Webster Lee Hubbell

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American judge

Webster Lee "Webb" Hubbell (born January 18, 1948) is a former United States Associate Attorney General from 1993 to 1994 who as part of the Whitewater controversy pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of failing to disclose a conflict of interest, and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.

Early life and education

Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas , Webster Hubbell was a three-sport letterman at Hall High School . He attended the University of Arkansas on a football scholarship where he played offensive tackle for the Arkansas Razorbacks . In his senior year (1968/69), the Razorbacks were SWC co-champions and beat undefeated Georgia in the Sugar Bowl . Hubbell was selected in the eighth round (197th overall) in the 1969 NFL draft by the Chicago Bears , but an injury ended his football career.

He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1970, then graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law with honors.

Career

Hubbell began the practice of law with the Rose Law Firm in 1973, where in February 1977 Hillary Clinton joined him as a law partner.[_citation needed
_] In September 1978 he was appointed to Little Rock's City Board of Directors, and in 1979 he was elected Mayor of Little Rock. He served in that position until 1981. Hubbell was re-elected to the City Board of Directors in 1980 where he served until he resigned in 1984 to become the chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court.

After his service on the Court, he returned to the Rose Law Firm where he remained until he left for Washington, D.C. in January 1993.[_citation needed
] Hubbell was active in community affairs including, serving as president of the Visiting Nurses Association, on the Board and Treasurer of the Arkansas Arts Center , on the board of the UAMS Foundation , and as chairman of the board of the Arkansas State Board of Bar Examiners.[citation needed
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Federal government career

After the 1992 election , Hubbell was one of the Clinton Administration transition's senior officials, Counsel to the Transition Board and responsible for vetting appointments to the Cabinet and other top positions, among others George Stephanopoulos , Henry Cisneros , and Jim Woolsey , former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and Bernard W. Nussbaum , White House Counsel .

After Clinton's inauguration , Hubbell became White House liaison to the United States Department of Justice , arriving at Justice on January 20, 1993. During the period before an Attorney General was approved, Hubbell worked as the assistant to the Attorney General, but reported to Republican appointee, Acting Attorney General Stuart M. Gerson . Clinton considered Hubbell for the Attorney General position on January 30, 1993, after Zoë Baird 's name was withdrawn, but Clinton nominated Janet Reno instead.

Hubbell was formally nominated as Associate Attorney General on April 2, 1993, and was immediately attacked for his ties to the Clintons.[_citation needed
_] Hubbell's nomination was nonetheless quickly confirmed by the U.S. Senate and he served as Associate Attorney General until April 1994. He oversaw all the civil divisions of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and was appointed by Janet Reno as the Chief Operating Officer of department and its 100,000 employees and $10 billion budget.

Resignation and conviction

During the Whitewater controversy , Hubbell was indicted for allegedly overbilling clients while in private practice. Hubbell had previously resigned as associate attorney general on April 14, 1994, to avoid controversy regarding his work at Justice and in hopes of reaching a resolution with the Rose Law Firm. In December 1994 Hubbell pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of tax fraud and on June 28, 1995, Judge George Howard sentenced Hubbell to 21 months' imprisonment. As a convicted felon, Hubbell entered Federal Correctional Institution, Cumberland in August 1995, and was released from a halfway house in February 1997.

In 1997, William Morrow & Co published Friends in High Places, Hubbell's autobiographical account of his rise in Arkansas politics and his time in the Clinton administration.

Additional criminal charges

During the months after Hubbell's resignation, he entered into legal consulting contracts with several clients including the Indonesian Riady family and Revlon . This activity became the focus of another Starr investigation while Hubbell served out his sentence. Despite years of investigation, and although Independent Counsel Starr alleged that Hubbell "did little or no work for the money paid by his consulting clients", Starr ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove that any legal consulting contract or payments were intended to influence Hubbell's cooperation with investigators in the Whitewater investigation.

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