Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 15, 1993 TAG: 9308150027
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Jurors found Altman, 46, innocent of four counts of engaging in a scheme to defraud bank regulators and of submitting false records for filing with regulators.
Prosecutors had charged that deceit allowed BCCI, whose customers included dictators and drug barons, to secretly gain control of a major U.S. bank, First American Bankshares Inc. of Washington.
Five other counts accusing Altman of engaging in a conspiracy with BCCI, taking bribes and falsifying business records had been dismissed earlier.
Both the jury and members of Altman's family erupted in cheers as the first of Saturday's verdicts was read in court.
Altman's wife, actress Lynda Carter, burst into tears, then leaped into her husband's arms moments after the jurors were excused.
"My husband has been innocent all along and 12 people just proved that," said Carter, who played "Wonder Woman" on television.
A beaming Altman thanked everyone in the courtroom.
"This is a prosecution that never should have been brought," he said. "The government put on a five-month trial and we put on a five-minute defense."
After the acquittal, Altman, his family and attorneys met the jurors in a courtroom hallway and a noisy, jubilant scene ensued.
"This man was innocent from the start, from the very first witness," said one of the jurors, Internal Revenue Service employee Ricardo Palacio. "There were no doubts in my mind."
The acquittal came after a trial that began in March and included testimony from 45 witnesses. Entered into evidence were hundreds of documents describing in painstaking detail BCCI's role in the 1982 takeover of First American Bankshares by wealthy Middle Eastern investors.
The verdict marks a setback for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, which was widely credited with breaking open the international banking scandal.
"We accept the verdict, of course. Justice has been served," District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said in a statement released Saturday night.
"However, our investigation of BCCI continues," Morgenthau said. Indicted with Altman in July 1992 was his law partner, former Defense Secretary Clark Clifford.
Clifford, a confidant to Presidents Truman, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter, is recuperating from heart surgery and was determined to be too ill to stand trial.
Clifford and Altman were attorneys for BCCI, the Middle Eastern investors of First American and senior executives at First American.
by CNB