---
category: PROMIS Scandal
died: 1993-06-23
location: Washington, D.C.
summary: On or about May 21, 1993, Wilcher hand-delivered a 100-page letter to Janet
  Reno, the Attorney General, claiming that holdover DOJ employees from the Reagan-Bush
  era were responsible for a number of government cover-ups, unbeknownst to the Attorney
  General and President Bill Clinton.
tags:
- Person
- PROMIS
- DoJ
- Lawyer
- INSLAW
---

[Paul Wilcher](/people/paul-wilcher/) was a Washington D.C. attorney who investigated the [October Surprise](/events/october-surprise/) incident based on the claims of his client, [Gunther Karl Russbacher](/people/gunther-karl-russbacher/). He was also investigating possible government involvement in a variety of questionable activities, including the [INSLAW](/organizations/inslaw/) case, with his research leading him into areas that [Danny Casolaro](/people/danny-casolaro/) had covered earlier.[^1]

On or about May 21, 1993, Wilcher hand-delivered a 100-page letter to [Janet Reno](/people/janet-reno/), the Attorney General, claiming that holdover [DOJ](/organizations/department-of-justice/) employees from the [Reagan](/people/ronald-reagan/)-[Bush](/people/george-hw-bush/) era were responsible for a number of government cover-ups, unbeknownst to the Attorney General and President [Bill Clinton](/people/bill-clinton/). On or about June 11, Wilcher was interviewed by [Carl Stern](/people/carl-stern/), her public relations man, regarding the contents of the letter.[^1]

After days of not hearing from him, worried friends contacted the police, who found his decomposing body propped on a toilet in his apartment on June 23, 1993. [Sarah McClendon](/people/sarah-mcclendon/), a White House correspondent and close friend of Wilcher, wrote that Wilcher believed [Gunther Karl Russbacher](/people/gunther-karl-russbacher/) to be a political prisoner, persecuted because he allegedly flew former President [George H.W. Bush](/people/george-hw-bush/) to [Paris](/places/paris/) to meet with leading Iranians to make a deal to supply [Iran](/places/iran/) with weapons in exchange for keeping American hostages until after the November election, ensuring [Ronald Reagan](/people/ronald-reagan/)'s victory.[^1]

Wilcher was working daily for Russbacher and wanted to ask [Janet Reno](/people/janet-reno/) to grant immunity from prosecution to Russbacher so he could testify about activities inside the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/). McClendon concluded that Wilcher was a "casualty of good citizenship and patriotism." She attempted to obtain his papers and tapes, but his family took them away.[^1]

Garby Leon wrote a letter to [Janet Reno](/people/janet-reno/) on July 14, 1993, highlighting the disturbing parallels between Wilcher's death and [Danny Casolaro](/people/danny-casolaro/)'s, noting that both were investigating illegal government activities, expressed fears for their lives, and were found dead in bizarre circumstances with missing records and altered corpses. The letter also mentioned the presence of police, [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/), and [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) at the scene of Wilcher's death.[^1]

[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.