Robert Morgenthau

Robert Morgenthau was the Manhattan district attorney known for his integrity and persistence in exposing government and business corruption.¹

Role in BCCI Investigation

Morgenthau became involved in the BCCI investigation after Jack Blum brought the case to his attention in 1989; Beaty and Gwynne date the approach to March 1989, while the Kerry-Brown Senate Report places Blum's visit to the United States Attorney in Tampa in March 1989 and his meeting with Morgenthau's prosecutors in the late spring.²³ Blum described BCCI as the "biggest bank fraud in the history of the world."⁴ Morgenthau decided to pursue the case, stating that if New York City was the banking center where money was laundered, then it was within his jurisdiction.⁵

His office, particularly through his chief of investigations Michael Cherkasky and top investigator John Moscow, spearheaded a comprehensive investigation into BCCI's activities.⁶ Morgenthau's efforts were met with resistance from federal authorities, including the Department of Justice, who he accused of hindering his investigation.⁷

In July 1991, Morgenthau announced indictments against BCCI and its former top officers, Agha Hasan Abedi and Swaleh Naqvi, describing the case as "the largest bank fraud in world financial history."⁸ He also indicted Clark Clifford and Robert Altman in July 1992 on charges of bribery and fraud related to their involvement with BCCI.⁹

Morgenthau's investigation also targeted Kamal Adham, who eventually pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.¹⁰

Background and Reputation

Morgenthau, at seventy years old during the BCCI investigation, was described as a lean figure with silver hair and a patrician manner.¹¹ He was soft-spoken and considered one of the most important men in New York.¹² His family had been part of the political establishment since 1886, with his great-grandfather immigrating from Bavaria and his father serving as Franklin Roosevelt's secretary of the Treasury.¹³

Morgenthau's reputation as a crusader was built during his time as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, a position he held after being appointed by Kennedy in 1960.¹⁴ He was known for his independence and his willingness to pursue cases against powerful figures.¹⁵

The Senate Account

The Kerry-Brown Senate Report dates the start of the investigation differently from Beaty and Gwynne. It records that Blum took his information to the United States Attorney in Tampa in March 1989, and that "in the late spring of 1989" he went to New York to meet prosecutors working for Morgenthau. Blum had worked with Morgenthau during the subcommittee's 1987 and 1988 investigation, at which Morgenthau was the lead witness in February 1988 and estimated that 5 to 10 billion dollars a year was being laundered through New York banks. Morgenthau's chief of investigations, Michael Cherkasky, later said: "Blum's story was ridiculous. [He said] the entire Third World was involved and that they had bought and sold entire governments and maybe some United States officials. It was a fascinating tale." Morgenthau assigned the case to John Moscow, who interviewed Blum's witnesses and, in Cherkasky's words, found that Blum's "'story' was proven to be true."³

The report stated that his office "has generally received credit for breaking open the BCCI investigation," not because it had witnesses or information unavailable to the Justice Department or the Federal Reserve, but because it recognized BCCI "as a case of global international organized crime." Morgenthau testified: "[J]ust as illegal drugs are smuggled into this country, illegal profits must be smuggled out." BCCI's lawyers, accountants and shareholders, the Bank of England, the Serious Fraud Office and the Justice Department each, in the report's account, withheld information from him or delayed his inquiry, and "with the key exception of the Federal Reserve, there was almost none" in the way of cooperation.³ The report found that federal prosecutors had obstructed his office from 1989 to 1991, and that "in one case, a federal prosecutor lied to Morgenthau's office concerning the existence of such material."¹⁶