Special counsel Kenneth W. Starr is expected to seek indictments soon against a number of key players in the financial scandal linked to President Clinton's investment in the Whitewater real estate deal, according to sources close to the case.
Mr. Starr is said to be preparing wide-ranging indictments from a grand jury in Little Rock, Ark., against some well-known political figures, including Gov. Jim Guy Tucker of Arkansas and former ** Associate Attorney General Webster L. Hubbell, who was once a partner with first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock.
Also virtually certain to be named, according to these sources, are Mr. Clinton's partner in the Whitewater deal, James McDougal; McDougal's former wife, Susan; and lesser-known employees of the savings and loan that Mr. McDougal once owned, Madison Guaranty.
Coming on the heels of a GOP election sweep, the indictments would add to Mr. Clinton's political woes by refocusing attention on previously aired allegations that he benefited from Mr. McDougal's efforts to fund their joint real estate venture in the Ozarks with cash from the savings and loan.
Already, the Whitewater case has caused considerable embarrassment for the president and his wife and has led to the resignation of at least three top administration officials, including Mr. Hubbell.
At the White House, spokesman Barry Toiv said he was unaware of the impending indictments.
The indictments are expected to be based in part on leads provided to Mr. Starr by David Hale, a former Little Rock municipal judge who claims that Mr. Clinton and Mr. McDougal persuaded him in the mid-1980s to make an illegal, federally backed loan of $300,000 to Susan McDougal. Some of the money was then used by the Whitewater Development Corp. for land purchase.
Mr. Starr asked a judge to delay sentencing Hale, who pleaded guilty to two fraud charges in a plea agreement. Mr. Starr said that he feared that a sentencing hearing would reveal details of David Hale's work with Whitewater investigators, thereby tipping off potential targets.
Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Stephen M. Reasoner agreed to postpone Hale's sentencing, which had been scheduled for Dec. 5.
Beginning in 1979, the Clintons and the McDougals were partners in a resort development known as Whitewater Estates in the Ozark Mountains. The partnership has attracted attention not only because it is believed that savings and loan money went into the firm but also because the Clintons invested less than the McDougals.
The president has denied that Whitewater was anything more than a poor investment that produced no income for his family.