Former President Ronald Reagan is questioned under oath in a videotaped deposition for the trial of former National Security Advisor John Poindexter, providing 293 pages of testimony in which he repeatedly claims he cannot recall virtually any specific details of the Iran-Contra affair. …
Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North is convicted on May 4, 1989, of three felony charges stemming from his central role in the Iran-Contra scandal: accepting an illegal gratuity (a security fence for his home), aiding and abetting in the obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and ordering the …
Between 1988 and 1992, the Department of Justice prosecutes over 1,000 savings and loan bankers for fraud and related crimes during the S&L crisis, with regulators making over 30,000 criminal referrals that produce felony convictions in cases designated as “major” by DOJ. Federal …
CIA Director William Casey dies at age 74 from nervous-system lymphoma, taking critical knowledge of the Iran-Contra scandal to his grave without ever testifying before Congress. Casey dies less than 24 hours after former colleague Richard Secord testifies that Casey supported the illegal aiding of …
Joint congressional hearings on the Iran-Contra affair begin, launching seven weeks of televised testimony that becomes the most-watched series of congressional hearings since the Senate Watergate Committee hearings in 1973. The House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with …
The Tower Commission delivers its report on the Iran-Contra affair to President Reagan, producing findings widely criticized as a whitewash that shields Reagan from accountability while blaming subordinates for the illegal scheme. The commission, composed of former Senator John Tower, former …
On February 21, 1975, former Attorney General John N. Mitchell and former White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman were sentenced to 2.5 to 8 years in prison for their roles in the Watergate cover-up. All three men had been convicted of every count against them—a total of 14 felonies …
President Lincoln signs the False Claims Act into law on March 2, 1863, creating a revolutionary mechanism to combat rampant war profiteering after unscrupulous contractors sell the Union Army defective equipment including sawdust-filled crates instead of muskets, diseased mules, substandard …