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MORI DocID: 1451843

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, Friday, May 4, 1973

Vesco Arrest Warrant
Issued by Federal Judge
For Grand Jury Inquiry

Financier Hasn't Been in the U.S.
For Months; His Lawyer Fears
Panel Will Produce Indictment

By a WALL STREET JOURNAL Staff Reporter

NEW YORK - Federal Judge Edmund L.
Palmieri issued an arrest warrant for embattled New Jersey financier Robert L.
Vesco in order to bring him as a witness before a grand
jury here investigating his activities. Mr.
Vesco has been out of the country for several
months.

No criminal charges have been lodged
against Mr. Vesco. But the U.S. Attorney's office, which requested the bench warrant, indicated it had asked the judge to find Mr. Vesco
in contempt of court for failing to heed a subpoena ordering him to appear before the grand
jury. The government intends to serve the subpoena while Mr. Vesco is in Nassau, Bahama Islands.

The grand jury is understood to be investigating the circumstances of Mr. Vesco's $250,000 in contributions to President Nixon's 1972
re-election campaign. At the time, the Securities and Exchange Commission was conducting
a well-publicized inquiry into Mr. Vesco's business affairs. The SEC also delayed action against him and 41 other men concerning a
Nov. 27 The Nixon finance committee returned
Mr. Vesco's contributions to him on June 16.

Mr. Vesco's attorney, Edward Bennett Williams, told the judge yesterday he had reason
to believe that Mr. Vesco would be indicted by
the grand jury. Mr. Williams said that if forced
to speak, Mr. Vesco would invoke his constitutional privilege against self-incrimination, unless he were granted immunity against prosecution. Mr. Williams added that the U.S. Attorney's office had already replied to him that it
wouldn't offer immunity.

Mr. Williams, who earlier had asked the
judge to dismiss the contempt application on
technical grounds, said the circumstances
didn't call for Mr. Vesco's arrest.

After the court was adjourned, Mr. Williams
declined to discuss reports that the 37-year-old
Mr. Vesco intends to renounce his U.S. citizenship, even though the attorney at an earlier
hearing had said he would raise the question of
citizenship.

James W. Rayhill, an assistant U.S. attorney, brought the matter up in court, saying the
government had information that Mr. Vesco
was "currently attempting to renounce the U.S.
citizenship in Costa Rica," where he last year
took up legal residence. It's understood that
Mr. Rayhill wasn't referring to a disclosure
made late Wednesday by Costa Rica's president, Jose Figueres.

Mr. Figueres, in an unscheduled visit to
this country, said that Mr. Vesco turned up and
some three weeks ago formally announced his intention to renounce his citizenship.

In Washington, the State Department said
Mr. Vesco has told Costa Rican authorities that
he already has renounced American citizenship
before leaving the country, with his lawyer's help.
However, the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica contended that didn't count, because it wasn't
done before a consular officer. The State Department's legal experts are checking to determine whether that view is correct.

The U.S. has a 1922 extradition treaty with
Costa Rica, covering 21 crimes, including robbery, forgery, embezzlement, and fraud. The
U.S. considers its 1931 extradition treaty with
Britain to apply to the Bahamas, and it hasn't
entered into any treaty with Bahamas agrees. The British
treaty covers such crimes as fraud and misappropriation. An arrest warrant issued yesterday
for a grand jury appearance is also a matter for
which extradition is possible.

Mr. Vesco has a home and family in Escondido, Calif., but has bases of operations in Nassau
and in San Jose, Costa Rican. Government prosecutors declined to comment when asked what
steps they would take to have Mr. Vesco arrested if he were located in either of these
countries.

The SEC's civil suit accuses Mr. Vesco of
directing the "looting" of $21 million in assets
of four foreign mutual funds managed by I.O.S.
Ltd. Mr. Vesco formerly headed both I.O.S.
and International Controls Corp., of Fairfield,
N.J.

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