Inquiry Into Use of Riggs Plane Expands [View All]

By Terence O'Hara
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 19, 2005; Page A01

Of all the perks made available to Joe L. Allbritton during his tenure at the top of Riggs Bank, none was more expensive than the "flying branch."

The Gulfstream jet was an unusual extravagance for a bank of Riggs's small size, yet Allbritton fiercely defended its use. In 1992, he defeated a shareholder proposal calling on Riggs to sell it. The following year, when an internal efficiency study recommended laying off 550 people and selling the Gulfstream, Riggs got rid of the employees but kept the jet.

Now, in addition to an investigation of money laundering at Riggs, the Justice Department is investigating Allbritton's extensive personal use of the Gulfstream and other company assets during and after his time as chief executive of the company.

Banking regulators were already looking into similar matters, but the Justice Department has expanded the inquiry into whether the jet -- first purchased in 1983 and then replaced in 1998 with a top-of-the-line Gulfstream V -- was maintained for business purposes or primarily for Allbritton's private transport, said several sources familiar with the details of the investigations who spoke only on the condition of anonymity.

Total business and personal use of the G-Five, as the jet is known, cost Riggs shareholders at least $55 million from 1999 until it was sold in fall 2004, the sources said. At least half of the plane's total time in the air was on personal trips for Allbritton, according to these same sources. Company policy did not require Allbritton to reimburse Riggs for his personal use of the aircraft, although it did require him to pay taxes on the amount the company said the benefit was worth
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19364-2005Jan18.html