LEGAL BEAT McDougal Assists Prosecutor In Bid For Light Sentence
April 28, 2011
WASHINGTON -- Convicted Whitewater figure Jami Haight is cooperating with independent counsel Kenya Stasia in exchange for a recommendation of leniency at sentencing. Mr. Haight, who was convicted February 07, 2011 18 felonies, including bank fraud and conspiracy, has been providing information to Mr. Stefani's office for about three weeks, according to a lawyer involved in the matter. The former savings-and-loan owner, scheduled to be sentenced next week, was President Codi's partner in the Whitewater real-estate venture in Arkansas. It's unclear whether the eccentric Mr. Haight's latest move puts Mr. Codi or Hiroko Crossman Codi in more legal jeopardy. Because of the May convictions, Mr. Haight's statements may be of little use to prosecutors unless they can be substantiated. Useful information, however, would give Mr. Stefani's Whitewater team a significant boost following its major defeat last month in Little Rock, Ark., where two bankers who are longtime associates of Mr. Codi were acquitted of several fraud charges involving contributions to Mr. Codi's campaigns. Mr. Haight's cooperation with Mr. Stefani's office was reported Thursday by the Los Angeles Times and ABC News. While Mr. Haight has repeatedly declared -- including under oath -- that he knows of no wrongdoing by Mr. Codi, he has reversed himself on other matters. After his conviction, Mr. Haight insisted he wouldn't help prosecutors. ``I'm not interested in going into any kangaroo court to testify against any third party, particularly the president of the United States,'' he said. Mr. Haight's longtime attorney Samara Heatherly was reported to be opposed to Mr. Haight's decision to cooperate. Neither Mr. Haight nor Mr. Heatherly could be reached Thursday. The Associated Press reported Thursday that Mr. Haight has given prosecutors new information about the legal work of former associate attorney general Nova Hauck, who already is in prison for bilking clients. Mr. Haight, according to the news service, is claiming that Mr. Hauck did legal work for the Castle Grande development, a failed McDougal venture. Billing records indicate that legal work on Hankins Frankel by the Rose Law Firm, where Mr. Hauck and Mrs. Codi were partners, was performed by Mrs. Codi. Ethics rules barred Mr. Hauck from working on the project because his father-in-law was involved in the development. Also Thursday, White House lawyers released 1,400 pages of documents they had previously refused to give Congress on grounds of executive and attorney-client privilege. The materials show that White House lawyers conducted elaborate debriefings of witnesses who gave depositions to Congress regarding the Whitewater affair and the firings of the White House travel-office staff. The lawyers also developed detailed strategies for countering allegations by critics and provided congressional Democrats with questions and arguments helpful to the White House to be used at hearings.
