Hayes had his first run-in with the Justice Department in August 1990 when he purchased lot 097 of used computer equipment from the office of the U.S. attorney in Lexington, Kentucky. He discovered copies of the PROMIS software and all sorts of official records, such as the identity of people who had been placed in the federal witness protection program. When Hayes informed the Justice Department of their sloppy security, their reaction was to seize the equipment and to try to prosecute Hayes for receiving information he shouldn't have.
On October 29, 1991, District Court Judge Eugene R. Siler issued an injunction forbidding Hayes from ever "possessing, retrieving, copying, duplicating, disseminating, disposing, transferring, selling, discussing or publishing, orally or in any other manner, any information or data which was stored in any part of the computer equipment or related items" in lot 097. (The case is discussed somewhat in David Burnham's Above the Law: Secret Deals, Political Fixes, and Other Misadventures of the U.S. Department of Justice.)
But Hayes sued and got his equipment back from the government, along with an undisclosed settlement amount (rumored to be around $80,000). In addition to Judge Siler, part of the case between the Justice Department and Hayes was heard by Judge J. B. Johnson, who is now an Appellate Judge for the Sixth Circuit.
In August 1992 Hayes again testified to a Chicago grand jury with respect to the Inslaw case, but his Chicago testimony was redacted under the National Security Act.
Then in April 1996, Hayes provided Inslaw attorneys with an affidavit that detailed the government's use of the stolen PROMIS software. Hayes was afterward deposed by Beth Cook of the Justice Department, who made numerous attempts to entrap Hayes into either revealing his secret grand jury testimony from Chicago, or to admit to violations of Judge Siler's order.
Now Judge J. B. Johnson, curiously acting as a District Judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky, has signed a criminal complain against "Chalmer C. Hayes, also know as Chuck Hayes, also known as Charles Hayes" (Case Number 96-6101M, October 22, 1996). An indictment was obtained by Joseph L. Famularo, U.S. Attorney in Lexington, Kentucky.
The timing of this complaint is curious, given that Charles Hayes' most recent activity has been to assist the Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr draft indictments against Hillary and Bill Clinton. Indictments for several people, including Hillary, were signed by grand juries in Arkansas and New York earlier this month.
According to the present criminal complaint, Hayes supposedly contracted with an undercover FBI agent to have Hayes' son killed for $5,000. (It is no secret that Hayes and his son, who has had drug addiction problems in the past, do not get along, and that there is some civil litigation pending between them over an inheritance issue.)
An affidavit of FBI agent David R. Keller reports on the activities of another, undisclosed "Undercover Agent (UCA) of the FBI". This agent supposedly offered to kill Hayes' son, and Hayes discussed the matter with him over an open phone line. Then Hayes conveniently sent a package of documents to the agent, using his own return address. Then this agent showed up at the Beckett Motel in Nancy, Kentucky, where Hayes lives, while on his way to Louisville to scope out the dirty deed, and Hayes gave him $100 in expenses. Finally, Hayes promised this unidentified person $5,000 to be paid a week after the hit.
Now I'm a novice at these matters, and it sure sounds plausible to me that if I were going to have someone killed, I would discuss the matter over the telephone so it could be recorded, then send out incriminating documents using my own return address, and finally invite the person over to my house so all the neighbors can see the two of us spending time together.
But would Hayes be this naive? Well, I've talked to him on a daily basis for a year now, and all I can say is Hayes is extremely circumspect in any phone conversation.
It would seem the Department of Justice hopes to kill two birds with one stone: 1) to keep Charles Hayes locked up past the election; and 2) to shut him up with respect to the Inslaw Case and the stolen PROMIS software.
And, at least for the moment, they have succeeded.
October 24, 1996
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