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'''Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr.''' (born ], ]), ] political activist, leads political organisations in the United States and other countries. He is a perennial candidate for ], but has never gained significant electoral support and is not accepted as a legitimate political figure. He is generally seen as an extremist or a ] leader, frequently accused of being a ] and ]. His followers, however, regard him as an important economist and a major political figure. In ] LaRouche was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges involving illegally soliciting unsecured loans and tax code violations. '''Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr.''' (born ], ]), ] political activist, leads political organizations in the United States and other countries. He is a perennial candidate for ], but has never gained significant electoral support. His opponents depict him as an extremist or a ] leader, and frequently accuse him of being a ] and ]. His followers, however, regard him as an important economist and a major political figure. In ] LaRouche was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges involving illegally soliciting unsecured loans and tax code violations.


==Early career== ==Early career==
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After leaving the Army in ], LaRouche attempted to resume his university education, but again dropped out of Northeastern and took a factory job in ]. By now LaRouche was disillusioned with orthodox Communism and in ] he joined the ] (SWP), a small ] party. In the SWP he used the pseudonym Lyn Marcus. In ] he moved to ] and married a fellow SWP member, Janice Neuberger. After leaving the Army in ], LaRouche attempted to resume his university education, but again dropped out of Northeastern and took a factory job in ]. By now LaRouche was disillusioned with orthodox Communism and in ] he joined the ] (SWP), a small ] party. In the SWP he used the pseudonym Lyn Marcus. In ] he moved to ] and married a fellow SWP member, Janice Neuberger.


LaRouche remained in the SWP until ], making him a veteran member in a group which always had a high turnover of members. He now maintains that he was soon disillusioned with Marxism and stayed in the SWP only as an informant for the ]. His ex-wife and other SWP members from that time dispute this, saying that he was a loyal and zealous party member, although this is not definitive evidence that he was not an FBI informer. During these years LaRouche developed interests in economics, ], ], business management and other subjects. He separated from Janice in ] (they had one son, Daniel, born in ]). LaRouche remained in the SWP until ], making him a veteran member in a group which always had a high turnover of members. During these years LaRouche developed interests in economics, ], ], business management and other subjects. He separated from Janice in ] (they had one son, Daniel, born in ]).


In ] LaRouche was expelled from the SWP and became a supporter of the ] dissident Trotskyist leader ], leader of the British ] (ancestor of the later ]). LaRouche was heavily influenced by Healy's conspiratorial world-view and his advocacy of violence and intimidation, something foreign to the intellectual tradition of mainstream Trotskyism. He was briefly linked with the U.S. Healyite leader ] and also with the ], another Trotskyist group. In ] LaRouche left from the SWP and became a supporter of the ] dissident Trotskyist leader ], leader of the British ] (ancestor of the later ]). He was briefly linked with the U.S. Healyite leader ] and also with the ], another Trotskyist group.


In the late 1960s LaRouche moved in the growing radical milieu of New York as an independent Trotskyist, giving classes on "]" to members of ], the ] (PLP) and other radical groups. He was heavily involved in SDS despite not being a student, and in the PLP's internal battles despite not being a member. Once again, LaRouche now maintains that he was an FBI agent during all this activism, but his closest colleagues from this period dismiss this suggestion as absurd. In the late 1960s LaRouche moved in the growing radical milieu of New York as an independent Trotskyist, giving classes on "]" to members of ], the ] (PLP) and other radical groups. He was heavily involved in SDS despite not being a student, and in the PLP's internal battles despite not being a member.


==LaRouche and NCLC== ==LaRouche and NCLC==


The turning point in LaRouche's career came in ], when he formed the ] (NCLC), a grouping of ex-SDS activists and other ex-Trotskyists. Despite its name, the NCLC had no connection with the labor movement, being composed mainly of students, ex-students and professional activists like LaRouche. The NCLC soon developed the hallmarks of a ], with a charismatic leader (LaRouche), a ] and conspiratorial ideology, and an esoteric vocabulary known only to initiates. NCLC members gave up their jobs and private lives and became entirely devoted to the group and its leader. The turning point in LaRouche's career came in ], when he formed the ] (NCLC), a grouping of ex-SDS activists and other ex-Trotskyists. Despite its name, the NCLC had no connection with the labor movement, being composed mainly of students, ex-students and professional activists like LaRouche.


