An average of 35.4 million viewed pages from all over the world
Average time per viewer: 4 minutes 35 seconds.
Empathy is the bridge that opens up to the other side
PETROFILM.COM EUROPE
Information and Interpretation
from a European Perspective
Información e Interpretación
desde una perspectiva Europea
EUROPE-USA
A TRANS-ATLANTIC PARTNERSHIP
UNA COLABORACIÓN TRANSATLÁNTICA
EMPATHY RESPECT DIGNITY
EMPATÍA RESPETO DIGNIDAD
Harald Dahle-Sladek
Founder and Editor-in-chief
Fundador y editor en jefe
To contact the Editor-in-chief with questions, comments and inquiries about lectures or consultations, please e-mail us at haroldsworld@petrofilm.com
Oslo, Norway
歐洲分析與解釋
אמפתיה כבוד כבוד
ניתוח, מידע עם פרספקטיבה אירופית
تجزیه و تحلیل ، اطلاعات از یک چشم انداز اروپایی
АНАЛИЗ ИНФОРМАЦИИ С ПЕРСПЕКТИВЫ
ИЗ ЕВРОПЫ
דיאלוג עכשיו ДИАЛОГСЕЙЧАС
DIALOGUENOW
Institute for Empathetic Dialogue formation
and Conflict Resolution, Oslo Norway.
Instituto para la formación del Diálogo Empático y Resolución de Conflictos, Oslo Noruega
عزت احترام به همدلی یکپارچه سازی
The Foreign Ministry Tehran
Creating dialogue and common ground
with the Islamic republic of Iran 1998-2022.
ایجاد گفت و گو و زمینه مشترک با ایران 1998-2022
Updates from
Washington, D.C.
Denmark
Danske Bank Pleads Guilty to Fraud on U.S. Banks in a Multi-Billion Dollar Scheme to Access the U.S. Financial System.
Largest Bank in Denmark Agrees to Forfeit $2 Billion.
Danske Bank A/S (Danske Bank), a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty today and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks.
According to court documents, Danske Bank defrauded U.S. banks regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and anti-money laundering controls to facilitate access to the U.S. financial system for Danske Bank Estonia’s high-risk customers, who resided outside of Estonia – including in Russia. The Justice Department will credit nearly $850 million in payments that Danske Bank makes to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities. Continues further down.
Switzerland
Glencore International AG
Entered Guilty Pleas to Foreign Bribery and Market Manipulation Schemes. Swiss-Based Firm Agrees to Pay Over $1.1 Billion
Glencore International A.G. (Glencore) and Glencore Ltd., both part of a multi-national commodity trading and mining firm headquartered in Switzerland, each pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay over $1.1 billion to resolve the government’s investigations into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a commodity price manipulation scheme.
Luxembourg
haroldsw
PETROFILM.COM EUROPE
FROM DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. Delivers Closing Remarks at the 20th International Anti-Corruption Conference.
We have gathered this week to proclaim our shared commitment to combating corruption across our globe. Indeed, I have shared in that commitment throughout my entire career, whether as a federal prosecutor in New York, as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana in my hometown of New Orleans, and currently as the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division.
But you see, I have lived in several cities, and am part of many communities where people believe that corruption is a fact of life. Where some claim that corruption is an inescapable part of their daily lives. That corruption is just something they have to accept, and that it will never change. They have become insensitive to injustice.
I fundamentally reject that notion. The Department of Justice rejects that notion. And I know everyone in this room rejects that notion.
I am honored to be speaking to you all on International Anti-Corruption Day. Today, we seek to highlight the crucial link between anti-corruption and peace, security, and development. Corruption’s corrosive effects are global, with our communities, our people, often bearing the brunt of those effects. Corruption threatens our collective security by weakening democratic processes and empowering corrupt government officials. It stifles sustainable development by diverting funds meant to improve everyday life for folks and harming honest people that are just trying to play by the rules.
The fight against corruption – at home and abroad – is a top priority for the Biden Administration. As the National Security Advisor noted in opening this conference, the White House announced that combating corruption is a core national security interest and released the first-ever “United States Strategy on Countering Corruption.”
The Department of Justice’s efforts to combat global corruption are constantly focused on how we can have the greatest deterrent effect. That is why we have a dedicated group of prosecutors – our Public Integrity Section, along with prosecutors in many of our U.S. Attorney's Offices – focused on fighting official corruption throughout the United States.
But we have also created specialized groups of prosecutors focused on international corruption that has a nexus to the United States – either because the corrupt schemes originated here, or because those schemes made use of the U.S. financial system, or because kleptocrats have hidden their stolen funds here. A cornerstone of the department’s international anti-corruption efforts are international partnerships without which we could not effectively take on corruption at home and abroad. To our friends and counterparts, represented by so many of the countries present today, many of whom I have had a chance to meet with this week, I say thank you, For your hard work, your dedication, and your cooperation, especially with our Office of International Affairs.
In recent years, for instance, we have coordinated our investigations and prosecutions to fight corruption with – to mention only a few – our colleagues in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Malaysia, Switzerland, Ecuador, France, the Netherlands, Singapore, and South Africa.
This international cooperation has been critical to the work of our Criminal Fraud Section’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act – or FCPA – unit, and the Kleptocracy Initiative launched by our Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section. And, in recent months, this cooperation also has been essential to the success of our new Task Force KleptoCapture, focused on Russian illicit finance.
Just last week, we announced a $315 million criminal resolution with ABB Ltd. ABB bribed a high-ranking official at South Africa’s state-owned energy company to corruptly obtain confidential information and win lucrative contracts.
This was the department’s first coordinated resolution with authorities in South Africa. In addition, our South African partners have brought corruption charges against the government official, as well as their own corporate case against the company. To those who say that corruption is inescapable, our South African partners reject that notion.
As this case demonstrates, the department is committed to growing our relationships with foreign governments to expand our fight against corruption into new industries and new jurisdictions, including those whose enforcement regimes and anti-corruption laws are just emerging. Building these partnerships also creates more seamless and efficient cooperation in our efforts to combat criminality.
Here in the U.S., just over the past year, we have brought charges against, among others:
Two former senior officials in Ecuador and Bolivia for alleged bribery-related money laundering;
Three businessmen, relating to an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme involving a state-insurance company in Ecuador;
Two former Venezuelan prosecutors for allegedly agreeing to receive $1 million in bribes to not prosecute a corrupt contractor; and
Two former coal company executives relating to an alleged bribery scheme in Egypt.
To those who claim that corruption is inevitable, our partners reject that notion.
No less striking has been our work in fighting kleptocracy. In the 11 years since it was created, the Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section’s Kleptocracy Initiative has repatriated more than $3.4 billion relating to foreign official corruption and associated money laundering affecting the U.S. financial system.
Just a few weeks ago, we announced the repatriation of over $20 million in assets to Nigeria. These assets were stolen by the former Nigerian dictator and his co-conspirators. This brings the total forfeited and returned by the United States in this case to over $330 million. These assets were recovered after the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint for more than $625 million traceable to money laundering through the United States involving the proceeds of the former dictator’s corruption. Under an agreement between Nigeria, the United States, and the Bailiwick of Jersey, the returned funds will help finance critical infrastructure projects including bridges, highways, and roads, investments that will directly benefit citizens across Nigeria. You say that corruption is unavoidable? Well, my Nigerian sisters and brothers reject it.
But we have not done this alone. In the 1MDB scandal, for instance, billions of dollars were stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that was ostensibly created to promote the country’s economic development. It took a global coalition – including work by Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, and many others – to return, and assist in returning, over $1.2 billion to the people of Malaysia. And our work continues. Over and again, our international partners reject corruption as an accepted way of life.
And the strength of those international relationships has been tested like never before, in responding to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Part of our international response has to been to shine the spotlight on the corruption and illicit finance of the oligarchs and the enablers associated with the Russian regime. The G7 Plus Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs Task Force – known as REPO – has frozen or seized tens of billions of sanctioned assets in financial accounts, luxury yachts, and real estate controlled by sanctioned oligarchs, and immobilized hundreds of billions more in Russian Central Bank assets.
And within the United States, Attorney General Garland announced the formation of Task Force KleptoCapture in March.
The Task Force is aggressively pursuing its mission. It has already seized several assets of sanctioned oligarchs and has brought charges against two companies and multiple individuals for the illegal sale and export of military, dual-use technologies to Russia. These successes have required coordination across not just the U.S. Government, but with foreign partners dedicated to combating corruption.
The Department of Justice is also committed to working with our international partners to build international capacity to fight corruption. Our overseas prosecutorial development section – OPDAT – with support from Secretary Blinkin and the State Department’s INL and CT bureaus, posts DOJ prosecutors at our embassies overseas to partner with foreign counterparts to provide case-based advice and mentoring on complex corruption cases. ICITAP — our law enforcement development section — likewise places advisors in partner countries to build the capacity of law enforcement institutions and other government entities to investigate misconduct and corruption.
As a department, we will continue to work tirelessly with our international partners to investigate and prosecute corruption and strengthen the relationships that make those efforts possible. And let me, in this regard, also note – and lift up – the essential work of civil society, investigative journalists, and independent media – which, by their courageous work, so often provide the essential leads for our investigations and subsequent prosecutions.
One of the lessons the successes of our anti-corruption efforts have revealed is that law enforcement is exponentially more effective when we have folks like the people in this room standing alongside us. Fighting corruption will never be an easy road. That’s why we need good people you to stand up and say: enough.
If you’re in this room tonight, or watching virtually, then you are a part of this fight. Your service, your desire to improve the world now and for future generation; your desire to make the world around you even a little more fair, a little more just, is what makes our efforts against corruption in all its forms possible. We must stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and reject the notion, the corrupting idea, that corruption is inevitable.
Leave here, strengthened by the relationships you have built at this conference and empowered by the spirit of this blessed International Anti-Corruption day. Let us proclaim, in one unified voice, from every township, community, city, and nation across this globe, that we will combat and reject corruption, in all its forms. That, my brothers and sisters, is our calling today, and every day. God bless you all.
Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III
National Defense Strategy
President Biden has stated that we are living in a “decisive decade,” one stamped by dramatic changes in geopolitics, technology, economics, and our environment. The defense strategy that the United States pursues will set the Department’s course for decades to come. The Department of Defense owes it to our All-Volunteer Force and the American people to provide a clear picture of the challenges we expect to face in the crucial years ahead—and we owe them a clear and rigorous strategy for advancing our defense and security goals.
The 2022 National Defense Strategy (NDS) details the Department’s path forward into that decisive decade—from helping to protect the American people, to promoting global security, to seizing new strategic opportunities, and to realizing and defending our democratic values.
We live in turbulent times. Yet, I am confident that the Department, along with our counterparts throughout the U.S. Government and our Allies and partners around the world, is well positioned to meet the challenges of this decisive decade.
~ Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin III
IRAN-US RELATIONS
A Petrofilm Europe Exclusive
Seal of the Foreign Ministry Tehran
From the Foreign Ministry Tehran
Hossein Adeli PhD
Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs
از وزارت امور خارجه تهران
دکتری حسین عادلی
معاون وزیر امور خارجه در امور اقتصادی ایران
Seal of the Central Bank
The Central Bank Governor
Ambassador to England, Canada, and Japan
Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum
Founder Ravand Institute for Economic and International Studies
THE COMPLETE AND UNABRIDGED INTERVIEW
مصاحبه کامل و خلاصه نشده
Petrofilm Europe arrives for the meeting with Hossein Adeli in the Foreign Ministry Tehran.
Working card for the Editor-in-chief
THE SUCCESS OF
THE UNITED STATES
IN AFGHANISTAN
ALSO COMES AS THE ACTIVE
SUPPORT FROM IRAN
Revolutionary icon Khomeini, Leader Khamenei
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY
For Washington to better its relations with Tehran
Went out of the Window!
CLICK PICTURE PLAY VIDEO
INTERVIEWED APRIL 2002 IN THE FOREIGN MINISTRY
Dr. Adeli: "Great disappointment!"
INTRODUCTION
The interview was held in Dr. Hossein Adeli's office in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. It was the first of two meetings that Harald Dahle-Sladek had with Dr. Adeli. The first took place on May 6, 2002 and the second meeting was held in May 2003 in the Foreign Ministry. May 2003 was also the month when Norway met Iran on Minister level in the Headquarter of the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC; the last such meeting between the two sides before the Statoil corruption case broke, and made it impossible for the medium-sized Norwegian oil company Statoil to continue its operations in Iran.
MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN ADELI PhD
At the end of his term in 1999, Adeli was nominated as Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and the Chairman of the Coordinating Council for Foreign Economic Relations until 2004. During these years, Adeli initiated two special committees for Reconstruction of Afghanistan and Reconstruction of Iraq through a series of multilateral arrangements, and filled the role of Secretary General for both committees.
Obama, Karzai 'reaffirm' Afghan-led peace process with Taliban: White House
USA: President Obama Afghanistan: President Karzai
HOW THE DIALOG INTERVIEWS STARTED
Harald Dahle worked six years in Iran from January 1998 till May 2003, first in the capacity of documenting and creating dialog in the PC2000 Seismic Survey between Iran, Norway and P.R.China, and later creating dialog in Tehran. He has twenty four years study on Iran and parts of his works are donated to the Nobel Institute Library in Oslo.
Ambassador Noghrehkar Shirazi - Ambassador to Austria, two terms (1992-2000) and to Norway, one term (2000-2004) took the initiative to open up the high-level dialog talks for Harald Dahle in the Islamic republic of Iran to help him complete his Interview project VISION OF IRAN - Creating Dialog and Common Ground with the Islamic Republic. Harald Dahle: -I am of the opinion that sitting down with the people of Iran and creating dialog is a far better thing to do than go to war. Empathy, respect and dignity is what we need, and kindness is the bridge that leads to the heart of the other side.
Photo: The Iranian Embassy Oslo. From left Harald Dahle. His Excellency Ambassador to France Ali Ahani and His Excellency Ambassador to Norway Noghrekar Shirazi, who had once been the Governor of Shiraz. Photo by Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Rezvani.
IRANS PEACE INITATIVE REJECTED
It soon became evident that the rejection of the United States to appreciate what Iran had contributed with to the United States engagement in Afghanistan did not sit well with the leaders of the Islamic Republic. Tehran's generous intent would have been a Golden opportunity for Washington to better its relations with Tehran, but in wain! It seemed that the Americans was not yet ready to hand their Iranian contributors a firm and lasting handshake.His Excellency Dr. Hossein Adeli had been the Central Bank Governor, Ambassador to England, Canada and Japan.
Ambassador Adeli has received Japan's highest order the Order of the Rising Sun by Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the highest Order given to any Iranian National for his important role in the Iran–Japan Relation.
Japanese Emperor Order awarded to Iranian diplomat
Japanese Emperor Order of 'Rising Sun, Golden and Silver Star' was awarded by Japanese Prime Minister to Iranian diplomat Mohammad Hossein Adeli.
In a ceremony in the Japanese Emperor palace in Tokyo on Friday May 9, 2014, in the presence of Japanese statesmen and four other foreign diplomats who received the award, the Order of 'Rising Sun, Golden and Silver Star' was awarded to Mohammad Hossein Adeli by Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japanese Emperor, in a speech, felicitated the recipients of the award for their accomplishments and wished success and health for them and appreciated the recipients of the Order for their efforts in direction of improving relations and understanding of their respective country with Japan. Already, Shinzo Abe in a letter had invited Adeli to attend the ceremony to receive Japanese Emperor Order.
Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also in a letter had felicitated the occasion to Adeli on April 29, 2014. In a statement by Japan's Emperor Court, it was said that Dr. Adeli, during his tenure as ambassador in Japan in late 1980's, made a big effort to develop bilateral relations. When he was governor of Iran's Central Bank, Adeli wrote a book on Japan development after World War II and delivered speeches about Japan growth pattern. He was among organizers of Iran-Japan Friendship Society and still is head of the society.
After Tsunami in Japan, Adeli, in an article expressed sympathy with Japanese people and invited Iranians to express sympathy with Japanese nation. The Order of ' Rising Sun, Golden and Silver Star' is the highest Japanese Emperor Order awarded to an Iranian official. In 2002, Adeli received High Order of Swiss Kranz Montana Economic Forum, which was awarded by the Prince of Monaco.
Dr. Adeli was interviewed by Harald Dahle in the Foreign Department May 6, 2002. Dr. Adeli was visibly annoyed during the Iran-US part of the interview.
THE IRAN-US RELATIONS
Dahle: -Tehran has sent an invitation to Washington for a meeting and better the relations between the two sides. I understand that the United States has rejected this initiative. How do you view the current relations with Washington after this disappointment?
Adeli: -Well, actually our relations with the West, in general has improved a lot during the last, may be four, five years.
Dahle: -Yes.
Adeli: -Specially with the policies that have been followed by President Khatami, Dialogue among Civilization, the Rule of Law, the Principles of Civil Society, the elimination of tension between Iran or other countries, or elimination of misunderstanding. All of these policies have been seriously followed by Iran in its foreign policy and has contributed to the relations with all countries of the world except the United States. And with the West in general we have been able also to exchange delegations on the level of Foreign Minister and head of Governments.
US MILITARY SUCCESS
US Air Mobility Command
Adeli - But with the United States, it is unfortunately to see, that even developments in Afghanistan, which owes a lot to understanding and effective assistance from Iran, has not, I believe been able to penetrate into the hearts or the minds of decision makers in the United States.
Dahle: -Without the help from Iran in Afghanistan, you say that the United States would not have been where they are now?
Adeli: -I think that there is no doubt, even in the American eyes, that what the situation that we see now in Afghanistan owes a lot to Iranian assistance, Iranian understanding. The military success of the United States owes a lot to understanding and appreci-ation from Iran. And also, the political process in Afghanistan owes the same thing. And may be that was a very unique opportunity for the United States to reciprocate these kinds of understanding, and to seize and stop the kind of policies that are pursued by them, in the past, may be, couple of decades. But apparently there is not still a strong sign from that side!
Dahle: -Iran has friendly relations with many countries in the world, so why not also with the United States?
Adeli: -Off course, the general policy of Iran is to have friendly relations with every country in the world including the United States, provided that this kind of relationship would be based on an equal footing, on a mutually satisfactory, mutually beneficial sort of relationship. So, this is why I think that, as the policies of the United States, which are normally a unilateral policy, we hope that one time they would join the other countries of the West, the other developing countries, join that kind of understanding of Iran. That the developments in the region and developments in Iran would open their eyes, and that they would adopt a new policy toward our country!
THE IRAN-IRAQ RELATION
President Khamenei visits an Iran-Iraq war battle field 1988
Dahle: Dr. Adeli can you please outline Iran’s policy on Iraq for our readers.
Adeli: Yes, we believe in the policy of President Khatami of Dialogue among Civilization and Coalition for Peace, so these are the policies that we are following. So, if we are against that kind of attack on Iraq is not because we lose opportunity or, I mean we may have our own differences with Iraq, but this is out of a principal position that differences should be settled in an amicable way. Or in a non-hostile way, or a non-armed conflict.
THE TALIBAN AND 9-11
Dahle: So that Iran prioritize to follow the United Nations to solve conflicts. What about the Taliban attack on nine-eleven? Should that have been solved in the UN as well?
Adeli: That attack on the United States is not like the hostility that erupted between Taliban and the United States, these are two different cases. In Taliban case, where Americans were hit directly, America could justify for the world to fire back. But in terms of other kind of differences we have created the United Nations in order to settle differences in other ways; to take a gun and start shooting is a bad idea.
We don’t say that the differences that exist between the United States and the international behavior of Iraq is justified, we don’t say that. May be there is lots of wrong behavior on the part of Iraq. However, the way to deal with it is not to take the gun and shoot, because if that would become and exemplary way and be followed by the others, then there is lots of differences between many countries in the world. And one cannot say that whoever is stronger should take the gun and shoot! Therefore, we are having strong reservations against these kinds of actions, and we don’t want to see them happen.
GOVERNMENT OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
THE CENTRAL BANK IRAN
The Central Bank of Iran, also known as Bank Markazi, officially the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran is the central bank of Iran. Established under the Iranian Banking and Monetary Act in 1960, it serves as the banker to the Iranian government and has the exclusive right of issuing banknote and coinage.
THE CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR
Dahle: -Your Excellency, you were the Central Bank Governor from ninety eighty-nine till ninety ninety-four. I anticipate that it was a time of great importance taking into consideration the situation after the war. Looking back, could you please give your thoughts on this period, thank you.
The Central Bank Headquarter Tehran
Adeli: -Well, off course I served under President Rafsanjani as the Central Bank Governor and off course as my President, now and then on different occasions like Nowruz or the New Year I go and see him. And I would facilitate him on the different occasions and so from time to time I go and see him as I go and see the other very high-level dignitaries with whom I had relationship before.
President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Dahle: -When Khomeini came to power on February first nineteen seventy-nine a new chapter started for Iran. How do you view that time in retrospect? Could you please give your thoughts on this, thank you.
Adeli: -Frankly speaking, in my personal opinion, what is taking place is the continuation of an evolutionary process which has really started from beginning of revolution. I mean, nobody can deny that what is seen today can not be analyzed in isolation. What started twenty-three years ago? We started free elections, and we have been able to conduct twenty-two free elections. And the people got used to these kinds of elections. Off course now our elections, our general elections are more participated dynamically.
Dahle: -Yes.
Adeli: -But if we hadn’t had the previous elections we would not have been able to these lively, dynamic elections. Because to participate in the general election is a culture, it’s not the kind of mechanical order coming from Government to the other, therefore we started the principles and elements of free society twenty-three years ago.
Dahle: -Dr. Adeli, when you sat as the Central Bank Governor did you then make yourself some thoughts, a vision how you would like the economy to go?
Adeli: -Well actually, not only did we have our own vision, but we also expressed it repeatedly on television and in the media. At that time, we created a program for the reforming of the economy, and we were informing the people on the various measures that we were creating. We wanted to create an economy that was competitive and in which the people ore the private sector would be the dominant sector of the economy and would be able to compete and seize the opportunity in a competitive environment. Therefore, we started in our own financial sector.
Dahle: -In what area did you first start to refurbish the economy, Dr. Adeli?
Adeli: -We applied the reform for the reducing of the multiplicity of the exchange rate, for unifying the exchange frate. We had lots of rates and wanted to unify them. We had a very administered, monetary policy. We took measures to liberalizing the monetary policy so that monetary policy would be determined by the rates and by the appropriate measures of monetary policy, instead of bureaucratic and administrative decisions. We revived the Stock Exchange as a capital market in order to assist the money market.
At that time, we did not have an active money market, it was a dead Stock Exchange created in Iran thirty years ago. It was inactive and we activated it after the war with the very rules of the market. We also applied the creation of private sector financial institutions. At that time, off course, we were not successful in getting the legislation approved for establishing the private banks, but we were able and successful non-bank financial institutions by the private sector.
Dahle: -Such as the Bonyad?
Adeli: -No, no, no! Financial institutions which could do most of the bank transactions, but they are limited in being full-fledged commercial bank; they were short of just one, two transactions. They were banks – I mean non-bank financial institutions are defined as banks without the permission to do one or two banking transactions, so you don’t call them banks, but they are full-fledged commercial banks.
Dahle: -They lack one or two banking transactions but are still full-fledged banks, I understand, thank you for clearing this up.
Adeli: -We also introduced new instruments such as the bonds, which we introduced un an Islamic way. And for the first time we introduced the notion of having real interest rate. We introduced the notion of independent Central Bank for which I really fought for, and I was relatively successful; that was for the first time in the Islamic economic literature that a notion of an independent Central Bank was introduced.
Therefore, we created an environment where the prices are determined by the market forces not by the administrative decisions. We wanted an environment where subsidies are targeted and are conveyed and given to the consumers in a very transparent way rather than in an indirect way; an environment were trade would be liberalized to the extent that would create a competitive environment and would not damage the industrial power or capability of the country.
To have an active and dynamic international relationship with the other capital markets, with the other money markets, with the other countries. Therefore, the economy we were thinking of and we envisioned at that time would be dynamic, emerging and developing, one which would have the participation of the people themselves, and to have them as the dominant power of the economy.
Dahle: -So, alongside the political revolution you have had an economic revolution?
Adeli: -Well I think that was a prerequisite that was applied and took place to certain extent; off course, in some policies we were not hundred percent successful, but in general and in average we were successful. After the war we started the application of economic reforms, very bold and ambitious economic reforms. I must say, that were targeting the free economy, or open economy, or whatever you want to call it. So, we started revising the subsidies, stimulating the economy, deregulating, targeting downsizing of the Government, targeting the zero-deficit budget and unification of the exchange rate.
All of these reforms started just after the war. These sorts of economic dynamics were partly successful and partly failure, but all of them contributed to the creation of environment in which the people could start thinking of other needs, of other requirements which are political requirements, which are of a higher nature, of free expressions in the papers, in the media and the other things.
This is why I can see that what has been taken place in Iran is not a new thing. It is the continuation of an evolutionary process. You may see some new phenomena – but these new phenomena are not an isolated phenomena just created from scratch today, because this is a social process, we are talking about a social process which has its roots in the developments that took place in the earlier decades. And this is why the stage in which we are now is a stage which we are proud of.
Developments that have been taking place the past six years after the Government of President Khatami, these are quit dramatic evolutionary phenomena which have boosted our country and that we are very much proud of.
Dahle: -Dramatic indeed!
Adeli: -From a social point of view one cannot say that this is separated from what took place before ore even what took place before that. I mean before President Khatami was President Rafsanjani, before President Rafsanjani we were not in a very good situation because we were fighting a war. But, even when we were at war we had quite a different way of participating in the public debate and in decision making than we used to have it before revolution. So, this is how I see all of these processes of social, political, economic, and evolutionary changes that are taking place, and I hope that these would continue to take place in the future because we are committed to this way and because the nature of this reform is reversable. And in the past twenty-three years we have seen that this has taken – in spite of ups and downs which you would see in the curves in the money market every day or at the stock exchange – we have had a rising curve, and an upward curve.
Dahle: Dr. Adeli what will you say to foreign investors who are thinking of coming her and investing?
Adeli: -We have one general message to all foreign investors that we have lots of opportunities in Iran in various sectors; in telecom sector, in automobile sector in auto sectors, in mining sector and withing IT. There are lots of sectors where we would welcome foreign investors, even in the very high-tech services. Therefor the opportunities are here, and the economy has been successfully sustaining twelve years of consecutive growth, and this is very important! And this has been done and has been achieved despite oil price volatility in the past decade. We have had two sharp volatilities, one in ninety-three, the other in ninety-seven, ninety-eight where the oil prices fell down.
Despite of this, Iran was successfully sustaining the growth without any interruption in the past twelve years. The economy is quite dynamic and is generating lots of opportunities, especially with the developments that are taking place in the region, this is number one. Number two, in the general message, is the reforms that are taking place in Iran, and they are all aiming at providing a very receptive environment.
