WALL STREET JOURNAL
Thursday, 9/24/99, p. B1
by David Cloud, Gordon Fairclough, and Ann Davis
[continued from Index page back]
[Provided by Tobacco Daily News Summaries]
The WALL STREET JOURNAL takes a behind-the-scenes look at how the
Justice Department arrived at its decision to file a civil lawsuit
against the tobacco industry.
From the lobbying efforts of trial lawyer
Richard Scruggs, to President Clinton's surprising announcement during
his State of the Union speech, to around-the-clock research by Justice
Department lawyers, the WALL STREET JOURNAL looks at developments which
convinced Attorney General Janet Reno to approve the lawsuit, including
the bold use of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
statute.
The article also explains why the Justice Department's criminal
investigation of the tobacco industry was unsuccessful. Several setbacks
included: Brown & Williamson convincing a judge to deny the government
access to certain company documents; Philip Morris scientists, who had
been granted immunity, revealing little to the grand jury; and several
prosecutors were worried about charging the tobacco industry with making
false statements to the Food and Drug Administration, which at the time
of the statements did not have authority over the industry.