In the 1970s LaRouche began to warn that the U.S. was drifting toward fascism.
In the 1970s LaRouche developed an intense interest in fascism, and began to adopt some of its slogans and practices, while maintaining (as he still does) an outward stance of anti-fascism. He began to regard himself and his followers as "]," superior to all other people, and under his direction the NCLC adopted the violent and disruptive tactics of fascist groups of the 1920s and '30s, physically attacking meetings of the SWP, the ] and other groups, who were classed as "left-protofascists." NCLC members engaged in a series of well-documented beatings of members of these groups. Some ex-NCLC members who left the group at this time say that LaRouche was studying the career of ] and consciously adopting the tactics of the early ].

During the 1970s LaRouche steered the NCLC away from the left and towards the extreme right, while retaining some of the slogans and attitudes of the left (as did the founder of fascism, the ex-Socialist ], and many others since). The Marxist concept of the ] was converted by LaRouche into a gigantic ], in which world capitalism was controlled by a secret cabal including the ], the ], ], the ] and other standard villains of the extreme right. LaRouche added some novel variations on this theme, including ] on his list of conspirators.

Although LaRouche has always denied accusations of ], the word "]", the common extreme right code word for "]" began to appear in LaRouche propaganda in the 1970s. LaRouche developed connections with the ] and the ], a leading extreme right group, both well-known for anti-Semitism. In NCLC publications the Jews were accused of running the ], controlling ] and the ]. By the mid 1970s, LaRouche had progressed to ], and accusations that the "Zionist lobby" controlled the U.S. government and the ]. Any American professing "Zionist loyalties" was, he said, a "national security risk."

In ''The Case of Ludwig Feuerbach'' (]), LaRouche (under the pen name L. Marcus) said that "Jewish culture... is merely the residue left to the Jewish home after everything saleable has been marketed to the Goyim." In an editorial in ''New Solidarity'' in ] he wrote: "America must be cleansed for its righteous war by the immediate elimination of the Nazi Jewish Lobby and other British agents from the councils of government, industry, and labor." Some of LaRouche's conspiracy theories appear to border on self-parody, "Who is pushing the world toward war?" he asked in ]. "It is the forces behind the ], the ], and the heritage of ] and the evil ]."

In the 1980s LaRouche's political rhetoric and accusations grew more detached from generally accepted reality. Hitler had been a British agent. Queen Elizabeth was a drug runner. ] was a Nazi. ] were "a product shaped according to British Psychological Warfare Division specifications." Both Communism or Fascism were facets of the great overarching conspiracy of the "Synarchy," an oligarchical network of financiers and manipulators who rule the world. Only LaRouche and his "humanist elite" fully understood this vast conspiracy, and possessed the willpower and knowledge to withstand it. LaRouche's personal egotism is a significant force driving his politics. In ] he wrote: "My principal accomplishment is that of being, by a large margin of advantage, the leading economist of the twentieth century to date."


==Presidential bids== ==Presidential bids==
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From the late 1970s to the present, LaRouche has pursued a dual strategy. He has continued to promote his apocalyptic conspiracy theories and to make regular predictions of imminent economic catastrophe. These are a staple of the extreme right, although also characteristic of Trotskyism. At the same time he has sought to enter the political mainstream by contesting elections and ]. In ] he founded the ] as a vehicle for electoral politics, but this achieved no success and was wound up in ]. In ] he ran for ] as a U.S. Labor Party candidate, polling 40,043 votes (0.05%). From the late 1970s to the present, LaRouche has pursued a dual strategy. He has continued to promote his apocalyptic conspiracy theories and to make regular predictions of imminent economic catastrophe. These are a staple of the extreme right, although also characteristic of Trotskyism. At the same time he has sought to enter the political mainstream by contesting elections and ]. In ] he founded the ] as a vehicle for electoral politics, but this achieved no success and was wound up in ]. In ] he ran for ] as a U.S. Labor Party candidate, polling 40,043 votes (0.05%).


