[Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr.] and the others were convicted in late 1988 of participating in a criminal conspiracy involving more than $30 million in defaulted loans. Prosecutors said LaRouche fund-raisers, based in Leesburg, solicited loans with no intention of repaying the lenders. Prosecutors also said LaRouche avoided taxes by reporting no income and having his living expenses paid through corporations he controlled.

In their appeal, attorneys for LaRouche and the others convicted with him-William Wertz, Edward Spannaus, Michael Billington, Dennis Small, Paul Greenberg and Joyce Rubinstein-argued that the defendants were denied adequate time to prepare for trial, that jury selection was unfair and that the trial judge wrongly curtailed the defendants' right to present their case.