I will give you a couple of examples on this. On tax, Iran used to be one of the highest tax rates of the developing countries with fifty-five percent on corporate tax and ten percent on income tax amounting to sixty-four percent. We have reduced this flatly to twenty-five percent, which is quite compatible to other developing countries, especially in our region and makes us one of the tax friendly countries. Another development is the Foreign Investment law. We give production to foreign investors; we would support them by any kind of guarantees and also facilities that are provided by our ministries.
THE ENERGY HUB OF THE REGION
And also, we have in the new – proceeding its final step – we are letting them to invest hundred percent in Iran. So, this is why the environment is quite mature and is quite ready for them to go ahead. And there are also some other reforms that are taking place which have more internal implications that would provide a very good supportive environment for investors, like the deregulation and privatization in the financial sector. I don’t want to go into details, but the special message for the oil and gas industry and investors is that Iran is becoming – like it or not - the hub for the region for energy distribution.
Iran is a gas rich country second to Russia, and there are lots of developments that are taking place and makes Iran as a major exporter of gas in various parts. We are now discussing the gas pipeline to India; we have already started the gas pipeline to Turkey; we are starting a gas pipeline to Armenia; we are discussing gas pipelines to some of the Persian Gulf countries that are going to be gas-deficit countries, and we are planning the gas pipeline to Europe. There are LNG facilities in the Persian Gulf and there are lots of activities and oil, upstream and downstream; it’s a very busy country in terms of oil and gas.
And the fact is that the world is going to demand more oil, more energy, more fossil energy in the future, and would also be more dependent on gas, what is called the fuel for the twenty-first century. Seen in this context, I guess that Iran is one of the most attractive countries with business opportunities in this sector.
DOMESTIC INFLATION
Dahle: -Thank you Dr. Adeli. Can you say some words regarding inflation in Iran at the moment.
Adeli: -Fortunately inflation in the past few years, due to the management of fiscal policy, a very disciplined fiscal policy, and also a very conservative and prudent monetary policy, have come down. Historically, my be in the past fifteen years the inflation in Iran has been around seventeen to twenty percent, an average of the past twelve years. But in the past two years, due to the sort of these disciplined policies in the budget in the fiscal and the monetary the inflation has come down to eleven-point eight percent, less than twelve percent.
This is due the fact that reforms that are taking place in Iran are aimed at down-sizing the government, therefore downsizing the expenses of the government, and therefore is facilitating the target of zero-deficit budget. So, in the past couple of years we have been able to achieve this very important target of zero-deficit budget of Iran. This har really contributed to the curbing and checking the inflation, so inflation now is below twelve and is relative satisfactory to our views.
THE FREE ZONES AND FREE ZONE ISLANDS
Dahle: -I took part in a seminar in 2020 about Free Trade Zones and Islands held at the University of Kish, on the island of Kish. Hossein Nassiri, the president of Free Trade Zones was the main speaker. What is your impression of the so-called free-trade zones and islands?
Adeli: -Free zones are considered to be zones without any regulations, without any bureaucracy so that the foreigners can go there without visas, there are no taxes levied on anything and the regulations, the licenses are given to foreign investors and the foreign investor do not have any limitation.
But at the same time, they are not seen as the main gate for facilitating the foreign investment. Actually, we are very much putting emphasis on the main land regulations to make it as easy as possible, as receptive as possible to attract foreign investors to Iran. Therefore, the free zones are seen as facilitators not just catalysts ; that is something that will going to be there in parallel with pursuing vigorously to make the internal and the main land environment as attractive as possible.
GAS-TO-LIQUID PROJECTS
Dahle: -Gas-to-liquid projects are very in the wind nowadays. What is Iran’s position?
Adeli: -Well, GTL-projects and LNG-projects both are very important projects for Iran as a long term and long-standing gas exporter and gas supplier specially versus the distant markets like Japan and China. We have plans to jointly develop facilities and installations for GTL as well as for LNG for Japan and China and even for other parts of the world. I mean any sort of willingness on the part of countries who are willing to join us in developing these fields or developing the facilities, investing in the facilities, are much welcome.
Dahle: -And Norway?
Adeli: -Yes, Norway is very interested in investing in this sector is now seeking various kind of opportunities, and off course GTL and LNG are sectors that your companies can consider and study investing in.
THE IRAN-NORWAY RELATIONS
Dahle: -How do you Dr. Adeli see the Iran-Norway relation now?
Adeli: -In my view I guess that the two countries have found each other recently. The two countries have had off course relationship for a long period of time, but they have not had effective and adequate communication to understand each other’s potential and each other’s opportunities.
Dahle: -What do you mean by that, sir?
Adeli: -I think that in the recent years the contact between the two sides have increased and communication has made understanding more possible, and opportunity have been created by the exchange of delegations for exploring new areas and new businesses.
In my view the two countries should have joined forces may be twenty years ago, or fifteen years ago or ten years ago to have investment in upstream. But now we see that Statoil has come seriously, they have applied for and seeking (businesses). And off course it is very much welcomed, and it has been facilitated by our ministry of oil, and this is the beginning, I think, of a long road and a vast opportunity for both sides to get involved in the various sectors. Off course oil and gas is the priority and it’s your expertise, and your expertise is not confined and limited to oil and gas, you have other expertise; this is the beginning of marriage and there are lots of other activities to be followed by this very happy sort of joint effort in oil and gas.
IRANS TRADING PARTNERS
Dahle: -Who are your first trading partner nowadays?
Adeli: -Our first trading partner is the European Union, and our second trading partner is Japan. We have an excellent relationship with Japan. And in terms of economic cooperation off course, Japan is quite involved in the various sectors of Iran, and we are happy to have this cooperation with them in trade, in economic cooperation, in oil and gas; in the various sectors we have welcomed them, and they have been a very committed partner of Iran in various kinds.
THE IRAN-JAPAN RELATIONS
Adeli: -And we also have a very good understan-ding with them, and we know off course the limitations of Japan’s foreign policy. And at the same time there is a very high-level and unique under-standing of each other, Iran, and Japan, so that it created the opportunity for the Iranian President Khatami to visit Japan – so we have relation with them on the highest level in political terms, and on the highest level in economic terms.We do not have any impediment or any obstacle in expanding and deepening and exploring even more opportunities of business relationship with each other.
Dahle: -And with this superb answer I would like to thank you Dr. Adeli for this interview.
Adeli: -After you have finished talking with everybody here in the Foreign Ministry, the National Iranian Oil Company and all the other places in Tehran you have to give each of them marks from top to bottom, right?
Dahle: -Well, I think that you range as number one Dr. Adeli, no doubt about that!
Adeli: -Oh, thank you so much, thank you very much! (laughing happily).
Dahle: -Thank you Dr. Ahani.
His Excellency
AMBASSADOR ALI AHANI
NORWAY WAS ONE OF THE LAST COUNTRIES IN EUROPE TO ESTABLISH GOOD AND SUSTAINABLE TIES WITH THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
It so happened, that during my dialogue with Dr. Ahani, the tendon curtain between Norway and Iran suddenly went up. I did not ask for it to happen. Dr. Ahani freely and unrestrained opened up the entire relationship between the two countries, which to put it mildly, was a basket full of rotten eggs. Here is a short version of what Dr. Ahani told me in that meeting in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran on April 7, 2002.
Ambassador to Europe and America, the present Ambassador to Paris, the sencond time, His Excellency Ali Ahani and Harald Dahle in Dr. Ahani's office in the Foreign Ministry Tehran, April 2002. Dr. Ahani left, with Harald Dahle-Sladek, right in Ahani's office.
Picture below from the video during the interview. From Left, the translator, Ambassador Ali Ahani and Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek. (C)2002 Harald Dahle Oslo.
Too much, too late, too dumb.
In 2000 Norway finally entered the Islamic Republic of Iran. Then, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran had waited for thirty years and longer wondering why Norway with its specialized deep-water technologies had not come and helped Iran to build the South Pars project as well as other onshore and offshore projects.
When I arrived the Foreign Department in Tehran in April 2002 the mood was somber, to say the least. Ambassador Ali Ahani was irritated. The Norwegian Foreign Department had for thirty years played on "both sides of the street" cultivating contacts with opposition groups to Iran, like the Mujahidin Kalk MEK. The attitude from the Norwegians had been cordial, but stiff and had not reflected the greatness in the Iranian culture and its people. Tehran was very hurt.
Dahle: -With regards to Norway and Iran relations Ambassador Ahani, I notice some slight irritation on your part, why is that?
Ali-Ahani: -In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Norway have many opportunities. In addition to the economic and industrial cooperation we have oil and gas. I would like to emphasize the importance for us to finalize the oil and gas projects in the South along the Persian Gulf, as well as in the Caspian Sea. Norway and Iran are two important oil producing countries and can cooperate and coordination in the world oil market and stabilize oil prices, which would be in the interest of both oil producers and oil consumers.
Dahle: -You mentioned that the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Pettersen's visit to Tehran was a kind of watershed. Could you please explain that?
Ali-Ahani: In fact, in the past years, our relations lacked the sufficient momentum to further expand our relations. And in fact, compared to other countries in Europe, our relations with Norway were lagging behind. The visit of your Foreign Minister to Tehran show the firm determination of your country for the expansion of the relations with Iran. And certainly, there is such a political will and enthusiasm on the part of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran!
Norway as a Non-Piety State.
By the Editor-in-Chief
The decline of Spirituality in the West in general, the weakening and the right-out abolishment of the Christian faith in many places today, and the materialization and dehumanization process reflected in the general coldness between people, gives reason for great concern.
Norway's King Haakon IV, "What happened to spirituality in Norway?"
In the Norwegian society of today, Man is undoubtedly being reduced to the weight of his own body. The newspapers write about losing and gaining weight every, single day. "It's all about meat, meat and more meat," says Harald Dahle, "and nothing about Man as a Spiritual being in God. In their educations Norwegians learn nothing about Spirituality, but every-thing about fiscal policies and fancy theories." He reflects on the Norwegian's Laissez-faire type mantra "to Enjoy.“ With the full blessing and encouragement of an authoritative and non-spiritual State, off course! You know, the Norwegians does not really have anything of spiritual value, and this is why they so desperately try the become what they are not and can never be, canonized.
The decline of Spirituality in the West in general, the weakening and the right out abolishment of the Christian faith in many places today, and the materialization and dehumanization process reflected in the general coldness between people, gives reason for great concern; in Norway, however, this is "business as usual", a stroke of death before the curtain fall. Before we as less civilized and empathic people criticize religion and spirituality in the Islamic Republic of Iran today one should first explain and understand the collapse of Christianity as a main factor in the western societies of today. In the Age of conspicuous consumption, oil and gas, sexual "freedom" and decline of conservative values the Norwegian society is identified with an overwhelming absence of piety in combination with a cold, disdained and superfluous inter-human relations almost devoid of human dignity. Just as it was in the last days before the fall of the decadent, Roman Empire!
On the streets of Oslo, the Norwegians bow their small and worried heads down towards their large, active-matrix organic light-emitting diode screens on their cell phones. And that they do all day! And it is the only time ever when the Norwegians bow their heads! On the walls of the houses in capital Oslo, there are not the minutest sign of spirituality. No, al-fresco paintings of the apostles, the Blessed Virgin Mary, a cross, some ornaments pointing towards a cultural connection with continental Europe. Nothing! The capital is chemically, organically, and spiritually devoid of any sign of a higher and dignified purpose in life. Alongside country roads leading through walleyes and over plains, through small towns and barren fields there is not a single cross, no memory built for an ancient, Christian pilgrim who shall have walked and died there. Not a signpost pointing towards a time when Norway was a country belonging together in spirit with the other Christian nations on the grand mainland of Europe.
THE SLIPPERY SLIDE TO HUMAN CATASTROPHE “In my work dealing with people and dialogue, “says Harald Dahle, “I have come to learn that many of us are not capable if viewing another human being right in front of ourselves with warmth, empathy and humanness. I believe this defect to be one of several primary causes for disharmony, conflict and war!" This phenomena bears special relevance to the people of Norway who actually live on an "island" - with the North Sea on one side and the forest and mountains bordering to Sweden and Russia on the other - and can do as they damn well please without having to take into account the more aristocratic and refined continental European culture further south. "I was in Munich already in 1956 and was raised in Sissach in Canton Basel Land in Switzerland," says Dahle whose father became a Swiss citizen. Harald Dahle, it sets the Norwegian cold and minimalistic Lutheran Church, controlled by the Department of Church -and Culture, in a certain perspective!
"The German philosopher, sociologist and composer Teodor Ludwig Wiesengrund Adorno, left picture, has also had opinions about the "coldness between people phenomena: “Without the chilly and disdained behavior between people, the extermination of the Jews would not have taken place in Germany” he warned. Adorno was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, whose work has come to be associated with thinkers such as Ernst Bloch, Walter Benjamin, Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse , for whom the works of Freud, Marx and Hegel were essential to a critique of modern society. He is widely regarded as one of the 20th century's foremost thinkers on aesthetics and philosophy, as well as one of its pre-eminent essayists. As a critic of both fascism and what he called the cultural industry, his writings - such as Dialectic of Enlightenment (1947), Minima Moralia (1951) and Negative Dialectic (1966) - strongly influenced the European New Left.
Norway
FINANCIAL CRIME
Main Story of the Month
INTRODUCTION
In 2000 Norway finally entered the Islamic Republic of Iran. Then, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran had waited for thirty years and longer wondering why Norway with its specialized deep-water technologies had not come and helped Iran to develop the South Pars project, as well as other on -and offshore projects in the Islamic Republic.
Assaluyeh Pars Special Energy Economi Zone
Even before the plane with its Government officials and representa-tives of the petroleum-related industries had left the Norwegian air-space, Norway had in fact already lost its unique business opportunity in the Islamic republic of Iran. These fish eating latecomers had all arrived Teheran’s Mehrabad Airport from a country which, in a radical way, distances itself from piety and where spirituality does not have any important place in the daily lives of the people. And were the word "Islam" in their nordic consciousness often is associated with terrorism and threats. The stage was now set for a humongous clash between two contradictory civilizations!
THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
ENDGAME TEHRAN
If Justice shall have any meaning at all, it must include
the person responsible for the Crime.
By Harald Dahle-Sladek
The Editor-in-chief
From the very outset it was the twisted Norwegian mindset, the whole chain of command in Oslo and it's ill prepared bureaucracy that faulted. Right from the Parliament down through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Energy and Oil, INTSOK and the industry, and the medium sized oil company Statoil whose ethical bearing were out of course. Their factual relations to Iran were all seriously lagging behind and bribery and corruption were only two unpleasant sides of a larger and more complex picture. Welcome to Norway's worst diplomatic, ethical and industrial catastrophy in modern times.
Norwegians in Tehran were rapidly revealing a devastating lack of empathic feelings and an over emphasizing on cognitive thinking in general and diplomatic correctness in particular. Among Norwegian dignitaries in Oslo and Tehran the phrase "the People of Iran" was nowhere to be heard. However, from the Iranian side, having the People of Iran in focus was a prerequisite for doing business in the country. Thus, as we shall see, from the very outset Norway were on a collision course with the Islamic republic; Norway and Statoil did nothing for the People of Iran.
In the case of Norway and Statoil in Iran, the agreement between Department of Justice and Statoil did not include that person responsible for the crime. Thus, the US Department of Justice and Norway's Økokrim both failed their obligation, to indict and prosecute the head of Statoil Olav Fjell. It gives the wrongest signal possible, and that is very serious. That the medium sized Norwegian oil company Statoil can pay itself out of bribery is intollerable. And the US-based Law firm Sulliwan & Cromwell representing Statoil did a splendid job facilitating just that!
Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani
The decision to bribe Mehdi, the son of President Hashemi Rafsanjani was awfully bad for Norway! In the eyes of the international community it was the worst that could happen. And Norway had to pay a heavy price. The total disrespect for an ethical bearing, suddenly revealed a system that collapsed for the whole world to admire. It was really bad, and totally unnecessary.
THE NOBEL PEACE PRICE TO SHIRIN EBADIN
In the middle of the Norway bribery scandal with Iran in 2003 the Nobel Committee gave the Peace Prize to Iranian opposition lawyer Shirin Ebadin. It was not enough with one problem with Iran, Norway had to create a second! It was also a slap in the face of President Khatami and his Dialog among Civilizations program.
A SUSTAINABLE DIALOGUE AND COMMON GROUND?
The Norwegian Nobel Committee abuses its power and use the Prize in a political context to push the agenda of the Norwegian Parliament, Stortinget. They did it with Iran in 2003 and with the Peoples Republic of China seven years later. Both instances prove that the Norwegian Parliament, the Norwegian Nobel Committee, and the Foreign Ministry in Oslo are seriously lacking in experience in their ability to create sustainable dialog and common ground in international relations. In this context it remains a mystery to us what Norway can contribute to in the UN Security Council for the common good of Mankind.
NORWAY IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL
The return of the Emperor’s New Clothes!
With the promises (read: bribes) of future gains for supporting a place
for itself in the UN Security Council, Norway finally got itself a hot seat.
The situation between Iran and Norway was a catastrophe, and with the Statoil bribery-case rapidly unfolding it took just another twelve months before Norway was kicked out of Iran. Shortly after in 2010, Norway detonated another diplomatic bomb, this time with China as result of naively giving Chinese opposition personality Wen Jiabao the Nobel Peace Prize. It took Norway ten years to establish a new diplomatic foothold in the Peoples Republic of China. Two of humanity’s oldest cultures, the Persian and the Chinese had in less than ten years both denied Norway access. An astonishing achieve-ment on the world diplomatic scene.
Hans Christian Andersen
wrote The Emperors New Clothes
To compensate for this traumatic downfall, and to show the entire upper echelon of the ruling world-elite that Norway could be trusted, it set forth to conquer a chair in the Security Council. And won! The overstretched country with its microscopic population of 5.4 million fish eating Norwegians was now geared to show off its new clothes. Like the Emperor in the fairytale by H C Andersen.
Many applauded Norway, but the few who knew her better were embarrassed and lowered their sights as the Queen from the North strutted her feathers. They were not fooled. Neither are we! What Norway can contribute with in the Security Council is unclear to us, but should it be en par with her Iran and China operations, then God help us all.
At last the Norwegian Government had decided to enter the Islamic Republic of Iran. But it's reputation and political standing were to be ruined by lack of experience in creating dialogue and common ground with the Embassy of Iran in Oslo, and a deeper understanding of doing business with Teheran. Any previous negative energy between the two sides was carefully being hidden behind a constructed façade of exuberant optimism. And then, in an instant, the scene-carpet came down.
Opening of the Parliament Stortinget, Oslo
E mail to the Department of Justice
Department of Justice
Attention the Attorney General
From Harald Dahle-Sladek, Oslo Norway
haroldsworld@petrofilm.com
www.petrofilm.com
Oslo, October 2nd, 2020
Dear Sir,
I am writing to you to inform you about an article that I have written on my web page www.petrofilm.com It is the main article of the month of October and bears the title “ENDGAME TEHRAN.” In it I analyze the Statoil-Iran-bribery Case. Although the Department of Justice made an agreement with Statoil (Norway), the then head of the company Olav Fjell was never indicted.
My article proves that Olav Fjell in fact was responsible for the downfall of Statoil. The information revealed in the article proves that the information given by Statoil to Department of Justice does not constitutes the whole truth and is a breach of the agreement between Statoil and the Department.
The case of Statoil in Iran did not happen as a sudden bang but came as a result of assumptions that had to be present over time. It was therefore imperative on the part of the Norwegian power apparatus to prevent access to any context in something that was of a far more serious nature than Statoil's role in isolation. The full and complete truth would have revealed the full and complete responsibility. And they were not interested in that from the Norwegian side.
Tehran’s Ambassador to Oslo His Excellency Noghrehkar Shirazi told me, “In a meeting at Statoil where Olav Fjell was present, I gave him the mobile phone number of our Minister of Oil Zanganeh. Mr. Zanganeh had said to me, that if Fjell had any question in any direction, he was free to call. But Fjell never called him, and Zanganeh thought that very strange!” And that became the end for Statoil in Iran.
I can refer to United States versus the car maker VW. Where top leaders were indicted. If Justice shall mean something it should include the person(s) responsible for the crime.
Best regards
Harald Dahle-Sladek
Norwegian Energy Partners NORWEP (INTSOK)
Owned by the Ministry of Oil, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
the Norwegian Government and the Industry
On 10 January 2005, a meeting was held at INTSOK, Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners, in Hoffsveien 1, entrance 1A 4th floor. Present at the meeting were Knut Gulbrand Wangen, CEO of INTSOK and Harald Dahle from his own company Petroconsult. The meeting was arranged at the request of Dahle and lasted from one o'clock to about a quarter past two and a half. At the end of the meeting Mr. Wangen was deeply affected by the content and seriousness of the conver-sation. He himself expressed a certain dismay at everything Dahle had told him.
At the meeting with Wangen on January 10, 2005, I said that even though my work was not accepted by INTSOK and by all the others, it could be worthwhile to invite me onto the carpet to hear a different facet, a different nuance than the one usually heard about Iran. Mr Wangen looked at me as he understood what I was talking about but said that such an input was not interesting. I wondered and sat back with a feeling of exclusion and little value at the same time as I understood that it was precisely such input from the side that could have brought in new knowledge and understanding. But this was not the case. Only the drawn official line was acceptable.
Representative Mr. Werner Karlsson of the Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners INTSOK to the editor-in-chief Harald Dahle-Sladek: You are not worried about human rights in Iran, are you? They take the lives of people, stone them .."
The opening of the Norway-Iran conference by INTSOK at Hotel Azadi in Tehran was a toned down and poorly presented presentation from the Norwegian side. The Norwegian minister spoke low, indistinct and did not have a friendly and positive attitude. No joy, no warmth. And no enthusiasm at all. It was a sad affair with an awfully bad audio. Embarrassing to travel so far and spend so much money and time with such a poor result. Beautiful suits probably do a lot, but far from enough.
THIS MONTH'S STORY CONTINUED. . .
THE THREE TRACKS
Iran Norway Petrofilm Dialoge Films
Who agreed with whom, and who did not?
My interests and Iran's interests coincided namely, to create dialogue and common ground and focus on the "People of Iran". A factor that was totally absent from the Norwegian side.
My interests did not coincide with the interests and perceptions of the Norwegians. I was there to create dialogue and common ground. Norway was there to make money and did not emphasize with the "People of Iran" which was a pre-requisite from the Iranian side if one wanted to succeed in creating sustainable business in the country. Norwegian industry coincided with Iran’s but did a weak job of presenting the breadth of what Norway could offer in terms of services.
I came in from the sideline through an industrial three-national seismic project and thought it would be wise to have a round of talks in Tehran. Tehran had not experienced such attention as I gave them, and they therefore opened up all their doors to me, to Oslo's great annoyance.
It was first my dialog creating work aimed at the Iranians who came from Teheran to Oslo in 1998/99 within the three-national Persian Carpet 2000 seismic project. From North of the Persian Gulf to the Oman Sea. Six ships, lots of equipment and about one thousand people.
Then it was my "Vison of Iran" filmed interview project in 2002 in Teheran to lift up the People of Iran. The phrase "the people of Iran" was repeated over and over to me from the Iranian side, in the Foreign Ministry in Teheran.
Then it was the Iranian Ambassador to Oslo Noghrehkar Shirazi's year-long grudge against the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that was a separate project seen through his eyes and the Foreign Ministry in Teheran. These were two different projects, one within a seismic project, the other within diplomatic tensions between Iran and Norway.
The idea to create dialog and common ground was much the same for both tracks, but the information I received in Tehran and the usefulness and use of it were different for both. The information that Ambassador Ali Ahani gave me about the situation between Iran and Norway, for example, belonged only to the diplomatic project initiated by Ambassador to Oslo, Noghrehkar Shirazi, and myself.
The information I received from Mohammad Mohaddes in the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC about the latter announcing new exploration blocks, only belonged to the seismic project and was especially useful for Norwegian seismic company Global Geo Services in Oslo.
The Norwegian Storting, the Parliament, in principle coincided with Iran’s Parliament, Majlis. Top-level agreement.
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs coincided with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tehran's view, but was charged with poor and late follow-up from Oslo over many years.
The views of the Ministers of Energy and Oil Mr. Olav Akselsen (2000) and Mr. Einar Steensnes (2003) in Oslo coincided in principle with the views of Minister of Oil Mr. Bijan Zanganeh in Teheran.
Statoil's management in Teheran, Mr. Harald Finnvik, coincided with the Ministry of Oil and NIOC, and at the same time it did not when Statoil ran its own under-the-table bribery race with Mehdi, the son of former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was Director for one of the NIOC companies.
My one hour talk on May 19, 2002 with Mr. Mehdi Mirmoezi, Deputy Minister of Petroleum and President of the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, revealed that NIOC was in fact "very satisfied" with the works that Statoil's people had done so far in Iran.
A miserable presentation of Norway to the Iranian officials in Tehran. Another miserable presentation by Deputy Minister of oil from Norway at the INTSOK opening at Azadi Hotel.
Norway probably meant it well, but presented itself amateurishly and did not mirror the Iranian culture and the greatness in the Iranian people. They not create thrust trough empathy and understood little or nothing at all. Lots of handshaking and bla-bla, but hardly any results to speak of. Talk about missing out on a huge opportunity!
IRAN DAILY November 23, 2000
Left corner, Iran's powerful Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh, right corner
Minister for Energy and Oil, Norway Olav Akselsen in Teheran November 22nd 2000.
Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi
in April 2002, I visited my Iranian friend Mohammad Ali Abtahi in Tehran. Mohammad had been vice president to President Khatami, and he now headed the Institute for Dialog between the Religions. “The Christian God and the Islamic God is the same, one God,” Mohammad told me confidently with a smile.
Abtahi confirmed that both religions have many things in common, and that today the world needs dialog. The most important parts that are building civilizations are religions. But if every religion believes that it is the only and holy religion, we will not have dialog with other religions. Today dialog between the religions is taken very seriously and this is so because man feels that he must take special notice and care of what is common in the religions, because there is a common danger threatening the religions. The soul of the religions is spirituality, and it is being hurt in our time. This is a danger which threatens both Islam and Christianity. We have had many wars and unrest in the world, and this is also because of the lack of spirituality. Because of this the different religions need to collaborate.
Two different concepts altogether
One to make a as much money as possible in the shortest amount of time (above); the other to lift up the People of Iran and to create a sustainable dialog and common ground, Harald Dahle's book concept.
The Minister
Minister of Oil Mr. Bijan Zanganeh
"I gave Fjell (CEO of STATOIL) my mobile phone number,
but he never called me back!"
A BETRAYAL FROM THE NORWEGIAN SIDE
"Why put money under the table,
when it should have been transfered into a nice offer
laid on the table?"
The Editor-in-Chief
How an error in Spirit
became a Catastrophic failure in Matter.
"Isolating the case as a purely financial matter would at the same time prevent insight into the other underlying causes. Therefore, it can be said that the media largely refrained from tackling these underlying causes, and in that way played along with the scapegoat Statoil as well as with the Norwegian power apparatus."
The CEO
CEO of Statoil Olav Fjell is interviewed by the Norwegian
state-owned TV Channel "NRK".