Since ] LaRouche has concentrated on infiltrating his followers into the ]. In ] he formed a body called the ] (NDPC), a name designed to convey the impression that it is part of the Democratic Party. Since ] LaRouche has run for the Democratic nomination for ] six times. He is running again in ], although as a convicted felon he is not eligible to be a registered voter in the state of ], where he lives. The Democratic Party has consistently asserted that LaRouche is not a Democrat, but the U.S. electoral system makes it possible for him and his followers to enter Democratic primaries. LaRouche himself has polled negligible vote totals, but continues to promote himself as a serious political candidate, a pretension which is sometimes accepted by elements of the media and some political figures. In ] LaRouche abandoned the "third party" approach, and joined the ]. In ] he formed a body called the ] (NDPC), a ]. Since ] LaRouche has run for the Democratic nomination for ] six times. He is running again in ], although as a convicted felon he is not eligible to be a registered voter in the state of ], where he lives. The ] has consistently asserted that LaRouche is not a Democrat, but the U.S. electoral system makes it possible for him and his followers to enter Democratic primaries. LaRouche himself has polled negligible vote totals, but continues to promote himself as a serious political candidate, which is sometimes accepted by elements of the media and some political figures.


The use of the NDPC name has, however, allowed LaRouche followers to compete seriously in Democratic primaries for lesser offices, and even occasionally to win them. The best known example was in ], when a LaRouche candidate, ], won the Democratic primary for the post of Lieutenant-Governor of ]. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Senator ], refused to run on the same ticket as Fairchild and formed a new party for the election. Fairchild's victory was attributed to low voter turnout and a poor "regular" candidate, but also to some genuine support for the LaRouche anti-establishment message. NDPC have won several other Democratic primaries in various states, but LaRouche's organisations have never suceeded in entering the mainstream. LaRouche followers have competed seriously in Democratic primaries for lesser offices, and even occasionally won them. The best known example was in ], when two LaRouche candidate, ] and ], won the Democratic primary for the posts of Lieutenant-Governor and Secretary of State in ]. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Senator ], refused to run on the same ticket as Fairchild and formed a new party for the election. Fairchild's victory was attributed to low voter turnout and a poor "regular" candidate, but also to some genuine support for the LaRouche anti-establishment message. LaRouche candidates have won several other Democratic primaries in various states, but LaRouche's organizations have never suceeded in entering the mainstream.


Some of the LaRouche organisation's successes have come from exploiting public fears about the ], which they blame on international conspirators. In ] LaRouche wrote: "It is in the strategic interests of Moscow to see to it that the West does nothing to stop this pandemic; within a few years, at the present rates, the spread of AIDS in Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas would permit Moscow to take over the world almost without firing a shot." This, like most of LaRouche's apocalyptic predictions, has been proved totally inaccurate, but this has not prevented his followers continuing to depict him as a genius and a prophet. The LaRouche organization has involved itself in the controversy over the ]. In ], it published a report warning that one consequence of the ] ] demands upon Africa would be the return of old, previously conquered epidemic diseases, as well as the potential emergence of new pandemic diseases. In ] LaRouche wrote: "It is in the strategic interests of Moscow to see to it that the West does nothing to stop this pandemic; within a few years, at the present rates, the spread of AIDS in Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas would permit Moscow to take over the world almost without firing a shot." In ] and ], the LaRouche organization placed propositions on the California State Ballot, which would have restored HIV infection to the state list of communicable diseases, subject to ] law. These measures were defeated after being opposed by the California Medical Association, among others. However, in the early 1990s, the CMA reversed its position on public health measures with respect to HIV.


