Wash Post

US Fugitive Tied to Clintons Caught in Brazil

Saturday, August 4, 2001; Page A12

BUENOS AIRES, Aug. 3 -- Brazilian authorities today arrested American fugitive Peter Franklin Paul, wanted by U.S. officials for stock fraud. Paul is a onetime event organizer for Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Paul was indicted by a New York grand jury in June on charges that he and three other men conspired to manipulate the stock price of a media company.

After he was indicted, Paul alleged in a lawsuit that he made more than $2 million worth of in-kind contributions to benefit Hillary Clinton's successful New York Senate campaign and that they were never reported. Officials at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee have dismissed the claim, and Paul's calls for an investigation have been rejected by several offices of the U.S. attorney.

Paul, a Hollywood producer who organized a star-studded event for the president and Hillary Clinton in Beverly Hills during the Democratic convention last August, was taken into custody at a luxury hotel in a posh neighborhood of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Paul owns several language schools in the city and had been living there with his wife and two children since November, authorities said.

Brazilian officials said Paul would face "rapid extradition" to the United States.

In a tape-recorded statement to police, parts of which were played on Brazilian television, Paul called his arrest "politically motivated" and repeated charges that Hillary Clinton hid his campaign contribution.

-- Anthony Faiola

-- Anonymous, August 04, 2001