Jim McDougal

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James B. (Jim) McDougal (August 25, 1940–March 8, 1998) was born in White County, Arkansas, and the husband of Susan McDougal nee Susan Carol Hendley. They were financial partners with Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton in the real estate venture that led to the Whitewater political scandal of the 1990s. On April 14, 1997, McDougal was convicted of fraud conspiracy charges. Kenneth Starr requested a reduced sentence for McDougal for assisting the prosecutors. Starr offered McDougal reduced sentences for helping with an investigation of the Clinton's financial dealings. On March 8, 1998, he died of a heart attack in federal prison in Fort Worth.

He joined with his wife and the Clintons to borrow $203,000 to buy land in the Ozark Mountains for vacation homes. When the development failed, he attempted to cover the losses with S&L funds that he had gotten. McDougal was prosecuted for fraud in 1984 and hired the Rose Law Firm to defend him. He also held a fundraiser that paid off Clinton's campaign debt of $50,000.

Jim McDougal was a former aide to Senator James William Fulbright. He later was a political science professor at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Clark County, Arkansas.

McDougal died in prison of a heart attack under circumstances that were questionable in that he did not have access to his heart medicine and, although known to have a heart condition, he was placed in solitary confinement without his medication.