Malcolm Wilkey, 90, a retired Justice Department official, federal judge and ambassador who led the 1992 investigation into the scandal surrounding the internal bank of the U.S. House of Representatives, died Aug. 15 at his home in Santiago, Chile. In a long and varied career, Wilkey prosecuted international drug smugglers, led federal efforts to integrate public schools in the South and participated in several key rulings on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington from 1970 to 1985. His greatest impact in Washington might have come in 1992, when Attorney General William Barr -- once Wilkey's law clerk -- asked his former boss to investigate improprieties related to the House of Representatives' private bank. Despite the grumbling of many congressmen, Wilkey subpoenaed the bank's records and found evidence, he said, of a "classic check-kiting scheme." During a 39-month period before the bank closed in December 1991, he discovered that House members had more than 24,000 overdrafts without paying any penalties. The privilege was criticized as a form of interest-free loans available only to congressmen. He cited more than 300 House members for overdrawing their accounts, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Three House members were convicted of felonies, and a fourth pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. The manager of the bank was convicted of embezzlement.
WASHINGTON POST
