NEW YORK — Shortly before they received pardons from President Clinton, Marc Rich and his business partner promised to donate $1 million a year to a cancer charity run by Rich's former wife, Denise, lawyers familiar with the arrangement say.
Denise Rich had initially been reluctant to support her former husband's application for a pardon because of their bitter divorce. But she played a crucial role in the pardon campaign, first sending Clinton an emotional letter on the issue and then buttonholing him at a White House dinner on Dec. 20.
That same month, the lawyers say, Rich expressed a general willingness through intermediaries to support the charity his ex-wife founded in 1997 to honor the memory of their daughter Gabrielle, who died of leukemia when she was 27. Rich, who started his own cancer foundation after his daughter's death, had never contributed to his former wife's cause, though he had given $15 million to cancer research foundations in Israel.
In January, just before Clinton signed the pardons for Rich and his partner, Pincus Green, the two made an explicit pledge, each promising to donate $500,000 a year to Denise Rich's foundation, the lawyers said.
In recent interviews, Denise Rich has depicted her change of heart as a maternal gesture to her two grown daughters, who have seen little of their father since he began living as a fugitive in Switzerland in 1983. She has not mentioned the pledges.
Martin Pollner, a lawyer for Denise Rich, declined to discuss the circumstances of the pledges.
"It's been our policy not to discuss issues related to the pardon investigation," he said. "Denise Rich feels it entirely appropriate that her former husband supports the G & P foundation, an organization devoted to the memory of their deceased daughter, Gabrielle, and devoted to combat the cancer that took her life."
Rich herself, who has recently given a round of interviews about her relationships with Clinton and her former husband, including one broadcast on "Larry King Live" Monday night, declined to be interviewed for this article.
If Green and Rich deliver on their promise, their $1 million combined contribution would be the largest ever received by the foundation. The lawyers said, however, that the money may never be paid. They said Rich was angered that his former wife's legal team had refused to cooperate with the defense his lawyers were mounting against a federal investigation into the pardon by the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Mary Jo White.
Prosecutors are examining whether any laws were broken in the pardons Clinton granted Rich, Green and others in the last hours of his presidency. One avenue they are likely to explore is whether Rich used his former wife as a conduit for contributions he hoped would influence the outcome of his case.
Ms. Rich, a generous contributor to the Democratic Party and the Clinton presidential library, has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors under a grant of immunity. Her lawyers have repeatedly insisted that she has done nothing wrong.
Marc Rich's attorney, Laurence A. Urgenson, declined to comment about the pledge, as did a lawyer for the foundation. Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for White's office, declined to comment. Efforts to reach Green in Switzerland or through relatives were unsuccessful.
The G & P foundation provides money to cancer researchers, and a review of its tax records suggests that annual donations of $1 million would have a significant effect on its operations.
The foundation raises most of its money through a charity ball that is held every other year in Manhattan. The foundation held its first fund-raiser in 1998, an event that had Clinton as its chairman and took in $2.4 million; $102,497 of that came from Denise Rich.
The next year, the foundation raised much less, reporting only $278,000 from outside contributors. But Rich provided $700,000 from her own money, allowing the foundation to pay out or pledge more than $2.6 million that year to cancer research. The foundation's tax returns for 2000 are not yet available.
Marc Rich had previously shown little interest in supporting his former wife's charity.
Gabrielle Rich died in September 1996, a few months after her parents' stormy divorce. One lawyer said her dying wish was for her estranged parents to work together to help cure cancer, and she even proposed the foundation name, G & P, an amalgam of her name and that of her husband, Philip Aouad.
Both parents did get involved in cancer research, but never jointly. Ms. Rich created her foundation in New York with Aouad.
Rich, in contrast, has put $15 million of his own money to work on cancer research through Israeli foundations that he controls. A person close to Ms. Rich said that her former husband's refusal to support her charity has been painful.
Rich first approached his former wife for help with his legal difficulties in early 2000. He had been living as a fugitive for 17 years rather than face federal charges of racketeering, tax fraud and trading with the enemy. By all accounts, Ms. Rich declined to use her influence with Clinton to help get the charges dropped.
In early November, as Ms. Rich was planning the foundation's Angels Ball, she was approached anew about helping with Marc Rich's legal problems, this time as his lawyers prepared to win him a presidential pardon, a person close to Ms. Rich said.
After some deliberation, this person said, she agreed. On Nov. 30, Rich's associates bought a table at the Angels Ball, contributing at least $12,500. Clinton was once again chairman, and photographs from that evening capturing Rich presenting him with a golden saxophone have become well-known images of the pardon episode.
In mid-January, shortly before Clinton overruled the unanimous opposition of his aides to granting Rich a pardon, Ms. Rich learned that her former husband and Green had each promised to make $500,000 annual donations, according to a person close to Ms. Rich.
People close to her now insist that she never pressured Rich for the pledges to the charity.
"She never conditioned her support of the pardon on her receiving anything from Marc Rich," said one person in Ms. Rich's camp. "Whatever motivated them does not concern Denise. If they were motivated because they wanted to be sure to keep her happy, that is their business. She wanted to help the father of their children."
The G & P foundation has made some long-term commitments to cancer research. Cliff Pearlman, a lawyer for the charity, said most of its grants were made as three-year pledges of $75,000 a year.
Neither Ms. Rich nor Aouad has taken any salary as officers of the foundation, according to its 1998 and 1999 tax returns. Its supporters include prominent names in the entertainment industry and the Democratic Party, including Beth Dozoretz, the Democratic fund-raiser; Geraldo Rivera; David Bowie; and Martha Stewart.
Associates of Rich said he had benefited little from the pardon. As long as prosecutors in New York continue their investigation, Rich has been reluctant to venture outside Switzerland.