell Tribute" but in fact a fund-raiser for the outgoing president's wife, featured performances by Cher, Diana Ross and Melissa Etheridge. It netted $1.5 million for Hillary's Senate bid, according to Paul's lawsuit.
Justice Department spokeswoman Jill Stillman declined comment on the case.