Drafts Show Allbritton's Pursuit of Pinochet

By Terence O'Hara
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, March 3, 2005; Page E01

When Joe L. Allbritton was chief executive of Riggs Bank, he received personal gifts from Augusto Pinochet and wanted the former Chilean dictator to visit the Allbritton horse farm in Virginia, according to drafts of letters from 1996 and 1997.

The drafts were found in the bank's investigation of the relationship between Allbritton and Pinochet, whose government murdered or tortured an estimated 3,000 political opponents over 17 years. It could not be determined whether the letters were sent.

Joe L. Allbritton hoped to host Augusto Pinochet at his horse farm in Virginia, according to draft correspondence uncovered in the Riggs Bank investigation. (File Photo)

Riggs Bank pleaded guilty to a felony in January, in part because it failed to report many years of suspicious transactions involving Pinochet's accounts, which the bank closed in 2002. Allbritton was chairman and chief executive of Riggs until 2001.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2437-2005Mar2.html