Clay Laverne Shaw (March 17, 1913 August 15, 1974) was a businessman in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was the only person prosecuted in connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison prosecuted Clay Shaw on the charge that Shaw and a group of right-wing activists, including David Ferrie and Guy Banister, were involved in a conspiracy with elements of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to kill President Kennedy. Garrison arrested Shaw on March 1, 1967. Garrison believed that Clay Shaw was the man named as "Clay Bertrand" in the Warren Commission Report. Garrison claimed that Shaw used the alias "Clay Bertrand" among New Orleans' gay society. He was found not guilty.
In 1979, Richard Helms, former director of the CIA, testified under oath that Clay Shaw had been a part-time contact of the Domestic Contact Service of the CIA.