washingtonpost.com - watergate scandal and deep throat update, john dean

John Dean

Former White House counsel John W. Dean III was charged with obstruction of justice and spent four months in prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up. Now an investment banker in Beverly Hills, Dean is the author of the Watergate memoirs "Blind Ambition" and "Lost Honor, " as well as a book on Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Dean's wife, Maureen, wrote her own memoir -- "Mo: A Woman's View of Watergate." The former financial consultant for Shearson-Lehman Bros. also penned two Washington novels, "Washington Wives" and "Capitol Secrets."

The Deans are at the center of Watergate conspiracy theories that sound as if they came from a steamy Washington novel. They filed a lawsuit prompted by the published allegations about them. The 1991 book "Silent Coup: The Removal of a President" suggested that John Dean masterminded the Watergate burglary to obtain documents linking Maureen and her roommate to an alleged prostitution ring. "It's all nonsense," says John M.Garrick, the couple's lawyer.

The Deans sued "Silent Coup's" authors and two sources, G. Gordon Liddy and Phillip M. Bailey. Garrick said court approval is pending for an undisclosed settlement between the Deans and St. Martin's Press, the book's publisher.

Dean currently lives in Beverly Hills, Calif. with his wife, where he works as a writer, lecturer, and private investment banker. He has also written a screenplay, "Pentagon Papers," which he sold to Turner Television.