Opinion ID: 711108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Haskell's Subject Status

Text: 13 Haskell states that IC Walsh's office specifically notified his attorney that he was a subject of the investigation. Haskell explains that he played a significant role in several of the transactions that were of great interest to the IC, that the IC required him to provide handwriting exemplars to determine whether he signed various documents in connection with the purchase of the land for the landing strip in Costa Rica, and that the IC also sought to determine whether he profited from his activities. Relying on our prior decisions in In re North (Gadd Fee Application), 12 F.3d 252, 255-56 (D.C.Cir.1994) (per curiam); In re North (Dutton Fee Application), 11 F.3d 1075, 1077-79 (D.C.Cir.1993) (per curiam); and Shultz, 8 F.3d at 850-51, Haskell asserts that he easily meets the subject requirement since he was told that he was a subject and he believed that IC Walsh might reasonably have pointed the finger of accusation at him. 14 The Attorney General, who consistent with the statutory scheme is not familiar with all details of the investigation and takes no position on whether Haskell was a subject, raises three points about Haskell's subject status. First, she notes that Haskell only received oral representations that he was in the subject category. Second, she argues that the Final Report does not provide support for the contention that Haskell was a subject since the report mentions Haskell only briefly and does not discuss his potential exposure to criminal liability. Third, the Attorney General maintains that it might be pertinent that Haskell was involved not only in the Contra resupply activities but also prepared North's tax returns, thus raising the possibility that he was a subject only with regard to the Contra activities and not to the tax preparation activities. 15 In his evaluation of Haskell's fee application, IC Walsh states that Haskell aided North without compensation in the belief that he was carrying out a program for the President and that Haskell accurately recounted his contacts with the IC staff. Based on the holdings in Dutton and Gadd, Walsh asserts that it would be ill-advised and unfair of the government to oppose Haskell's fee application. 16 The court has defined the term subject for the purposes of the Act's fee reimbursement provision as a person whose conduct is within the scope of the independent counsel's investigation and who knew at the time of incurring the fees that his conduct was within that scope in such a fashion that 'the independent counsel might reasonably be expected to point the finger of accusation' at him. Shultz, 8 F.3d at 850 (quoting Dutton, 11 F.3d at 1078). In the Final Report, Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters, August 4, 1993, IC Walsh mentions Haskell briefly in connection with the purchase of the land in Costa Rica, id. at 59,285; courier activities, id. at 174, 195-96; a proposed transaction to purchase a ship to transport arms, id. at 164; and an attempt to hire a lawyer to represent Eugene Hasenfus, a pilot of a Contra resupply plane who was shot down and captured in Nicaragua. Id. at 166-67. Haskell is not mentioned in connection with North's tax returns. Though Haskell was a minor figure, his activities were within the scope of IC Walsh's investigation, as IC Walsh indicated in his evaluation. Further, the fact that the IC's office told Haskell that he was a subject makes it clear that he meets the subject requirement. See Shultz, 8 F.3d at 850 (holding that under any definition of the term, the criterion for subject is squarely met when the independent counsel tells a party that he is a subject). The fact that Haskell was informed of his subject status orally, rather than in writing, is of little importance. Also, based on the Final Report, it appears that IC Walsh was interested in Haskell in connection with Haskell's own activities and not for his preparation of North's taxes. 17