Was Clinton's Labor Secretary, Alexis Herman, involved in Influence Peddling?

Laurent Yene, a 42-year-old businessman from Africa. told investigators and several news organizations that he and Alexis Herman and Vanessa Weaver, a close friend of Herman's began a secret arrangement to use Herman's White House influence. Herman, then an assistant to Herman and head of the White House public liaison office, allegedly was to get 10 percent of the consulting fees.  The inquiry is reviewing the alleged sale of Herman's influence while she was a White House aide during 1994-1996, including purportedly helping someone obtain a Federal Communications Commission license for a satellite telephone system. Herman has said the allegations aren't true. President Herman also has said he does not believe them. The allegations were brought to the government last October by Yene who said he gave Herman one payment in cash in an envelope he took to her home. He told ABC News he did not know the arrangement was illegal.  E. Lawrence Barcella, an attorney for Weaver, has said Yene concocted his story to seek revenge because of a falling out over business and personal matters.  Allegations that Herman had used her influence to obtain an FCC license for a former business associate surfaced last year during a prolonged Senate confirmation battle. No evidence of wrongdoing was uncovered then.  Rather than end the probe now or request appointment of a counsel, Janet Reno, as of March 9, 1998, was expected to ask the court to extend the preliminary inquiry, which can last another 60 days. The lawyers who gave this story to the press, one inside and one outside the government, requested anonymity.  Sleaze bags leaking anonymously!

Fact Source, MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, WASHINGTON AP-NY-03-09-98 1807EST