Olav Fjell: We all live in a yellow submarine
DEVASTATING: STATOIL CEO OLAV FJELL, THE ONE WHO KNEW!
Norway had set its course and moved majestically through the sea like a modern cruise liner. But the Iranian waters proved to unfamiliar to navigate in and the ship headed for a disaster. But nobody on the Bridge cared.
NORWAY: DARK CLOUDS GATHERING
Norway’s entering into the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2000 became a prelude to the worst diplomatic and industrial disaster the country had ever experienced. Only overshadowed by its nightmarish relations to Peoples Republic of China, in 2010 after the Norwegian parliament-appointed Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace prize to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo. In both cases Norway used its check-book diplomacy to crawl back and normalize its relations. To make oneself unpopular with two of the oldest civilations on the planet in less than ten years is quite an achievement in itself!
FROM THE PARLIAMENT DOWN
At last the Norwegian Government had decided to enter the Islamic Republic of Iran. But it's reputation and political standing were to be ruined by lack of experience in creating dialogue and common ground with the Embassy of Iran in Oslo, and a deeper understanding of doing business with Teheran. Any previous negative energy between the two sides was carefully being hidden behind a constructed façade of exuberant optimism. And then, in an instant, the scene-carpet came down.
ZANGANEH'S MOBILE PHONE NUMBER
During a good-bye reception at the Iranian Embassy in March 2004, just months before ending his four-year period as Ambassador and leaving Oslo for Teheran, Ambassador Noghrehkar Shirazi revealed to the Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle the following.
Shirazi:
"During a meeting that was held at the Statoil headquarter, I conveyed a message to Olav Fjell from our Minister of Oil Mr. Zanganeh. Zanganeh had instructed me to say that if Fjell had a question, ore problem, he could just phone him on his mobile phone. So, I gave Olav Fjell the mobile phone number Zanganeh had given me, but Fjell never called him back. The problems which Statoil had could easily have been cleaned out with Zanganeh over the phone, but there was no sign from Statoil and Zanganeh found this very odd!"
It is worth commenting that at the time when Bijan Zanganeh instructed Ambassador Shirazi to give CEO Olav Fjell his private mobile phone number, he was already aware of Statoil's under-the-table operations with son of president Hashemi Rafsanjani. This is the impression that Harald Dahle got from Shirazi in March 2004.
STATOIL'S BETRAYAL AND DOUBLE-CROSSINGS
In other words, if Statoil had a problem, any problem, - and as CEO of the company Olav Fjell would have known - he could easily have talked these matters over with Iran's powerful Minister of oil Mr. Bijan Zanganeh, but strangely enough he did not do that. The Ministry of Oil and the National Iranian Oil Company took this as a betrayal.
Statoil had doubled crossed not only Tehran's powerful Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh, but also their own representative in Iran Mr. Harald Finnvik who knew nothing about the home offices bizarre under-the-table deals. And it quickly became the end for Statoil in Iran. The problems for Statoil in Iran only increased after that.
TEHERAN: STATOIL EMPLYEES ON THE OUTSIDE
Said during the INTSOK Gardermoen Airport Conference Center gathering in February 2002 which Harald Dahle-Sladek attended:
Director Arne Eriksen, Statoil,
"As you can see, I am very frustrated. The Iranians are polite towards us (in Tehran), but we have a distinct impression of being kept on the "outside" of things...and it is a question for how long this can go on before we have to pull out altogether."
Harald Dahle-Sladek, Petrofilm,
"I suggested to Statoil's Arne Eriksen (who was in Tehran) on the phone that I was willing to negotiate with the Iranians for a better understanding between the two sides.
But, after consulting with his people Eriksen came back and said that it was of no interest to them.
I found their decision remarkably devoid of initiative and empathy; they simply did not fathom how to treat their Iranian counterpart."
INTSOK - Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners, is a Norwegian organization owned jointly by the Ministry of Energy and Oil, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and about 100 of Norways largest, medium sized and small industrial companies for the purpose of helping and guiding these companies into foreign countries, under the umbrella of Norway's politics and regulations. Between 2000 and 2003 the Export Council of Norway was also involved.
RESPONSIBILITY WAS HEAVIEST AT THE TOP
It was also incumbent of the Norwegian authorities to isolate the damage by acquitting the actual head of Statoil, Olav Fjell in order in this way, to quickly direct the responsibility downwards in the organi-zation and not upwards. The State acquitted itself, and the first to "be sanitized" was the Statoil CEO Olav Fjell himself.
Norway's catastrophic involvement in the Islamic Republic of Iran between 2000 and 2003 is a good example of what I will describe as a vertical system collapse. The Oslo-Tehran-Statoil collapse did not spread in a horizontal direction, but was shaped like a wedge with the tip down. The relationship of responsibility was clearly heaviest at the top, which is the opposite conclusion that was drawn by the collective Norwegian media elite at the time.
The Foreign Department, Oslo
NORWAY-IRAN FOREIGN POLITICS
"It was in fact the Norwegian foreign politics versus Iran in
the thirty odd years preceding 2000 that created the
groundwork for a future conflict between
the two sides, in 2003." The Editor-in-Cief
Teheran's Ambassador to Oslo Mr. Noghrehkar Shirazi
to the Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle:
"The Norwegian Foreign Department and the others see that you run fast and reach high levels in Tehran, and it irritates them!
My be, many years ago they should have done the works
you have been doing now!"
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oslo: Created the ground work for future conflict.
A SYSTEM COLLAPSE FROM THE PARLIAMENT AND DOWN
The STATOIL bribery case with Iran was a System collapse from the Norwegian Parliament, down through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo; INTSOK, the Export Council, and STATOIL. It was incumbent on the Norwegian State to isolate the damage by acquitting the actual head of Statoil, the person who knew everything, Olav Fjell in order in this way to quickly direct the responsibility downwards in the organizationand not upwards.
A FOREIGN POLITICS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE STREET
Statoil needed to expand its area of operations abroad and were indeed welcomed by Iran's Minister of Oil Bijan Zanganeh. However, with regards to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Foreign Ministry in Oslo had for thirty years and longer been walking on both sides of the street and cultivated contacts with opposition group like the Mujahed-din Kalk MEK - in the eyes of Tehran a Terrorist Organization - as well as with other enemies of Tehran.
It was in fact the Norwegian foreign politics versus Iran in the thirty odd years preceding 2000 that created the ground-work for a future conflict between the two sides, in 2003. Read my interview from the Foreign Ministry Tehran with Ambassador Ali Ahani who confirms that this was the case: "Norway was lagging behind compared to other European countries."
TEHERAN: NORWAY DID NOT HAVE A GOOD STANDING
But, unfortunately the situation between the two sides where such between 2000 (when Statoil entered Tehran) and in 2002 (when I spoke to Ambassador Ali Ahani and Ambassador Hossein Adeli in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran) that Norway in reality did not have a particularly good standing there.
This somber reality had made it somewhat problematic for Statoil. Therefore, it became tempting for Olav Fjell and his entourage to make a short-cut to the son of President Hashemi Rafsanjani and to use unconventional and criminal methods to try to secure work for Statoil at the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC. Statoil was now flying blind, and as we shall witness an implotion of dimentions was not far away in time.
THE CAPTAIN DERAILED THE PROJECT BEFORE START
At the helm of Norways flagship stood Statoil's canonized Saint Olav Fjell, a man with semingly supernatural capability to survive in his position as CEO supported by an almost blindfolded Statoil-board. After having brought Statoils name down in the gutter and tainted Norway's flagship and reputation for the world to admire, this semingly untouchable man walked straight into a new and high-paid job soon thereafter.
It was his responsibility to implement Statoil's Iran strategy - his strategy - and to see it through. But, he did not understand that he had in fact already derailed the entire Statoil-goes-to-Iran operation. With no ethical and empathical bearings, CEO Olav Fjell continued the doomed and misguided plan like a drunk captain onboard a sinking ship. Where was his helpers? Ore my be they were all drunk?
OLAV FJELL: NOT A SINGLE WORD OF CRITICISM
Off course, Fjell should have known, because it was his duty to know and to understand. That is why he had a very high salary; but he didn't. In the meantime bribe-money was now flowing out of Statoil like water over the Niagara Falls! Mr. Saint Olav did not mind. After all it was not his money, but the taxpayers!
In the following years not a word of criticism was raised against him. In the papers of Statoil's law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP in Washington and New York not a single letter was mentioned regarding Olav Fjell. In fact, he was nowhere to be found.
Statoil's new clearing boy Helge Lund signed the court paper for Statoil. And at that time Mr. Olav "untouchable" Fjell was far away over the shimmering horizon. However, the full and complete truth would have revealed the full and complete responsibility. But, they were not interested in the truth from the Norwegian side! Only to get off the hook of the US Justice Department and to close the case as quickly as possible so the dust could settle once and for all.
In the meantime, among the ruling elite of Norway, Mr Olav "untouchable" Fjell was regarded as a near folk hero and could chose any high-ranking position he wished for; all door were opened up to him. He had after all been pardoned by the State, sanitized as it were and made trustworthy again.
MULTIPLE HUMAN ERRORS AS SYSTEM COLLAPSES
It is not one thing alone that triggers an accident, but the sum of many factors. This can be done with technical equipment as well as with a company or a state apparatus. System collapse is a good term when an electrical network - power grid - fails, but the term can just as well be used about Norway's entry into Iran where Norway's flagship Statoil was responsible for a failure of dimensions. The media isolated this incident as an economic affair - a corruption case.
A DOWNWARD DEFLECTION AND A NEGATIVE TREND
The truth is probably more that there were many other and different factors that were not of an economic nature that helped to trigger the catastrophe (downward deflection) These factors were such that a breakdown in the diplomatic relations between the two countries could only happen when these factors were present.
Isolating the case as a purely financial matter will at the same time prevent insight into the other underlying causes. Therefore, it can be said that the media largely refrained from tackling these underlying causes, and in that way played along with the scapegoat Statoil, it's CEO Olav Fjell, as well as with the Norwegian Power Apparatus.
OBJECTIVE #1: TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE TRUTH
The case of Norway and Statoil in Iran did not happen as a sudden bang but came as a result of a bunch of assumptions that had to be present over time.
It was therefore imperative on the part of the power apparatus (the State, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, INTSOK and industry) to prevent access to any context in something that was of a far more serious nature than Statoil's role in isolation.
OBJECTIVE #2: THREATS AND HARASSMENTS
The full and complete truth would have revealed the full and complete responsibility. And they were not interested in that from the Norwegian side. It therefore became imperative to isolate the Editor-in-Chief Mr. Harald Dahle-Sladek with ice cold harassment and threats. Access was undesirable, and pressure was applied on him from every angle over twenty years. The Norwegian power apparatus was a closed circuit. So, they believed!
A comment from the Editor-in-Chief
Petrofilm.com located in Oslo has in its possession several hundred times more material on Norway-Iran relations than is documented here. This includes E mails, letters, and writings. Some of that material is in nature revealing and unpleasant.
WORKING FIVE YEARS IN TEHERAN
AND IN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
Vision of Iran Dialogue Film by Harald Dahle-Sladek (short version)
CLICK AND PLAY VIDEO
Working card in Iran for the Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek
SEAL OF THE FOREIGN MINISTRY
THE FOREIGN MINISTRY TEHERAN
NORWAY-IRAN RELATIONS REVEALED
Teheran, on the premises of the Foreign Ministry. April 2002: The Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek hurries back on United Nations Street after completing a filmed interview with Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Hossein Adeli in his office. "They invitet me into the Lion's den and told me more than I could have imagined; but it came at a price!"
CLICK PICTURE PLAY VIDEO
Adeli: Difficulties should be settled as a non-armed conflict
SEYED MOHAMMAD HOSSEIN ADELI PhD
In April 2002 and in May 2003 I had several meetings in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran. There I met with Dr. Hossein Adeli, Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs who was busy, but was very generous and took time off to talk with me. Adeli’s diplomatic career progressed through his appointment as Iranian Ambassador to Canada in 1995.
At the end of his term in 1999, Adeli was nominated as Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and the chairman of the Coordinating Council for Foreign Economic Relations until 2004. During these years, Adeli initiated two special committees for Reconstruction of Afghanistan and Reconstruction of Iraq through a series of multilateral arrangements, and filled the role of Secretary General for both committees.
As his last official post, he served as Ambassador Extraordinary Pleni-potentiary of Iran to the United Kingdom. At his time, he along with John Curtis and several others lobbied with Iranian Government to borrow 80 items for a new exhibition named "The Forgotten Empire".
AMBASSADOR ALI AHANI
NORWAY WAS ONE OF THE LAST COUNTRIES IN EUROPE TO ESTABLISH GOOD AND SUSTAINABLE TIES WITH THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
It so happened, that during my dialogue with Dr. Ahani, the tendon curtain between Norway and Iran suddenly went up. I did not ask for it to happen. Dr. Ahani freely and unrestrained opened up the entire relationship between the two countries, which to put it mildly, was a basket full of rotten eggs. Here is a short version of what Dr. Ahani told me in that meeting in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran on April 7, 2002.
Ambassador to Europe and America, the present Ambassador to Paris, the sencond time, His Excellency Ali Ahani and Harald Dahle-Sladek in Dr. Ahani's office in the Foreign Ministry Tehran, April 2002. Dr. Ahani left, with Harald Dahle-Sladek, right in Ahani's office.
Picture below from the video during the interview. From Left, the translator, Ambassador Ali Ahani and Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek. (C)2002 Harald Dahle Oslo.
Too much, Too late, Too dumb!
In 2000 Norway finally entered the Islamic Republic of Iran. Then, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran had waited for thirty years and longer wondering why Norway with its specialized deep-water technologies had not come and helped Iran to build the South Pars project as well as other onshore and offshore projects.
When I arrived the Foreign Department in Tehran in April 2002 the mood was somber, to say the least. Ambassador Ali Ahani was irritated. The Norwegian Foreign Department had for thirty years played on "both sides of the street" cultivating contacts with opposition groups to Iran, like the Mujahidin Kalk MEK. The attitude from the Norwegians had been cordial, but stiff and had not reflected the greatness in the Iranian culture and its people. Tehran was very hurt.
Dahle: -With regards to Norway and Iran relations Ambassador Ahani, I notice some slight irritation on your part, why is that?
Ali-Ahani: -In fact, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Norway have many opportunities. In addition to the economic and industrial cooperation we have oil and gas. I would like to emphasize the importance for us to finalize the oil and gas projects in the South along the Persian Gulf, as well as in the Caspian Sea. Norway and Iran are two important oil producing countries and can cooperate and coordination in the world oil market and stabilize oil prices, which would be in the interest of both oil producers and oil consumers.
Dahle: -You mentioned that the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Pettersen's visit to Tehran was a kind of watershed. Could you please explain that?
Ali-Ahani: In fact, in the past years, our relations lacked the sufficient momentum to further expand our relations. And in fact, compared to other countries in Europe, our relations with Norway were lagging behind. The visit of your Foreign Minister to Tehran show the firm determination of your country for the expansion of the relations with Iran. And certainly, there is such a political will and enthusiasm on the part of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran!
Dahle: -Thank you Dr. Ahani.
THE ROLE OF PETROFILM
IN THE PERSIAN GULF
CLICK PICTURE PLAY VIDEO
PC2000 shooting seismic at Hendijan North of the Persian Gulf
Kish Free Trade Island Iran. Iran's Economic Zone, March 2000 Harald Dahle left with representatives of Iranian Industries at the University of Kish for a large Exhibition.
HARALD DAHLE'S "VISION OF IRAN" DIALOGUE FILMS
I created Dialogue and Common ground with the People of Iran over five years, and that became a huge problem for the official Norway. They saw it as an act of treason and started a war of harassment and badmouthing. However, looking at their results it was then that I learned the hard way how mediocre, narrow minded and unprofessional the Norwegians were.
With regards to Iran I came in from the side through a three-national industrial project between Norway, the Islamic Republic of Iran and People's Republic of China. The objective was to map the entire coast of Iran from North of the Persian Gulf (at Hendijan) to the Oman Sea (near the border of Pakistan) with six seismic vessels over three years. The name of the project was Persian Carpet 2000, or PC2000 for short.
I first had relations building with the eleven Iranians who came to Oslo for the project in November 1997, Later I documented the entire project from day one in January 1998 and sent reports back to Oslo from Iran and Dubai.
In 2001 I suggested to the Norwegian company which had contracts with Iran, that it could be greatly beneficial to have a round of dialogue talks in Tehran and listen to what they had to say there. I was of the opinion that without doing that, the project would fly blind, because there were so many unknown factors that we did not know about at the time. This strategy proved to be very advantageous to both sides.
I presented my idea to the Deputy Head of the Iranian Diplomatic Mission in Oslo, His Excellency Rezvani, who presented it to Ambassador Noghrehkar Shirazi. I wanted to make a round of filmed interviews with the leaders of Iran under the umbrella "Vision of Iran". Ten days later they OK'd the project and all doors in Iran was opened up to me.
Actually, I started in Dubai to prepare myself for this job, and then moved to the Iranian Kish Island some forty minutes by Kish Air from Dubai. There I visited the French oil compnay TOTAL and attended two seminars and exhibitions at the University of Kish.
All the time I worked on a platform of Empathy, Respect and Dignity.
I was not in the Diplomatic business but created Dialogue and Common ground with respect for the People of Iran and their outstanding Culture. That was my platform from which I had talks in Tehran and elsewhere. On May 19 2002 I completed the Vision of Iran dialogue talks in Tehran and flew back to Dubai. I left Dubai for Oslo one month later. In May 2003 I returnet to Teheran for the last time.
My simple and honest idea became a huge burden to the official Norway, in such a disasterous way that high-level Iranian dignitaries became uneasy and shook teir heads in dismay.
Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs Dr. Hossein Adeli in the Foreign Ministry in Teheran expressed gratitude for my work and told me, "When Harald Finnvik from Statoil Teheran visits me, I speak highly about the work that you do. Dr. Adeli was a great support to me in another vice tense situation.
STATOIL WAS READY TO THROW IN THE TOWEL AND GIVE IN
Engaged US Law Firm
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
1701 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W. Washington/125 Broad Street New York N.Y
WIERSHOLM AS SULLIVAN & CROMWELL LLP
Anders Chr. Ryssdal Margaret K. Pfeiffer Samuel W. Seymour
On August 20, 2004 at noon, a meeting was held in Oslo at the distin-guished Law firm WIERSHOLM where Harald Dahle-Sladek was present. He was asked by Senior Partner Anders Ryssdal to attend because Dahle, according to Ryssdal "knew much about Iran." Dahle arrived in Iran early January 1998, eighteen months before Norway entered the country in early 2000.
At the time of the Wiersholm meeting Harald Dahle had already worked seven years on Iran. The same year in 2004, Dahle gave his works on Iran to the Library of the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Harald Dahle also had filmed interviews with the upper crust of the Iranian establishment, from the Presidents office to the Foreign Ministry and various organizations and companies.
Through the filmed interviews that Harald Dahle had made in Tehran the lawyers Margaret K. Pfeiffer from the Washington Office and Samuel W. Seymour from the New York Office could both watch and hear directly from dignitaries in Tehran. To bring out high-level talks from Tehran which Dahle did was in itself unique.
Harald Dahle talks to Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi
Meeting at Law firm Wiersholm, Oslo
During the meeting on August 20. 2004, Margareth K. Pfeiffer asked Harald Dahle to join Sulivan & Cromwell LLP for the STATOIL defence and get paid. He answered politely that he would have to think that proposal over. Both US lawyers were impressed by the material Harald Dahle had brought to the meeting.
From law firm Wiersholm attended Anders Rysdal and Stefan Jervel. From STATOIL's Juridical Department came Odd Sollesnes; Head of Statoils Juridical Department Jacob S Middelton refrained. From Sullivan & Cromwel attended Margaret K Pfeiffer and Samuel W Seymour. Harald Dahle from Petrofilm attended.
The National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, May 27, 2003
FINAL METING ON MINISTER LEVEL IN TEHRAN
Right side Iran, from right to left: Chief of Protocol, female speaker, Minister of Oil Zanganeh, Ambassador to Oslo Noghrehkar Shirazi with glasses. Left side Norway, number seven with glasses Minister of Energy and Oil Einar Steensnes. (C)2003 Harald Dahle-Sladek
Seal of the National Iranian Oil Company
The National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, Tehran
15th Executive Floor, May 19, 2002. Deputy Minister of Oil and President of the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, His Excellency Mehdi Mirmoezi, right, with Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek from Oslo, left after a one hour filmed interview. Mirmoezi, "We are very satisfied with the works done by Statoil here in Iran." Statoil's betrayal of Ministry of Oil and NIOC did not happen from Tehran, but from Oslo and Stavanger. On July 19, 2006 at 8PM I called Director Arne Eriksen in Statoil from Oslo. He was in Tehran in a Statoil meeting and sounded worried. I said to him that I was willing to negotiate for Statoil. He was surprices, but interested. He admitted that the situation was very problematic. Later at a meeting in Oslo he said,
"As you can see, I am very frustrated. The Iranians are polite towards us (in Tehran), but we have a distinct impression of being kept on the "outside" of things...and it is a question for how long this can go on before we have to pull out altogether."
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
Tehran May 2003: Minister for Energy and Oil His Excellency Einar Steensnes, Norway (left) and Minister of Oil, His Excellency Namdahr Zangeneh, Iran, on their way from the plenum meeting Norway-Iran towards a more private setting on the 15th Executive Floor at the Headquarter of the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, Tehran. Behind Steensnes walks Zangenehs body guard Mr Amiri, and behind him Tehran's Ambassador to Oslo, His Excelleny Noghrehkar Shirazi. Photo by Harald Dahle.
Ambassador to Oslo, His Excellency Noghrehkar Shirazi is seen here leaving the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC Headquarter in Tehran on May 27, 2003, after the completion of the last meeting on Minister level between Norway and Iran. Photo: (C)2003 Harald Dahle-Sladek Petrofilm
THE LAST SUPPER
Tehran May 2003 National Iranian Oil Company. The last meeting between Iran (left) and Norway (right) on Minister level, before Norway was kicked out. Photo (C) 2003 Harald Dahle-Sladek
Harald Dahle-Sladek was working in the Islamic Republic of Iran from January 1998 till May 2003. His responsibility was to create dialogue and common ground with Iran on behalf of an industrial three-National seismic consortium between People Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Norway. He did not represent the Norwegian Government or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo.
In April 2004 Dahle gave much of his works on Norway and Iran to the library of the Norwegian Nobel Institute and in 2007 he met with President Mahmoud Amedinejads Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Oslo Military Society. Dahle-Sladek has more than twenty years research on Norway-Iran relations.
Harald Dahle, "I met Harald Finnvik in Tehran on several ocations.
He invited me up to the Statoil office, a nice-looking place which Statoil had rented. I had the best impression of Mr. Finnvik, and when he said he did not know about the wheeling and dealing that Statoil had done, I believed him."
General Manager for Norwegian Oil Company STATOIL in Iran Harald Finnvik seen here in ta talk with one representative for the Norwegian supply industry to the oil sector in a pause during the last Minister meeting between Norway and in Iran held at the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC in Tehran May 2003. Mr Finnvik is holding a CD in his right hand which contains filmed interviews from Petrofilm's Harald Dahle. Photo (C)2003 Harald Dahle-Sladek
Photo (C)2007 Harald Dahle-Sladek
An example of this was when Aftenposten, Norway's largest and most influential newspaper, failed to take an interview with Harald Dahle-Sladek who had seen the whole affair with Norway in Iran as a whole and therefore could bring to light many underlying factors unknown to most. Dahle,
"They invited me for a nice lunch and listened to what I had to say. But I understood that these clowns did not possess what was needed to empathically understand what had really happened. So, nothing substantive came out of it."
The Iranian Embassy Oslo
Heart sick Ambasador rushed to hospital
However, when the Iranian Embassy in Oslo was attacked by an opposition group to Tehran and Ambassador Noghrehkar Shiraz fell ill, Aftenposten was quick to be there and put him on the front page.
The Police: Just like a father would treat his daughter!
Deputy Head of Mission at the Iranian Embassy, His Excellency Mr. Rezvani to the Editor-in-Chief,
"The police came. One put his arm around the shoulder of a female protester, just like a father would do to his daughter. It was laughable the way the Oslo Police treated the aggressive protesters; they almost succeeded in breaking through our front entrance door."
Petropars Ltd. Tehran: The South Pars Field
Petropars Ltd Tehran April 2002. Left, President of Petropars Mr. A Turkan and Harald Dahle-Slade (right) The meeting took place three days before Mr Turkan was to leave for Oslo with the purpose to sign a contract with Statoil regarding Phase 6, 7 and 8 of the South Pars Oil and Gas Field which Iran shares with Qatar. Photo (C)2002 Harald Dahle-Sladek.
Kish Island Iran, The Persian Gulf, 2000
TOTAL: The Editor-in-Chief interviews representative of the French oil gigant TOTAL at their logistic base on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. When US sanctions started to bite, TOTAL endet it's operations in Iran.
Revolutionary Icon Khomeini, Leader Khamenei
President Khatami
1997-2005
THE IRANIAN EMBASSY IN OSLO
From right to left: Tehrans Ambassador to Oslo, His Excellency Noghrehkar Shirazi; at center His Excellency Ambassador Ali Ahani (interviewed by Dahle in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran April 2000) and left, Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle, pictured in the Iranian Embassy Oslo, October 2003,
Ambassador Noghrehkar Shirazi to Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle:
"The Norwegian Foreign Department and the others see that you run fast and reach high levels in Tehran, and it irritates them! My be many years ago, they should have done the works you have been doing now!"
The Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle left with His Excellency Ambassador Ali Ahani center, and Ambassador to Oslo His Excellency Noghrehkar Shirazi (holding a Petrofilm DVD in his left hand containing Dahles filmed interviews from Tehran) Seen here in the reception room at the Iranian Embassy Oslo, October 2003.
Tehran Oil and Gas Exhibition 2002
"Statoil spent money as if it was water! They gave out millions of Dollars in bribes to a foreign country, but would not pay for a litle service rendered to them by one of their own countrymen. It is pathetik in extreme!"
The Editor-in-Chief
IN THE GREACY STATOIL-CULTURE
OF LIES AND DECEPTION
an agreement based on a firm handshake and
an honest word ment nothing
April 2002: Mr. Lars Gunnar Dahle of Statoil Norway asked us at Hotel Azadi in Tehran where we stayed if we could film the Statoil stand at the Oil and Gas Exhibition in Tehran. Mr. Gunnar Dahle was the person in Statoil responsible for setting up Exhibitions. We so did, and after arriving at our base at Hotel LeMeridien Airport Rd in Dubai sometimes later, we sent the finnished product via DHL Courier to Statoil's Headquarter at Forusbeen 50 in Stavanger.
