Avner Azulay, director of the Rich Foundation in Tel Aviv

Kathleen Behan, aka "Kitty," attorney at Arnold & Porter, Rich law firm

Former President Clinton, aka POTUS

Beth Dozoretz, aka "B," former finance chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee

Robert F. Fink, partner in the New York law firm Piper, Marbury, Rudnick & Wolfe, also a Rich attorney

Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general

Gershon Kekst, a New York P.R. executive

Jack Quinn, aka "JQ," former White House legal counsel, former chief of staff to Al Gore, attorney at Arnold & Porter, Rich attorney

Denise Rich, aka "DR"

Mary Jo White, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York

ACT 1: THE FRONT DOOR

In a July 21, 1999, letter from Behan to Rich and Fink, Quinn and Arnold & Porter are formally retained. The firm's fees are big, and it reserves the right to work against Rich in other matters.

PRIVILEGED & CONFIDENTIAL

July 21, 1999

... Dear Mr. Rich:

We are very pleased that Marc Rich has engaged Arnold & Porter (the "Firm") to provide legal services and in connection with Mr. Rich's potential negotiations and/or communications with the Department of Justice ... The Firm will charge Marc Rich for the professional services of Jack Quinn and Kathleen Behan at a minimum rate of $55,000 per month ... Mr. Rich agrees to pay a six-month initial retainer, as of the date of this agreement, from which fees and costs will be drawn, of $330,000.00 ...

Arnold & Porter is a large firm, with offices in four United States cities and in foreign countries. Our practice is broadly based and covers many areas of both domestic and international law. The very size of the firm has created situations where work for one client in a narrow area has barred other lawyers from pursuing major matters, unrelated to the first matter ... We request an advance agreement that Arnold & Porter will not be disqualified from representing interests adverse to Marc Rich in matters that are not substantially related to the matters on which Arnold & Porter has been retained by Marc Rich ...

Once again, let me say how pleased we are that you have engaged Arnold & Porter in this matter.

Sincerely yours,

ARNOLD & PORTER

Kathleen A. Behan, Esq.

ACCEPTED AND AGREED TO:

MARC RICH

Dated: 26.7.99

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After speaking with Holder, Quinn notes that Justice Department officials think it "ridiculous" that federal prosecutors refuse to even meet with Rich attorneys.

JACK QUINN

Eric 11/8/99
c.o.s.
Dave Margolis

All think ridiculous
Send letter to Mary Jo not Larry or me cc EH + JR
Once we get, we'll call her and say you shd do it
Be reasonable and conciliatory

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Quinn writes to U.S. Attorney White on Dec. 1, 1999, to try to get her office to begin discussions about Rich's case, despite her insistence that Rich return to the U.S. before they do so.

Dear Ms. White:

We are writing to request your attention to a matter involving our client, Marc Rich. Mr. Rich's outstanding 1983 indictment now pending for over sixteen years is among the oldest unresolved matters on the Southern District's docket (and, indeed, nationwide.)

From the time that the investigation into this matter began in the early 1980s until the resolution of the corporate cases in 1984, Mr. Rich's defense followed a most unfortunate, no-communication, no-cooperation, no-negotiation strategy. For that expensive, but ill-advised strategy, Mr. Rich has paid dearly.

However, since the mid-1980s, the defense has completely reversed this posture toward the case. Mr. Rich's defense has offered full cooperation and a willingness, even eagerness, to enter into a detailed discussion of the merits of the case and serious negotiations for resolution of it.

Despite this change, the last discussions in this matter occurred in 1994, when your Office took the position that no further discussions were possible while Mr. Rich remained outside the United States ...

Quinn's letter goes on to argue that Rich's shady financial dealings were the result of energy regulations stemming from "the oil embargo and shortages of the seventies and the resultant patchwork of energy regulation." The unilateral regulatory system was evaded by plenty of U.S. oil producers, not just Rich, but "none of the major U.S. oil companies who structured these transactions was ever prosecuted criminally."

Marc Rich may be outside the jurisdiction of the United States, but he has in fact suffered much over the past sixteen years as a result of the outstanding indictment. He was unable to visit with and say goodbye to his daughter, Gabriella, prior to her death from leukemia, because he was denied permission to travel to her hospital bed. His reputation has been severely tarnished for transactions that renowned tax professors contend should not even have resulted in civil liability ...

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