Bert Lance

Thomas Bertram " Bert" Lance ( born June 3, 1931 in Gainesville, Georgia; † August 15, 2013 ) was an American bank managers and politicians of the Democratic Party in 1977, after just eight months in office as director of the Office of Management and Budget ( OMB ) had to resign during his former career as a bank manager on charges.

Life

Lance, a son of university president Thomas Jackson Lance studied, after attending the High School of Calhoun at the University of Georgia and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree there in 1951. Then completed further studies at Louisiana State University and at Rutgers University. During this time he also became a member of the fraternity Sigma Chi. He then joined after his marriage with David LaBelle as a simple clerk in the their family belonging Calhoun First National Bank and there rose ultimately to the CEO. Mid -1960s, he met the former Democratic senator from Georgia, Jimmy Carter, with whom he completed personal friendship.

After Carter had become governor of Georgia in 1971, it appointed him as Minister of Transport ( Commissioner of the Department of Transportation ), the authorities and held that office until 1973. Afterwards it was 1974-1976 President of the National Bank of Georgia. After Carter's election as U.S. president appointed him this on January 21, 1977 Director of the Office of Management and Budget. This meant that the press examined his activities during his time in the Calhoun First National Bank and local corruption and mismanagement. After months of allegations he eventually resigned on September 23, 1977, to prevent damage to the Carter administration. In a subsequent trial before a jury ( jury ), he was acquitted of any kind of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, William Safire in 1978 received for his comments about the so-called " Bert Lance affair" the Pulitzer Prize for comments. In 1981, he returned as CEO of the Board of Directors of the Calhoun First National Bank back and held that office until 1986. During this time he was also from September 1982 to July 1985 chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia. In addition, Lance hired temporarily as trustee of Reinhardt College in Georgia, as well as the American Cancer Society (ACS).

In his capacity as chairman of the Calhoun First National Bank, he became later in investigations by the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, which is in the center of the biggest international financial scandal known as " The biggest fraud in the history of mankind," and in 1991 the " over- 20 - billion - robbery" was called. The investigation revealed that Lance in January 1978 a loan of 2.4 million dollars received from the BCCI and the day his shares in the National Bank of Georgia to Ghaith Phararon, a confidant of the Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi on sold, who had founded in 1972 the BCCI. In addition, he is said to have acquired by the collapse of BCCI a million fortune.