Hale Begins Serving 28-Month Term

Key Whitewater prosecution witness David Hale reported to a federal prison Friday to begin serving a 28-month sentence for defrauding the Small Business Administration.

Hale, who pleaded guilty to misrepresenting the amount of capital in his lending company in order to get more federal funding, also has to make $2 million in restitution to the SBA.

The former judge and banker was the main witness in the Whitewater trial that resulted in the convictions Tuesday of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker and James and Susan McDougal.

The McDougals were business partners with then-Gov. Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Whitewater Development Corp. in northern Arkansas.

Hale wasn’t sentenced until March, shortly after the trial began, and his initial reporting date for prison was pushed back so that he could testify.

Hale initially said Clinton pressured him to make a $300,000 loan to Susan McDougal in 1986, but didn’t repeat that claim under oath during the Whitewater trial.

Clinton denied Hale’s allegations during his testimony.

The Fort Worth prison houses about 1,400 inmates, about 20 percent of whom work at a pair of hospitals on the grounds. Prisoners also work in a sign factory, a print shop, a mail center and a data entry center on the grounds.

Drug offenders make up about two-thirds of the prison population.