Click picture and Play
Statoil video from Oil and Gas Exhibition Tehran 2002, made by Petrofilm
Later, back in Oslo, we sent Statoil a modest request for payment of the DHL Courier service and work. After the 2006 agreement between Statoil and the Department of Justice, Statoil dragged it's feets and would not admit to giving us the job, because as they proclaimed, "That there is no contractual basis for the work." Which is dishonesty presented as a legality. This is the answer we received from Statoil:
Petroconsult
Harald Jan Dahle
We refer to your claim with various attachments dated 22 October 2008
to Helge Lund.
Based on the information in your letter with attachments, we have carried out a further investigation internally in relation to your demand for payment. After this review, we have concluded that there is no contractual basis for your claim for payment.
Based on this, we unfortunately have to reject your claim
in the letter of 22 October 2008.
With best regards
StatoilHydro ASA
Michael Price
Original letter
STATOIL film from Tehran Oil and Gas Exhibition sent from Dubai.
Cash Payment of Dirham 207.- paid by us, equals NOK 528.-
NORWAY'S MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND OIL
That's what friends are fore: Minister of Energy and Oil Norway, His Excellency Einar Steensnes, left, receives a DVD containing filmed interviews from Harald Dahle-Sladek which he did in Tehran in April and May, 2002.
Smiles and handshakes before curtain fall, June 2003
PETROFILM
VISION OF IRAN
DIALOGUE INTERVIEWS FROM TEHRAN
Click Picture Play Video
DVD Cover
The Mustazafan Foundation
of the Islamic Revolution
I was invited to the largest charitable Foundation in the Middle East, The Mustzafan Foundation of the Islamic Revolution (MJF) Their headquarter is in the former buildings of Hotel Hilton in Tehran.
The Mustazafan and Janbazan Foundation, MJF has is a huge conglome-ration of industries, from road and dam building, charitable work for the people of the Iraq war, research, manufacturing and hotels.
From left to right Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek , Contracts Director Reza Shaeri and representatives of MJF. At the time I worked in Iran 1998-2003, in the Precidency of Mohammad Khatami, , there was no US sanctions towards Iran.
EPITAPH
The collapse did not spread in a horizontal direction, but was shaped like a wedge with the tip down. The relationship of responsibility was clearly heaviest at the top, which is the opposite conclusion that was drawn by the collective Norwegian media elite at the time.
It is a Norwegian tradition that a high-ranking CEO does not really loses his or her job, but is merely given the opportunity to start-up in a new high-ranking position shortly thereafter. The "Old Boys Club" certainly knows how to take care of its own!
Agreement between
Department of Justice and STATOIL ASA Norway
Department of Justice, USA
Law firm SULLIVAN & CROMWELL, USA
Law firm WIERSHOLM, Norway
STATOIL ASA Norway
The Persian Carpet 2000
SEISMIK PROJECT FROM NORTH OF THE PERSIAN GULF TO THE OMAN SEA
I.R. Iran January 1998-May 2003
Click picture Play video
Harald Dahle, Transition Zone-1, Hendijan Iran Seismic shooting year 2000
Six seismic vessels attended. These were,
From China: Bin Hai 504
Bin Hai 517
Hai Shi-1
From Iran: Pejwak
From Norway: Odin Explorer
Geo Mariner
Picure above and below: Islamic Republic of Iran, Hendijan North of the Persian Gulf, February 2000, shooting seismic in Transition Zone 1, Chinese vehicle, Harald Dahle-Sladek has lunch on the side, pre-made food from the Chinese mother ship Bin hai 504. Below, a salvo of two kilo explosives on ten meeters deep in the sand goes off. Harald Dahle-Sladek on a safe distance, up in the right corner.
Between 1998 and 2003 Dahle held dialogue talks in Tehran on behalf of a three-national seismic project between Norway, Iran and China. He did not represent the Norwegian Foreign Department or the Government, but only the three industrial participants who together shot seismic from North of the Persian Gulf into the Oman Sea near border of Pakistan.
Picture below: Chinese seismic mother ship Bin Hai 504 (blue color) with source boat Hi Shi-1 (red color) in the persian Gulf, Iranian side, near Hendijan April 2000. Frame grab by Harald Dahle-Sladek.
Chinese Seismic Vessels Bin Hai 504 and Hi Shi 1
Frame grab by Harald Dahle
Six ships, two Norwegian, three Chinese and one Iranian did the job on time. The Iranians were very forthcoming, and I held meetings on high levels, in the Foreign Ministry, in the Oil Ministry, in the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC and on Government level, and in many other places.
Norwegian Seismic Vessel MS Geo Mariner in Iranian Waters
The PC2000 Seismic Project. Frame grab by Harald Dahle
The Definition of Aristocracy
The original meaning of the word aristocracy simply referred to 'the rule of the best'. Aristos, the Greek word for best, implied the ‘most fitting or best suited’, while kratos referred to rule or power. This early definition described only the characteristics of suitability and gover-nance, with no relation to class or wealth.
European Aristocracy
Adriaan de Lelie, the family of Jan van Loon, 1786
The Norway's Mediocracy.
State-led policy of philosophy with direct anti-human traits. Fear of aristocracy and the upper class led to rhetorical absurdity wrapped in cuddly talk.
The Norwegian way of creating dialogue and common ground is to understand everything in death, then minimize what has been said and reflect it back as an unworthy nothing. Because in Norway you should neither be anything nor get confirmation that what you say is worth something. Out of the state's vision of social equality, an intel-lectual underclass has been created.
The Norwegian way of talking to another human being is done with the rude "you" (German: Du) "You" has become a rhetorical free pass that allows the user to cross personal boundaries without paying the slightest consideration. In this way, the person can in the most obvious way step into another person's most personal areas and utilize this; right of use and property rights included. The form of accusation "you" seems to add to intimacy, but it is in its character completely superficial. One wants to give the impression of psychological closeness, and it can be used to manipulate the person being talked to.
Saying "you" is dehumanizing and without dignity. Lack of real dignity and respect are two factors that clarify Norwegians' relationship with each other. Superficial, sort of commitment wrapped in "you" is what characterizes the Norwegian, democratic society of today.
In the aristocratic society, on the other hand, everyone knew their rightful, social place. In a democratic society, everyone moves around at high speed while at the same time being extremely concerned with giving the impression of closeness through cuddly talk such as "Enjoy yourself!"
Up until the nineteen seventies, the exalted and respectful form of speech «DU» (Norwegian: De; German: Sie) was used in Norway, but then something happened; the Norwegian State intervened and set out to remove the respectful form «DU» (German: Sie), and instead introduced the disrespectful «you» (German: Du) form.
The "YOU" form was simply too exalted; the Norwegian State did not like it. And then all impressions of aristocracy and upper class were leveled off and replaced with mediocrity and unworthiness.
Now it was okay to be a bully dressed in a suit. The "you" form (German: Du) enabled a shift from the rhetorically exalted to the rhetorically absurd and has contributed greatly to the general dissolution of social norms.
Norway Terror Attacks a False Flag?
More Than One Shooter on the Island; Oslo Police Drilled Bomb Blasts; Was It NATO’s Revenge for Norway’s Decision to Stop Bombing Libya?
by Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.
Washington DC, – The tragic terror attacks in Norway display a number of the telltale signs of a false flag provocation. It is reported that, although the world media are attempting to focus on Anders Behring Breivik as a lone assassin in the tradition of Lee Harvey Oswald, many eyewitnesses agree that a second shooter was active in the massacre at the Utøya summer youth camp outside of Oslo.
It has also come to light that a special police unit had conducted drills or exercises near the opera house in downtown Oslo which involved the detonation of bombs during 2010– exactly what caused the bloodshed a few hundred meters away this Friday. Further research reveals that United States intelligence agencies had been conducting a large-scale program of recruiting retired Norwegian police officers with the alleged purpose of conducting surveillance inside the country. This program, known as SIMAS Surveillance Detection Units, provided a perfect vehicle for the penetration and subversion of the Norwegian police by NATO.
A motive for the attack is also present: as part of its attempt to mount an independent foreign policy, including the imminent diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a general rapprochement with the Arab world, Norway was leading the smaller NATO states in dropping out of the imperialist aggressor coalition currently bombing Libya. Norway was scheduled to stop all bombing and other sorties against the Gaddafi forces as out of August 1 at the latest.
Finally, the CIA limited hangout operation known as Wikileaks has already furnished a prefabricated off-the-shelf case for incompetence and malfeasance against the current Norwegian government that is doing all these things – in the form of a series of real or doctored dispatches which document the alleged negligence of this government in dealing with the terrorist threat, all in the view of US State Department officials.
VG of Oslo: “Several” Eyewitnesses Say there were Two Shooters on the Island
As noted, world press and media of the Anglo-American school have immediately battened onto Breivik as an archetypal lone assassin cast in the mold of Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, and so many others. The problem for the terror mythographs is that , in most of these cases, there is credible to overwhelming evidence that these figures could not have acted alone.
Among more recent loan assassins, Breivik could be compared to Major Nidal Hasan of Fort Hood, Texas, whose shooting spree dates back to November 2009. Hasan is accused of having killed seven people. At the time, it was considered remarkable that Hasan had managed to kill so many armed soldiers on the military base. But early reports suggested that there were one or two other shooters in addition to Hasan. As usually happens, these extra shooters were soon expunged from the hegemonic media narrative.
In the Norwegian case, the evidence that Breivik was not alone in claiming his fearful toll of victims is clear and convincing. Here are some excerpts from a report published by the Oslo newspaper VG:
“Several of the youths who were at the Utøya the shooting drama, told VG that they are convinced that there must have been more than one perpetrator. Marius Helander Røset believes the same thing: – I am sure that there was shooting from two different places on the island at the same time, he said.
Witnesses: – There were two people
Police believe Anders Behring Breivik (32) is the perpetrator who was dressed as a policeman , and have charged him for two terrorist attacks. Young people interviewed by VG describe an additional perpetrator – who was not wearing a police uniform. The person was following them around was 180 centimeters tall, had thick dark hair and a Nordic appearance. He had a pistol in his right hand and a rifle on his back. – I believe that there were two people who were shooting, says Alexander Stavdal (23)….
At the press conference Saturday morning opened the police said that "there could have been several perpetrators and emphasized that there is an ongoing investigation.”
The presence of a second shooter is of course most inconvenient for the lone assassin theory, since it represents incontrovertible evidence of a criminal conspiracy, the very thing which the media coverage is usually anxious to avoid. In the Norwegian case, the reports of a second shooter seemed to be persistent enough 36 hours after the main event so as to hold out some hope that the entire official version can be brought down on this particular.
Police Had Drilled Setting off Bombs in Same Area During 2010
Another telltale critical sign of a false flag operation is the holding of drills or exercises –allegedly for counterterrorism purposes — by the police or the military at the same time as the terror attack, or shortly before the real terror attack begins. Sometimes, the terror drills or exercises are scheduled to begin slightly after the time when the actual terror attack occurs. For large-scale terror actions, which the Norway attacks were, it is not uncommon for the drills to occur well in advance – 9/11, for example, was the result of capabilities which had been built up over a period of several years, as well as of future drills stretching well into 2002. In these cases, it is often discovered that the self-styled anti-terror drill or exercise contains a simulated action or event which strongly resembles the real world terror attack, the one which actually kills people.
The media will then refer to an astounding coincidence or a weird happenstance, but the reality is that the terror drill has been taken live or flipped live in the form of real killings. Once the drill has occurred, the capabilities, hardware, etc., which it has created can remain in place to be mobilized at the desired moment. The secret is that the legally sanctioned drill has been used to conduit or bootleg the actual butchery through a government bureaucracy whose resources are required to run the terror but in which there are many officials who cannot be allowed to know what is happening.
The Norway events provide a very clear illustration of this principle. In Oslo, a powerful bomb went off in or near the building which houses the office of the Prime Minister. Exactly as we would expect, special anti-terror police had been drilling setting off bombs in a nearby part of the Norwegian capital in advance, specifically during 2010. The public had not been informed in advance, but found out what was happening when they began hearing bombs in the opera house district, less than a kilometer away from the prime minister’s office which was attacked on Friday.
Here is a report from the newspaper Aftenposten:
“Armed police were seen in the area around the opera house in Oslo, and violent explosions could be heard over large parts of the city. No one knew that this was all a matter of practice. The Information Section of the Oslo police deeply regrets that the public was not made aware of the seemingly dramatic exercise….It was the emergency squad, the national police special unit against terrorism, which was conducting a drill in the cordoned off area at Bjørvika pier. According to a press release from the police, nearly a day after the exercise, the drill consisted of training in the controlled detonation of explosive charges….The exercise will continue for the rest of Wednesday night and a few more explosions are expected….The exercise followed a familiar pattern for all anti-terror forces around the world: The men lowered themselves down from the ceiling and into through the window that had just been blown out, while they fired hand their weapons.”
Peter Power of Visor Consultants told BBC Radio Five in the wake of the London subway bombings of July 7, 2005 that his firm had been conducting an exercise based on explosions going off in substantially the same stations of the London underground at the same times when the real explosions had actually occurred. The Norwegian events exhibit the same kind of strange coincidence.
A Motive: Norway Had Decided to Stop Bombing Libya August 1
The targets of the Norwegian terror attacks are all expressly political, including government offices and a summer youth camp of the ruling Labor Party, and thus point in the direction of politics. The government of Norway is currently a coalition composed of the Labor Party, the Socialist Left Party, and the Center Party. Norway has traditionally attempted to cultivate a pro-Arab foreign policy, as seen in its sponsorship of the Oslo peace accords between Israeli Prime Minister Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the mid-1990s. The current government has announced its intention of granting diplomatic recognition to a Palestinian state in the near future. When the destabilization of Libya began last February, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of the Labor Party warned Norway’s partners in the NATO alliance against getting involved.
But soon after this, Norway gave in to US pressure and agreed to participate in NATO’s bombing of Libya for an initial period of three months, sending six planes which have carried out an estimated 10% of all the bombing raids mounted by the Atlantic alliance. However, as the end of its three-month commitment had passed, Norway had reduced its contingent to four planes during the month of July, and had announced on June 10 that it was planning to withdraw altogether from the NATO bombing coalition no later than August 1.
The Norwegian decision to drop out of the NATO attack coalition was associated with a similar move by the Netherlands, which was announced on that same day of June 10. The Dutch had decided to maintain their contingent of six planes, but will no longer take part in bombing attacks on ground targets. Henceforth, the Dutch are willing only to help enforce the no-fly zone through air interdiction. There was therefore the potential that Norway’s example could trigger a general tendency by the smaller NATO states to quit the bombing coalition, in which their collective presence is highly significant.
Leading figures of the Norwegian government were among the first to undercut the supposed rationale for the NATO bombing, while urging negotiations: ‘”The solution to the problems in Libya are political, they cannot be solved by military means alone,” Norwegian Prime Minister Stoltenberg told reporters gathered for a conference in Oslo on May 13. “We are very much supporting all efforts to find a political solution to the challenges we are facing in Libya,” he added. Norway’s government …pledged to scale down its role in NATO-orchestrated air strikes on Libya after its current three-month commitment ends on June 24.
This was the policy of the entire Norwegian government: ‘Norway will scale down its fighter jet contribution in Libya from six to four planes and withdraw completely from the NATO-led operation by Aug. 1, the government said Friday…. Defense Minister Grete Faremo said she expects understanding from NATO allies because Norway has a small air force and cannot “maintain a large fighter jet contribution during a long time.” Norway’s air force, meanwhile says its F-16 jets have carried out about 10 percent of the NATO airstrikes in Libya since March 31. The parties in Norway’s center-left coalition government had been at odds over whether to extend the country’s participation, which was scheduled to expire June 24. The most leftist faction in the government, the Socialist Left Party, opposed an extension, but a compromise was reached to stay in the operation until Aug. 1 with fewer planes. “It is wise to end the Norwegian fighter jet contribution. Now Norway should apply its efforts to find a peaceful solution in Libya,” Socialist Left Party lawmaker Baard Vegar Solhjell said.’
State Department Complained of Norway’s “Lack of Commitment” to Libyan Adventure
The Norwegian decision to stop waging war against Libya, the first of its kind by any member of the Atlantic alliance, has attracted the attention of diplomatic observers, one of whom commented that the current government in Oslo has advocated “a distinctly more peaceful approach to global policies by the Norwegian government…. [despite] recent pressure from the US on Norway to contribute more in Libya military campaign.
Norway has been resisting that pressure and pushing for a more peaceful approach to the US-led NATO attacks on Libya and refused to provide weapons to NATO, finally announcing last month that Norway would quit its military role in Libya by August 1. In March, as the US was rallying unilateral support to invade Libya, Norway’s minister of foreign affairs Jonas Gahr Støre was one of the few nations to warn the US against armed intervention in Libya. Norway initially supplied six fighter jets for Libya operations and has carried out about 10% of the Libya strikes since 19 March. However, US officials singled out Norway and Denmark for their ‘lack of commitment’ to the mission to oust Gaddafi… Other Norway-Libya links include Norway’s major oil- and fertilizer-related interests in Libya: the Norwegian state-owned Statoil, which has about 30 employees at its Tripoli offices….[Norway’s] businesses have conducted major business operations in Libya, in co-operation with Qaddafi’s regime.”
At the present stage of the inquiry, the best estimate of a motive for the Norwegian attacks is to punish the country for its independent and pro-Arab foreign policy in general, and for its repudiation of the NATO bombing coalition arrayed against Libya in particular.
Are SIMAS Surveillance Detection Units the New Gladio for Norway?
US and NATO intelligence have been shown to possess extraordinary capabilities inside Norway, many of which may be operating outside of the control of the Norwegian government. In early November 2010, the Oslo television channel TV2 exposed the existence of an extensive network of paid assets and informants of US intelligence recruited from the ranks of retired police and other officials. The ostensible goal of this program was the surveillance of Norwegians who were taking part in demonstrations and other activities critical of the United States and its policies.
One of the Norwegians recruited was the former chief of the anti-terror section of the Oslo police. Although the goal was supposedly merely surveillance, it is possible to imagine some other and far more sinister activities that could be carried out by such a network of retired cops, including the identification and subversion of rotten apples on the active-duty police force. Some of the capabilities of a network of this type would not be totally alien to the sort of events that have just occurred in Norway.
The official name for the type of espionage cell which the United States was creating in Norway is Surveillance Detection Unit (SDU). The SDUs in turn operate within the framework of the Security Incident Management Analysis System (SIMAS). SIMAS is known to be used for spying and surveillance by US Embassies not just in the Nordic bloc of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, but worldwide. The terror events also raise the question of whether SIMAS has an operational dimension. Could this apparatus represents a modern version of the Cold War stay behind networks set up in all NATO countries and best-known under the name of the Italian branch, Gladio?
The Norwegian government needs to find out. Thus far Norwegian ministers have asserted that they never approved the SIMAS network of SDUs. “We never knew about it,” claimed Norway’s Justice Minister Knut Storberget and Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in chorus. Hillary Clinton stated instead that the Norwegians had been informed.
CIA’s Wikileaks Limited Hangout Has Rationale for Toppling Norway’s Government
Thanks to document dumps by the CIA limited hangout subsidiary generally known as Wikileaks, an obvious path for using the Norwegian terror attacks as a rationale for overthrowing the current government has already been provided. Real or doctored State Department cables obligingly made available by Wikileaks portray the Norwegian government which NATO hates as a collection of bunglers and misfits, unable to take effective measures to safeguard the national security of the country.
Some of these tables have been published in the immediate wake of the terror attacks by the London Daily Telegraph, a newspaper reputedly close to NATO intelligence circles. According to this article, while ‘talking about an attempt by the Police Security Service (PST) to track one particular suspected Al Qaeda terror cell, a cable written by the US Ambassador to Norway, Barry White, describes [how Norwegian authorities] … refused the help of the UK authorities to put surveillance on a potential suspect and adds: “Not only will they not put their own resources on him…but they also just turned down the visiting UK intel service’s offer of two twelve-person surveillance teams.”
The cable goes on to say the UK and US intelligence services analyzed coded conversation between terror suspects and decided it warranted surveillance. But, says the cable, “PST instead found a way to interpret the same translated coded conversation in a rosier, less threatening light, an interpretation which makes little sense to the US or UK.”’ A catalog of even the most recent failures and fiascos of the FBI and the CIA in the so-called Global War on Terror would help to put these hypocritical judgments into proper perspective, but it would also be too voluminous to be appended here.
Another damaging particular appears made to order for an attempt to blame the alleged bungling of the Norwegian government for the Oslo bomb attack: ‘The memo also reveals how, despite apparently having surveillance on the suspect, the PST lost track of bomb-making equipment which was being stored in an apartment after it was apparently removed without investigators’ noticing. The PST then failed to track one suspect for 14 days because the investigator assigned to him was called away on another job. The memo concludes: “The PST is in over its head…it simply cannot keep up.”’
Another State Department memo dished up by Wikileaks, supposedly written in 2007… adds: “The official police (PST) threat evaluation…states that international terror organizations are not a direct threat against Norway. A memo written in 2008 shows how the US felt that Norway was not awake to the possibility of a potential terrorist attack. The cable reads: “We repeatedly press Norwegian authorities to take terrorism seriously. We will seek to build on this momentum to fight the still-prevalent feeling that terrorism happens elsewhere, not in peaceful Norway.” And a cable written just last year adds: “The PST still viewed Denmark as more of a target than Norway, for reasons very specific to the cartoon controversy.”
The government of Norway needs to go on the offensive and establish the whole truth of what has just occurred. Otherwise, that government is likely to succumb to the internationally orchestrated campaign which the Wikileaks documents so clearly foreshadow.
NORWAY IN RETROSPECT
Norway: To be what it is not, honest to itself and to its people.
A Police force that dragged Norwegian Jews out of bed at 4AM, squeezed them into waiting taxies, and shipped them to Nazi extermination camps in Poland has no problem with taking the life of one, single individual! The German philosopher Karl Jaspers has formulated it this way, "If it has happened once, it can happen again!"
A silent coup d'état?
The day Anders Behring Breivik succeeded!Military guard the Parliament "Stortinget" on the day of
Anders Behring Breivik's vendetta.
The Police had no problems with establishing a complete stand-down to let one single man, Anders Behring Breivik take all the lives he possible wished for, without one single shot being fired to stop him, neither in Oslo nor on the Out Island (Utøya) Labor Party holiday camp for teenagers. Among several thousand police at work that day, not one was authorized to interfere. “Yes, we love this Country as it rises forth…”
In the years that followed, Norway's Police Force was upgraded with new BMW cars, surveillance helicopters, new clothing a complete new Emergency Center, and a massive appearance of police specially in the Capital Oslo. The Police State was firmly back!
The Norwegian is a good person. A kind person. And a person one can trust. This is why people who come to Norway enjoy being here. But somewhere in the collective psyche, and I am not sure at what time it happened, the Norwegian had to make an existential choice; take upon himself the role of the meek underdog who need the reassuring support of a stronger dog, or to adhere to real patriotism who is strong enough to stand on one’s own two feet. Reliable enough to be trusted by others and honest enough not to exploit the generosity of the United States of America.
We all want to sell something. Weather it is 54 F-35 fighter jets, services, oil, and gas, or in some cases us. It has been indicated by some that Norway has become the 51st state of the United States, and with good reason. When the Norwegian sing, “Yes, we love this Country as it rises forth,” it is pertinent to ask, which country is he then referring to? The country, which is the Beacon of the Free World, the United States of America, or a tiny, barren strip of land at the outermost edge of Europe which is trying hard to be what it is not, honest to itself and to its people?
The culture of deception: Where scared cockroaches are running around on slippery walls in deep canyons.
By Harald Dahle-Sladek
An ugly furrow runs through the landscape. It's deep, it's wide and it's ugly. It stands out from the rest of the landscape. This is the landscape of betrayal. This is the landscape of the Power. A small person can go down there and get lost and be lost. I saw such a landscape in my life. It extended from the Ministry of Justice into the church; among men; in people's homes; on people's phones.
You are only a democratic citizen as long as the State wants you to be. If it finds out you're not supposed to be then you can become a cockroach running around the walls of this big and deep canyon, afraid of being beaten to death. Because the fist of power hangs over this cockroach. And it knows and recognizes this shadow coming from this fist far up there somewhere.
The culture of deception, that is what much of democratic society consists of. Fraud! And when some wise heads with their attention intact realize that here there are not flowers and green meadows, but deep canyons and scared cockroaches, then the Power will come after you. Then it's time to hide down in the dark caves where the Power can't reach you. For even power has its limitation; it thinks it can do everything, but that is just a delusion.
I am sitting outside the church in the small coastal town of Guardamar del Segura in the province of Valencia in Spain. It is Saturday, September 3, 2022. I am sitting in the shade overlooking the library on the other side of the narrow street here. I'm sitting in the shade and it's hot and it's six thirty in the afternoon. I had walked from my residence down by the sea up here, a quick walk of fifteen minutes.
Kafka's novels are nothing against this here. This is very concrete. It cannot be more concrete than what I have experienced. I have even touched the backbone of democratic society.
They tell us it is something else; they tell us it is the King and the Queen and the Crown Prince and Parliament and the Supreme Court and the Legislature. But it is not! It's a soft part that does what it wants.
They kill! Killing people! Ruining people's lives. (Found out I didn't like cell phones and they created a cell phone hell.) This is sixteen times worse than Nazism. This is an ongoing part of the democratic structure; lawlessness is their first name, death and destruction is their last name.
For these people laws do not exist! Not human rights. Nothing! Only soft spine. This is the realm of fraud. The kingdom of lawlessness. This is the culture of fraud above all else. Protected by trillions of money this machinery is kept going.
Today, people are pumped full in their heads by a lie called "climate change." Anyone who can think knows that it is not the climate problems that is the problem but the form of government in the fraud culture. That keeps it all going. That's where it begins. The fraud begins from within! It doesn't start from the outside. The betrayal comes from within, from the soft spine. From those who think they can do everything and understand everything and know everything and have money for everything. And kill whoever they want. From there comes the tragedy.
It does not come from the melting snow and the rising seas; it is a consequence. It is a consequence of the culture of fraud that permeates society so completely that people do not see it. They only see the effect of the fraud and call it "climate change". While the fraud itself has taken place and continues all the time.
So, what is the scam? It is a failure of character and a failure of attitude. It is easier to fall down on the wrong side and play with the devil than to stand upright and admit that there is a God. And it is written that there will be unbearable conditions on earth, and if those days were not shortened, no human will survive. So, here we have the answer.
Is this being reported on the news every night? No! Why not? Because the news machinery is subject to the culture of deception and will therefore continue to promote “climate changes” instead of revealing deception.
Warning Lamps are Flashing!
By Harald dahle-Sladek
And now. Warnings lamps are flashing, as nuclear powered nations seek to preserve an imagined threshold over an even more imaginary enemy. The people who brought us complete shame in Afghanistan are the very same people who now have control over the keys to the depots in Europe that store B61-12 thermo nuclear gravity bombs. The collapse of Western logic in Afghanistan and Ukraine is the fuse which can bury human dignity!
Monuments Carved in Granite on Barren Fields.
By Harald Dahle-Sladek
When one talks about Life, it is pertinent to ask, what life does one mean? The entire life, or just selected parts of it? The parts that we like and prefer and leave the rest not to be mentioned? The person who says she “loves me”, but ignore everything that I have achieved after I came out of the hospital?
