LAWYER HERE IS INDICTED AS AGENT FOR TRUJILLO

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP75-00001R000300200021-0
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
K
Document Page Count: 
1
Document Creation Date: 
November 11, 2016
Document Release Date: 
October 15, 1998
Sequence Number: 
21
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
May 14, 1957
Content Type: 
NSPR
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PDF icon CIA-RDP75-00001R000300200021-0.pdf129.36 KB
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AL r anied - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-0000 CPYRGH T Lawyer Here Islndicted As Agent forTrujillo John Joseph Frank, a 42-year-old Washington attorney, w o at one time worked for the FBI and the super-secret Central I - telligence Agency, was indicted here yesterday by a Federal gra jury on charges of illegally acting as an agent for Generalissi o Trujillo and the Dominican Republic. The four-count indictment charged lawyer, a graduate of the, .Georgetown University Law School, with; acting as an agent for a foreign power without reg- istering with the Justice De- partment, a violation of the For- eign Agents Registration Act of 19313. It was issued by a District Court grand jury, which -al- legedly is probing the mysteri- ous disappearances last year of Jesus de Galindez, a Columbia University professor? and out- spoken political enemy of the generalissimo, dictator of the Dominican Republic, and Gerald L. Murphy, a 23-year-old Ameri- can pilot, The professor, 42, vanished one night in March, 1956, after leaving his classroom at the uni- versity in New York City. The pilot, an employe of a Domini- can Republic airline, has not been seen since last December 3 in Ciudad Trujillo, where at least one account pictured him as boasting loudly that he knew the details of the professor's disappearance. Arrested by FBI Frank, who agents said lives of 7608 Columbia pike, Alexandria, and used to have offices in the 800 block of Fifteenth street iN.W., was arrested by three agents of the FBI as he walked with his attorney, Edward L. Carey, at Seventeenth and I, streets N.W. about 4 p,rft. It was: just two months ago, on March 12, that he had appeared before the grand jury. Two of the four counts charged Frank, "also known as John Kane," with agreeing to act as an agent and "solicited and ac- the lean, stony-faced cepted compensation" and "di - bursed and dispensed mone from and for the Dominican R - public and "has unlawfully a d wilfully "failed to 'file (as agent of -a foreign principal) wi the Attorney General. , . ' The other two charge +" e acted within the United Stat s and "within the District if Columbia and elsewhere ..." s an agent for Trujillo and "soli - ited and accepted compensati q from" the generalissimo. The grand jury charged he h d been in the business for thr years, since May, 1954. Pleads Not Guilty Frank was arraigned at 5: p.m., before District Court Jud Richmond B. Keech. He e tered a plea of not guilty. trial date was set. The arraignment was spark by a vigorous dispute cover ing bond, which the judge final 11 set at $10,000. It was post shortly thereafter, and Frank if - f the courthouse with Mr. Car and a second attorney. Nathan B. Lenvin, a Just Department attorney in char of the grand jury investig&ti had asked Judge Keech t the bond at $25,000 on grond that the case "has internationa ramifications" and that Fran might "flee the country." "The Government knows," h declared, "that the accused ha made frequent trips" to Ne York, Florida and the Dominica Republic and may want to d so again. Mr. Carey replied that as former FBI agent and as a mem ber. of the District Bar Associa JOHN JOSEPH FRANK Indicted - -AP Photo Lion, Frank is "the most faithful client I have ever had, and he'll show up anytime anywhere he is wanted." No Comment Outside the courtroom, Frank referred all questions by report-I ers to his attorney. Mr. Carey said "no comment, no comment at all." The FBI said Frank, tall anti ruddy, is a native of New Brit- ain, Conn. He obtained his first diploma at Georgetown in 1938 and his law degree in 1941. He joined the Justice Depart- ment on July 7, 1941, and served as a special agent through May FOIAb3b went into private department said, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, in announcing Frank's arrest, said the bureau investigation re- vealed that the accused had been acting as an unregistered "attorney" .for Trujillo and the Dominican Republic since "mid- CPYRGHT Sanitized - Approved For Release : CIA-RDP75-00001 R000300200021-0