Carnival puts bite on Hillary’s brother

A bankruptcy trustee for a carnival company whose owners received a pardon from President Clinton is seeking to garnish the bank accounts of Mr. Clinton’s brother-in-law to recoup more than $100,000 in loans.

Anthony D. Rodham, one of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s two brothers, got the loans from United Shows of America Inc. after its owners obtained the presidential pardon in March 2000 over the objections of the Justice Department.

Michael E. Collins, trustee for United Shows, filed papers in Alexandria bankruptcy court seeking the return of $107,000 plus $46,034 in interest from Mr. Rodham, 51, for the loans he received from the carnival company, which went bankrupt in 2002.

Mr. Rodham “received the benefit of the loans without making any repayment,” reads a related document filed last year in bankruptcy court in Nashville, Tenn.

United Shows’ owners, Edgar Gregory Jr. and his wife, Vonna Jo Gregory, were convicted of bank fraud in 1982 on charges of illegally giving loans to friends. Mr. Gregory died in 2004, within four years of the presidential pardons.

At the time Mr. Clinton pardoned the Gregorys, Mr. Rodham reportedly said he worked for Tennessee-based United Shows as a consultant and denied taking money to lobby for presidential favors.

Mr. Collins, in his June 26 bankruptcy filing, said each of 16 checks from United Shows written to Mr. Rodham had a note at the bottom indicating the payments were loans.

Mr. Rodham, known as Tony and a resident of Vienna, Va., did not return several calls seeking comment.

His being named in the bankruptcy case is the latest distraction to Mrs. Clinton’s political aspirations caused by her two younger brothers. Mrs. Clinton, a Democrat, is seeking re-election in November to her Senate seat from New York and is weighing a presidential bid in 2008.

Mr. Rodham got into a brawl in August 2001 at the Rodham family’s summer cottage in Pennsylvania with a man who said he caught Mr. Rodham having sex with the man’s girlfriend.

Mrs. Clinton’s other brother, Hugh E. Rodham Jr., intervened in that fight. Hugh Rodham, 56, also came under scrutiny for his role in Mr. Clinton’s pardons. An attorney, he returned about $400,000 he received for lobbying for a presidential pardon and prison commutation for two clients.

Both brothers were criticized in 1993 when they sought corporate contributions to pay for festivities surrounding their brother-in-law’s first inauguration.

Neither Mrs. Clinton nor the former president returned messages seeking comment on the new court filing.

According to bankruptcy court records, Tony Rodham began to receive the loan checks on May 10, 2000. The final loan of $2,500 was made on Feb. 12, 2002, about six months before United Shows filed for bankruptcy protection.

Mr. Collins won a default judgment in the Tennessee court against Mr. Rodham because Mrs. Clinton’s brother filed no legal papers to contest the matter, records show.

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