The people who will walk a mile with me, but say “no thank you” to carry my burden and walk another mile? The ones who never invited me for a cup of tea, but proclaim seriously that I am a “friend”? The ones who admire their own achievements highly, but never had time to visit me once? What life are they adhering to? The one in parts, or the one in totality?
A warning sign for our time.
I want to be seen in totality; I do not want that my life be selectively butchered and twisted into something it is not. My articles are monuments in stone in a barren landscape devoid of humanism. They are there to warn and to encourage, but not to be neglected.
In today’s vain world, where it has become so increasingly popular to talk IN a mobile phone, instead of empathizing WITH and showing human DIGNITY; where one is accustomed to appreciating media hype, political lies, lack of responsibilities leading to mass starvations and mass death; in such a world and coldness between people, the abnormal has become the trend, and sadly this is what we adhere to.
In such an inter human setting, the message is clear, why bother to respect the other person right in front of ourselves. It is so much easier to babble because the spoken word carries no longer any commitment, it is free, it does not cost anything to say this or the other. Life is easy when one is free not to engage in another person’s life-and-death experiences, when it is so much more convenient to look at a movie.
People who ignore monuments carved out in granite on barren fields are confirming themselves to the believes of death and destruction. We who write and warn have the humanistic right to say this. It is our task in life. Not to be kind to death and destruction, but to admire and encourage Life. We expect the same from others as we expect from ourselves. And if “the other” fail, we must go forward alone, and warn. That is our destiny.
|
Airbus Agrees to Pay over $3.9 Billion in Global Penalties to Resolve Foreign Bribery and ITAR Case
Airbus SE (Airbus or the Company), a global provider of civilian and military aircraft based in France, has agreed to pay combined penalties of more than $3.9 billion to resolve foreign bribery charges with authorities in the United States, France and the United Kingdom arising out of the Company’s scheme to use third-party business partners to bribe government officials, as well as non-governmental airline executives, around the world and to resolve the Company’s violation of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), in the United States. This is the largest global foreign bribery resolution to date.
Airbus entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the department in connection with a criminal information filed on Jan. 28, 2020 in the District of Columbia charging the Company with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and conspiracy to violate the AECA and its implementing regulations, the ITAR. The FCPA charge arose out of Airbus’s scheme to offer and pay bribes to foreign officials, including Chinese officials, in order to obtain and retain business, including contracts to sell aircraft. The AECA charge stems from Airbus’s willful failure to disclose political contributions, commissions or fees to the U.S. government, as required under the ITAR, in connection with the sale or export of defense articles and defense services to the Armed Forces of a foreign country or international organization. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan of the District of Columbia.
“Airbus engaged in a multi-year and massive scheme to corruptly enhance its business interests by paying bribes in China and other countries and concealing those bribes,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This coordinated resolution was possible thanks to the dedicated efforts of our foreign partners at the Serious Fraud Office in the United Kingdom and the PNF in France. The Department will continue to work aggressively with our partners across the globe to root out corruption, particularly corruption that harms American interests.”
“International corruption involving sensitive U.S. defense technology presents a particularly dangerous combination. Today’s announce-ment demonstrates the Department’s continuing commitment to ensuring that those who violate our export control laws are held to account,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD).
"The resolution, however, also reflects the significant benefits available under NSD’s revised voluntary self-disclosure policy for companies that choose to self-report export violations, cooperate, and remediate as to those violations, even where there are aggravating circumstances. We hope other companies will make the same decision as Airbus to report potential criminal export violations timely and directly to NSD so that they too can avail themselves of the policy’s benefits.”
“Today, Airbus has admitted to a years-long campaign of corruption around the world, said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District of Columbia. “Through bribes, Airbus allowed rampant corruption to invade the U.S. system. Additionally, Airbus falsely reported information about their conduct to the U.S. government for more than five years in order to gain valuable licenses to export U.S. military technology. This case exemplifies the ability of our prosecutors and law enforcement to work with our foreign counterparts to ensure that corruption around the world is prevented and punished at the highest levels.”
“Airbus SE, the second largest Aerospace company world-wide, engaged in a systematic and deliberate conspiracy, that knowingly and willfully violated U.S. fraud and export laws,” said Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York.
“Airbus’s fraud and bribery in commercial aircraft transactions strengthened corrupt airlines and bad actors worldwide, at the expense of straightforward enterprises. Additionally, the bribery of government officials, specifically those involved in the procurement of U.S. military technology, posed a national security threat to both the U.S. and its allies. The global threats facing the U.S. have never been greater than they are today, and HSI New York is committed to working with our federal and international partners to assure sensitive U.S. technologies are not unlawfully and fraudulently acquired. As this investigation reflects, national security continues to be a top priority not just for Department of Homeland Security, but for HSI New York.”
The Company’s payment to the United States will be $527 million for the FCPA and ITAR violations, and an additional 50 million Euros (approximately $55 million) as part of a civil forfeiture agreement for the ITAR-related conduct, and the department will credit a portion of the amount the Company pays to the Parquet National Financier (PNF) in France under the Company’s agreement with the PNF. In addition, the Company has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty to the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), of which the department is crediting $5 million.
In related proceedings, the Company settled with the PNF in France over bribes paid to government officials and non-governmental airline executives in China and multiple other countries and the Company has agreed to pay more than 2 billion Euros (more than approximately $2.29 billion) pursuant to the PNF agreement.
As part of this coordinated global resolution, the Company also entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) over bribes paid in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Indonesia and Ghana, and the Company has agreed to pay approximately 990 million Euros equivalent (approximately $1.09 billion) pursuant to the SFO agreement. The PNF and SFO had investigated the Company as part of a Joint Investigative Team.
According to admissions and court documents, beginning in at least 2008 and continuing until at least 2015, Airbus engaged in and facilitated a scheme to offer and pay bribes to decision makers and other influencers, including to foreign officials, in order to obtain improper business advantages and to win business from both privately owned enterprises and entities that were state-owned and state-controlled. In furtherance of the corrupt bribery scheme, Airbus employees and agents, among other things, sent emails while located in the United States and participated in and provided luxury travel to foreign officials within the United States.
The admissions and court documents establish that in order to conceal and to facilitate the bribery scheme, Airbus engaged certain business partners, in part, to assist in the bribery scheme. Between approximately 2013 and 2015, Airbus engaged a business partner in China and knowingly and willfully conspired to make payments to the business partner that were intended to be used as bribes to government officials in China in connection with the approval of certain agreements in China associated with the purchase and sale of Airbus aircraft to state-owned and state-controlled airlines in China. In order to conceal the payments and to conceal its engagement of the business partner in China, Airbus did not pay the business partner directly but instead made payments to a bank account in Hong Kong in the name of a company controlled by another business partner.
Pursuant to the AECA and ITAR, the DDTC regulates the export and import of U.S. defense articles and defense services and prohibits their export overseas without the requisite licensing and approval of the DDTC. According to admissions and court documents, between December 2011 and December 2016, Airbus filed numerous applications for the export of defense articles and defense services to foreign armed forces. As part of its applications, Airbus was required under Part 130 of the ITAR to provide certain information related to political contributions, fees or commissions paid in connection with the sale of defense articles or defense services. The admissions and court documents reveal, however, that the Company engaged in a criminal conspiracy to knowingly and willfully violate the AECA and ITAR, by failing to provide DDTC with accurate information related to commissions paid by Airbus to third-party brokers who were hired to solicit, promote or otherwise secure the sale of defense articles and defense services to foreign armed forces.
As part of the deferred prosecution agreement with the department, Airbus has agreed to continue to cooperate with the department in any ongoing investigations and prosecutions relating to the conduct, including of individuals, and to enhance its compliance program.
For the FCPA-related conduct, the department reached this resolution with Airbus based on a number of factors, including the Company’s cooperation and remediation. In addition, for the FCPA-related conduct, the U.S. resolution recognizes the strength of France’s and the United Kingdom’s interests over the Company’s corruption-related conduct, as well as the compelling equities of France and the United Kingdom to vindicate their respective interests as those countries deem appropriate, and the department has taken into account these countries’ determination of the appropriate resolution into all aspects of the U.S. resolution.
With respect to the AECA and ITAR-related conduct, the department reached this resolution with Airbus based on the voluntary and timely nature of its disclosure to the department as well as the Company’s cooperation and remediation.
HSI’s New York Field Office Counter Proliferation Investigations Group is investigating the case. Deputy Chief Christopher Cestaro, Assistant Chief Vanessa Sisti and Trial Attorney Elina A. Rubin Smith of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, Deputy Chief Elizabeth L. D. Cannon and Trial Attorney David Lim of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Zamarin, Gregg Maisel, David Kent and Karen Seifert of the District of Columbia are prosecuting the case. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided assistance.
The Department of Justice acknowledges and expresses its appreciation of the significant assistance provided by France’s Parquet National Financier and the UK’s Serious Fraud Office.
The Justice Department extends its gratitude to the government of Antigua for its cooperation and assistance.
Last Defendant in Stanford Investment Fraud Scheme Extradited to U.S.
The former chief of Antigua’s Financial Services Regulatory Commission has been extradited from Antigua to face charges for his alleged role in connection with the Stanford International Bank (SIB) $7 billion investment fraud scheme.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick of the Southern District of Texas made the announcement.
Leroy King, 74, of Dickerson Bay, Antigua, is the last remaining defendant in the SIB Ponzi scheme. He has been a fugitive since 2009. King appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo in Houston, Texas, today.
King was charged in June 2009 along with R. Allen Stanford, of Houston, and others. The indictment charges King with one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud; seven counts of wire fraud, 10 counts of mail fraud, one counts each of conspiracy to obstruct and obstruction of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation; and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The indictment alleges King accepted more than $100,000 in bribes from Stanford in exchange for ignoring the actual value of SIB’s assets. He also allegedly assisted Stanford and others in obstructing the SEC’s investigation into the bank.
A federal jury found Stanford guilty in June 2012 for his role in orchestrating a 20-year investment fraud scheme in which he misappropriated $7 billion from SIB to finance his personal businesses. He is serving a 110-year prison sentence. Five others were also convicted for their roles in the scheme and received sentences ranging from three to 20 years in federal prison.
The FBI’s Houston Field Office, IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case. Trial Attorney Brittain Shaw of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney and John Pearson of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance with the preparation of the extradition request and in support of Antigua’s domestic litigation. The FBI Legal Attaché’s Office in Barbados and the U.S. Marshals Service in Houston coordinated King’s extradition.
U.S. Law Enforcement Takes Action Against Approximately 2,300 Money Mules In Global Crackdown On Money Laundering.
Department of Justice and Partner Agencies Stop the Flow of Fraud Proceeds
The U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and six other federal law enforcement agencies announced the completion of the third annual Money Mule Initiative, a coordinated operation to disrupt the networks through which transnational fraudsters move the proceeds of their crimes. Money mules are individuals who assist fraudsters by receiving money from victims of fraud and forwarding it to the fraud organizers, many of whom are located abroad. Some money mules know they are assisting fraudsters, but others are unaware that their actions enable fraudsters’ efforts to swindle money from consumers, businesses, and government unemployment funds. Europol announced a simultaneous effort, the European Money Mule Action (EMMA) today.
Over the last two months, U.S. law enforcement agencies took action against over 2,300 money mules, far surpassing last year’s effort, which acted against over 600 money mules. This year, actions occurred in every state in the country. The initiative announced today targeted money mules involved in a wide range of schemes including lottery fraud, romance scams, government imposter fraud, technical support fraud, business email compromise or CEO fraud, and unemployment insurance fraud. Many of these schemes target elderly or vulnerable members of society.
“Money mules fuel fraud against some of America’s most vulnerable populations. Without the help of these money mules, many foreign fraud enterprises find it difficult to profit off of U.S. victims,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “As this initiative demonstrates, the Department of Justice is committed to disrupting money mule networks, taking actions against more money mules this year than ever before, in an effort to cut off the flow of funds from American consumers and businesses to transnational criminal organizations.”
Eight federal law enforcement agencies participated in this year’s effort. Led by the Department of Justice’s Consumer Protection Branch, the FBI, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the participating agencies include the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, U.S. Secret Service, and U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Some highlights from this year’s efforts are:
Additionally, more than 35 individuals were criminally charged or arrested for their roles in receiving victim payments and forwarding the fraud proceeds to accomplices or laundering fraud proceeds. Cases include:
Additional criminal charges were brought by U.S. Attorney’s Offices in Southern District of Florida, Western District of Pennsylvania, Western District of North Carolina, Southern District of Texas, the Southern District of Mississippi, and the District of New Jersey.
Justice Department Announces Additional Distribution of More than $378 Million to Victims of Madoff Ponzi Scheme
At the start of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the Department of Justice today announced that on April 20, the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) began its fifth distribution of approximately $378.5 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. Government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) fraud scheme, bringing the total distributed to over $2.7 billion to nearly 38,000 victims worldwide.
In this distribution, payments will be sent to over 26,000 victims across the globe, bringing their total recovery to 73.65 percent. This distribution represents the fifth in a series of payments that will eventually return over $4 billion to victims as compensation for losses they suffered from the collapse of the BLMIS. The MVF has received over 65,000 petitions from victims in 136 countries.
“It is entirely fitting during this Crime Victims’ Rights Week that the department is able to make the latest distribution from the Madoff Victims Fund,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “With the $378 million distributed today, the department has now returned $2.7 billion to Madoff’s victims, allowing them to recover almost 74 percent of their losses. All of this has been made possible by the department’s steadfast commitment to the pursuit of the proceeds of fraud through civil forfeiture.”
“This office continues its efforts to seek justice for victims of history’s largest Ponzi scheme. Today’s additional payments of more than $378 million by this office and the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section represents the fifth in an on-going series of distributions that will leave victims with compensation for more than 73 percent of their losses,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York. “But our work is not yet finished, and this extraordinary level of recovery represents this Office’s ongoing and tireless commitment to compensating the victims who suffered as a result of Madoff’s heinous crimes.”
For decades, Bernard L. Madoff used his position as Chairman of BLMIS, the investment advisory business he founded in 1960, to steal billions from his clients. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, benefitting himself, his family and select members of his inner circle. On June 29, 2009, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to serve 150 years in prison for running the largest fraudulent scheme in history.
Of the approximately $4.05 billion that will be made available to victims, approximately $2.2 billion was collected as part of the historic civil forfeiture recovery from the estate of deceased Madoff investor Jeffry Picower. An additional $1.7 billion was collected as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. and civilly forfeited in a parallel action. The remaining funds were collected through a civil forfeiture action against investor Carl Shapiro and his family, and from civil and criminal forfeiture actions against Bernard L. Madoff, Peter B. Madoff and their co-conspirators.
Justice Department Announces Additional Distribution of more than $488 Million to Victims of Madoff Ponzi Scheme
The Department of Justice announced today that the Madoff Victim Fund (MVF) began its sixth distribution of approximately $488 million in funds forfeited to the U.S. Government in connection with the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (BLMIS) fraud scheme, bringing the total distributed to almost $3.2 billion to nearly 37,000 victims worldwide.
In this distribution, payments will be sent to over 30,000 victims across the globe, bringing their total recovery to 80.05 percent. This distribution represents the sixth in a series of payments that will eventually return over $4 billion to victims as compensation for losses they suffered from the collapse of the BLMIS. The MVF has received over 65,000 petitions from victims in 136 countries.
“With the $488 million distributed today, the department has now returned almost $3.2 billion to Madoff’s victims, allowing them to recover more than 80 percent of what they lost,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This exceptional work – and there is more to come – has been made possible by the department’s steadfast commitment to the pursuit of the proceeds of fraud through civil forfeiture.”
“This office continues its efforts to seek justice for victims of history’s largest Ponzi scheme,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss of the Southern District of New York. “Today’s additional payments of more than $488 million by this office and the U.S. Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section represent the sixth in a series of distributions that will leave victims with compensation for more than 80 percent of their losses. That is an extraordinary level of recovery for a Ponzi scheme – but our work is not yet finished, and the office’s tireless commitment to compensating the victims who suffered as a result of Madoff’s heinous crimes continues.”
For decades, Bernard L. Madoff used his position as chairman of BLMIS, the investment advisory business he founded in 1960, to steal billions from his clients. On March 12, 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies, admitting that he had turned his wealth management business into the world’s largest Ponzi scheme, benefitting himself, his family and select members of his inner circle.
On June 29, 2009, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin sentenced Madoff to serve 150 years in prison for running the largest fraudulent scheme in history. Of the approximately $4.05 billion that will be made available to victims, approximately $2.2 billion was collected as part of the historic civil forfeiture recovery from the estate of deceased Madoff investor Jeffry Picower. An additional $1.7 billion was collected as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. and civilly forfeited in a parallel action. The remaining funds were collected through a civil forfeiture action against investor Carl Shapiro and his family, and from civil and criminal forfeiture actions against Bernard L. Madoff, Peter B. Madoff and their co-conspirators.
WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment. New Allegations Assert Assange Conspired With “Anonymous” Affiliated Hackers, Among Others.
A federal grand jury returned a second superseding indictment today charging Julian P. Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, with offenses that relate to Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.
The new indictment does not add additional counts to the prior 18-count superseding indictment returned against Assange in May 2019. It does, however, broaden the scope of the conspiracy surrounding alleged computer intrusions with which Assange was previously charged. According to the charging document, Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to commit computer intrusions to benefit WikiLeaks.
Since the early days of WikiLeaks, Assange has spoken at hacking conferences to tout his own history as a “famous teenage hacker in Australia” and to encourage others to hack to obtain information for WikiLeaks. In 2009, for instance, Assange told the Hacking At Random conference that WikiLeaks had obtained nonpublic documents from the Congressional Research Service by exploiting “a small vulnerability” inside the document distribution system of the United States Congress, and then asserted that “[t]his is what any one of you would find if you were actually looking.”
In 2010, Assange gained unauthorized access to a government computer system of a NATO country. In 2012, Assange communicated directly with a leader of the hacking group LulzSec (who by then was cooperating with the FBI), and provided a list of targets for LulzSec to hack. With respect to one target, Assange asked the LulzSec leader to look for (and provide to WikiLeaks) mail and documents, databases and pdfs. In another communication, Assange told the LulzSec leader that the most impactful release of hacked materials would be from the CIA, NSA, or the New York Times. WikiLeaks obtained and published emails from a data breach committed against an American intelligence consulting company by an “Anonymous” and LulzSec-affiliated hacker. According to that hacker, Assange indirectly asked him to spam that victim company again.
In addition, the broadened hacking conspiracy continues to allege that Assange conspired with Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password hash to a classified U.S. Department of Defense computer.
An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Assange is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count except for conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, for which he faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and James A. Dawson, Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office, made the announcement. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Doherty-McCormick, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kellen S. Dwyer, Thomas W. Traxler, Alexander P. Berrang, and Gordon D. Kromberg, and Trial Attorneys Adam L. Small and Nicholas O. Hunter of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case.
Assange is currently detained in the United Kingdom on an extradition request from the United States. Assange’s extradition to the United States is being handled by the Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs and UK authorities, including the Home Office and the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales.
Former Senior Alstom Executive Sentenced to Prison for Role in Money Laundering Scheme to Promote Foreign Bribery
A former senior executive with Alstom S.A. (Alstom), a French power and transportation company, was sentenced in federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, to 15 months in prison today for his role in a multi-year, multimillion-dollar money laundering scheme designed to promote violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney John H. Durham of the District of Connecticut and Assistant Director in Charge Paul D. Delacout of the FBI’s Los Angeles Office made the announcement.
Lawrence Hoskins, 69, was sentenced on charges of conspiracy and money laundering, following his conviction in November 2019, after a one-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton, who imposed today’s sentence. In addition to his prison term, Hoskins was fined $30,000.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Hoskins was a senior vice president for Alstom’s International Network, who engaged in a conspiracy to promote the payment of bribes to officials in Indonesia in exchange for assistance in securing a $118 million contract, known as the Tarahan project, for Alstom Power Inc. of Connecticut and its consortium partner, Marubeni Corporation, to provide power-related services for the citizens of Indonesia. The officials in Indonesia included a high-ranking member of the Indonesian Parliament and the President of Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), the state-owned and state-controlled electricity company in Indonesia. To conceal the bribes, Hoskins and his co-conspirators retained two consultants purportedly to provide legitimate consulting services on behalf of Alstom Power Inc., in connection with the Tarahan project. The primary purpose of hiring the consultants was to conceal the bribes to Indonesian officials, the evidence showed.
The first consultant retained by Hoskins and other members of the conspiracy received hundreds of thousands of dollars in his Maryland bank account to be used to bribe the member of Parliament, the evidence showed. The consultant then transferred the bribe money to a bank account in Indonesia for the benefit of the official. According to emails admitted at trial, Hoskins and other co-conspirators discussed in detail the use of the first consultant to funnel bribes to the member of Parliament and the influence that the member of Parliament could exert over the Tarahan project, including referring to him as a “cashier.”
The trial evidence further showed that, in the fall of 2003, Hoskins and his co-conspirators determined that the first consultant was not effectively bribing key officials at PLN, who expressed concerns that the first consultant was just going to give them “pocket money” and “disappear” after Alstom Power Inc. won the project. As a result, the co-conspirators retained a second consultant to more effectively bribe PLN officials. Evidence revealed that Hoskins and his co-conspirators pressed Alstom Power Inc. to front-load the second consultant’s terms of payment in order to “get the right influence” due to upcoming elections. Hoskins and his co-conspirators were successful in securing the Tarahan project and subsequently made payments to the consultants for the purpose of bribing the Indonesian officials.
The FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office is investigating the case with assistance from the FBI’s Meriden, Connecticut, Resident Agency. The department appreciates the significant cooperation provided by its law enforcement colleagues in Indonesia, Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General and the United Kingdom, as well as authorities in France, Germany, Italy, Singapore and Taiwan.
American Man Charged with Exploiting Children in Laos
An American citizen was arrested and charged yesterday in connection with exploiting teenage boys in Laos. Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling for the District of Massachusetts and Special Agent in Charge Joseph R. Bonavolonta of the FBI’s Boston Field Division made the announcement.
Michael Sebastian, 52, was charged by criminal complaint with engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places and sex trafficking of children. Sebastian was arrested yesterday in Lynn, Massachusetts, where he has been living with his mother. Following an initial appearance in federal court in Boston today, Sebastian was detained pending a detention and probable cause hearing scheduled for July 13, 2020.
According to the charging documents, Sebastian has been living in Laos, where he teaches English to Laotian youth. During at least the past two years, Sebastian provided housing to at least three boys, aged 13 through 18, to whom he taught English. In lieu of paying rent to live with him, Sebastian allegedly allowed the boys to pay off their rent by performing chores. According to allegations in the complaint, these chores included giving Sebastian massages – which, in turn, included masturbating Sebastian.
The charges in the complaint are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. Trial Attorney Leslie Fisher with the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti for the District of Massachusetts are prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Attorney General Merrick Garland Addresses the 115,000 Employees of the Department of Justice on His First Day in Office
Former Acting U.S. Attorney General Monty Wilkinson’s Remarks
Good morning.
It's my honor to welcome Merrick Garland back to the Department of Justice as the 86th Attorney General of the United States. I'd also like to recognize the Attorney General's wife Lynn, his brother-in-law Mitchell and his nieces Laura and Andrea. In many respects, this is a welcome home ceremony for the Attorney General. Before his appointment to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, he served with distinction in a number of positions here at Main Justice and as an Assistant U. S. Attorney in the District of Columbia.
I first met the Attorney General approximately 25 years ago when he was the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General. I have always admired his intellect, his integrity, his commitment to public service and his humility. He recognizes the traditions of the Department and trusts and respects its career civil servants. He sees his role as being the lawyer for the people of the United States and making decisions that are based on the law and the facts devoid of political considerations. During his confirmation hearing a few weeks ago, Attorney General Garland said: “It is a fitting time to reaffirm that the role of the Attorney General is to serve the rule of law and to ensure equal justice under the law.” As he further noted, this is a moment too, for recognizing “[the] employees of the Department and its law enforcement agencies, and their commitment to serve the cause of justice and protect the safety of our communities.”
This is an important period in the history of our venerated institution, and we are grateful to you Mr. Attorney General, for your willingness once again to answer the call to duty. We look forward to continuing to serve in the Department of Justice under your leadership.
Thank you very much.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s Remarks
Thank you so much for those kind words, Monty.
As Monty said, we first met when I was working for the Deputy Attorney General. Monty was an Assistant U.S. Attorney. Initially a prosecutor and then a supervisor of prosecutors, Monty later jumped to the Department’s offices that make everything work. First to the Executive Office for U. S. Attorneys and then to the Justice Management Division. And for the past seven weeks, Monty has ensured that the Department continued to work and to honor its proud traditions during the leadership transition between new administrations. I am deeply grateful.
On January 7th of this year, when the President Elect announced his intention to nominate me for Attorney General, I spoke to the American people. On February 22nd, when my Senate Judiciary Committee hearing began, I spoke to the United States Congress. Today, I want to speak to you, the more than 115,000 employees of the United States Department of Justice. Now I had hoped to be standing before more of you today in this Great Hall, but the circumstances of the ongoing pandemic will not permit it. That, however, is a small disappointment compared to the hardships that many of you have suffered and the additional burdens you have borne as a consequence of the pandemic.
I have to tell you that when I walked in the door of Main Justice this morning, it really did feel like I was coming home. I first walked into this building when I was 26 years old. I was here for a job interview and I was awestruck. This is a beautiful hall and this is a beautiful building built in the midst of the Great Depression. But, it was the ideal of justice to which it is a monument that was truly awe inspiring. Everywhere I looked there were serious people pursuing the cause of Justice. I left the interview wanting the job badly. The way I'm sure each of you felt after your DOJ interview. The way we want everyone who interviews at DOJ to feel. I know that was how I felt every time I came back to interview for another Justice Department position and after leaving my first position for private practice, I did come back many times to serve in a variety of positions both career and non-career. Along the way, I worked with DOJ attorneys, agents and staff in every component of the Department and across the width and breadth of this country. Altogether, I served under five Attorneys General appointed by four Presidents. I know that some of you have notched up plenty more.
The Department of Justice has also been a large part of the lives of people who are close to me. My younger sister followed me to DOJ where she served as a career attorney in the Civil Division. More than 35 of my former law clerks went on to serve at the Justice Department in both career and non-career positions. Many of my closest friends are veterans of the Department with both career and non-career service. For all of you and for me, public service is more than a job. It is a calling.
All of you have chosen the Department of Justice over other places where you might have used your skills and where you might have earned a higher salary. I am grateful beyond words for your service to this country. All of us are united by our commitment to the rule of law and to seeking equal justice under law. We are united by our commitment to protecting our country as our oath says, “from all enemies foreign and domestic,” and by our commitment to enforcing our country's laws and to ensuring the civil rights and the civil liberties of our people. The only way we can succeed and retain the trust of the American people is to adhere to the norms that have become part of the DNA of every Justice Department employee since Edward Levy’s stint as the first post-Watergate Attorney General.
