“ BACKGROUND Roger Tamraz, an international financier and entrepreneur in the oil business, is presently wanted by police in at least two countries. A naturalized American citizen, he has been ordered by a French court to pay the equivalent of some $ 57 million in connection with the collapse of a French bank and faces an Interpol arrest warrant for allegedly embezzling between $154 and $200 million from the failed Al Mashreq Bank in Lebanon, of which he had been the chairman. ”

“ More ominously, Tamraz also succeeded through his political contributions, and apparently the promise of additional donations, in enlisting senior United States officials in his attempt to change the working group's policy on Caspian energy issues. The access he purchased through the DNC allowed him the opportunity to lobby for U.S. support for his pipeline scheme; this lobbying, in turn, persuaded White House and Energy Department officials to begin searching for excuses to support the project, applying significant pressure to a member of the NSC staff in the process. ”

“ Among Tamraz's business interests is a company called Oil Capital Limited, which seeks to develop oil pipeline concessions in the Caucasus. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, extraordinary possibilities for oil production had opened up for the huge reserves of the Caspian Sea region. ”

“ Bill Clinton and Al Gore now occupied the White House for the Democratic Party, and oil issues were moving to the top of the Clinton Administration's foreign policy agenda for the Caspian even as Tamraz put the finishing touches on his own pipeline proposal in early 1995. Hoping to promote his pipeline project--and finally to be able to "play a role which I aspire to" in U.S. policy making 19--Tamraz contacted the DNC. As a result, Tamraz had an initial meeting with the DNC's Ari Swiller in July 1995 ”

“ Tamraz had ambitious plans, however, for his own Caucasian pipeline. As he put it in a letter to President Gaidar Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Tamraz proposed a "tentative agreement which could be negotiated with Nagorno Karabakh" by the terms of which " [o] il and gas pipelines will be built by Oil Capital [Limited] from [the Azeri coastal city of] Baku to the Mediterranean, passing through Nagorno Karabakh, Armenia, Nakhichivan and Turkey." ”

“ As these accounts of the March 27 dinner make clear, Tamraz's focus was no longer upon access to U.S. officials: by the time he was able personally to convey his views to President Clinton and McLarty, of course, such access was a foregone conclusion.121 Rather, Tamraz now focused upon the substantive merits of his pipeline project. He sought to change U.S. Government policy with regard to Caspian energy issues. ”

“ Simpson recalls their conversation similarly. According to him,
[McLarty] said the President had met with Mr. Tamraz and Mr. Tamraz had talked about his pipeline proposal and . . . he asked Mr. McLarty to find out if there was anything we needed to do about it if it was important. And McLarty was calling me to find out if there was anything unique about this pipeline because it is the policy, the importance, the strategic and economic importance of getting a pipeline built from that region [that] is very . . . critical. ”

“ Carter also admitted that he might have mentioned the DNC in his discussion with Heslin, and that "I indicated to her that McLarty had asked the question, that I understood Mack [McLarty] had made the inquiry about whether the President should take a meeting with Tamraz." 156 Heslin, who had no idea that Tamraz had already met with President Clinton, apparently shared Carter's misunderstanding that the matter at issue was simply one of access, rather than whether the U.S. should endorse the Oil Capital plan. ”

“ During the conversation, Fowler said that he understood that I was in contact with the Vice President's office concerning Tamraz. Fowler said he was attempting to arrange a meeting between the Vice President and Tamraz concerning Tamraz's oil pipeline from Ceyhan, Turkey to Baku, Azerbaijan, but was aware that there was opposition in the White House . . . . Fowler queried whether I could provide him a copy of any correspondence on Tamraz I might prepare for the Vice President.78 \78\ Bob of the CIA, Memorandum for the Record, Oct. 20, 1995 (Ex. 22) [redacted and declassified] . ”

“ For despite the ugly window it provides upon high-level venality, the Tamraz story is also the story of Sheila Heslin, a courageous NSC staff member who resisted inappropriate and possibly unlawful attempts by senior officials to change U.S. Government policy in pursuit of Tamraz's money. This episode also provides a reminder that despite all such wrongdoing, there are decent people in government with noble ideals of public service. ”

“ As Bob recalled later, Fowler complained to him over the telephone that "big oil companies were muscling out [Fowler's] friend here Roger Tamraz, and that he intended to give this guy a fair hearing . . . ." Fowler told Bob that Sheila Heslin "was keeping consideration of Tamraz's pipeline from being fairly considered or something like that." Bob deposition, pp. ”

