NEW YORK, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- ABC News reported Thursday former U.S. fugitive financier Marc Rich was involved in several of the suspect oil deals conducted by Iraq in February 2001.
Rich's involvement in the deals came one month after outgoing President Bill Clinton pardoned him, ABC News said.
According to the ABC, Rich and several other prominent oil traders are the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation for allegedly making illegal payments to Iraq to obtain lucrative oil contracts.
Several American oil companies are implicated in the deals, including ChevronTexaco and ExxonMobil, as well as New York oil trader Ben Pollner, who heads Taurus Oil.
The U.N. food-for-oil program, which allowed Iraq to sell oil for humanitarian aid, has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks. Investigators charge top U.N. officials, including Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have been accused of allowing Saddam Hussein's regime to siphon billions meant for food and other goods.