As I said at the announcement of my nomination, those norms require that like cases be treated alike. That there not be one rule for Democrats and another for Republicans; One rule for friends and another for foes; One rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; One rule for the rich and another for the poor; Or different rules depending upon one's race or ethnicity. At his swearing in, Attorney General Levy said: “If we are to have a government of laws and not of men, then it takes dedicated men and women to accomplish this through their zeal and determination, and also through fairness and impartiality.
And I know that this Department always has had such dedicated men and women.” I, too, know that this Department has and always has had such dedicated people. I am honored to work with you once again. Together, we will show the American people by word and deed that the Department of Justice pursues equal justice and adheres to the rule of law.
Thank you.
Bank Julius Baer Agrees to Pay More than $79 Million for Laundering Money in FIFA Scandal
Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd. (BJB or the Bank), a Swiss bank with international operations, has admitted today in federal court in Brooklyn that it conspired to launder over $36 million in bribes through the United States to soccer officials with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and other soccer federations, in furtherance of a scheme in which sports marketing companies bribed soccer officials in exchange for broadcasting rights to soccer matches.
The proceeding was held before U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen.
The Bank made these admissions and entered into a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the department in connection with a criminal information filed today in the Eastern District of New York charging the Bank with conspiring to commit money laundering. As part of this agreement, the Bank has agreed to pay more than $79 million in penalties (including a fine of $43,320,000 and forfeiture of $36,368,400) to resolve the investigation into its involvement in a money laundering conspiracy that fueled this international soccer bribery scheme.
Jorge Luis Arzuaga, a former BJB relationship manager who worked in the Bank’s Montevideo, Uruguay, and Zurich, Switzerland, offices pleaded guilty in June 2017 for his role in this conspiracy and was sentenced in November 2020. That case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela K. Chen of the Eastern District of New York, as is this case.
“Today’s resolution sends a strong message to all banks and other financial institutions that if they knowingly misuse our financial system to hide their clients’ criminal proceeds or to promote a corrupt scheme, they will be held to account,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “From the time of the first FIFA-related indictment, the department has promised to hold accountable the financial institutions involved in this global criminal scheme. We are delivering on that promise.”
“BJB and its employees facilitated bribes and its compliance department turned a blind eye to glaring red flags of money laundering,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Mark J. Lesko for the Eastern District of New York. “This office will hold accountable those corporations or individuals that use the American banking system for corrupt ends. As today’s resolution makes clear, financial institutions that become complicit in their clients’ efforts to launder illicit funds face significant penalties.”
“Bank Julius Baer pursued the profit it could make laundering corrupt funds derived from a criminal scheme run by powerful FIFA officials,” said Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI’s New York Field Office. “Their behavior has earned them the equivalent of a red card, and the money the bank now owes the U.S. government is more than double what it admits to laundering. The FBI operates globally with our international partners, and our message to those who may be looking to profit from similar schemes – the penalties for this type of play are steep. Stay within the rules.”
“Bank Julius Baer aided corrupt FIFA officials in laundering over $36 million,” said Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Korner of the IRS-Criminal Investigation. “Banking officials that are a conduit for criminal activity undermine their own profession and the health of our financial system. The Bank's admissions show that IRS-Criminal Investigation will relentlessly pursue corruption across borders, including financial institutions that facilitate or conceal criminal activity. This should put other banks on notice that aiding in corruption will cost you millions.”
According to admissions in the publicly-filed statement of facts, from approximately February 2013 to May 2015, BJB, through Arzuaga, conspired with sports marketing executives — including Alejandro Burzaco, the controlling executive of Torneos y Competencias S.A. (Torneos), a sports media and marketing company headquartered in Argentina — to launder through the United States at least $36 million in bribes to soccer officials in exchange for broadcasting rights to soccer matches. BJB conspired to execute these illegal transactions through accounts at the Bank to conceal the true nature of the payments and promote the fraud. Burzaco pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and other offenses in November 2015 in connection with his involvement in paying bribes to soccer officials.
For example, Burzaco and co-conspirators agreed to pay approximately $30 million to the senior vice president of FIFA, who was also the president of the Asociación del Fútbol Argentina, for his support in the award of regional broadcasting rights to the 2018, 2022, 2026 and 2030 editions of the World Cup. As part of the conspiracy, BJB, through Arzuaga, transferred approximately $25 million of this money into a sub-account at the Bank and held it there for this senior FIFA official.
Torneos and its co-conspirators also agreed to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to several officials of the Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol (CONMEBOL) — all of whom were also FIFA officials — for the rights to the Copa América tournament (including the 2015, 2019 and 2023 editions of the tournament and the 2016 Copa América Centenario, a commemorative centennial edition of the tournament played at stadiums across the United States). The officials who were to receive bribes included, among others, Eugenio Figueredo, a member of FIFA’s executive committee and former president of both CONMEBOL and the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol, the Uruguayan soccer federation; Marco Polo Del Nero, another member of FIFA’s executive committee and a former president of the Confederação Brasileira de Futebol (CBF), the Brazilian soccer federation; and José Maria Marin, a member of multiple FIFA standing committees and another former president of the CBF.
Burzaco and Torneos also paid bribes through BJB to numerous CONMEBOL officials in furtherance of a scheme to obtain the broadcasting rights to the Copa Libertadores tournament. In addition to the aforementioned soccer officials, bribes were also paid to, among others, Juan Ángel Napout, who served as a FIFA Vice President, a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee, and president of CONMEBOL and Romer Osuna, a member of the FIFA audit and compliance committee and former treasurer of CONMEBOL.
At the time of the conduct, BJB’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls failed to detect or prevent money laundering transactions related to the bribery schemes. Had Arzuaga’s supervisors or compliance personnel meaningfully reviewed Arzuaga’s due diligence on Torneos and his responses to transaction alerts, they would have known there were multiple, significant red flags, including facially false contracts, payments to third parties at the direction of a FIFA official, and services purportedly rendered by shell corporations — all of which would have alerted the Bank to the bribery, money laundering or other illegal activity.
According to BJB’s admissions, the Bank knew that Arzuaga’s clients’ accounts were associated with international soccer, which was generally understood to involve high corruption risks. Nevertheless, a BJB executive directed the opening of these accounts be fast tracked in the hope that these clients would provide lucrative business.
As outlined in the deferred prosecution agreement, the department reached this resolution with BJB based on a number of factors, including BJB’s failure to voluntarily disclose the conduct to the department; the nature and seriousness of the conduct including that the Bank played an essential role in this scheme for over two years; and the bank’s prior criminal history. BJB did not receive any cooperation credit because it made misleading representations about relevant facts in the case, which had the effect of hindering the department’s investigation, and it did not come forward with all evidence pertaining to the involvement of senior management. However, the Bank received some credit for its significant effort to remediate its compliance program. Accordingly, the total criminal penalty reflects a five percent reduction off the bottom of the applicable U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range.
The agreement announced today is part of an investigation led by the FBI’s New York Field Office and the IRS-Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Trial Attorney Christian J. Nauvel of the Bank Integrity Unit of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Howard Elbert, Samuel P. Nitze and Brian D. Morris of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York prosecuted the case. Former MLARS Trial Attorney Michael P. Grady of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, the Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice, and the Swiss Office of the Attorney General provided significant assistance in this matter.
Former Boeing 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot Indicted for Fraud
A federal grand jury in the Northern District of Texas returned an indictment today charging a former Chief Technical Pilot for The Boeing Company (Boeing) with deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Evaluation Group (FAA AEG) in connection with the FAA AEG’s evaluation of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane, and scheming to defraud Boeing’s U.S.‑based airline customers to obtain tens of millions of dollars for Boeing.
According to court documents, Mark A. Forkner, 49, formerly of Washington State and currently of Keller, Texas, allegedly deceived the FAA AEG during the agency’s evaluation and certification of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane. As alleged in the indictment, Forkner provided the agency with materially false, inaccurate, and incomplete information about a new part of the flight controls for the Boeing 737 MAX called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Because of his alleged deception, a key document published by the FAA AEG lacked any reference to MCAS. In turn, airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for U.S.-based airlines lacked any reference to MCAS — and Boeing’s U.S.-based airline customers were deprived of important information when making and finalizing their decisions to pay Boeing tens of millions of dollars for 737 MAX airplanes.
“Forkner allegedly abused his position of trust by intentionally withholding critical information about MCAS during the FAA evaluation and certification of the 737 MAX and from Boeing’s U.S.‑based airline customers,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “In doing so, he deprived airlines and pilots from knowing crucial information about an important part of the airplane’s flight controls. Regulators like the FAA serve a vital function to ensure the safety of the flying public. To anyone contemplating criminally impeding a regulator’s function, this indictment makes clear that the Justice Department will pursue the facts and hold you accountable.”
“In an attempt to save Boeing money, Forkner allegedly withheld critical information from regulators,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Chad E. Meacham for the Northern District of Texas. “His callous choice to mislead the FAA hampered the agency’s ability to protect the flying public and left pilots in the lurch, lacking information about certain 737 MAX flight controls. The Department of Justice will not tolerate fraud – especially in industries where the stakes are so high.”
“Forkner allegedly withheld crucial information about the Boeing 737 MAX and deceived the FAA, showing blatant disregard for his responsibilities and the safety of airline customers and crews,” said Assistant Director Calvin Shivers of the FBI. “The FBI will continue to hold individuals like Forker accountable for their fraudulent acts which undermine public safety.”
“There is no excusing those who deceive safety regulators for the sake of personal gain or commercial expediency,” said Inspector General Eric J. Soskin of the U.S. Department of Transportation. “Our office works continuously to help keep the skies safe for flying and protect the traveling public from needless danger. Today’s charges demonstrate our unwavering commitment to working with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to hold responsible those who put lives at risk.”
According to court documents, Boeing began developing and marketing the 737 MAX in and around June 2011. The FAA AEG was responsible for determining the minimum level of pilot training required for a pilot to fly the 737 MAX for a U.S.-based airline, based on the nature and extent of the differences between the 737 MAX and the prior version of Boeing’s 737 airplane, the 737 Next Generation (NG). At the conclusion of this evaluation, the FAA AEG published the 737 MAX Flight Standardization Board Report (FSB Report), which included, among other things, the FAA AEG’s differences-training determination for the 737 MAX, as well as information about differences between the 737 MAX and the 737 NG. All U.S.-based airlines were required to use the information in the 737 MAX FSB Report as the basis for training their pilots to fly the airplane.
As Boeing’s 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot, Forkner led the 737 MAX Flight Technical Team and was responsible for providing the FAA AEG with true, accurate, and complete information about differences between the 737 MAX and the 737 NG for the FAA AEG’s evaluation, preparation, and publication of the 737 MAX FSB Report.
In and around November 2016, Forkner discovered information about an important change to MCAS. Rather than sharing information about this change with the FAA AEG, Forkner allegedly intentionally withheld this information and deceived the FAA AEG about MCAS. Because of his alleged deceit, the FAA AEG deleted all reference to MCAS from the final version of the 737 MAX FSB Report published in July 2017. As a result, pilots flying the 737 MAX for Boeing’s U.S.‑based airline customers were not provided any information about MCAS in their manuals and training materials. Forkner sent copies of the 737 MAX FSB Report to Boeing’s U.S.-based 737 MAX airline customers, but withheld from these customers important information about MCAS and the 737 MAX FSB Report evaluation process.
On or about Oct. 29, 2018, after the FAA AEG learned that Lion Air Flight 610 — a 737 MAX — had crashed near Jakarta, Indonesia, shortly after takeoff and that MCAS was operating in the moments before the crash, the FAA AEG discovered the information about the important change to MCAS that Forkner had withheld. Having discovered this information, the FAA AEG began reviewing and evaluating MCAS.
On or about March 10, 2019, while the FAA AEG was still reviewing MCAS, the FAA AEG learned that Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 — a 737 MAX — had crashed near Ejere, Ethiopia, shortly after takeoff and that MCAS was operating in the moments before the crash. Shortly after that crash, all 737 MAX airplanes were grounded in the United States.
Forkner is charged with two counts of fraud involving aircraft parts in interstate commerce and four counts of wire fraud. He is expected to make his initial court appearance on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffrey L. Cureton of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each count of wire fraud and 10 years in prison on each count of fraud involving aircraft parts in interstate commerce. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The Chicago field offices of the FBI and DOT-OIG are investigating the case, with the assistance of other FBI and DOT-OIG field offices.
Trial Attorney Cory E. Jacobs, Assistant Chief Michael T. O’Neill, and Trial Attorney Scott Armstrong of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Lewis of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
Boeing Charged with 737 Max Fraud Conspiracy and Agrees to Pay over $2.5 Billion
The Boeing Company (Boeing) has entered into an agreement with the Department of Justice to resolve a criminal charge related to a conspiracy to defraud the Federal Aviation Administration’s Aircraft Evaluation Group (FAA AEG) in connection with the FAA AEG’s evaluation of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane.
Boeing, a U.S.-based multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells commercial airplanes to airlines worldwide, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) in connection with a criminal information filed today in the Northern District of Texas. The criminal information charges the company with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Under the terms of the DPA, Boeing will pay a total criminal monetary amount of over $2.5 billion, composed of a criminal monetary penalty of $243.6 million, compensation payments to Boeing’s 737 MAX airline customers of $1.77 billion, and the establishment of a $500 million crash-victim beneficiaries fund to compensate the heirs, relatives, and legal beneficiaries of the 346 passengers who died in the Boeing 737 MAX crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302.
“The tragic crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 exposed fraudulent and deceptive conduct by employees of one of the world’s leading commercial airplane manufacturers,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David P. Burns of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Boeing’s employees chose the path of profit over candor by concealing material information from the FAA concerning the operation of its 737 Max airplane and engaging in an effort to cover up their deception. This resolution holds Boeing accountable for its employees’ criminal misconduct, addresses the financial impact to Boeing’s airline customers, and hopefully provides some measure of compensation to the crash-victims’ families and beneficiaries.”
“The misleading statements, half-truths, and omissions communicated by Boeing employees to the FAA impeded the government’s ability to ensure the safety of the flying public,” said U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox for the Northern District of Texas. “This case sends a clear message: The Department of Justice will hold manufacturers like Boeing accountable for defrauding regulators – especially in industries where the stakes are this high.”
“Today's deferred prosecution agreement holds Boeing and its employees accountable for their lack of candor with the FAA regarding MCAS,” said Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie Jr. of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office. “The substantial penalties and compensation Boeing will pay, demonstrate the consequences of failing to be fully transparent with government regulators. The public should be confident that government regulators are effectively doing their job, and those they regulate are being truthful and transparent.”
“We continue to mourn alongside the families, loved ones, and friends of the 346 individuals who perished on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. The deferred prosecution agreement reached today with The Boeing Company is the result of the Office of Inspector General’s dedicated work with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners,” said Special Agent in Charge Andrea M. Kropf, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG) Midwestern Region. “This landmark deferred prosecution agreement will forever serve as a stark reminder of the paramount importance of safety in the commercial aviation industry, and that integrity and transparency may never be sacrificed for efficiency or profit.”
As Boeing admitted in court documents, Boeing—through two of its 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots—deceived the FAA AEG about an important aircraft part called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) that impacted the flight control system of the Boeing 737 MAX. Because of their deception, a key document published by the FAA AEG lacked information about MCAS, and in turn, airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for U.S.-based airlines lacked information about MCAS.
Boeing began developing and marketing the 737 MAX in or around June 2011. Before any U.S.-based airline could operate the new 737 MAX, U.S. regulations required the FAA to evaluate and approve the airplane for commercial use.
In connection with this process, the FAA AEG was principally responsible for determining the minimum level of pilot training required for a pilot to fly the 737 MAX for a U.S.-based airline, based on the nature and extent of the differences between the 737 MAX and the prior version of Boeing’s 737 airplane, the 737 Next Generation (NG). At the conclusion of this evaluation, the FAA AEG published the 737 MAX Flight Standardization Board Report (FSB Report), which contained relevant information about certain aircraft parts and systems that Boeing was required to incorporate into airplane manuals and pilot-training materials for all U.S.-based airlines. The 737 MAX FSB Report also contained the FAA AEG’s differences-training determination. After the 737 MAX FSB Report was published, Boeing’s airline customers were permitted to fly the 737 MAX.
Within Boeing, the 737 MAX Flight Technical Team (composed of 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots) was principally responsible for identifying and providing to the FAA AEG all information that was relevant to the FAA AEG in connection with the FAA AEG’s publication of the 737 MAX FSB Report. Because flight controls were vital to flying modern commercial airplanes, differences between the flight controls of the 737 NG and the 737 MAX were especially important to the FAA AEG for purposes of its publication of the 737 MAX FSB Report and the FAA AEG’s differences-training determination.
In and around November 2016, two of Boeing’s 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots, one who was then the 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot and another who would later become the 737 MAX Chief Technical Pilot, discovered information about an important change to MCAS. Rather than sharing information about this change with the FAA AEG, Boeing, through these two 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots, concealed this information and deceived the FAA AEG about MCAS. Because of this deceit, the FAA AEG deleted all information about MCAS from the final version of the 737 MAX FSB Report published in July 2017. In turn, airplane manuals and pilot training materials for U.S.-based airlines lacked information about MCAS, and pilots flying the 737 MAX for Boeing’s airline customers were not provided any information about MCAS in their manuals and training materials.
On Oct. 29, 2018, Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashed shortly after takeoff into the Java Sea near Indonesia. All 189 passengers and crew on board died. Following the Lion Air crash, the FAA AEG learned that MCAS activated during the flight and may have played a role in the crash. The FAA AEG also learned for the first time about the change to MCAS, including the information about MCAS that Boeing concealed from the FAA AEG. Meanwhile, while investigations into the Lion Air crash continued, the two 737 MAX Flight Technical Pilots continued misleading others—including at Boeing and the FAA—about their prior knowledge of the change to MCAS.
On March 10, 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashed shortly after takeoff near Ejere, Ethiopia. All 157 passengers and crew on board died. Following the Ethiopian Airlines crash, the FAA AEG learned that MCAS activated during the flight and may have played a role in the crash. On March 13, 2019, the 737 MAX was officially grounded in the U.S., indefinitely halting further flights of this airplane by any U.S.-based airline.
As part of the DPA, Boeing has agreed, among other things, to continue to cooperate with the Fraud Section in any ongoing or future investigations and prosecutions. As part of its cooperation, Boeing is required to report any evidence or allegation of a violation of U.S. fraud laws committed by Boeing’s employees or agents upon any domestic or foreign government agency (including the FAA), regulator, or any of Boeing’s airline customers. In addition, Boeing has agreed to strengthen its compliance program and to enhanced compliance program reporting requirements, which require Boeing to meet with the Fraud Section at least quarterly and to submit yearly reports to the Fraud Section regarding the status of its remediation efforts, the results of its testing of its compliance program, and its proposals to ensure that its compliance program is reasonably designed, implemented, and enforced so that it is effective at deterring and detecting violations of U.S. fraud laws in connection with interactions with any domestic or foreign government agency (including the FAA), regulator, or any of its airline customers.
Former Army Special Forces Officer Charged in Russian Espionage Conspiracy. Former Green Beret Allegedly Conspired to Provide National Defense Information to Russian Intelligence.
A Gainesville, Virginia, man was arrested today for conspiring with Russian intelligence operatives to provide them with United States national defense information.
According to court documents, from December 1996 to January 2011, Peter Rafael Dzibinski Debbins, 45, a former member of the U.S. Army, allegedly conspired with agents of a Russian intelligence service. During that time, Debbins periodically visited Russia and met with Russian intelligence agents. In 1997, Debbins was assigned a code name by Russian intelligence agents and signed a statement attesting that he wanted to serve Russia.
“Two espionage arrests in the past week — Ma in Hawaii and now Debbins in Virginia — demonstrate that we must remain vigilant against espionage from our two most malicious adversaries — Russia and China,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “Debbins violated his oath as a U.S. Army officer, betrayed the Special Forces and endangered our country’s national security by revealing classified information to Russian intelligence officers, providing details of his unit, and identifying Special Forces team members for Russian intelligence to try to recruit as a spy. Our country put its highest trust in this defendant, and he took that trust and weaponized it against the United States.”
“Our military is tasked with the awesome responsibility of protecting our nation from its adversaries, and its service members make incredible sacrifices in service of that duty,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “When service members collude to provide classified information to our foreign adversaries, they betray the oaths they swore to their country and their fellow service members. As this indictment reflects, we will be steadfast and dogged in holding such individuals accountable.”
"The facts alleged in this case are a shocking betrayal by a former Army officer of his fellow soldiers and his country," said Alan E. Kohler, Jr., FBI Assistant Director of the Counterintelligence Division. "Debbins is accused of giving Russian intelligence officers sensitive information about the units in which he once served and also providing the names of other service members so Russia could try to recruit them. These actions cannot stand and the FBI will aggressively pursue such cases."
“According to the allegations, Mr. Debbins knowingly provided information to self-proclaimed members of Russia's Intelligence Service, the GRU,” said James A. Dawson, Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office. “As a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, the American people and his fellow service men and women should have been able to trust Debbins with secrets and information. Debbins allegedly fell very short of that and exploited his role in the military and his fellow service members to benefit one of our top adversaries for years. Today’s charges are another example of the dedicated and unrelenting efforts of the FBI and our partners, domestic and international, to aggressively pursue and bring to justice those who violate this sacred trust and place our national security at risk.”
Over the course of the conspiracy, Debbins allegedly provided the Russian intelligence agents with information that he obtained as a member of the U.S. Army, including information about his chemical and Special Forces units. In 2008, after leaving active duty service, Debbins disclosed to the Russian intelligence agents classified information about his previous activities while deployed with the Special Forces. Debbins also provided the Russian intelligence agents with the names of, and information about, his former Special Forces team members so that the agents could evaluate whether to approach the team members to see if they would cooperate with the Russian intelligence service.
Debbins is charged with conspiring to provide United States national defense information to agents of a foreign government. If convicted, Debbins faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; James A. Dawson, Acting Assistant Director of FBI Washington Field Office made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas W. Traxler and James L. Trump, and Trial Attorney David Aaron of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case.
Assistant Attorney General Demers and U.S. Attorney Terwilliger greatly appreciate the assistance of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office, and Army Counterintelligence, along with the United Kingdom's Metropolitan Police and MI5.
Missouri Woman Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Infant Child and Misleading Law Enforcement
A Missouri woman pleaded guilty today in the Western District of Missouri for assaulting her infant child while living overseas in Germany as the dependent of an enlisted member of the U.S. Army, and repeatedly lying to law enforcement during the course of the subsequent federal investigation.
Baillie Rachelle Dickenson, aka Baillie Hannah, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and one count of making a false statement to a federal law enforcement officer before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lajuana M. Counts. Sentencing will be set once a U.S. District Judge accepts the plea.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Tim Garrison of the Western District of Missouri, Christopher Grey of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Langan of the FBI’s Kansas City Field Office made the announcement.
According to admissions made as part of her plea, in March 2016, Baillie Dickenson lived in Kaiserslautern, Germany with her then-husband Derreck Dickenson and their two minor children. Baillie Dickenson and her children were dependents of Derreck Dickenson, who was at that time an active duty member of the U.S. Army stationed in Germany. In March 2016, the victim, D.D., was about two months old.
On March 12, 2016, Baillie Dickenson and Derreck Dickenson brought D.D. to the emergency room at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC), an overseas U.S. military hospital, where medical personnel observed numerous bruises on D.D.’s face and body. Further examination of D.D. at LRMC and a local German hospital revealed that D.D. had suffered a massive brain injury, numerous broken bones that were in various stages of healing and many retinal hemorrhages.
Baillie Dickenson and Derreck Dickenson told medical personnel they suspected that their elder child, 16-month-old B.D. had fallen onto D.D. while both children were napping, likely causing D.D.’s injuries. Baillie Dickenson repeated these statements in subsequent interviews and written statements to personnel and CID special agents even though she knew they were untrue and had the potential to affect CID’s investigation. On May 30, 2017, the FBI interviewed Baillie Dickenson about D.D.’s injuries. During this recorded interview, Baillie Dickenson admitted that on a date prior to March 12, 2016, she squeezed D.D. into her chest too hard causing his rib fractures.
On Dec. 11, 2019, Derreck Dickenson pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction and one count of false statements. He is awaiting sentencing.Army CID and the FBI conducted the investigation. Trial Attorney Mona Sahaf of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore of the Western District of Missouri are handling the prosecution.
The defendants have also been notified that the United States intends to forfeit a total of $9.4 million, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses, in addition to real property located in Florida.
Woman Who Laundered Over $2 Million for International ‘Child Modeling’ Websites Sentenced to More Than Five Years in Federal Prison
A Florida woman was sentenced today to five years and three months in prison for engaging in a money laundering scheme in connection with an international, subscription-based, sexually-exploitative enterprise based in Florida that operated “child modeling” websites. As part of her sentence, the court also ordered her to forfeit $236,410.70.
Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, 53, of Tampa, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering on July 6. According to court documents, Wilowski-Mevorah laundered at least $2.3 million for the company known as Newstar Enterprise, which operated for-profit websites (the Newstar Websites) depicting sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of “child modeling.”
According to court documents, Wilowski-Mevorah joined the Newstar Enterprise around 2009 and fraudulently opened payment-processing and bank accounts under the pretense of a phony jewelry company. For 10 years, she routinely used the phony company’s accounts to conceal criminal proceeds from the Newstar Websites and transfer those proceeds back to principal members of the Newstar Enterprise. Wilowski-Mevorah continued to launder money for the enterprise until November 2019, when law enforcement authorities executed several search warrants across the United States and simultaneously seized the Newstar websites’ servers in the United States and Europe. Law enforcement officers then disabled the servers hosting the Newstar Websites.
Founded around 2005, the Newstar Enterprise built, maintained, hosted, and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To populate website content, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited, and recruited males and females under the age of 18, some of whom were prepubescent, to use as “child models.” Using the recruited child-victims, the Newstar Enterprise produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell on their websites. Some of those images and videos, though non-nude, depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. For example, images and videos sold on the Newstar Websites depicted children as young as 6 years old in sexual and provocative poses, wearing police and cheerleader costumes, thong underwear, transparent underwear, revealing swimsuits, pantyhose, and miniskirts. Most of the child-victims – recruited from Ukraine, Moldova, and other nations in Eastern Europe – were particularly vulnerable due to their age, family dynamics, and poverty.
The Newstar Enterprise maintained a membership list for subscribers and customers who originated from 101 countries. Images in the websites’ galleries were freely available to the public to preview, but greater access and more content required purchasing a subscription. The sale of purported “child modeling” content on the Newstar Websites generated more than $9.4 million during the course of the conspiracy. To process, receive, and distribute this money, Newstar Enterprise members fraudulently opened merchant and bank accounts in the United States and laundered proceeds using the bogus company.
