Sunday, December 08, 2002
Richard Burrow trial to begin over D-Day Memorial dealings
Fraud trial shaping into a fierce battle

By JAY CONLEY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Did Richard Burrow con banks and taxpayers out of millions of dollars to build the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford - only to leave it facing shame, embarrassment and bankruptcy?

Or did the former president of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation legally manipulate fund raising to get the $25 million monument built so that World War II veterans, who are dying at the rate of 1,000 a day, could visit it before they die?

Those two conflicting theories likely will be played out before a jury in federal court this week as Burrow, 55, goes on trial on fraud charges related to fund raising for the memorial's construction.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Hogeboom said last week that he intendss to present between 20 and 30 witnesses. The trial is supposed to start Monday morning in federal court in Lynchburg.

Burrow, who lives in Roanoke and formerly worked as an engineer for the city and Explore Park, is charged with bank fraud, loan application fraud, wire fraud and mail fraud. The charges stem from his five-year tenure at the foundation, during which he oversaw the memorial's construction. He resigned in July 2001, shortly after the memorial was dedicated by President Bush.

A few months later, federal authorities began looking closely at the memorial's financing after it came to light that the foundation was $5 million in debt to contractors and that it had improperly spent another $2 million in donations.

The foundation never recovered from that debt. Last month, still $3.8 million in debt, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from its creditors.

This past summer, following a nine-month investigation, U.S. Attorney John Brownlee announced the four indictments against Burrow, saying he crafted a complex financial shell game to fool banks, private donors and the state so the nonprofit foundation could obtain more than $7.5 million in loans, donations and taxpayer-funded state grants to build the memorial.

Burrow has pleaded not guilty to the charges. John Lichtenstein, Burrow's attorney, has maintained that his client is being made a scapegoat for the foundation's financial woes. Burrow committed no crimes in acquiring money for the memorial's construction, Lichtenstein says.

What is unusual about the case is that federal prosecutors have never alleged that Burrow reaped any personal financial gain, a point Lichtenstein is expected to hammer on repeatedly during the trial.

The indictments allege that Burrow abandoned traditional fund-raising efforts as he struggled to find money to keep the memorial's construction on schedule and instead embarked on a desperate and illegal scheme.

According to the charges, Burrow tricked the state of Virginia into giving the foundation millions in matching funds for which there were no matching donations. He also tricked banks into loaning millions to the foundation, according to the indictments.

Prosecutors intend to prove during the trial that Burrow illegally abused the Virginia General Assembly's matching funds program on at least one occasion by using matching funds from the state as collateral to acquire a $3.3 million short-term loan from a California bank. Burrow also used that short-term loan to provide the match for the state grant.

Prosecutors also plan to introduce evidence that Burrow forced foundation staff to create a false list of donors to get a $1.2 million loan from the Bank of the James in Bedford.

Hogeboom has said Burrow falsely told bank officials that the bank would be the foundation's only creditor if they approved the loan.

If a hearing Wednesday in federal court in Roanoke was any indication, Burrow's trial could be a real battle.

During the hearing before Judge James Turk, Hogeboom and Lichtenstein argued fiercely over seemingly small details.

Among other things, Turk ruled that the foundation must turn over donor information and some financial records of donations to the defense to see if any of the donors on the list have contributed to the memorial since Burrow resigned.

"Donations that came in after he [Burrow] left are critical to the case," Lichtenstein told Turk. "We absolutely have to know what was paid on those pledges that the government claims were fraudulent."

Turk also granted a motion by Lichtenstein asking for the release of Bob Slaughter's grand jury testimony. Lichtenstein said the testimony could support Burrow's claims of innocence.

Slaughter is a D-Day veteran who championed the idea of building the memorial. As the first chairman of the foundation's board of directors, Slaughter hired Burrow and has maintained that Burrow did not knowingly do anything illegal.

On paper, at least, if Burrow is convicted of all four charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 120 years in prison and a $4 million fine. But in federal court, where the sentence is determined by the judge rather than the jury, it's unlikely Burrow would get anything close to that amount of time, Brownlee said.

Slaughter, who has been subpoenaed to testify on Burrow's behalf, said his opinion has not changed since Burrow was indicted.

"I don't think he did anything wrong."

Jay Conley can be reached

at 981-3114 or jay.conley@roanoke.com.

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