Clinton Loses Speech Prospect

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13, 2001 -- -- The investigations still dogging former President Clinton more than three weeks after the end of his term are beginning to make a dent in his earnings.

A few days after another financial giant acknowledged it made a "mistake" by paying Clinton about $125,000 to speak last week, the UBS-Warburg financial services company announced it has scrapped negotiations to have the former president address a conference in April.

UBS-Warburg, parent company of PaineWebber, was in discussions to have Clinton speak at conference of institutional investors. But UBS pulled out of the talks because, according to a spokesman, "It would not be in the best interests of the firm, because of the likely client reaction."

What reaction would that be? "In part, negative," the spokesman said.

‘We Should Have Thought Twice …’

The spokesman also acknowledged the decision to take a pass on Clinton came after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter faced criticism from clients for hosting Clinton last week. After Clinton spoke to a Morgan Stanley conference in Florida last week, some Clinton critics cut their ties to the firm. Investor Dale Reed, for example, told ABCNEWS he transferred a $35,000 account to another company.

"If they pay this man huge sums to speak in front of them," Reed said, "there's going to be a backlash against their products and companies."

In an e-mail to investors apologizing for the Clinton appearance, Morgan Stanley CEO Philip J. Purcell said the Clinton invite was a mistake.

"We should have been far more sensitive to the strong feelings of our clients over Mr. Clinton's personal behavior as president," Purcell wrote. "We should have thought twice before the speaking invitation was extended."

A source in the investment community agreed, speculating other investment houses may well reach the same decision because they will want to "stay away from people with that kind of notoriety."

ABCNEWS' Josh Gerstein contributed to this report.