By Tammy L Casey and the Oracle Collective
A convicted cocaine trafficker who distributed drugs to teenagers held $664 million in Arkansas state bond contracts. The governor he fundraised for pardoned him after six months. His employee became Director of White House Management and Administration. The cocaine dealer funded the governor who pardoned the cocaine dealer.
Dan Lasater built Lasater & Company into the largest bond underwriter in Arkansas during the 1980s. His firm handled an estimated $664 million in state and municipal bond issues -- making him the single most important bond dealer in the state.
He was not just a businessman. He was a major fundraiser and personal friend of Governor Bill Clinton. Lasater hosted parties at his mansion, flew on private jets with Clinton, and moved in the same social circles as the Arkansas political elite.
His bond business depended on state contracts. His relationship with the governor who approved those contracts was not a coincidence -- it was a business model.
Lasater & Company underwrote $664 million in Arkansas state bond issues. At standard underwriting fees of 1-2%, the firm earned millions from state contracts awarded under the Clinton administration.
In 1986, Dan Lasater was convicted in federal court on charges of cocaine possession and distribution. He was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
The evidence showed that Lasater distributed cocaine freely at parties -- parties attended by young people, including teenagers. Court testimony described cocaine being offered at his mansion like refreshments.
Roger Clinton, Bill Clinton's half-brother, was a regular at Lasater's parties and a known cocaine user. Roger Clinton was convicted in 1985 on cocaine trafficking charges after a sting operation.
Lasater paid off Roger Clinton's drug debts -- a fact documented in federal court proceedings. The bond king was financing the governor's brother's cocaine habit while simultaneously holding hundreds of millions in state contracts.
Federal investigators documented that Lasater gave cocaine to individuals at his home and at other locations. Witnesses testified that teenagers were present. Roger Clinton, who lived with Lasater for a period, was simultaneously under DEA surveillance. Lasater paid Roger Clinton's debts. The governor's brother was the bond king's drug buddy.
While Lasater was fundraising for Clinton and distributing cocaine at parties attended by the governor's brother, the state of Arkansas was awarding his firm lucrative bond contracts.
Governor Clinton personally lobbied the Arkansas state legislature to approve a $30.2 million bond issue for a state police radio system. The bonds were underwritten by Lasater & Company, netting the firm an estimated $750,000 in fees.
This was not the only contract. Lasater's firm handled bond issues for the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA), the Housing Development Agency, and other state entities. The pipeline ran directly from the governor's office to Lasater's balance sheet.
Clinton fundraises for governor's race ←→ Lasater donates and hosts fundraisers
Clinton becomes governor ←→ Lasater gets state bond contracts
Clinton lobbies legislature for $30.2M bond ←→ Lasater earns $750K
The money flowed in both directions.
Lasater was sentenced to 30 months (2.5 years) in federal prison. He served approximately 6 months before being released to a halfway house.
In 1990, Governor Bill Clinton issued Dan Lasater a full executive clemency, restoring his civil rights. This pardon allowed Lasater to return to the securities business -- the same business that depended on state contracts from the governor who pardoned him.
The pardon was issued while Clinton was still governor. A cocaine trafficker who distributed drugs to teenagers, who paid the governor's brother's drug debts, who held $664 million in state contracts -- pardoned after six months by the man he had fundraised for.
Sentence: 30 months
Actual time served: ~6 months
Pardon issued: 1990 by Governor Clinton
Result: Full civil rights restored, back in the bond business
Total accountability for distributing cocaine to teenagers: 6 months
Patsy Thomasson was recommended to Dan Lasater by Bill Clinton. She became Vice President of Lasater & Company and held power of attorney over Lasater's affairs while he was in prison.
After Clinton was elected President in 1992, Thomasson was appointed Director of the Office of Administration in the White House -- the office responsible for White House Management and Administration.
In this role, Thomasson had access to FBI background files. This became relevant during the "Filegate" scandal when the Clinton White House improperly obtained FBI background files on hundreds of individuals, including political opponents from previous Republican administrations.
The career path: Clinton recommends her to a cocaine dealer. She runs the dealer's firm while he is in prison. Clinton becomes president. She gets a White House position with access to FBI files.
Step 1: Clinton recommends Thomasson to Lasater
Step 2: She becomes VP of a cocaine dealer's bond firm
Step 3: She holds power of attorney while dealer is in prison
Step 4: Clinton becomes President
Step 5: She becomes Director of White House Administration
Step 6: She has access to FBI background files
From the cocaine dealer's office to the White House. The same network. The same people.
The Lasater case is not an isolated incident. It is a node in the Arkansas power network that elevated Bill Clinton from governor to president:
Dan Lasater (bond dealer, cocaine trafficker)
↓ funded / partied with
Roger Clinton (governor's brother, cocaine convict)
↓ brother of
Bill Clinton (governor, later president)
↓ partner at / connected to
Rose Law Firm (Hillary Clinton, Vince Foster, Webb Hubbell)
↓ legal counsel for
Stephens Inc. (largest investment bank outside Wall Street, Little Rock)
↓ underwrote alongside
Lasater & Company (state bond contracts)
↓ funds flowed back to
Clinton campaign fundraising
The cocaine dealer funded the governor. The governor awarded the contracts. The governor pardoned the cocaine dealer. The cocaine dealer's employee went to the White House. The law firm connected them all. The investment bank financed the state. The circle closed.
This is the same Arkansas that ran the Mena airport drug and arms smuggling operation. The same Arkansas where Vince Foster died under disputed circumstances. The same Arkansas where the Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) channeled state money to politically connected firms. The same Arkansas where the governor pardoned his friend the cocaine dealer after six months.
In Arkansas, the drug trade and the bond trade were not separate worlds. They were the same world, attended the same parties, funded the same campaigns, and protected each other when the law briefly intruded. The system did not fail. It worked exactly as designed -- for the people inside it.
1. Congressional Record, 104th Congress -- Testimony regarding Dan Lasater bond dealings and Clinton connection
2. "The Investigative Dashboard: Dan Lasater" -- ID Files / OCCRP
3. Encyclopedia of Arkansas -- "Dan Lasater" entry
4. United States v. Dan Lasater, U.S. District Court, Western District of Arkansas (1986)
5. United States v. Roger Clinton, U.S. District Court (1985)
6. Arkansas Governor's Clemency Records -- Executive Clemency granted to Dan R. Lasater (1990)
7. "The Clinton Chronicles" -- Citizens for Honest Government (1994), documentary testimony
8. Wall Street Journal -- "Arkansas Bond Dealer Lasater Indicted on Drug Charges" (1986)
9. Washington Post -- "Clinton Friend Lasater Pardoned" (1990)
10. New York Times -- "A Clinton Friend Gets a Second Act" (1996)
11. House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight -- FBI File Investigation ("Filegate"), 1996
12. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette -- Lasater & Company bond underwriting records
13. "Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA" by Terry Reed and John Cummings (1994)
14. Stephens Inc. historical records -- Arkansas bond market dominance
15. ADFA (Arkansas Development Finance Authority) -- Bond issuance records, 1980s