Earlier this month, Mr. Clinton said he had intended the pardon only to cover Mr. Braswell's 1983 conviction and had not known that he was the subject of a pending investigation. In the earlier case, Mr. Braswell was sentenced to three years in prison for false claims about a treatment for baldness.

A spokeswoman for G.B. Data Systems said the company declined to comment.

Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are pushing ahead with their criminal investigation of Mr. Braswell, though they remain concerned that the pardon could hamper their inquiry into possible money laundering and tax evasion involving Mr. Braswell's business.

Mr. Braswell's access to the Clinton White House had been largely a mystery. Over the last two years, he had been a contributor to Republican causes until G.O.P. workers, including those running the campaign of George W. Bush, learned of his felony record and returned his donation of $175,000.

A Clinton spokesman said earlier this month that Mr. Braswell had been represented in his pardon bid by Kendall Coffey, who was on former Vice President Al Gore's legal team in Florida after the election, but the spokesman believed that Mr. Coffey had never spoken with Mr. Clinton directly about the matter. Mr. Coffey has never commented on the matter.

The pardon fees are not the first time the conduct of Mr. Rodham has been criticized. In 1999, Hugh Rodham and his brother, Tony, set off a diplomatic controversy after they traveled to the Ajaria region of the Republic of Georgia to pursue a multimillion-dollar deal to export hazelnuts. The proposed hazelnut deal set off rivalries between political factions in the Georgian republic and White House officials, including former national security adviser Sandy Berger, pressed the Rodham brothers to drop the business venture.

At least some of Mr. Rodham's contacts with the White House were through Bruce Lindsey, the former deputy White House counsel and Mr. Clinton's closest confidant. A former White House aide said that Mr. Rodham called Mr. Lindsey to propose pardons of several other convicts that Mr. Clinton and his aides rejected.

The small circle of aides now advising Mr. Clinton were dismayed by the revelation of Mr. Rodham's activities and concerned that Mr. Clinton not issue a blanket denial that Mr. Rodham had exerted influence on pardon decisions, one former aide said. Mr. Clinton and Mr. Rodham may have had private discussions that staffers were not privy to, they said.