Lake Settles Justice Probe

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WASHINGTON, D.C.: Confirmation hearings have cost CIA director-designate Anthony Lake $5,000 after he settled his differences with the Justice Department with an agreement to pay that amount for owning stock that exposed him to a potential conflict of interest. As President Clinton's National Security adviser, Lake had been notified by White House lawyers to divest himself of several energy-related stocks, whose value could be affected by policies he helped to formulate. Lake's broker apparently failed to sell the stocks, leading to a potential ethical conflict and a Justice Department investigation. As part of the settlement, the Justice Department stipulates that Lake was guilty of no intentional wrongdoing, nor did he ever attempt to cover up his violation. The settlement roughly corresponds to Lake's profits from the stocks over the past two years. The Justice Department also announced Friday that there was no evidence that Lake ever misled Congress about the Administration's policy on arming Bosnian Muslims during that nation's civil war. Lake was never accused, but the department had been asked to investigate apparently conflicting statements to Congress by White House officials. Despite the news, Republicans are expected to make Lake sweat a bit more in confirmation hearings.