August 28, 1997

Former agriculture secretary Mike Espy indicted

By JAMES ROWLEY
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal grand jury today charged former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy with 39 counts of illegally soliciting and accepting gifts from large food producers and trying to cover up his actions.

The grand jury charged that Espy "solicited, received and accepted" more than $35,000 in gifts, trips, sports tickets, and other favors from large agribusinesses that dealt with USDA when he headed the agency between 1993 and 1994.

Espy was also charged with witness tampering and lying to investigators about his receipt of gifts, including tickets to a pro basketball game.

"He attempted to conceal his actions by lying to USDA inspector general representatives, by lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and by lying to the executive office of the president," said independent counsel Donald Smaltz, who has been investigating Espy for almost three years. No trial date has been set, Smaltz said.

Among other things, Espy was charged with ordering a USDA employee to alter a document requested by investigators to conceal that a Tyson Foods Inc. lobbyist paid for him and his girlfriend to travel to a National Football League playoff game in Dallas.

The indictment charges that Espy ordered the employee to delete references to Tyson, his girlfriend, and the football game when his travel itinerary for that day was requested by the USDA's inspector general.

That count alone carries a maximum 10-year prison term upon conviction. Espy is also accused of concocting a pretense for traveling to Dallas on official business by scheduling a meeting with a local USDA investigator "for the purpose of justifying his presence" in that city.

Espy's law office in Jackson, Miss., said Espy was not immediately available for comment. Reid Weingarten, Espy's defense attorney in Washington, also was not immediately available for comment.

Espy resigned in December 1994, three months after the independent counsel began his investigation. The former Mississippi congressman has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

The indictment also charged that Espy lied to the White House when it investigated the allegations as part of an ethics review and failed to disclose the gifts on his government financial disclosure report.

If convicted of all 39 charges and sentenced consecutively he could face a jail term of more than 100 years. The indictment includes charges of wire fraud, mail fraud and traveling in interstate commerce to commit crimes.

Among the sources of gifts was a lobbyist for Tyson Foods Inc., the Arkansas-based chicken processor. The company acknowledged in June it was a target of the investigation, but has professed its innocence of any wrongdoing.

Tyson Foods general counsel James Blair said today that prosecutors would not be able to prove that Espy "took illegal favors from Tyson Foods."

"I don't believe that, because I don't believe it happened," Blair said.

Answered Smaltz: "I'm sure Tyson will have its day in court sometime in the not-too-distant future."

In May, a federal judge fined Sun Diamond Growers of California, the largest grower of raisins, prunes and other dried fruits, $1.5 million for giving Espy $6,000 in illegal gratuities and for illegally donating $4,000 to the failed congressional campaign of Espy's brother, Henry.

Sun Diamond lobbyist Richard Douglas is awaiting trial in San Francisco on charges of lavishing favors and gifts on Espy and his girlfriend, Patricia Dempsey.

Smaltz was appointed to investigate whether Espy violated the law by accepting tickets to a Dallas Cowboys football playoff game and $1,009 in air fare for himself and his girlfriend from Tyson lobbyist Jack L. Williams.

Williams was found guilty in March of lying about providing the football and airline tickets to Espy. But in June, a federal judge set aside Williams' conviction and ordered a new trial. Prosecutors had argued that Williams lied to hide his knowledge of giving gifts to Espy on behalf of Tyson.

Smaltz was also investigating why the Tyson Foundation gave a $1,200 scholarship to Dempsey.

Douglas is accused of giving Espy a $2,427 set of luggage and a $4,590 trip for him and his girlfriend to the 1993 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York City.

Douglas is also accused of lying to investigators about the source of two National Basketball Association playoff tickets that Espy received from the chief executive officer of Quaker Oats. The indictment against Douglas charges that he told investigators he got the tickets from a friend who was an NBA player.

The indictment against Douglas said that Espy lied to investigators about how he obtained the tickets to the June 1993 NBA playoff game between the Chicago Bulls and Phoenix Suns. Espy told a USDA employee to get the tickets, but a year later told FBI agents he had received them from Douglas, that indictment said.