"His comments are a desperate act by a man facing imminent indictment or removal from office," Mr. Leebove said.

The memo does not mean that Mr. Rostenkowski faces imminent indictment.

He said he had gone underground for fear of an imminent indictment on what he called trumped-up drug charges.

The prosecutors had issued letters to the dealers indicating they faced imminent indictments.

Suspects who receive a warning from the Justice Department that they are the target of an investigation often face imminent indictment.

But they repeated their warning that he faced imminent indictment if he did not accept their terms by early Tuesday.

The independent counsel investigating the Iran-contra affair, Lawrence E. Walsh, is believed to be preparing for imminent indictments.

If Mr. Meese were facing imminent indictment, he might well be aware of it by now.

But by the end of the day, facing an imminent indictment, he had changed his mind and signed the plea agreement, a law-enforcement official said tonight.

The statement by Frederick H. Joseph was the strongest sign yet that Drexel executives expected an imminent indictment.