According to major Taiwanese television and print media, Charlie Trie, pal of the Clinton administration and convicted player in the
1996 campaign finance scandal, was arrested for extortion today in Taipei.
Trie was granted permission to return to Asia last month on business after completing his community service sentence in Little Rock,
Ark. His return was anything but uneventful, however, as Trie is now accused of extorting 5 million Taiwan dollars (about $178,000
U.S.) from the founder of his dead wife’s religious organization.
Upon returning to Taipei, Trie contacted Sing-Bond Lin — the founder of a Buddhist educational foundation and soon-to-be ex-husband
of a famous Taiwanese actress — on June 11. Lin’s foundation is one of many in Taiwan that educates members in the Buddhist faith
and spiritual healing.
Through an intermediary, known as Mr. Wu, Trie asked the foundation to pay 8 million Taiwan dollars to compensate for the death of
his wife, Wang Mei.
Lin had told Trie’s wife that if she worked as a volunteer in the organization, only Buddha could save her life from cancer.
According to Trie, his wife volunteered for four months, and as a result of her hard work, died.
The foundation’s chief executive officer, Ting-Wen Chuang, told Taiwanese media, “In June of this year, Charlie Trie asked Mr. Lin
and other organization officials to meet at a restaurant in Taipei to talk about compensation.”
The foundation sent its secretary and CEO to the meeting, which included Trie and his friend Wu.
According to Chuang, “Trie said he would find someone to falsely testify and also give information to the news media to keep
pressure on the organization,” and mentioned that he had a good relationship with the Taiwanese Mafia.
As a result of negotiations, foundation officials agreed to pay Trie 5 million Taiwan dollars and arranged for a pickup of the
money. They then reported the extortion scheme to Taipei police Saturday night.
The Taipei police department criminal division rushed to the scene of the pickup — a local restaurant — this morning, where they
arrested Trie with the money and took other witnesses back to the police department.
Trie was smiling as policemen fingerprinted him, said reports, and was released on bail.
According to Lin’s foundation, Trie was a member of the organization with his wife, but the two had been inactive for some time.
“The organization has nothing to do with Charlie Trie, although Charlie Trie’s wife is a volunteer who later died of cancer,” Chuang
said. “The organization had nothing to do with this. Charlie Trie and others came not once, but several times to harass [the
foundation.]”
Trie pleaded guilty last year in the United States to violating campaign finance laws and completed four months of home detention as
part of his sentence. His lawyer said he needed to travel abroad for a new job marketing videophones in Asia and elsewhere.
A district court judge granted Trie’s request but required him to report by telephone monthly to a federal probation officer in
Arkansas.
Trie, who owned a restaurant in Little Rock, is accused of moving more than $700,000 in illegal contributions from foreign nationals
to the Democrat Party, President Clinton’s 1996 campaign and various Democratic politicians.
In May 1999, Trie pleaded guilty in Little Rock to two felonies related to campaign finance laws. Besides four months of home
detention and three years probation, he was fined $5,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
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