The chart below shows cases status for co-defendants also charged in the Middle District of Florida:
Newstar Enterprise Cases Status | ||||
Name | Case Number | Charge(s) | Status | Maximum Potential Total Penalty |
Tatiana Power | 8:21-cr-244-MSS-AAS | Conspiracy to commit money laundering; international promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering | Indicted, pending trial
| 100 years’ imprisonment |
Kenneth Power | 8:21-cr-00032-SDM-AAS | Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography | Defendant deceased; case dismissed | 60 years’ imprisonment |
Plamen Velinov | 8:21-cr-342-VMC-SPF | Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography | Indicted, pending extradition | 50 years’ imprisonment |
Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah | 8:21-cr-00206-MSS-TGW | Conspiracy to commit money laundering | Pleaded guilty, sentenced to five years’ and three months’ imprisonment | 20 years’ imprisonment |
Anthony Lee Kendall | 8:21-cr-358-SCB-TGW | Conspiracy to commit money laundering; promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering | Indicted, defendant deceased | 100 years’ imprisonment |
Mary Lou Bjorkman | 8:21-cr-00227-SDM-AAS
| Conspiracy to commit money laundering Trial Attorneys Jennifer Kennedy Gellie of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, Jennifer Levy of the Counterterrorism Section, and Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia John Cummings are prosecuting the case. | Pleaded guilty, sentence pending | 20 years’ imprisonment |
Defense Department Linguist Charged with Espionage
Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, was charged today in the District of Columbia with transmitting highly sensitive classified national defense information to a foreign national with apparent connections to Hizballah, a foreign terrorist organization that has been so designated by the Secretary of State.
According to the affidavit filed in support of a criminal complaint, the information Thompson gathered and transmitted included classified national defense information regarding active human assets, including their true names. By compromising the identities of these human assets, Thompson placed the lives of the human assets and U.S. military personnel in grave danger.
The announcement was made by John C. Demers, the Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Timothy J. Shea, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia; Robert Wells, Acting Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division; and Timothy R. Slater, the Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office.
“While in a war zone, the defendant allegedly gave sensitive national defense information, including the names of individuals helping the United States, to a Lebanese national located overseas,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “If true, this conduct is a disgrace, especially for someone serving as a contractor with the United States military. This betrayal of country and colleagues will be punished.”
“The conduct alleged in this complaint is a grave threat to national security, placed lives at risk, and represents a betrayal of our armed forces. The charges we’ve filed today should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider disclosing classified national defense information to a terrorist organization,” said U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea for the District of Columbia.
"This case shows the value of cooperation across the U.S. Government. Working closely with the Department of Defense, the FBI was able to investigate this willful disregard for keeping national defense information safe and partnered to bring the defendant to the United States to face justice," said Acting Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division Robert Wells.
“Today's announcement is a testament to the U.S. government's commitment to protecting the U.S. from the unauthorized disclosure of classified information that can put our country at serious risk of damage - damage to people and damage to our country's capabilities,” said Timothy R. Slater, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. “Human assets are the core of the U.S. government's intelligence, and they have our assurance that we will go above and beyond to protect them. I want to thank the men and women at the FBI and our partners here and abroad who answered the call to assist on this fast-moving investigation. The FBI is charged with protecting our nation's security and information for a safe and secure tomorrow for all Americans - we take this duty seriously and will not stand by while supposedly trusted individuals violate that trust in such an egregious way.”
Thompson was arrested by FBI Special Agents on February 27, 2020, at an overseas U.S. military facility, where she worked as a contract linguist and held a Top Secret government security clearance.
The investigation leading to this arrest revealed that starting on or about December 30, 2019, a day after U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, and the same day protesters stormed the U.S. embassy in Iraq to protest those strikes, audit logs show a notable shift in Thompson’s network activity on United States Department of Defense classified systems, including repeated access to classified information she had no need to access. Specifically, during a six-week period between December 30, 2019, and February 10, 2020, Thompson accessed dozens of files concerning human intelligence sources, including true names, personal identification data, background information, and photographs of the human assets, as well as operational cables detailing information the assets provided to the United States government.
A court-authorized search of Thompson’s living quarters on February 19, 2020, led to the discovery of a handwritten note in Arabic concealed under Thompson’s mattress. The note contained classified information from Department of Defense computer systems, identifying human assets by name, and warning a Department of Defense target who is affiliated with a designated foreign terrorist organization with ties to Hizballah. The note also instructed that the human assets’ phones should be monitored.
Thompson transmitted the classified information in the handwritten note to a co-conspirator, in whom she had a romantic interest. The FBI’s investigation revealed that Thompson knew the co-conspirator was a foreign national whose relative worked for the Lebanese government. The investigation also revealed that the co-conspirator has apparent connections to Hizballah. Further investigation revealed that, in a separate communication, Thompson also provided information to her co-conspirator identifying another human asset and the information the asset had provided to the United States, as well as providing information regarding the techniques the human assets were using to gather information on behalf of the United States.
In today’s Criminal Complaint, Thompson was charged with Delivering Defense Information to Aid a Foreign Government in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(a) and conspiring to do so in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 794(c).
Thompson is scheduled to make her initial appearance before United States Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather later this afternoon. A Criminal Complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct for purposes of establishing probable cause, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. If convicted, Thompson faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for violating § 794. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes only. If convicted of any offense, the sentencing of a defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Former DIA Employee Pleads Guilty to Leaking Classified National Defense Information to Journalists
An employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) pleaded guilty today to charges related to his disclosure of classified national defense information (NDI) to two journalists in 2018 and 2019.
“Frese violated the trust placed in him by the American people when he disclosed sensitive national security information for personal gain,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “He alerted our country’s adversaries to sensitive national defense information, putting the nation’s security at risk. The government takes these breaches seriously and will use all the resources at our disposal to apprehend and prosecute those who jeopardize the safety of this country and its citizens.”
“Henry Kyle Frese was entrusted with Top Secret information related to the national defense of our country,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. “Frese violated that trust, the oath he swore to uphold, and engaged in felonious conduct at the expense of our country. This case should serve as a clear reminder to all of those similarly entrusted with National Defense Information that unilaterally disclosing such information for personal gain, or that of others, is not selfless or heroic, it is criminal.”
“Mr. Frese violated his sworn oath to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States by using his access to the United States’ most sensitive information and steal state secrets for nothing more than personal gain,” said Robert Wells, Acting Assistant Director of the FBI's Counterintelligence Division. “The men and women of the FBI who investigated this case swore the same oath but unlike Mr. Frese, they chose to uphold it. I am proud of the work they did to hold Mr. Frese accountable for his actions.”
"By disseminating the same classified information he had pledged to protect, Henry Kyle Frese put the US and our national defense equities in danger," said Timothy R. Slater, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office. "The US Government and the American public depend on trusted government employees to keep such information out of the hands of our adversaries, who could use it to cause us harm. The FBI's counterintelligence mission is to protect our country's information and secrets in order to safeguard our future; and the men and women of the FBI will continue to work hard to preserve that information."
According to court documents, Henry Kyle Frese, 31, of Alexandria, was employed by DIA as a counterterrorism analyst from February 2018 to October 2019, and held a Top Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information security clearance. United States government agencies have confirmed that in the spring and summer of 2018, News Outlet 1 published eight articles, all authored by the same journalist (Journalist 1) that contained classified NDI that related to the capabilities of certain foreign countries’ weapons systems.
These articles contained classified intelligence from five intelligence reports (the Compromised Intelligence Reports) made available to appropriately cleared recipients in the first half of 2018. The topic of all of these initial five Compromised Intelligence Reports – foreign countries’ weapons systems – was outside the scope of Frese’s job duties as an analyst covering CT topics. The media articles, and the intelligence reporting from which they were derived, both contained information that is classified up to the TS//SCI level, indicating that its unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to result in exceptionally grave damage to the national security. The intelligence reporting was marked as such.
According to court documents, Frese and Journalist 1 lived together at the same residential address from January 2018 to November 2018. Throughout 2018 and 2019, Frese and Journalist 1 “followed” each other on Twitter, and on at least two occasions Frese re-Tweeted Journalist 1’s Tweets announcing the publications of articles containing NDI classified at the Top Secret level.
In or about April of 2018, Journalist 1 introduced Frese to a second journalist (Journalist 2). Subsequently, Frese began texting and speaking with Journalist 2 by telephone. Between mid-2018 and late September 2019, Frese orally transmitted NDI classified at the Top Secret level to Journalist 1 on 12 separate occasions, and orally transmitted NDI classified at the Secret level to Journalist 1 on at least four occasions. Frese knew the information was classified at the Secret and Top Secret levels because the intelligence products from which he had learned the classified information had visible classification markings as to the classification level of the information, and the intelligence products accessed by Frese were stored on secure, classified government information systems.
In relation to one of the 12 times Frese orally transmitted Top Secret NDI to Journalist 1, in or about mid-April to early May 2018, Frese accessed an intelligence report unrelated to his job duties on multiple occasions, which contained NDI classified at the Top Secret//SCI level (Intelligence Report l). A week after Frese accessed Intelligence Report 1 for the second time, Frese received an April 27, 2018 Twitter Direct Message (DM) from Journalist 1 asking whether Frese would be willing to speak with Journalist 2. Frese stated that he was “down” to help Journalist 2 if it helped Journalist 1 “progress.” During the same April 27, 2018, Twitter exchange, Journalist 1 indicated that a certain United States military official told Journalist 2 that the official was not aware of the subject matter discussed in Intelligence Report 1. Frese characterized the official’s denial as “weird” and commented on the source of information contained within Intelligence Report 1.
Several days after the April 27, 2018, Twitter exchange, Frese searched on a classified United States government computer system for terms related to the topics contained in Intelligence Report 1. A few hours after searching for terms related to the topic of Intelligence Report l, Frese spoke by telephone with Journalist 1, and several hours later he spoke by telephone with Journalist 2. Immediately after the call with Journalist 2, Journalist 1 called Frese. During at least one of the calls with Journalist 1 and Journalist 2, Frese orally passed Top Secret NDI derived from Intelligence Report 1. Approximately 30 minutes after Frese spoke with the two journalists, Journalist 1 published an article (Article 1) which contained Top Secret NDI, orally communicated by Frese and derived from Intelligence Report 1 classified at the Top Secret//SCI level.
On at least 30 separate occasions in 2018, Frese conducted searches on classified government systems for information regarding the classified topics he discussed with Journalists 1 and 2. On multiple occasions in 2018 and 2019, Frese conducted searches on classified government systems because of specific requests for information from Journalists 1 and 2.
Additionally, between early 2018 and October 2019, Frese communicated with an employee of an overseas CT consulting group (Consultant 1) via social media. On at least two occasions, Frese transmitted classified NDI related to CT topics to Consultant 1, using a social media site’s direct messaging feature.
Frese pleaded guilty to the willful transmission of Top Secret national defense information, and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison when sentenced on June 18, 2020, at 9:30 am. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Glencore Entered Guilty Pleas to Foreign Bribery and Market Manipulation Schemes
Swiss-Based Firm Agrees to Pay Over $1.1 Billion
Glencore International A.G. (Glencore) and Glencore Ltd., both part of a multi-national commodity trading and mining firm headquartered in Switzerland, each pleaded guilty today and agreed to pay over $1.1 billion to resolve the government’s investigations into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a commodity price manipulation scheme.
These guilty pleas are part of coordinated resolutions with criminal and civil authorities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Brazil.
“The rule of law requires that there not be one rule for the powerful and another for the powerless; one rule for the rich and another for the poor,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “The Justice Department will continue to bring to bear its resources on these types of cases, no matter the company and no matter the individual.”
The charges in the FCPA matter arise out of a decade-long scheme by Glencore and its subsidiaries to make and conceal corrupt payments and bribes through intermediaries for the benefit of foreign officials across multiple countries. Pursuant to a plea agreement, Glencore has agreed to a criminal fine of more than $428 million and to criminal forfeiture and disgorgement of more than $272 million. Glencore has also agreed to retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. The department has agreed to credit nearly $256 million in payments that Glencore makes to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities.
Separately, Glencore Ltd. admitted to engaging in a multi-year scheme to manipulate fuel oil prices at two of the busiest commercial shipping ports in the U.S. As part of the plea agreement, Glencore Ltd. agreed to pay a criminal fine of over $341 million, pay forfeiture of over $144 million, and retain an independent compliance monitor for three years. The department has agreed to credit up to one-half of the criminal fine and forfeiture against penalties Glencore Ltd. pays to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a related, parallel civil proceeding.
Sentencing has been scheduled in the market manipulation case for June 24, and a control date for sentencing in the FCPA case has been set for Oct. 3.
“Glencore’s guilty pleas demonstrate the Department’s commitment to holding accountable those who profit by manipulating our financial markets and engaging in corrupt schemes around the world,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “In the foreign bribery case, Glencore International A.G. and its subsidiaries bribed corrupt intermediaries and foreign officials in seven countries for over a decade. In the commodity price manipulation scheme, Glencore Ltd. undermined public confidence by creating the false appearance of supply and demand to manipulate oil prices.”
“The scope of this criminal bribery scheme is staggering,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “Glencore paid bribes to secure oil contracts. Glencore paid bribes to avoid government audits. Glencore bribed judges to make lawsuits disappear. At bottom, Glencore paid bribes to make money – hundreds of millions of dollars. And it did so with the approval, and even encouragement, of its top executives. The criminal charges filed against Glencore in the Southern District of New York are another step in making clear that no one – not even multinational corporations – is above the law.”
“Glencore’s market price manipulation threatened not just financial harm, but undermined participants’ faith in the commodities markets’ fair and efficient function that we all rely on,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery of the District of Connecticut. “This guilty plea, and the substantial financial penalty incurred, is an appropriate consequence for Glencore’s criminal conduct, and we are pleased that Glencore has agreed to cooperate in any ongoing investigations and prosecutions relating to their misconduct, and to strengthen its compliance program company-wide. I thank both our partners at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their hard work and dedication in investigating this sophisticated set of facts and unraveling this scheme, and the Fraud Section, with whom we look forward to continuing our fruitful partnership of prosecuting complex financial and corporate criminal cases.”
“Today’s guilty pleas by Glencore entities show that there is no place for corruption and fraud in international markets,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “Glencore engaged in long-running bribery and price manipulation conspiracies, ultimately costing the company over a billion dollars in fines. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate criminal financial activities and work to restore the public’s trust in the marketplace.”
“The idea of fair and honest trade is at the bedrock of American commerce. It is insult to our shared traditions and values when individuals and corporations use their power, wealth, and influence to stack the deck unfairly in their own favor,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. “The resulting guilty plea by Glencore Limited demonstrates the tenacity of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and its law enforcement partners in holding criminals accountable who try to enrich themselves by undermining the forces of supply and demand.”
The FCPA Case
According to admissions and court documents filed in the Southern District of New York, Glencore, acting through its employees and agents, engaged in a scheme for over a decade to pay more than $100 million to third-party intermediaries, while intending that a significant portion of these payments would be used to pay bribes to officials in Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Brazil, Venezuela, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Between approximately 2007 and 2018, Glencore and its subsidiaries caused approximately $79.6 million in payments to be made to intermediary companies in order to secure improper advantages to obtain and retain business with state-owned and state-controlled entities in the West African countries of Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Equatorial Guinea. Glencore concealed the bribe payments by entering into sham consulting agreements, paying inflated invoices, and using intermediary companies to make corrupt payments to foreign officials.
For example, in Nigeria, Glencore and Glencore’s U.K. subsidiaries entered into multiple agreements to purchase crude oil and refined petroleum products from Nigeria’s state-owned and state-controlled oil company. Glencore and its subsidiaries engaged two intermediaries to pursue business opportunities and other improper business advantages, including the award of crude oil contracts, while knowing that the intermediaries would make bribe payments to Nigerian government officials to obtain such business. In Nigeria alone, Glencore and its subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to the intermediaries, intending that those funds be used, at least in part, to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.
In the DRC, Glencore admitted that it conspired to and did corruptly offer and pay approximately $27.5 million to third parties, while intending for a portion of the payments to be used as bribes to DRC officials, in order to secure improper business advantages. Glencore also admitted to the bribery of officials in Brazil and Venezuela. In Brazil, the company caused approximately $147,202 to be used, at least in part, as corrupt payments for Brazilian officials. In Venezuela, Glencore admitted to conspiring to secure and securing improper business advantages by paying over $1.2 million to an intermediary company that made corrupt payments for the benefit of a Venezuelan official.
In July 2021, a former senior trader in charge of Glencore’s West Africa desk for the crude oil business pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, which remains subject to court approval, Glencore pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, agreed to a criminal fine of $428,521,173, and agreed to criminal forfeiture and disgorgement in the amount of $272,185,792. Glencore also had charges brought against it by the U.K.’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and reached separate parallel resolutions with the Brazilian Ministério Público Federal (MPF) and the CFTC. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the department has agreed to credit nearly $256 million in payments that the company makes to the CFTC, to the court in the U.K., as well as to authorities in Switzerland, in the event that the company reaches a resolution with Swiss authorities within one year.
The department reached its agreement with Glencore based on a number of factors, including the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offense conduct, which spanned over a 10-year period, in numerous countries, and involved high-level employees and agents of the company; the company’s failure to voluntarily and timely disclose the conduct to the department; the state of Glencore’s compliance program and the progress of its remediation; the company’s resolutions with other domestic and foreign authorities; and the company’s continued cooperation with the department’s ongoing investigation.
Glencore did not receive full credit for cooperation and remediation, because it did not consistently demonstrate a commitment to full cooperation, it was delayed in producing relevant evidence, and it did not timely and appropriately remediate with respect to disciplining certain employees involved in the misconduct. Although Glencore has taken remedial measures, some of the compliance enhancements are new and have not been fully implemented or tested to demonstrate that they would prevent and detect similar misconduct in the future, necessitating the imposition of an independent compliance monitor for a term of three years.
The Commodity Price Manipulation Case
According to admissions and court documents filed in the District of Connecticut, Glencore Ltd. operated a global commodity trading business, which included trading in fuel oil. Between approximately January 2011 and August 2019, Glencore Ltd. employees (including those who worked at Chemoil Corporation, which was majority-owned by Glencore Ltd.’s parent company and then fully-acquired in 2014) conspired to manipulate two benchmark price assessments published by S&P Global Platts (Platts) for fuel oil products, specifically, intermediate fuel oil 380 CST at the Port of Los Angeles (Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel) and RMG 380 fuel oil at the Port of Houston (U.S. Gulf Coast High-Sulfur Fuel Oil). The Port of Los Angeles is the busiest shipping port in the U.S. by container volume. The Port of Houston is the largest U.S. port on the Gulf Coast and the busiest port in the United States by foreign waterborne tonnage.
As part of the conspiracy, Glencore Ltd. employees sought to unlawfully enrich themselves and Glencore Ltd. itself, by increasing profits and reducing costs on contracts to buy and sell physical fuel oil, as well as certain derivative positions that Glencore Ltd. held. The price terms of the physical contracts and derivative positions were set by reference to daily benchmark price assessments published by Platts — either Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel or U.S. Gulf Coast High-Sulfur Fuel Oil — on a certain day or days plus or minus a fixed premium. On these pricing days, Glencore Ltd. employees submitted orders to buy and sell (bids and offers) to Platts during the daily trading “window” for the Platts price assessments with the intent to artificially push the price assessment up or down.
For example, if Glencore Ltd. had a contract to buy fuel oil, Glencore Ltd. employees submitted offers during the Platts “window” for the express purpose of pushing down the price assessment and hence the price of the fuel oil that Glencore Ltd. purchased. The bids and offers were not submitted to Platts for any legitimate economic reason by Glencore Ltd. employees, but rather for the purpose of artificially affecting the relevant Platts price assessment so that the benchmark price, and hence the price of fuel oil that Glencore Ltd. bought from, and sold to, another party, did not reflect legitimate forces of supply and demand.
Between approximately September 2012 and August 2016, Glencore Ltd. employees conspired to and did manipulate the price of fuel oil bought from, and sold to, a particular counterparty, Company A, through private, bilateral contracts, by manipulating the Platts price assessment for Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel. Between approximately January 2014 and February 2016, Glencore Ltd. employees also undertook a “joint venture” with Company A, which involved buying fuel oil from Company A at prices artificially depressed by Glencore Ltd.’s manipulation of the Platts Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel benchmark. Finally, between approximately January 2011 and August 2019, Glencore Ltd. employees conspired to and did manipulate the price of fuel oil bought and sold through private, bilateral contracts, as well as derivative positions, by manipulating the Platts price assessment for U.S. Gulf Coast High-Sulfur Fuel Oil.
A former Glencore Ltd. senior fuel oil trader, Emilio Jose Heredia Collado, of Lafayette, California, pleaded guilty in March 2021 to one count of conspiracy to engage in commodities price manipulation in connection with his trading activity related to the Platts Los Angeles 380 CST Bunker Fuel price assessment. Heredia’s sentencing is scheduled for June 17, 2022.
Glencore Ltd. pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to one count of conspiracy to engage in commodity price manipulation. Under the terms of Glencore Ltd.’s plea agreement regarding the commodity price manipulation conspiracy, which remains subject to court approval, Glencore Ltd. will pay a criminal fine of $341,221,682 and criminal forfeiture of $144,417,203. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the department will credit over $242 million in payments that the company makes to the CFTC. Glencore Ltd. also agreed to, among other things, continue to cooperate with the department in any ongoing investigations and prosecutions relating to the underlying misconduct, to modify its compliance program where necessary and appropriate, and to retain an independent compliance monitor for a period of three years.
A number of relevant considerations contributed to the department’s plea agreement with Glencore Ltd., including the nature and seriousness of the offense, Glencore Ltd.’s failure to fully and voluntarily self‑disclose the offense conduct to the department, Glencore Ltd.’s cooperation with the department’s investigation, and the state of Glencore Ltd.’s compliance program and the progress of its remediation.
Additionally, the CFTC today announced a separate settlement with Glencore and its affiliated companies in connection with its investigation into FCPA and market manipulation conduct in a related, parallel proceeding. Under the terms of the CFTC resolution, Glencore agreed to pay over $1.1 billion, which includes a civil monetary penalty of over $865 million, as well as disgorgement totaling over $320 million.
The FCPA case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Leila Babaeva and James Mandolfo of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, Trial Attorney Michael Khoo of the Justice Department’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael McGinnis and Juliana Murray of the Southern District of New York. The case is being investigated by the FBI.
The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in this case. The department also expresses its appreciation for the assistance provided by law enforcement authorities in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Cyprus, and Luxembourg.
The commodity price manipulation case is being prosecuted by Deputy Chief Avi Perry and Trial Attorneys Matthew F. Sullivan and John J. Liolos of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Francis of the District of Connecticut. The case is being investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
DISH Network to Pay $210 Million for Telemarketing Violations - DISH to pay historic civil penalty in a telemarketing enforcement action.
The Department of Justice today announced a settlement in which DISH Network LLC (DISH) will pay $126 million in civil penalties to the United States for placing millions of telemarketing calls in violation of the Federal Trade Commission's Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR).
This settlement represents the largest civil penalty ever paid to resolve telemarketing violations under the FTC Act, and exceeds the total penalties paid to the government by all prior violators of the TSR. DISH will also pay a combined $84 million to four states for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, for a total settlement of $210 million.
“The settlement sends a strong message to would-be violators that telemarketing laws and regulations cannot be ignored,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
This case was filed in 2009 and went to trial in 2016. The United States — along with its co-plaintiffs, the States of California, Illinois, North Carolina, and Ohio — alleged that DISH made millions of unlawful telemarketing calls to consumers and was responsible for millions more made by retailers that marketed DISH products and services. In a 2017 opinion, the district court found DISH liable for more than 66 million telemarketing violations of the TSR and other federal and state statutes, imposing significant compliance measures on DISH and awarding the plaintiffs $280 million in civil penalties and damages, with $168 million going to the United States and $112 million to the state plaintiffs. In 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirmed those liability findings, but vacated and remanded the civil penalties and damages awards for recalculation.
As reflected in the stipulated judgment entered by the court today, DISH will pay the United States $126 million in civil penalties to resolve the monetary portion of the case and has agreed not to contest the court’s factual findings or liability determination. DISH will continue to follow the robust compliance measures imposed by the court in 2017. The injunction strictly prohibits any future telemarketing violations and significantly restricts DISH’s future telemarketing activities. DISH also has been ordered to prepare and abide by a telemarketing plan, submit telemarketing compliance materials to the department and the FTC twice annually until 2027, and provide compliance reports requested by the department or the FTC.
J&F Investimentos S.A. Brazil Pleads Guilty and Agrees to Pay Over $256 Million to Resolve Criminal Foreign Bribery Case
J&F Investimentos S.A. (J&F), a Brazil-based investment company that owns and controls companies involved in multiple industries, including the meat and agriculture industry, has agreed to pay a criminal monetary penalty of $256,497,026 to resolve the department’s investigation into violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). The resolution arises out of J&F’s scheme to pay millions of dollars in bribes to government officials in Brazil in exchange for obtaining financing and other benefits for J&F and J&F-owned entities.
J&F pleaded guilty and entered into a cooperation plea agreement with the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York in connection with a criminal information filed today in the Eastern District of New York charging J&F with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA.
“With today’s guilty plea, J&F has admitted to engaging in a long-running scheme to bribe corrupt officials in Brazil to obtain financing and other benefits for the company,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “As part of this scheme, executives at the very highest levels of the company used U.S. banks and real estate to pay tens of millions of dollars in bribes to corrupt government officials in Brazil in order to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in financing for the company and its affiliates. Today’s resolution demonstrates the department’s continuing commitment to combating international corruption and holding companies accountable for violations of the FCPA.”
“Today’s resolution and guilty plea, including a $256 million fine, demonstrates our office’s full commitment to holding accountable those entities that seek to gain an improper advantage over competitors by bribing foreign officials and using the U.S. financial system to carry out the crimes,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Seth D. DuCharme for the Eastern District of New York. “Protecting the integrity of the financial system is a core priority of the Department of Justice.”
“No matter where it occurs, the FBI and our global partners are committed to diligently rooting out corruption which betrays public trust and threatens a fair economy,” said Special Agent in Charge James A. Dawson of the FBI Washington Field Office Criminal Division. “Today’s plea demonstrates the FBI’s commitment to combatting foreign corruption reaching the United States, and today’s actions send a strong message that we will not relent in our efforts to uphold the law and hold everyone accountable to play by the same, fair rules.”
According to admissions by J&F, between 2005 and 2017, the company conspired with others to violate the FCPA by paying bribes to government officials in Brazil in order to ensure that Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled banks would enter into debt and equity financing transactions with J&F and J&F-owned entities, as well as to obtain approval for a merger from a Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled pension fund.
Specifically, between 2005 and 2014, J&F engaged in a bribery scheme involving more than $148 million in corrupt payments that were promised and made to and for the benefit of high-level Brazilian government officials, including a then-high-ranking executive at Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES), a Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled bank. In exchange for the bribe payments, J&F was able to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in financing from BNDES. In addition, J&F paid bribes worth more than $4.6 million to and for the benefit of a high-ranking executive of Fundação Petrobras de Seguridade Social (Petros), a Brazilian state-controlled pension fund in exchange for obtaining Petros’s approval for a significant merger that benefited J&F.
