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Clifford's partner and protιgι Altman was a sharp lawyer in his early
30s who came from a monied Washington family and was making a name for
himself as a political and legal power in his own right. Clifford and
Altman often worked as a good cop-bad cop team, with Clifford playing
the genteel Midwestern lawyer and Altman acting the part of tough guy.
Altman later added a measure of glamor unusual in button-down Washington
by marrying Lynda Carter, the star of the "Wonder Woman" television
series, and building a gigantic house (it was said to have 16 bathrooms)
in the ritzy Washington suburb of Potomac. Clifford, the father of three
daughters, often described Altman as the son he never had. Altman named
one of his sons after his mentor, and in times of stress, Altman's hands
even occasionally mimicked the Clifford steeple. In a couple of
instances during their congressional testimony on BCCI, they looked as
if they were praying together before the panel of congressmen that faced
them. [
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[
]Whatever they said, Clifford and Altman were clearly close to Abedi
and, to a lesser extent, Naqvi, flying regularly to London tovisit them
and report on First American's business and the state of BCCI's U.S.
legal affairs and exchanging friendly correspondence with them on a
regular basis. Abedi was even a guest at Altman's wedding to Lynda
Carter and presented the new bride with a Jaguar automobile as a gift.
Altman claimed that was just the gesture of an unusually generous client
in an otherwise arms-length attorney-client relationship. "It's true
that he gave my wife a very generous gift," Altman said. "That is the
kind of thing that is done in the circles in which he operated in the
Middle East, but as far as a personal relationship, our dealings were
almost entirely business." [
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[
] Regular customers weren't the only ones making sure their deposits
at First American were safe. On the same day that Clifford and Altman
resigned from the bank, Altman's wife, actress Lynda Carter, appeared at
a First American branch and rearranged $500,000 held in an account under
the name of her movie company, Altman Productions, The Washington Post's
Sharon Walsh reported. Carter split the Altman Productions money into
several smaller accounts, according to bank employees-each containing
less than $100,000. That way, if the bank failed, her money would be
insured by the federal government, which covers amounts up to $100,000
per account. Better to be safe than sorry, no doubt. [
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[
] Rumors abounded about where the prosecutors might strike next. To
many, it was a forgone conclusion that Clark Clifford and Robert Altman
would be indicted for their role in BCCI's takeover of First American,
but the two men continued to vigorously protest their innocence. Both
have appeared repeatedly before grand juries and congressional
committees investigating the affair, and have pledged to cooperate with
all probes-although they have claimed attorney-client privilege to
prevent the release of some documents to investigators. Clifford &
Warnke, the two men's Washington law firm, broke up in November 1991, a
casualty of the controversy, and Clifford and Altman apparently were
spending virtually all their time working on their defense. Their legal
bills were said to be in the neighborhood of $1 million a month-and
Altman's wife, Lynda Carter, was noticed to have renewed her acting
career, perhaps to help pay for the defense. [
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Serial and Year: 1992.
