Grand jury indicts Howard Hughes

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33601, 1 August 1974, Page 17

Grand jury indicts Howard Hughes

(N’ftr Zealand Press Association —Copyright) LAS VEGAS. July 31. Howard Hughes, the multi-millionaire recluse who is thought to be in seclusion in the Bahamas, has been indicted h\ a Federal grand jury on four charges relating to stock manipulation, and a summons has been issued for his appearance in court.

No date was set at yesterday’s hearing for the appearance of Hughes and three other men alleged to have conspired to hammer down the price of the stock of an airline which Hughes wanted to purchase in 1969. Hughes bought the airline, Air West, over the objections of its board of directors, and changed the name to Hughes Airwest. The Grand Jury returned its surprise indictment before District Court Judge Roger Foley. There had been speculation that Hughes would escape indictment in

the jury’s in camera proceedings, but the United States Attorney for Nevada prevailed in his determination to have Hughes named. The four counts of the indictment are stock manipulation, conspiracy, wire fraud, and aiding and abet-

ting. Penalties range from two to five years in prison, and fines of between SUSIOOO and SUSIO,OOO. Indicted with Hughes on all four counts are Chestei Davis, his New York lawyer and veteran of many successful battles to avoid Hughes’s personal appearance in litigation; Robert Maheu, former head of Hughes’s Nevada empire; and David Charnay, head of Four Star Productions, Los Angeles. Maheu recently won a libel suit against Hughes, who once said: “He stole me blind.” Hughes dismissed Maheu in 1970. The amount of damages in the libel suit is yet to be determined. When pressed about what he would do if the summons

went unanswered, State authorities said that it would be normal procedure to issue a Bench warrant They refused to go into the matter of extradition from a foreign country such as the Bahamas. where Hughes is known to have been living. Two men are named as unindietvd co-conspirators in the case: Herman ("Hank”) Greenspun, publisher of the “Las Vegas Sun”; and George Crockett, former owner of a small airport which Hughes purchased.