==Criminal charges== ==Criminal charges==


By the 1980s LaRouche and his second wife, the German-born ], had built a extensive political network, including the ] in Germany, headed by Zepp-LaRouche, and branches in several other countries. The ] claimed to have affiliates in ], ], ], ] and several South American countries. In ] LaRouche operatives took over an older extreme-right group, the ] (CEC), and regularly contest elections. The LaRouche organisation publishes a twice-weekly newspaper, ''The New Federalist'' and a weekly newsmagazine, ''Executive Intelligence Review''. The LaRouche publishing house, Benjamin Franklin Books, issues a steady stream of works by LaRouche and his followers. The real membership of LaRouche's organisation is not known. By the mid-1970s LaRouche and his second wife, the German-born ], had built a extensive political network in western Europe. In ] Zepp-LaRouche founded the ] in Germany. The ] claimed to have affiliates in ], ], ], ] and several South American countries. In ] LaRouche operatives took over an older extreme-right group, the ] (CEC), and regularly contest elections. The LaRouche organization published a twice-weekly newspaper, ''New Solidarity'' and a monthly science magazine, ''Fusion'', which were both closed, in an unprecedented action, by the U.S. Government in 1986. It presently publishes a weekly newspaper, ''The New Federalist'', a weekly newsmagazine, ''Executive Intelligence Review'', and two quarterly journals: ''Twenty First Century Science and Technology'', and ''Fidelio'', a "journal of poetry, science and statecraft." The LaRouche publishing house, Benjamin Franklin Books, issues a steady stream of works by LaRouche and his followers. The real membership of LaRouche's organization is not known.

⚫ The size of the LaRouche empire led to investigations of the source of its apparently extensive financial resources. LaRouche fundraisers were accused of fraudently soliciting loans from LaRouche supporters, for which prosecutors alleged there was no intention to repay. In October ] the FBI and Virginia state authorities raided the LaRouche headquarters in ] in search of evidence to support the persistent accusations of fraud and extortion made against LaRouche. He and six associates were charged with conspiracy and mail fraud, and LaRouche was also charged with conspiring to hide his personal income since ], the last year he had filed a federal tax return.

The government first filed, on April 20, ], an unprecedented involuntary bankruptcy petition against two LaRouche-controlled publications companies on whose behalf the loans had been solicited. Federal trustees were placed in charge of the companies, and they immediately suspended repayment of loans to creditors (who were, for the most part, political supporters of the LaRouche movement). LaRouche and his associates were then indicted for a conspiracy to fail to repay those loans, and the judge in the trial, ] ruled that the defense would not be permitted to discuss, or even allude to, the involuntary bankruptcy.


In ] of ], LaRouche was convicted in the conspiracy trial.
The size of the LaRouche empire led to investigations of the source of its apparently extensive financial resources. Like most cults, the LaRouche organisation devotes much of its energy to the sale of literature and the soliciting of small donations at airports and on university campuses. It also operates more sophisticated ] groups, soliciting donations by phone, usually under the guise of various patriotic front organisations to conceal the real source of the phone calls. More seriously, however, LaRouche was accused of fraudently soliciting "loans" from vulnerable elderly people, sometimes giving completely misleading explanations for the loan ("funding the ]" or "finding a cure for AIDS"). The funds thus raised were then directed into a maze of dummy companies so as to avoid both taxation and attempts to recover the "loans."


On October 25, ], Judge Martin V.B. Bostetter ruled that the government's bankruptcy action was illegal. Bostetter said the government acted in "objective bad faith" and the bankruptcy was obtained by a "constructive fraud on the court." However, the appeal on the conspiracy and fraud charges, which were a case completely separate from the involuntary bankruptcy, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; at each stage of the appeals process, the courts declined to hear the appeal.
⚫ In October ] the FBI and Virginia state authorities raided the LaRouche headquarters in ] in search of evidence to support the persistent accusations of fraud and extortion made against LaRouche. He and six associates were charged with conspiracy and mail fraud, and LaRouche was also charged with conspiring to hide his personal income since ], the last year he had filed a federal tax return. In December ] a federal jury in ] convicted LaRouche and his associates, and LaRouche was sentenced to fifteen years in prison, of which he served five.