“ As Heslin recalls it, Soderberg, upon being told of Carter's telephone call and references to McLarty, said "Oh myGod, Mack shouldn't be doing that, he should know better, that's illegal." 160 Soderberg does not recall making this comment, but remembers that Heslin recounted being pressured by an Energy Department official for "political reasons" to change her position on Tamraz. Soderberg does recall, however, that McLarty's name somehow came up in her conversation with Heslin. Soderberg says she told Heslin that the Energy official was "acting inappropriately." ”

“ On top of Tamraz's "controversial past" and his misrepresentation of support, it was the assessment of the working group that "his commercial proposal [did] not have a lot of potential." 30
\30\ Id. at p. 8. Nevertheless, Heslin agreed to meet with Tamraz on June 2 in order to "clear up . . . whether, in fact, there was something there or whether these problems that had cropped up, were, in fact,correct." \31\ During their meeting, Tamraz sought to persuade Heslin that the U.S. Government should endorse this proposal--or at least announce that Washington did not object to it. ”

“ Roger Tamraz . . . wanted to discuss the pipeline that will go from the Caspian Sea to Turkey. You told him that someone would follow-up with him. 116 \116\ Ann Stock, memorandum to the President, March 28, 1997 (Ex. 39) .
So interested was President Clinton, in fact, that he made a handwritten notation on Stock's memorandum asking about the likely reaction of the government of Azerbaijan and suggesting that a copy of this document be forwarded to Counselor to the President Thomas F. ("Mack") McLarty. ”

“ Indeed, Tamraz gave Fowler and Sullivan the name of his friend Bob at the CIA--the same DO official who had been "lobbying" Heslin on Tamraz's behalf since June 1995--and the CIA officer's classified office telephone number.72 Handwritten notes taken by both Fowler and Sullivan bear this out, indicating their intention to call Bob about Tamraz and making clear Bob's CIA affiliation.73
\72\ See Tamraz interview, pp. 51-53, 59 & 71. Providing classified information to individuals without a security clearance is illegal. ”

“ Secondly, you have his bodyguards, and thirdly you have the handlers, the same handlers that get you into the White House are sure once you get in, that you don't get the chance to get what you want. They act like a basketball team professionally around the President and anyone getting too close to the President is waltzed away. Tamraz testimony, p. ”

“ The notation indicating Fowler's appointment with Tamraz is handwritten, suggesting that the meeting was arranged at the last minute--which would be entirely in keeping with Tamraz's recollection that this meeting had been called to discuss Tamraz's "disinvitation" to the Gore event only the day before.
\70\ Tamraz interview, pp. 31-35 & 46. According to Tamraz, upon being told that the White House "needed information" about him,
I told them that they should go and get information from Government departments. . . . I told [Fowler] he could go to any department, including the CIA. . . . ”

“ Despite Carter's pressure and his crude exhortation "that [she] shouldn't be such a Girl Scout," 157 Heslin refused to back down. Indeed, Heslin had the impression that
\157\ Heslin testimony, p. 30. Jack himself didn't really believe [that Tamraz should be accommodated] . He was--Jack knew our policy, and he had promoted it in the region. He had fought for it. I think Jack was acting at the behest of someone else, and he knew dates when Mack McLarty had met [with Tamraz] . ”

“ This contribution was made in the name of Tamoil, Inc. rather than in Tamraz's own name. As Matthew Steckel of Tamoil explained in a subsequent letter, "Tamoil, Inc. is 100% owned by Mr. Tamraz." Matthew Steckel, letter to Richard Newcomb, Nov. 6, 1995 (Ex. 8) .
\50\ See Richard Sullivan and Ari Swiller, Memorandum for Roger Tamraz, March 28, 1996 (Ex. 9) (indicating $20,000 solicitation from Elias and Norma Haddad on July 29, 1995 and $20,000 each from Gil and Marcia Sireni on September 1, 1995) .
\51\ DNC Check Tracking Form for Roger Tamraz check #0086, Sept. 10, 1995 (Ex. 10) . ”

“ At the recommendation at this dinner of Senator Kennedy's wife Vicki, who was also at the time a partner at Rosen's firm, Tamraz subsequently retained Greenberg, Traurig to do work for his company.67 The choice of a firm the profits of which flowed in part to the DNC's finance chairman may have added an additional layer of redundancy to Tamraz's political lobbying campaign: Richard Sullivan later claimed to have heard from DNC Treasurer Scott Pastrick that Tamraz was no longer contributing to the DNC because he "had employed Marvin's law firm and . ”