Marc Rich Tied to U.N. Oil-for-Food Scandal

Clinton-pardoned fugitive billionaire Marc Rich has turned up in the middle of the United Nations Oil-for-Food scandal, with his name on a roster of companies authorized to participate in the corruption-plagued arrangement.

"One of Marc Rich's companies was on the United Nations list that was approved to trade and transport Iraqi oil," Fox News Channel's Eric Shawn reported Tuesday.

"And it appears that Mr. Rich's firm, Marc Rich & Co. Investments AG, may well have been given that approval by the U.N. before the presidential pardon," Shawn added.

That means the U.N. was ready to do business with America's most-wanted white collar criminal, while other program participants were busily stuffing their pockets with Saddam Hussein's kickbacks.

Thomas Frutig, CEO of Marc Rich Holdings, denied the allegation, telling Fox, "We were not involved in the Oil-for-Food program."

But in the next breath he added, "Every oil company which wasn't trading applied for an authorization to trade, but I can't tell you how much we did, or whether we did anything."

Rich had previously gotten into trouble over allegations that he traded oil with Iran at a time when Tehran was on the U.S. embargo list as a state sponsor of terrorism.

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