The prosecution alleged that LaRouche and his staff solicited loans with false assurances to potential lenders and showed "reckless disregard" of the facts. Assistant U.S. Attorney ] presented evidence that LaRouche's organisation had solicited US$34 million in loans since ]. The most important evidence was the testimony of lenders, many of them elderly retirees, who had lost thousands of dollars in loans to LaRouche that were never repaid. Several witnesses were LaRouche followers who testified under immunity from prosecution. The prosecution alleged that LaRouche and his staff solicited loans with false assurances to potential lenders and showed "reckless disregard" of the facts. Assistant U.S. Attorney ] presented evidence that LaRouche's organisation had solicited US$34 million in loans since ], of which $294,000 was not repaid. The most important evidence was the testimony of lenders, many of them elderly retirees, who had lost thousands of dollars in loans to LaRouche that were never repaid. Several witnesses were LaRouche followers who testified under immunity from prosecution.


In addition to LaRouche, his chief fund-raiser, ], was convicted on ten mail fraud counts. LaRouche's legal adviser, ], and several other fundraising operatives were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. LaRouche denied all the charges, calling them "an all-out frame-up by a state and federal task force," and said that the federal government was trying to kill him. "The purpose of this frame-up is not is not to send me to prison. It's to kill me," LaRouche said. "In prison it's fairly easy to kill me... If this sentence goes through, I'm dead." This proved to be another false prediction: LaRouche was released unharmed in ]. In addition to LaRouche, his chief fund-raiser, ], was convicted on ten mail fraud counts. LaRouche's legal adviser, ], and several other fundraising operatives were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. LaRouche denied all the charges, calling them "an all-out frame-up by a state and federal task force," and said that the federal government was trying to kill him. "The purpose of this frame-up is not is not to send me to prison. It's to kill me," LaRouche said. "In prison it's fairly easy to kill me... If this sentence goes through, I'm dead." This proved to be a false prediction: LaRouche was released unharmed in ].


Prominent radical political figure and former U.S. Attorney General ] has tried to clear LaRouche's name, arguing that investigators and political opponents had abused the legal process to eliminate him. Clark wrote in 1995, in a letter to then serving Attorney General ]: "I bring this matter to you directly, because I believe it involves a broader range of deliberate and systematic misconduct and abuse of power over a longer period of time in an effort to destroy a political movement and leader, than any other federal prosecution in my time or to my knowledge."
One of the most damning aspects of the trial was the revelation of LaRouche's personal corruption. While lenders were told that LaRouche had no money to repay their loans, he in fact spent US$4.2 million on real estate in Virginia and on "improvements" to his 200-acre Leesburg estate. These included a swimming pool and horse riding ring.


==External links== ==External links==

Revision as of 15:01, 30 June 2004

Template:TotallyDisputed

File:Ac.larouche.jpg
Lyndon LaRouche

Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche, Jr. (born September 8, 1922), American political activist, leads political organizations in the United States and other countries. He is a perennial candidate for President of the United States, but has never gained significant electoral support. His opponents depict him as an extremist or a cult leader, and frequently accuse him of being a fascist and anti-Semite. His followers, however, regard him as an important economist and a major political figure. In 1988 LaRouche was sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges involving illegally soliciting unsecured loans and tax code violations.

Early career

LaRouche was born in Rochester, New Hampshire, where his father, an immigrant from Quebec, was a shoe salesman. He was raised as a Quaker and educated at Northeastern University in Boston, but dropped out in 1942. As a Quaker, he was at first a conscientious objector during World War II, but in 1944 he joined the United States Army, serving in medical units in India. During this period he read Karl Marx and became a Communist.

After leaving the Army in 1946, LaRouche attempted to resume his university education, but again dropped out of Northeastern and took a factory job in Lynn, Massachusetts. By now LaRouche was disillusioned with orthodox Communism and in 1949 he joined the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), a small Trotskyist party. In the SWP he used the pseudonym Lyn Marcus. In 1954 he moved to New York City and married a fellow SWP member, Janice Neuberger.

