NEW CHARGE OF BRIBERY CLAIMED IN DOWDY TRIAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001100050001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 16, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

HOUSTON 'Approved Fob- Release .2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-01601
YOS`1 ,.,
By FRED BONAVITA
Post Washington Bureau
BALTIMORE-Nathan
Cohen, former president of a
iiUw-defunct home ipiprove-.
?inent firm, surprised a feder-
al court jury here Monday by
saying he paid Texas Cori-
gressman John Doii'dy anoth-
er $2,500 for his help in more
difficulties Cohen was in with
the fedel?al government.
Cohen capped three days on
the witness stand by saying
Dowdy also pulled strings for
him to get into the Central In-
telligence Agency headquar-
ters and obtained data from
.he United States Information
Agency for use in a fund-rais-
ing scheme Cohen planned.
This second payment, whicih
the witness claims was made
at. a suburban Washington
restaurant in late summer of
soniehow straightened it out
in one clay," Collen told the
jury.
The defense, led by Kirk-
of Chi-
ll
D
ing
u
patrict W.
go, opened the second
ca
clay with its cross-exam-
ination of the witness.
Dilling led .him through a
recitation of his many trou-
bles with the Securities and
jur
here which later indicted bolster the solicitations, Co- U.S. attorneys' offices here
Dowdy. hen said, but he was not and in Washington and the
if. allowed to elaborate on his Internal Revenue Service be-
He told the government his
of his business ven
CIA after the do.
s
i
it t
t}
o
te
cau
e
s
. 7, 1970, in a sworn v
story Jan
statement and appeared Feb. Tense objected. tures following the collapse
27, 1970, before the rand of Monarch.
' "'WHAT HAPPENED at the Cohen admitted the SEC
jury, Cohen said, but he rc- (restaurant) ?" prosecutor was investigating him in 1969
M
March before the grand ow- .Stephen H. Sachs asked. on several counts of .illegal
March 31, 1.970, the day Dow- , "I paid Mr. Dowdy $2,500," sale of stocks in his various
s I;. ventures and sought to wring
dy was indicted,, to correct. said Cohen adding Juliu an
his testimony after govern- adding
m admis-
C n t attorneys questioned (.Jack- ) Levitt, a former from the witness
Monarch official, also wit- Sion his decision to "tell all"
portions of it. nessed the transfer of the to the overnnient in ex
Although l be payment of $25 000 to Dowdy in the At change For immunity from
the $2,500 is not one of the-45 lanta, Ca., airport without the. prosecution.
overt acts charred in the in-
b congressman s knowledge.
dictnient against Dowdy, Co-
: The witness ' testified he
ben, over the strong objec- e
rred in his earlier state='
tions of the defense, elaho- :menu to the earlier
nhc. .
rated slightly on it, saying i.. ` and the grand jury about the
met Dowdy at tile- restaurech' second payment but refresh
and paid the money. eel his memory after -talking
with Levitt and Mrs. Cohen,
ASKED WHY, Cohen re who accompanied him to the
plied, "A number of things restaurant but waited in the
that he (Dowdy) had -been car outside
.
1957, also was witnessed. doing for me, including look Cohen also said Dowdy in -
I ing into Radio Free Asia
Cohen is the governments Q tervened for him with the
chief witness against the East. came up. He arm, rrged.an ap- / Veterans Administration af-
,Texas Democratic- lawmaker pointrnent for inc at the CIA. \/ ter
He did, and I went there" Al tl another of his business
who is on trial for allegedly I asked him to get me some ventures, Baltimore Business
VA re
u-
l
f
l
h
S
g
, ran a
ou
oo
c
committing perjury, using in-.
of
stuff from the U.S. Inforzna rations for teaching too few
:bribery facilities to promote teaching lion Agency, and he did. And'
;bbrribery and engaging in a hours during the clay. In-
he had looked into some stead of the required five
conspiracy. Cohen told the "
jury of nine women and three Nlonarcb. stuff again. hours ' instruction,. Cohen
men last week he .arranged Cohen explained Radio Free said, his students received
for Dowdy to be paid a Asia (RI'A) was a part of the only four hours and 50? Inin-
$25,000 bribe to intervene in a Korean Cultural and 1,`reedom toes' teaching, and the VA
.tederal__inyestieation of__Co Foundation of Washington, threatened to revoke his
h e n' s f c r m e r business and one of his firms, intern- qualification to receive vet-
a t i o n a 1 Foundations Con- oz?ans' benefits payments.
Monarch Construction Co., in sultants Inc., contracted with,
19&5. RFA to raise money publicly.
His disclosures about the al- However, Cohen admitted it
gaged second payment came was not a charitable enter-
,a urinff re-examination of the prise, and his firm was to
witness by the government in `have been paid between 40
the wake of defense evidence sand 50 per' cent of what it col-
iu1 J I i S'>, approached
Sachs in December, 1959, in
an effort to cooperate, Cohen
said, - but was greeted by
what he termed a "hostile"
attitude on the part of the
prosecutor.
"Did Mr. Sachs
you that he had so
ever tell
much oil
you and could prosecute you
in so many ways he felt like
a kid in a candy store?" Dil-
ling asked.
"He told me I could be
prosecuted for a number of
things, but I don't recall lie
said it in those words," Co-
hen replied.
The witness said he hesi-
tated at first about telling
the government everything
he knew. Indeed, he did not
mention Dowdy's name until
their second meeting - be-
cause he did not know what
'deal could be made for int-
munity from prosecution, Co-
hen said.
