dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

In March 1995, US Attorney General Janet Reno bowed to demands of the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives and secured the appointment of an Independent Counsel, David Barrett to investigate allegations that Cisneros had lied to FBI investigators during background checks prior to being named Secretary of HUD. He had been asked about payments that he had made to former mistress Linda Medlar, also known as Linda Jones. Both were married at the time when Medlar volunteered to work on Cisneros' campaign for Mayor of San Antonio. The affair had been 'public knowledge' for a number of years until Medlar sold the story to Inside Edition for $15,000.[24] The investigation was based on Cisneros's understating to the FBI the amount of money paid to his former mistress and was continued for 10 years, until in January 2006, when Congress finally refused to continue funding it.

Citing the needs of his family, Cisneros ended his term as Secretary in January 1997. After the controversy became known during his first term as Secretary, Cisneros offered to submit his resignation to Clinton, who rejected it with a public statement that described Cisneros as "a good man and an effective public servant". Cisneros decided to stay in his position, adding in a statement in the San Antonio Express-News, "I regret any mistakes that I have made but affirm once again that I have at no point violated the public's trust."[citation needed]

He said the decision was largely brought on by the mounting legal costs to defend an investigation by special prosecutor David Barrett into allegations he had lied to the FBI about the size of payments he gave his former mistress, Linda Medlar. Cisneros, who made $148,000 annually in his cabinet position, had tuition bills for a daughter in her third year at New York University law school and another who was a fourth-year student at Stanford, in addition to continued medical care bills for his ailing son. "Really, I came to do this for four years. I prayed I could stretch the finances that far," he said. "This is about as far as I can stretch it."[citation needed]

Medlar had surfaced in 1994 with a breach of contract lawsuit against Cisneros, claiming he had agreed to support her until her daughter's college graduation, but that he had discontinued monthly payments. Cisneros had made payments to her following the end of their affair, discontinuing them only after taking a pay cut upon returning to public life. Although Cisneros had divulged the payments during the FBI background check preceding his appointment, Medlar's claims suggested that Cisneros might have misrepresented the amount. That led to Attorney General Janet Reno recommending a special prosecutor be appointed to investigate Cisneros in March 1995. In December 1997, Cisneros was indicted on 18 counts of conspiracy, giving false statements and obstruction of justice. In September 1999, Cisneros negotiated a plea agreement, under which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI and was fined $10,000. He did not receive jail time or probation.

Medlar used some of the Cisneros money to purchase a house and enter into a bank fraud scheme with her sister and brother-in-law to conceal the source of the money. In January 1998, Medlar pleaded guilty to 28 charges of bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and obstruction of justice.[25]

Clinton later pardoned Cisneros in January 2001.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cisneros