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e.G0 rate iy rruay, Apri Z, i Victims Tell [ouse Panel of LUsses Ask Protection From Effects of FBI Undercdver Operations: By RONALD J. OSTROW, Times WASHINGTON—A San Diego businesswoman tearfully pleaded with a House Judiciary subcommit- tee Thursday to come to the aid of innocent third parties who suffer from FBI undercover Operations, “Please don’t let this happen to other people,” said Brandy Troche, who testified that she and her hus- band, Bill, lost their interior design business after giving their money. .and trust to Joseph Meltzer, an FBI inforrnant who was running his own bogus operation on the side. “if you can’t trust the FBI, who cen you trust?” Troche asked, ‘ | It is certainly Certainly it produced Weinberg, a man who people currently engaged in criminal activity! Why plan crimes though? Yes, crime does pay, doesn't it? ‘Staff Writers struggling to stifle her sobs, She Wa one of six witnesses who recounted similar experiences in- volving Meltzer, who was convicted . in 1980 of using his detailed knowl- edge of the FBI's undercover Ab- scam operation to gwindle business- men in an offshoot of the scheme. “Turned Over Money Meltzer claimed to represent Ab- dul Enterprises Lid., which sought. to invest Arab capital in new or ex- Panding U.S. enterprises. The busi- ness operators, usually after check- ing on Abdul Enterprises with a man they believed to be an officer of Chase Manhattan Bank; turned over to Meltzer sums of “earnest morey” ranging from .35,000 ‘up- Meltzer was a convicted con- * fidence man who the FBI consulted in setting up its Abscam operation, which eventually led to the. convic- tion of seven members of Congress * for accepting bribes from FBI un- dercover agents posing as; Arab sheiks, . " At the same time that Meltzer was assisting the FBI in the Abscam investigation, he was running his own illegal operation, the one that the six business people say they fell victim to, oe - . ‘The six witnesses told the House subcommittee Thursday that they never received investment funds Siat Meiizer wid them would be-.: forthcoming from his Arab friends, In some cases, the witnesses said, they even traveled to airports and waited fruitlessly for Arab planes that never appeared with the prom- ised money. The witnesses, most of whom ‘were experienced businessmen, told Chasen, who said he lost his vice a rE #. coming fc ” ,, an president’s position with Concept . Hyde (R-UL) -told the witnesses, : Industries, Tore po the incident, _ “You may feel betrayed by. your estimates tt his experiences with country, but the last chapter ” Meltzer cost him $75,000. He said it been written.” er hasn't 2 also cost him “emotional depression, “We have to know to what extent * + , - family disturbance and the loss the FBI cooperated with Meltzer,” ‘ of confidence, integrity and respect Hyde said. “Did their (the FBI's) | inmy industry and community.” conduct. amount to being accesso-/ “You have done a service by. ri did they know it? I don't want Ls leap to conclusions.” . : of gaining confidence in Meltzer through telephone conversations and correspondence with a man’ they knew as John M. McCloud, Ab-.- dul Enterprises’ “chairman of the. McCloud, according to Rep. Don “Edwards (D-San Jose), the” sub- : ” committee chairman, was in reality FBI special agent Jack McCarthy, cape, key figure in the Abscam Charles C. Francis, a spokesman : for Chase Manhattan Bank, declined ¢ comment on the testimony, saying i » that it would be inappropriate be- '! cause of possible or pending Hitiga- | tion, 2 aes! 2 2 “We are satisfied that any actions | which “Chase ign have taken | ‘were appropriate,” he said. «::: ‘* Francis would -neither!.confirm nor deny that Michael Elzay, who most of the witnesses said they con- tacted at Chase Manhattan, works for the bank. However, a telephane eperator at Chase Manhattan ac- tepted a call for Elzay. The phone was not answered. we Testimony Planned An FBI spokésman also declined comment, noting that FBI Director William H. Webster is scheduled to testify before the “subcommittee ‘oche and other, witnesses said they’ gained faith in Meltzer-when ,he would call them to complain ‘within hours:after they attempted | tocheck him with FBI officiala. . Joel B. Chasen, an Aptos, Calif: advertising executive, told of the collapse of his highly publicized ef- forts to buy the San Jose Earth.. quakes soccer club with Money that he said Meltzer had promised to Provide. ed les? What did they xnow and when; Edwards told the witnesses that Yet, there are other ways to catch them, rather I have deplored such activities. BY aa a) they had “‘made a huge impact on alf’'! of us. When the United States; government is somehow involved in ~ doing great damage to the fabric of. > your lives, it must be especially de-: vastating,” Edwards, a former FBI Yes, ave ig ne. y rule of Ih known of crooked politicians ever since living near Jersey City during the "s I do not understand why the F.B.I. would involve itself with known con~men, con-games, gloats over his latest victims, while free to fish our southern - , “I have always held the F.B.I. in the highest esteem, and have counted some as it did with Weinberg, in the ABSCAM deal, or this jerk. not furthering the fine image it has held for years. : t to itself? ictions in ABSCAM, but at what cos Fleeced hundreds of people over t he years, perhaps thousands, with his I am against such close working arrangements with criminals, unless it is than cook up schemes with crooks. of its men my friends. Frank Hague. waters. to trap