Associated Press Newswires
Copyright 2002. The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Saturday, September 28, 2002

Former congressman pleads guilty to fraud charges
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Former Rep. Edward Mezvinsky, who has long blamed manic depression and the effects of an anti-malaria drug for his involvement in a pyramid scheme, pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding friends and family members out of millions of dollars.

The former Democratic congressman from Iowa pleaded guilty to 31 counts of fraud, admitting he bilked investors who handed over more than $10 millions for deals he claimed to be arranging in Africa.

"I made mistakes and I have to atone for them and move on," Mezvinsky, of Merion, told reporters after entering his plea. "Atonement hasn't come easy for someone who's been in denial for over a decade. So I'm trying and I'm committed to trying to get there."

Prosecutors said they will ask for nine to 11 years in prison at sentencing Jan. 9. Mezvinsky, 65, will remain on home confinement until then.

Although he is required to pay all the money back as restitution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Zauzmer said he doubts the victims will see a dime.

"There is no chance of recovery. We haven't located any assets," Zauzmer said.

Mezvinsky had been scheduled to stand trial Oct. 7 on 69 counts of defrauding investors, including his ailing mother-in-law who contributed $309,000. On Friday, he admitted committing all the offenses, even the ones that were dropped as part of the plea bargain.

Mezvinsky's trial was delayed several times because he changed attorneys and because he hoped to claim that mental illness caused him to lose more than $10 million given to him by banks, investors, friends and family.

In June, U.S. District Judge Stewart Dalzell torpedoed all of the mental-health trial defenses, declaring that they "are founded on a miasma of ifs, hypotheses and conjectures."

Mezvinsky's lawyers claimed that bipolar disorder and the anti-malaria drug Lariam, which he took while on business trips to Africa, blinded him to the pyramid scheme.

In April, attorney Thomas A. Bergstrom cited irreconcilable differences with Mezvinsky on a defense strategy and asked to be removed. Bergstrom said Mezvinsky had a "serious mental illness" and that dealing with him was akin to "advanced child care."

Mezvinsky's first lawyer, Mark Cedrone, had left because of a conflict of interest: His doctor is being sued by Mezvinsky.

Mezvinsky sued Roche Holding AG, which makes Lariam. The company has declined comment because of the lawsuit, but has said the drug is a safe and effective weapon against a dangerous disease.

Mezvinsky was first charged in March 2001. He later was charged with collecting $55,000 in bogus consulting fees for work he never performed from a Maryland couple last year - after he already was facing the earlier counts.

Mezvinsky's wife, one-time television newswoman and former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, D-Pa., was not charged with any wrongdoing, although she has filed for bankruptcy in the face of civil claims filed by her husband's victims.

After serving as an Iowa congressman from 1973 to 1977, Edward Mezvinsky accepted a position as the U.S. representative on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. He was later involved in several international business ventures and served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party from 1981 to 1986.

Mezvinsky ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 1980 and spent millions on an unsuccessful run for attorney general in 1988.

The Mezvinskys befriended the Clintons and attended the Renaissance Weekend in Hilton Head, S.C., made famous by the former president and first lady.