The elaborately constructed business empire of Financier C. Arnholt ("Mr. San Diego") Smith has been under unrelenting attack for months. He is fighting the Securities & Exchange Commission, which has charged him and several cronies with fleecing the stockholders of Westgate-California Corp., the multimillion-dollar conglomerate of which Smith is chairman. The suit is scheduled to go to trial in San Diego this week. Smith is also dueling with the Internal Revenue Service, which claims that he owes $23 million in unpaid taxes and interest. Even his old, close friendship with Richard Nixon, whom Smith has helped bankroll politically since the...
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