LaRouche remained in the SWP until 1966, making him a veteran member in a group which always had a high turnover of members. During these years LaRouche developed interests in economics, cybernetics, psychoanalysis, business management and other subjects. He separated from Janice in 1963 (they had one son, Daniel, born in 1956).

In 1966 LaRouche left from the SWP and became a supporter of the British dissident Trotskyist leader Gerry Healy, leader of the British Socialist Labour League (ancestor of the later Workers Revolutionary Party). He was briefly linked with the U.S. Healyite leader Tim Wohlforth and also with the Spartacist League, another Trotskyist group.

In the late 1960s LaRouche moved in the growing radical milieu of New York as an independent Trotskyist, giving classes on "dialectical materialism" to members of Students for a Democratic Society, the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and other radical groups. He was heavily involved in SDS despite not being a student, and in the PLP's internal battles despite not being a member.

LaRouche and NCLC

The turning point in LaRouche's career came in 1969, when he formed the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC), a grouping of ex-SDS activists and other ex-Trotskyists. Despite its name, the NCLC had no connection with the labor movement, being composed mainly of students, ex-students and professional activists like LaRouche.

In the 1970s LaRouche began to warn that the U.S. was drifting toward fascism.

Presidential bids

From the late 1970s to the present, LaRouche has pursued a dual strategy. He has continued to promote his apocalyptic conspiracy theories and to make regular predictions of imminent economic catastrophe. These are a staple of the extreme right, although also characteristic of Trotskyism. At the same time he has sought to enter the political mainstream by contesting elections and primary elections. In 1971 he founded the U.S. Labor Party as a vehicle for electoral politics, but this achieved no success and was wound up in 1979. In 1976 he ran for President of the United States as a U.S. Labor Party candidate, polling 40,043 votes (0.05%).

In 1980 LaRouche abandoned the "third party" approach, and joined the Democratic Party. In 1981 he formed a body called the National Democratic Policy Committee (NDPC), a polical action committee. Since 1980 LaRouche has run for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States six times. He is running again in 2004, although as a convicted felon he is not eligible to be a registered voter in the state of Virginia, where he lives. The Democratic National Committee has consistently asserted that LaRouche is not a Democrat, but the U.S. electoral system makes it possible for him and his followers to enter Democratic primaries. LaRouche himself has polled negligible vote totals, but continues to promote himself as a serious political candidate, which is sometimes accepted by elements of the media and some political figures.

LaRouche followers have competed seriously in Democratic primaries for lesser offices, and even occasionally won them. The best known example was in 1986, when two LaRouche candidate, Janice Hart and Mark Fairchild, won the Democratic primary for the posts of Lieutenant-Governor and Secretary of State in Illinois. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Senator Adlai Stevenson, III, refused to run on the same ticket as Fairchild and formed a new party for the election. Fairchild's victory was attributed to low voter turnout and a poor "regular" candidate, but also to some genuine support for the LaRouche anti-establishment message. LaRouche candidates have won several other Democratic primaries in various states, but LaRouche's organizations have never suceeded in entering the mainstream.

The LaRouche organization has involved itself in the controversy over the AIDS epidemic. In 1974, it published a report warning that one consequence of the International Monetary Fund's austerity demands upon Africa would be the return of old, previously conquered epidemic diseases, as well as the potential emergence of new pandemic diseases. In 1985 LaRouche wrote: "It is in the strategic interests of Moscow to see to it that the West does nothing to stop this pandemic; within a few years, at the present rates, the spread of AIDS in Asia, Africa, Western Europe, and the Americas would permit Moscow to take over the world almost without firing a shot." In 1986 and 1987, the LaRouche organization placed propositions on the California State Ballot, which would have restored HIV infection to the state list of communicable diseases, subject to public health law. These measures were defeated after being opposed by the California Medical Association, among others. However, in the early 1990s, the CMA reversed its position on public health measures with respect to HIV.

