121 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
121 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: FEDERAL CORRUPTION FILE: UFO2769
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
PART 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Filename: Harry2.Art
|
|
Type : Article
|
|
Author : Harry Martin
|
|
Date : 03/15/91
|
|
Desc : Federal Corruption Series Part II
|
|
|
|
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
|
|
HOW THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT USED THE BANKRUPTCY COURT
|
|
By Harry V. Martin
|
|
Second of a New Series
|
|
(c) Copyright Napa Sentinel, 1991
|
|
March 15, 1991
|
|
Reprinted with permission of the Napa Sentinel
|
|
|
|
|
|
The corruption of the bankruptcy system is endemic of a political
|
|
patronage system with its roots going back to former U.S. Attorney
|
|
Edwin Meese, according to many former employees of the Department of
|
|
Justice. The INSLAW case--reported last week in the "Napa Sentinel"--is
|
|
a microcosm of the entire system.
|
|
|
|
As a result of the INSLAW cases, many heads in the Justice Department
|
|
were lopped off. When Judge George Bason, a bankruptcy court judge,
|
|
refused to liquidate INSLAW, ruling instead that the Department of
|
|
Justice used deceit, trickery and fraud, he was only one of four who
|
|
were not re-appointed to their jobs. A total of 132 were re-appointed.
|
|
|
|
But to show the collusion of the Justice Department, when it removed
|
|
Judge Bason from the bench after his ruling against them and for
|
|
INSLAW, they had S. Martin Teel appointed to the bench to replace
|
|
Bason. Who was Teel? He was a Department of Justice attorney who
|
|
unsuccessfully argued the INSLAW case before Judge Bason.
|
|
|
|
Tony Pasciuto admitted that he was ordered to pressure the bankruptcy
|
|
judge to rule against INSLAW. After being subpoenaed by INSLAW's
|
|
attorney, Pasciuto was offered a long-awaited transfer by the Justice
|
|
Department from Washington, D.C. to Albany, New York. Pasciuto bought a
|
|
home in Albany and then changed his testimony. After the testimony was
|
|
completed, the Justice Department cancelled his transfer. Pasciuto had
|
|
to commute from Albany to Washington.
|
|
|
|
Former Attorney General Elliott Richardson made a list of the
|
|
baffling questions of why the Justice Department wanted INSLAW declared
|
|
insolvent and why it wouldn't pay a $6.8 million settlement to the
|
|
small company. INSLAW received an offer to sell their company and they
|
|
refused. The buyer informed the company that he had powerful political
|
|
influence and "We have ways of making you sell." Within 90 days of that
|
|
threat, the Justice Department commenced its attack on INSLAW.
|
|
|
|
The company that made the attempt to buy INSLAW had financial
|
|
connections to Meese and some of Meese's cronies. When the battle
|
|
ended, INSLAW was broke, an attorney, a Justice Department
|
|
whistleblower and a judge were out to work, but INSLAW was saved by a
|
|
corporate giant--IBM--who rescued the company virtually from the
|
|
auction block.
|
|
|
|
The company that allegedly made the threat was Hadron. It has had
|
|
brushes with the Security Exchange Commission, it has gone to the brink
|
|
of being broke and one of its companies has been accused by the SEC of
|
|
fraud and manipulation of stock prices, the company lost $4.3 million
|
|
in one year. It soon sunk $12 million in the red.
|
|
|
|
But once Meese became Attorney General, Hadron suddenly received
|
|
lucrative Pentagon contracts, along with the Agency for International
|
|
Development. The company was also awarded a $40 million contract from
|
|
the Justice Department, despite protests against the bidding process.
|
|
One member of Hadron's board was Dr. Earl Brian, who was in Reagan's
|
|
California cabinet along with Meese. Meese was chief of staff in
|
|
California. The Deputy Attorney General was D. Lowell Jensen, who had
|
|
competed against INSLAW years earlier. The person in charge of making
|
|
Justice Department payments for INSLAW's software--and who didn't--was
|
|
an employee who had been fired from INSLAW. Jensen was also in trouble
|
|
when the Senate was investigating the Iran-Contra scandal. Apparently
|
|
the Senate committee discovered a memo written by Jensen to the
|
|
National Security Council warning that the Miami federal prosecutors
|
|
where on Ollie North's trail. The memo revealed that the Justice
|
|
Department, who was supposed to prosecute the Iran-Contra affair,
|
|
actually was tipping off the government in advance.
|
|
|
|
One Justice Department official testified at the INSLAW hearing that
|
|
INSLAW's software could be dangerous. Thomas Stanton testified "INSLAW
|
|
could besmirch the U.S. Trustee program." The program is so
|
|
sophisticated that it could trace all assets, track all trustees and
|
|
judges. Another Justice Department employee stated that the U.S.
|
|
Trustee program was flagrantly political. "It was a way of getting
|
|
cronies into office. There would be 50 or 60 positions to be filled...
|
|
it was Meese's baby." The official also stated, "It was always puzzling
|
|
to me how he got away with what he got away with. He'd do things that
|
|
were blatantly wrong and no one would question him--it's kind of
|
|
scary."
|
|
|
|
The Meese program would concentrate too much power in one government
|
|
department. "It's supposed to act as a watchdog over lawyers and
|
|
trustees, but the problem is it's more. It has a considerable amount of
|
|
power to control the administration of cases. When a case moves from
|
|
bankruptcy to liquidation, the U.S. Trustees office names the trustee,
|
|
who converts the assets, oversees the auction, and retains appraisers
|
|
who will put a price tag on the leavings. The U.S. Trustee's program
|
|
also links Justice and the IRS. The thing that's a little frightening
|
|
about it is that the U.S. Trustee department sees itself as a part of
|
|
the tax-collecting function of government. The Justice Department
|
|
represents the IRS, and the IRS is often the biggest creditor in
|
|
liquidation," states a leading bankruptcy attorney.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
**********************************************
|
|
* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
|
|
********************************************** |