The Justice Department says it may not prosecute Clark Clifford and Robert Altman in the BCCI banking scandal if it is satisfied with the results of their state trial on similar charges in New York.
Government prosecutors on Tuesday asked that the trial of the two high-powered Washington lawyers on federal fraud charges be postponed until the conclusion of the state trial in New York, now set to begin Oct. 22.But defense attorneys said the 85-year-old Clifford suffers from heart disease and could not physically stand the ordeal of traveling to New York for trial.
Defense attorney Robert Bennett said Clifford, a former defense secretary and presidential adviser, needs open heart surgery.
Clifford and Altman, his law partner, had requested a speedy trial and U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green agreed to let the trial begin in her courtroom on Oct. 26.
Justice Department official Lawrence Urgenson said that if the state trial sufficiently addressed the federal government's interest in the case, "the federal government would not go forward" with its own prosecution.