Criminal charges

By the mid-1970s LaRouche and his second wife, the German-born Helga Zepp-LaRouche, had built a extensive political network in western Europe. In 1984 Zepp-LaRouche founded the Schiller Institute in Germany. The International Caucus of Labor Committees claimed to have affiliates in France, Italy, Sweden, Canada and several South American countries. In Australia LaRouche operatives took over an older extreme-right group, the Citizens Electoral Councils (CEC), and regularly contest elections. The LaRouche organization published a twice-weekly newspaper, New Solidarity and a monthly science magazine, Fusion, which were both closed, in an unprecedented action, by the U.S. Government in 1986. It presently publishes a weekly newspaper, The New Federalist, a weekly newsmagazine, Executive Intelligence Review, and two quarterly journals: Twenty First Century Science and Technology, and Fidelio, a "journal of poetry, science and statecraft." The LaRouche publishing house, Benjamin Franklin Books, issues a steady stream of works by LaRouche and his followers. The real membership of LaRouche's organization is not known.

The size of the LaRouche empire led to investigations of the source of its apparently extensive financial resources. LaRouche fundraisers were accused of fraudently soliciting loans from LaRouche supporters, for which prosecutors alleged there was no intention to repay. In October 1986 the FBI and Virginia state authorities raided the LaRouche headquarters in Leesburg in search of evidence to support the persistent accusations of fraud and extortion made against LaRouche. He and six associates were charged with conspiracy and mail fraud, and LaRouche was also charged with conspiring to hide his personal income since 1979, the last year he had filed a federal tax return.

The government first filed, on April 20, 1987, an unprecedented involuntary bankruptcy petition against two LaRouche-controlled publications companies on whose behalf the loans had been solicited. Federal trustees were placed in charge of the companies, and they immediately suspended repayment of loans to creditors (who were, for the most part, political supporters of the LaRouche movement). LaRouche and his associates were then indicted for a conspiracy to fail to repay those loans, and the judge in the trial, Albert V. Bryan ruled that the defense would not be permitted to discuss, or even allude to, the involuntary bankruptcy.

In December of 1988, LaRouche was convicted in the conspiracy trial.

On October 25, 1989, Judge Martin V.B. Bostetter ruled that the government's bankruptcy action was illegal. Bostetter said the government acted in "objective bad faith" and the bankruptcy was obtained by a "constructive fraud on the court." However, the appeal on the conspiracy and fraud charges, which were a case completely separate from the involuntary bankruptcy, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court; at each stage of the appeals process, the courts declined to hear the appeal.

The prosecution alleged that LaRouche and his staff solicited loans with false assurances to potential lenders and showed "reckless disregard" of the facts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kent Robinson presented evidence that LaRouche's organisation had solicited US$34 million in loans since 1983, of which $294,000 was not repaid. The most important evidence was the testimony of lenders, many of them elderly retirees, who had lost thousands of dollars in loans to LaRouche that were never repaid. Several witnesses were LaRouche followers who testified under immunity from prosecution.

In addition to LaRouche, his chief fund-raiser, William Wertz, was convicted on ten mail fraud counts. LaRouche's legal adviser, Edward Spannaus, and several other fundraising operatives were convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud. LaRouche denied all the charges, calling them "an all-out frame-up by a state and federal task force," and said that the federal government was trying to kill him. "The purpose of this frame-up is not is not to send me to prison. It's to kill me," LaRouche said. "In prison it's fairly easy to kill me... If this sentence goes through, I'm dead." This proved to be a false prediction: LaRouche was released unharmed in 1993.

Prominent radical political figure and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark has tried to clear LaRouche's name, arguing that investigators and political opponents had abused the legal process to eliminate him. Clark wrote in 1995, in a letter to then serving Attorney General Janet Reno: "I bring this matter to you directly, because I believe it involves a broader range of deliberate and systematic misconduct and abuse of power over a longer period of time in an effort to destroy a political movement and leader, than any other federal prosecution in my time or to my knowledge."

External links