Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990 TAG: 9007120331
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The sweeping fraud provisions, developed this week by a bipartisan group, would imprison crooked "S&L kingpins" for up to life, expand use of the potent RICO conspiracy law and authorize $528.5 million for hundreds more prosecutors and investigators.
The omnibus anti-crime package, similar to measures moving through the House, also would furnish $332 million for more federal law enforcement agents and grant $900 million to assist state and local drug-fighting efforts.
The legislation was approved after Democrats and Republicans maneuvered for nearly two months to demonstrate which side is tougher on crime.
The partisan bickering flamed hottest on the savings and loan issue, with senators fearing voter backlash as the federal cost of bailing out collapsed institutions reaches an estimated $500 billion over 30 or 40 years.
Senate Democrats had hoped to push through a fraud prosecution package far exceeding a 1989 request by President Bush, underscoring accusations that Republican administrations were to blame for the crisis.
But Bush made a pre-emptive strike last month, announcing with fanfare his own expanded bundle of enforcement measures, as Senate GOP leaders simultaneously accused the Democratic-controlled Congress of responsibility for the savings and loan scandals.
Eventually, a bipartisan group headed by Sens. Timothy E. Wirth, D-Colo., and John Heinz, R-Pa., met with Department of Justice officials and put together the package that was wrapped into the anti-crime bill. Major provisions would:
Enable federal prosecutors to bring criminal and civil actions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act for eight additional bank fraud offenses.
Authorize wiretapping in bank-fraud investigations.
Imprison S&L "kingpins" for 10 years to life and fine them up to $20 million. A kingpin would be someone who, in concert with at least three others, illicitly gains more than $5 million over a two-year period.
Impose mandatory minimum sentences in cases of fraud involving more than $1 million against federally insured S&Ls, banks and credit unions.
Establish a special counsel in the attorney general's office to coordinate saving-and-loan fraud investigations and prosecutions.
Reduce barriers to restitution for victims of financial fraud.
Pay rewards of up to $500,000 for information leading to the recovery of fraudulently obtained assets.
Heinz said the measure is "designed to recover funds for the American taxpayer and to punish those who treated federally insured savings and loans like a personal piggy bank."
In moving to reinstitute the federal death penalty 18 years after it was struck down, the Senate provided safeguards required by the Supreme Court in 1972. The bill expands the death penalty to cover 33 crimes, including murder, espionage, treason, aircraft hijacking, kidnapping, hostage taking and operations by "drug kingpins."
The bill also would expand a ban on military-style assault weapons. Last summer, Bush banned the import of 47 models, but he and the National Rifle Association strongly opposed the provision by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., that extends the ban to 14 other models, most of them American-made.
by CNB