"I Told the government I
had been part of a pay-off to
a congressman in return for
certain services," Cohen
said. "But we had no under-
TILE REVOCATION of the
business - school's, standing
would have meant the repay-
ment of between $40,000 and
$50,000 by the school and stu-
dents, Cohen said, so he
turned to Dowdy again for
statements-t?Alp r-ovec"i~r Release 2001/03/04 1'.?6IA-RDP80-01601 Rot8I4d'~'b?d6v'bdt "f end I
1a.?;:t 1 Iiuo.r
 xouSTOw '~6y bd For R~Iease 2001/03/04: CIA-RDP80-0160
CHRON
F -""503,047.
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r{1fi.Fh r~lc1l t ibe
"~.:,. 4~. ~. ~ - r te i f ,
BY BILL LEI: cilims C?hcn aJ*0 Dowdy' fIli Earlier in the direct exami-
p
`
Chronicle WashinpWn EurCou
govern -nation by Sachs, after. the
1955 to intervene in
.
'Baltimore - N a t h a ii H.
meat investigation of Monarch cross-examination by the de
John
Cohen says he paid Rep: Dowdy an additional $2500 in Construction Co. and the con- fense. Cohen had described
1967 primarily for the East gressmau's later ,appearance the disbelief he encountered
Texas congressman's assist- before a grand jury delving.: when he first went to the U.S.
ance in gaining information into the Monarch matter. attornel's office here in late
J f r o in the U.S Information The prosecution was perr'niL- 1969 with his story implicating
Agency and access to the Cen- ted to o into ? the . a1lcged, a congressman.
.tral Inelligence Agency. $2500 payment, . despite Doti Pelt Thratened
Nearing the end of his third dy's oat being charged with` Cohen said he made a fete
day on the witness stand Mon-. taking it; because the defense, phone call from the U.S attor-
day, Cohen, a promoter of nu- d u r I it g cross-examination nev s otficr, to Dowdy to c1ezn
merous business s c h e in e s, touched on contradictions in 'onstrate he at least was ac-
said Dowdy arranged an ap- v a r i ^ it s' Cohen statements quaintccl with the congress-
pointment for him at the CIA since n,, tuhned.;informer nt man
c.o hi e 11 1 1 n g "Radio Free
Asia.
lie had e2r]icr testified one
of his companies was set up
to raise money for "Radio
Free Asia.
The .prosecution sought to
go into details, of what Dowdy
had done con;: erning the su-
ersecr,et CIA but was
.blocked by objections from
the defense, upheld by presid-
ing Judge R.oszel Thomsen.
Cohen said the information
he received from the U.S. In-
formation Agency dealt with
? the possibility of broadcasting
into Communist Asian coun-
tries.
Introduced in t o. evidehlce
was a letter identified by Coh-
en as having been written to
him by Dowdy and another
I e t t e r, purportedly from the
U.S. Inforniation Agency to
Dowdy:
The Dowdy letter was alleg-
edly a cover letter for the
USIA letter, which reported
on Voice of America 'broad-
casts into Asia. Cohen said
both had been sent him by
Dowdy.
The $2500 was not men-
'tioned in the charges against,.
Dowdy and has .not been
;mentioned in court previously.
Dowdy, a Democrat from
:,Athens,, is charged with two.
7`i6f' Cohen testified he sought to
Special i'?roSecuter nStephen make a deal with the authori-
00~11a, Lill
he
t
felt threatened
ies because,
ney whose ii 'estigaton led to .
Dowdy's in is .meat, insisted by both the Securities and Ex-
he must bring -iut the $2500 change, Commission and Inter-
payment to expl,?in the con- nal Iievcizue service investi-
500 Total
$27
,
gations of him at the time.
;He- said he was never . of+
di
aid
i
d h
e p
n
cate
U11 hall
Dowdy between $25,000 and frezn V16 government for the
$30,000. M o n a r c h investigation, but
At one point in cross-txami- was told, "I must' take. my
nation, he said $25,000 was the change,;."
correct figure for the amount Colleri re(]eved a susr)cnded
paid Dowdy at the Atlanta
airport in 1.965, but there were
other payments, leaving the
implication that these would
bring the total to $30,000.
But so far, the total, in'spe-
cific Cohen, allegations, stands
at $27,500.
Cohen said the $2500 pay-
ment was made in cash at a
meeting between himself and
the congressman in a restau-
rant on the outskirts of Wash-
ington in 1967.
Monarch Probe
Cohen said the was seeking
information concerning Radio'.
Free Asia because "New York
fund-raising organizations had
told me it would be needed."
Ile said the $2500 payment
to Dowdy was also understood
to cover. the congressman's
most recent efforts on his be-
senence for the admittedly
fraudulent dealings of Mon-
arch, a company whose busi-
ness was securing. certracts to
build new f:'oil' s o. row hous-
t cs in poor _neighborhoods.
During 'tile cross-Yxalnina-
Lion,. the defense continued to
di
c-
point our apparent contra
tions in Cohcih's story.
Cohen.cplained them as re-
sulting from faulty recollec-
tion of events that occurred
years before his first testimo-
ny.
count of using er tare half concerning the Monarch
interstate facil] inv tication
ties to In ornn~ i well For release 2001/03/04: C-IA-RDP80-01601 R001100050001-7
five counts of per n y.
The charges revolve around
a 425,000 bribe the prosecution -