J&F also paid approximately $25 million in bribes to a high-ranking official in the legislative branch of the Brazilian government in order to secure hundreds of millions of dollars of financing from Caixa Econômica Federal (Caixa), a Brazilian state-owned and state-controlled bank. In furtherance of the bribery scheme, among other things, J&F executives used New York-based bank accounts to facilitate the bribery scheme and to make corrupt payments, purchased and transferred a Manhattan apartment as a bribe, and met in the United States to discuss and further aspects of the illegal scheme.
As part of the plea agreement, for a three-year period, J&F agreed to continue to cooperate with the U.S. government in any ongoing or future criminal investigations concerning J&F, its executives, employees, or agents; enhance its compliance program; and report to the government on the implementation of its enhanced compliance program.
The department reached this resolution with J&F based on a number of factors, including the company’s failure to voluntarily disclose the conduct to the department and the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offense, which included executives at the highest levels of the company and the payment of tens of millions of dollars in bribes to high-level government officials in Brazil over a period of years. The criminal monetary penalty for J&F reflects a 10 percent reduction off the bottom of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines fine range because J&F received partial credit for its remediation and cooperation with the department’s investigation.
In a related matter with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced today, a J&F majority-owned subsidiary, JBS S.A., agreed to pay the SEC disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling approximately $26,866,565.
J&F previously entered into a resolution with the Ministério Público Federal (Public Prosecutor’s Office) in Brazil relating to the same conduct that forms the basis of J&F’s plea agreement announced today. Pursuant to the Brazilian resolution, J&F agreed to pay a fine of BRL 8,000,000 (the approximate equivalent of $1,441,505,636) and to contribute BRL 2,300,000 (the approximate equivalent of $414,432,870) to social projects in Brazil. Under the J&F plea agreement announced today, the Fraud Section and the Eastern District of New York will credit up to 50 percent ($128,248,513) of the criminal penalty owed to the United States to payments J&F makes pursuant to the resolution with the Brazilian authorities. The department determined that partial crediting was appropriate based on the specific facts and circumstances of this case in light of, among other things, the company’s prior efforts to coordinate with the department and Brazilian authorities.
Pharmaceutical Companies Pay Over $400 Million to Resolve Alleged False Claims Act Liability for Price-Fixing of Generic Drugs
Three generic pharmaceutical manufacturers, Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., Sandoz Inc. and Apotex Corporation, have agreed to pay a total of $447.2 million to resolve alleged violations of the False Claims Act arising from conspiracies to fix the price of various generic drugs. These conspiracies allegedly resulted in higher drug prices for federal health care programs and beneficiaries according to the Justice Department.
The government alleges that between 2013 and 2015, all three companies paid and received compensation prohibited by the Anti-Kickback Statute through arrangements on price, supply and allocation of customers with other pharmaceutical manufacturers for certain generic drugs manufactured by the companies.
Taro Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., headquartered in New York, has agreed to pay $213.2 million. The Taro drugs allegedly implicated in this scheme address a wide variety of health conditions, and include etodolac, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used to treat pain and arthritis, and nystatin-triamcinolone cream and ointment, a combination of an antifungal medicine and steroid used to treat certain kinds of skin infections.
Sandoz Inc., headquartered in New Jersey, has agreed to pay $185 million. The Sandoz drugs at issue include benazepril HCTZ, used to treat hypertension, and clobetasol, a corticosteroid used to treat skin conditions.
Apotex Corporation, headquartered in Florida, has agreed to pay $49 million in connection with its sale of pravastatin, a drug used to treat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
“Illegal collaboration on the price or supply of drugs increases costs both to federal health care programs and beneficiaries,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The department will use every tool at its disposal to prevent such conduct and to protect these taxpayer-funded programs.”
“These civil settlements are another achievement in my office’s efforts to hold generic drug companies accountable for the consequences arising from price-fixing schemes, including the harm to federal health care programs,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “We will continue to aggressively pursue these violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute and the False Claims Act and obtain significant recoveries.”
“Conspiring to raise prices on generic medications is illegal and could prevent patients from being able to afford their needed prescription drugs. Americans have the right to purchase generic drugs set by fair and open competition, not collusion,” said Special Agent in Charge Maureen R. Dixon of the Philadelphia Regional Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG). “HHS-OIG along with our law enforcement partners will continue to investigate allegations of companies engaging in actions that put the public and the Medicare program at risk.”
In connection with its settlement agreement, each company also entered a five-year corporate integrity agreement (CIA) with OIG. The CIAs include unique internal monitoring and price transparency provisions. They also require the companies to implement compliance measures including risk assessment programs, executive recoupment provisions and compliance-related certifications from company executives and board members.
“These kickback schemes harm Medicare, Medicaid and patients,” said Chief Counsel Gregory E. Demske for the Inspector General at HHS. “The CIAs promote transparency and accountability by requiring the companies to report price-related information to OIG and mandating individual certifications by key executives involved in pricing and contracting functions.”
“Protecting TRICARE, the healthcare system for U.S. military members and their dependents, is a top priority for the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS),” said Special Agent in Charge Patrick J. Hegarty, DCIS Northeast Field Office. “When pharmaceutical corporations artificially inflate prices, they undermine the integrity of TRICARE and place an unnecessary financial burden on the program. The settlement agreements announced today are the result of a joint effort and demonstrate the ongoing commitment of DCIS to work with our law enforcement partners, DOJ Civil Frauds and the USAO-EDPA, to investigate healthcare fraud.”
The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits companies from receiving or making payments in return for arranging the sale or purchase of items such as drugs for which payment may be made by a federal health care program. These provisions are designed to ensure that the supply and price of health care items are not compromised by improper financial incentives. These settlements reflect the important role of the False Claims Act to ensure that the United States is fully compensated when it is the victim of kickbacks paid to further anticompetitive conduct.
All three companies previously entered into deferred prosecution agreements with the Antitrust Division to resolve related criminal charges. Taro paid a criminal penalty of $205.6 million and admitted to conspiring with two other generic drug companies to fix prices on certain generic drugs. Sandoz paid a criminal penalty of $195 million and admitted to conspiring with four other generic drug companies to fix prices on certain generic drugs. Apotex paid a criminal penalty of $24.1 million and admitted to conspiring to increase and maintain the price on pravastatin. The civil settlement payments announced today are in addition to the criminal penalties paid by the companies.
Today’s civil settlements are the third, fourth and fifth arising from this investigation and were handled by the Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch (Fraud Section) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania with support from the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Defense Health Agency Program Integrity Office, DCIS and the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Four Detroit-Area Physicians Found Guilty of Health Care Fraud Charges for Role in Over $150 Million Health Care Fraud Scheme
A federal jury found four Detroit-area physicians guilty today of health care fraud charges for their roles in a scheme to administer unnecessary back injections to patients in exchange for prescriptions of over 6.6 million doses of medically unnecessary opioids. Patients were required to get the injections in order to get the prescriptions, some of which were resold on the street by drug dealers, the evidence at trial showed.
After a four-week trial, Spilios Pappas, 62, of Lucas County, Ohio, Joseph Betro, 59, of Oakland County, Michigan, Tariq Omar, 62, of Oakland County, Michigan, and Mohammed Zahoor, 53, of Oakland County, Michigan, were each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, and one count of health care fraud. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 16 for Pappas, July 17 for Betro, July 24 for Zahoor and July 30 for Omar before Chief U.S. District Judge Denise Page Hood of the Eastern District of Michigan, who presided over the trial. Seventeen other defendants, including eight other doctors, previously pled guilty in connection with the investigation.
“These physicians subjected patients to medically unnecessary injections to reap millions in fraudulent billings. Worse still, they incentivized those treatments by offering opioid prescriptions in sky-high dosages meant for the terminally ill,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s verdict shows that the Department will root out physicians who let dollar signs rather than medical need drive their treatment of patients.”
“These doctors sought to enrich themselves by performing unnecessary back injections in exchange for highly addictive opioids, violating their Hippocratic Oath to do no harm,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider of the Eastern District of Michigan. “Our office will continue to prioritize the prosecution of doctors whose criminal behavior puts patients at risk.”
“Physicians take an oath that obligates them to do no harm to their patients. These four men willingly broke that oath – by providing unnecessary drugs and conducting unnecessary procedures – solely to line their pockets,” said Special Agent in Charge Steven M. D’Antuono of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office. “This guilty verdict sends a message to any doctor or healthcare professional who prioritizes profit or does harm to their patients under the guise of providing health care will be subject to the full investigative resources of the FBI and our law enforcement partners.”
“The public trusts that physicians will put patients’ health and safety first. These defendants violated that trust in pursuit of their own financial gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General Chicago Region. “The OIG takes matters of this nature very seriously and will continue to work with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to hold individuals who commit these kinds of criminal acts accountable.”
According to evidence presented at trial, from 2008 to 2016, Pappas, Betro, Omar and Zahoor worked at numerous medical clinics in Michigan and Ohio, which were operated under the name of the Tri-County Group (Tri-County) and owned by co-conspirator Mashiyat Rashid. While the defendants worked at Tri-County, they engaged in a scheme to defraud Medicare of over $150 million by billing for medically unnecessary facet joint injections, unnecessary urinary drug screens, home health and a myriad of other unneeded ancillary services. The evidence showed that patients, some of whom were suffering from legitimate pain and others of whom were drug dealers or opioid addicts, were offered prescriptions of oxycodone 30 mg by the defendants, but were forced to submit to unnecessary facet injections in exchange for the prescriptions.
Testimony at trial established that the patients experienced more pain from the shots, in some case, than from the pain they had purportedly come to have treated, and that some patients developed adverse conditions, including open holes in their back. Patients, including patients who were addicted to opioids, who told the doctors that they did not want, need or benefit from the injections, were denied medication by the defendants and their co-conspirators until they agreed to submit to the expensive and unnecessary injections.
The evidence further established that the defendants repeatedly performed these unnecessary injections on patients, as Tri-County was paid more for facet joint injections than any other medical clinic in the United States. The four defendants were all ranked in the top 25 doctors for dollars paid by Medicare for facet joint injections, even though they only worked a few hours a week. The defendants practice was described during trial as an assembly line, where the four defendants earned anywhere from $1,100 to $3,500 an hour for performing the same injections on nearly every patient.
In addition to the unnecessary injections, the defendants signed a standing order for urine tests for each patient and for every visit to be sent to National Laboratories, also owned by Rashid, in exchange for tens of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks, the evidence showed. The evidence further established that the physicians performed a quantitative test for 56 different drugs for every patient at every visit, regardless of whether the patients presented any reason for the test.
The evidence further established that the physicians provided prescriptions for narcotics, including opioids and benzodiazepines, as an incentive to patients who received the injections. Moreover, the evidence established that the dosage of opioids being provided to patients was suitable only for terminally ill cancer patients. Evidence from Michigan Automated Prescription System showed that the four defendants were among some of the top prescribers of oxycodone 30mg in the state of Michigan.
In 2015, Pappas was the number seven prescriber of oxycodone 30mg in the state of Michigan; Betro 18; Omar 16; and Zahoor 38 the evidence showed. At trial, oxycodone 30mg was described as the “gold standard” of drugs diverted to illegal purposes on the street. Evidence showed that all four defendants were in the top 40 out of 50,000 Michigan prescribers even though they had conspired with Rashid to “stay under the radar” of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration by working only a few hours a week. The doctors would see anywhere from 15-25 patients in a two to four hour shift, and then bill Medicare for office visits and procedure codes suggesting that they spent as much as two hours and 22 minutes with each patient. Every piece of the fraud was consistently implemented and applied to over 94 percent of the patients in the clinic.
Vermont Man Pleads Guilty to Hiring A Person to Kidnap and Kill an Individual in a Foreign Country and Child Pornography Charges
A Vermont man pleaded guilty today to hiring a woman in Venezuela to kidnap an adult male and make a video of the man being beaten, tortured, and suffocated to death, and to conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of child pornography.
According to court documents, Sean Fiore, 37, was arrested in May 2019, as part of an operation conducted by Vermont’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (VT-ICAC) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). VT-ICAC and HSI executed search warrants in one week on 15 residences based on cyber tips received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and leads developed through undercover investigation.
Fiore’s digital media, seized and searched by law enforcement, revealed that he paid a woman in Venezuela $4,000 to kidnap, torture, and murder a “slave” in Venezuela. According to the indictment, Fiore provided specific instructions about what he wanted, which included beating, burning with a cigarette, urinating and defecating on, and suffocating the so-called slave to death. Fiore requested a video of the torture and murder, which the woman sent to him over the internet.
According to the plea agreement, Fiore’s digital media also revealed that he paid the same woman $600 to create a video of her inflicting sexually motivated sadistic abuse on a child. The woman also created that video and sent it to Fiore online. In addition, Fiore possessed other images and videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, including sexual intercourse and sadistic abuse.
Fiore pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to kidnap or murder a person in a foreign country, conspiracy to produce child pornography, and possession of child pornography. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 1, 2022, and faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison, and up to life. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The woman who sent Fiore the videos, co-defendant Moraima Escarlet Vasquez Flores, is charged with conspiracy to murder and kidnap a person in a foreign country, conspiracy to produce child pornography, production of child pornography, and aiding and abetting the receipt of child pornography. Vasquez Flores was arrested in Colombia pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice on Sept. 18, 2020. The United States is seeking her extradition from Colombia to the United States to face these charges. An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Barbara Masterson of the District of Vermont, Trial Attorney Patrick Jasperse of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, and Trial Attorney Eduardo Palomo of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section are prosecuting the case with the assistance of the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.
Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Depriving George Floyd and a Minor Victim of Their Constitutional Rights
The Justice Department announced today that Derek Chauvin, 45, pleaded guilty in federal court to two violations of a federal civil rights statute.
First, defendant Chauvin pleaded guilty to willfully depriving, while acting under color of law, George Floyd of his constitutional rights, resulting in Mr. Floyd’s bodily injury and death. Defendant Chauvin also agreed that the appropriate sentencing base offense level for this crime is second-degree murder because he used unreasonable and excessive force that resulted in Mr. Floyd’s death, and he acted willfully and in callous and wanton disregard of the consequences to Mr. Floyd’s life.
Second, defendant Chauvin pleaded guilty to willfully depriving, while acting under color of law, a then 14-year-old juvenile of his constitutional rights, resulting in the juvenile’s bodily injury.
“Defendant Chauvin has pleaded guilty to two federal civil rights violations, one of which led to the tragic loss of George Floyd’s life,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “While recognizing that nothing can repair the harm caused by such acts, the Justice Department is committed to holding accountable those who violate the Constitution, and to safeguarding the civil rights of all Americans.”
In the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin admitted that on May 25, 2020, he willfully violated Mr. Floyd’s constitutional right to be free from an officer’s use of unreasonable force. Specifically, defendant Chauvin admitted that he held his left knee across Mr. Floyd’s neck, back and shoulder and his right knee on Mr. Floyd’s back and arm. The plea agreement states that Mr. Floyd remained restrained, prone and handcuffed on the ground for approximately 10 minutes. Defendant Chauvin further admitted that he continued to use force even though he was aware that Mr. Floyd had stopped resisting, talking and moving, and even though he was aware that Mr. Floyd had lost consciousness and a pulse.
Defendant Chauvin admitted that Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) policy and training requires officers to stop using force when a subject is not resisting and to move an arrestee from the prone position into a side recovery or seated position because the prone position may make it more difficult to breathe. Defendant Chauvin admitted that his willful use of unreasonable force resulted in Mr. Floyd’s bodily injury and death because his actions impaired Mr. Floyd’s ability to obtain and maintain sufficient oxygen to sustain Mr. Floyd’s life.
In the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin also admitted that he willfully violated Mr. Floyd’s constitutional right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law, which includes an arrestee’s right to be free from a police officer’s deliberate indifference to his serious medical needs. Specifically, defendant Chauvin admitted that he failed to render medical aid to Mr. Floyd, although he saw that Mr. Floyd was lying on the ground, in serious medical need, and although he was aware that MPD policy required him to provide emergency medical aid, including CPR, to an arrestee who needs it. Defendant Chauvin admitted that his failure to render medical aid resulted in Mr. Floyd’s bodily injury and death.
Additionally, according to the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin admitted that on Sept. 4, 2017, he willfully violated a then 14-year-old juvenile’s constitutional right to be free from an officer’s use of unreasonable force. Specifically, defendant Chauvin admitted that he held the juvenile by the throat and struck the juvenile multiple times in the head with a flashlight, resulting in the juvenile’s bodily injury. In the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin also admitted that he held his knee on the juvenile’s neck, shoulders and upper back for between 15 and 16 minutes, even though the juvenile was face-down on the floor, handcuffed and not resisting. Defendant Chauvin admitted that these actions resulted in the juvenile’s bodily injury.
Defendant Chauvin pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Court Senior Judge Paul A. Magnuson. Defendant Chauvin will be sentenced at a hearing to be scheduled at a later date. According to the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin faces a sentence of between 20- and 25-years imprisonment. Under the terms of the plea agreement, defendant Chauvin will serve his sentence in federal custody and will not be eligible to work in any law enforcement capacity following his release.
Company Convicted of Violating Court Ordered Environmental Compliance Program - Princess Cruise Lines Pleads Guilty to Second Revocation of Probation
Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. (Princess) has pleaded guilty to a second violation of probation imposed as a result of its 2017 criminal conviction for environmental crimes because it failed to establish and maintain an independent internal investigative office.
Under the terms of a plea agreement, Princess was ordered to pay an additional $1 million criminal fine and required to undertake remedial measures to ensure that it and its parent Carnival Cruise Lines & plc establish and maintain the independent internal investigative office known as the Incident Analysis Group (IAG).
Princess was convicted and sentenced in April 2017 and fined $40 million after pleading guilty to felony charges stemming from its deliberate dumping of oil-contaminated waste from one of its vessels and intentional acts to cover it up. This was and remains the largest-ever criminal fine for intentional pollution from ships. While serving five years of probation, all Carnival-related cruise line vessels trading in U.S. ports were required to comply with a court approved and supervised environmental compliance plan (ECP), including audits by an outside and independent third-party auditor (TPA) and oversight by a Court Appointed Monitor (CAM).
In 2019, Princess was convicted of six violations of probation, fined an additional $20 million, and required to undertake more remedial measures. In that case, two of the violations involved interfering with the court’s supervision of probation by sending undisclosed teams to ships to prepare them for the independent inspections required during probation. Documents filed in court showed that one purpose of the vessel visit programs was to avoid adverse findings by the independent outside auditors working on behalf of the court.
Beginning with the first year of probation, there have been repeated findings that the Company’s internal investigation program was and is inadequate. In November 2021, the Office of Probation issued a petition to revoke probation after adverse findings by the CAM and TPA.
In an October 2021 letter to U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Seitz, the CAM and TPA concluded that the continuing failure “reflects a deeper barrier: a culture that seeks to minimize or avoid information that is negative, uncomfortable, or threatening to the company, including to top leadership (i.e., the Board of Directors, C-Suite executives and Brand Presidents/CEOs).”
A joint factual basis for today’s guilty plea was submitted to the court in which Princess and Carnival admitted to the failure to establish and maintain an independent investigative office. Princess admitted that internal investigators had not been allowed to determine the scope of their investigations, and that draft internal investigations had been impacted and delayed by management.
Changes required under a plea agreement with the Department of Justice resolving the probation violation include:
“This case shows the importance of addressing issues of corporate culture and structure, and the root causes of environmental non-compliance,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “This was a serious and ongoing violation of probation that reflected Carnival’s failure to prioritize compliance with court orders. I thank the court, the Office of Probation, court appointed monitor and third-party auditor for the close attention that they have devoted to this important matter.”
“Just like individual defendants, corporate defendants must also comply with court orders. They are not above the law”, said U.S. Attorney Juan Antonio Gonzalez for the Southern District of Florida. “The corporate defendant here ignored the court, choosing instead to thwart the compliance plan that was put in place to protect our environment. As this probation violation proceeding demonstrates, the government will not tolerate defendant’s blatant violation of court orders.”
Texas Couple Sentenced to a Combined 140 Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Produce Child Pornography and Other Crimes Against Children
A husband and wife from Big Spring, Texas, were sentenced today to a combined 140 years in prison for crimes against multiple children.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S Attorney Erin Nealy Cox of the Northern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Ryan L. Spradlin of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the announcement.
Christopher James Regan, 38, a former shipping logistics manager, was sentenced to 90 years in prison after pleading guilty in October 2019 to conspiracy to produce child pornography and two counts of producing child pornography. Tanya Marie Regan, 35, was sentenced to 50 years in prison after her October 2019 guilty plea to conspiracy to produce child pornography and possession of prepubescent child pornography. The sentences, which were imposed by U.S. District Judge Mark T. Pittman of the Northern District of Texas, also included lifetime terms of supervised release for both defendants.
According to court documents, Christopher and Tanya Regan sexually abused and produced child pornography of multiple children, and they possessed and distributed child pornography to one another as well. The Regans also engaged in graphic discussions about the sexual abuse of children over several online platforms.
In plea papers, the pair admitted that at Christopher Regan’s direction, Tanya Regan repeatedly videotaped herself sexually abusing children for Christopher Regan’s sexual gratification.
HSI’s San Angelo, Texas, office, the Howard County Sheriff’s Office and the High Technology Investigative Unit within the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) investigated the case. Substantial assistance was provide by the HSI offices in Lubbock and Tyler, Texas, Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office, Texas Department of Public Safety, and the National Center for Mission and Exploited Children. Trial Attorney Kyle P. Reynolds of CEOS and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ann Howey and Jeffrey R. Haag prosecuted the case along with former Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell H. Lorfing.
Warrant and Complaint Seek Seizure of All Iranian Gasoil Aboard Four Tankers Headed to Venezuela Based on Connection to IRGC
A forfeiture complaint and warrant were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that all petroleum-product cargo aboard the Bella with international maritime organization (IMO) number 9208124, the Bering with IMO number 9149225, the Pandi with IMO number 9105073, and the Luna with IMO number 9208100 are subject to forfeiture based on the terrorism forfeiture statute.
John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General, National Security Division; Michael R. Sherwin, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Steven W. Cagen, Special Agent in Charge, Denver, Colorado, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Rainer S. Drolshagen, Special Agent in Charge, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement today.
The documents allege a scheme involving multiple parties affiliated with the IRGC to covertly ship Iranian gasoil, obtained via ship-to-ship transfers, to Venezuela. The shipments are alleged to be a “source of influence” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. The documents allege that profits from petroleum sales support the IRGC’s full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad.
There are approximately 302,502 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Bella, approximately 302,522 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Bering, approximately 259,700 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Luna, and approximately 298,484 barrels of Iranian gasoline currently on board the Pandi. United States District Judge James E. Boasberg issued a warrant to seize all Iranian gasoline on these four vessels, based on a probable cause showing of forfeitability. The warrant commands the property to be brought to the sole jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
Researcher Pleaded Guilty to Conspiring to Steal Scientific Trade Secrets from Ohio Children’s Hospital to Sell in China.
Crime is Another Example of Economic Malfeasance Related to the Peoples Republic of China Accommodating Theft of Commercial Products They Cannot Field Organically.
Former Ohio woman Li Chen, 46, pleaded guilty today via video conference in U.S. District Court today to conspiring to steal scientific trade secrets and conspiring to commit wire fraud concerning the research, identification and treatment of a range of pediatric medical conditions.
“Once again we see the People’s Republic of China (PRC) facilitating the theft of our nation’s ingenuity and hard work as part of their quest to rob, replicate and replace any product they don’t have the ability to develop themselves,” said John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “Far from being an isolated incident, we see the PRC implicated in around 60 percent of all trade secret theft cases. This continued economic belligerence runs contrary to the values and norms that facilitate the success of our industries and countering it remains among our highest priorities.”
“Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Research Institute took reasonable measures to protect its cutting-edge intellectual property and trade secrets regarding exosomes, and I commend the cooperation of Nationwide Children’s throughout this investigation,” U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers said. “Chen betrayed her employer of 10 years by stealing trade secrets from this American institution and transferring them to China after receiving payments from the Chinese government.”
“Li Chen was a trusted researcher at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, conducting cutting-edge U.S. government-funded research,” stated FBI Cincinnati Special Agent in Charge Chris Hoffman. “With her guilty plea, she admits that she abused this trust to establish a company in China for her own financial gain. The FBI is committed to working closely with partners such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital to protect the innovations that make America a world leader in science and technology.”
Chen admitted to stealing scientific trade secrets related to exosomes and exosome isolation from Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Research Institute for her own personal financial gain.
Chen and her husband, alleged co-conspirator Yu Zhou, 49, worked in separate medical research labs at the Research Institute for 10 years each (Zhou from 2007 until 2017 and Chen from 2008 until 2018). They are charged with conspiring to steal at least five trade secrets related to exosome research from Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Exosomes play a key role in the research, identification and treatment of a range of medical conditions, including necrotizing enterocolitis (a condition found in premature babies), liver fibrosis and liver cancer.
According to her plea agreement, Chen conspired to steal and then monetize one of the trade secrets by creating and selling exosome “isolation kits.”
Chen admitted to starting a company in China to sell the kits. Chen received benefits from the Chinese government, including the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Chen also applied to multiple Chinese government talent plans, a method used by China to transfer foreign research and technology to the Chinese government.
As part of her plea, Chen has agreed to forfeit approximately $1.4 million, 500,000 shares of common stock of Avalon GloboCare Corp. and 400 shares of common stock of GenExosome Technologies Inc.
Chen and Zhou were arrested in California in July 2019 and their case was unsealed in August 2019 when they appeared in federal court in Columbus.
Tennessee Man Ordered Removed to Germany Based on Service as Concentration Camp Guard During WWII
A U.S. Immigration Judge in Memphis, Tennessee, has issued a removal order against a German citizen and Tennessee resident, on the basis of his service in Nazi Germany in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system (Neuengamme).
After a two-day trial, U.S. Immigration Judge Rebecca L. Holt issued an opinion finding Friedrich Karl Berger removable under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act because his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place” constituted assistance in Nazi-sponsored persecution. The court found that Berger served at a Neuengamme sub-camp near Meppen, Germany, and that the prisoners there included “Jews, Poles, Russians, Danes, Dutch, Latvians, French, Italians, and political opponents” of the Nazis. The largest groups of prisoners were Russian, Dutch and Polish civilians.
Judge Holt found that Meppen prisoners were held during the winter of 1945 in “atrocious” conditions and were exploited for outdoor forced labor, working, as at other Nazi camps, “to the point of exhaustion and death.” The court further found, and Berger admitted, that he guarded prisoners to prevent them from escaping during their dawn-to-dusk workday, and on their way to the worksites and also on their way back to the subcamp in the evening.
At the end of March 1945, with the advance of British and Canadian forces, the Nazis abandoned Meppen. The court found that Berger helped guard the prisoners during their forcible evacuation to the Neuengamme main camp – a nearly two-week trip under inhumane conditions, which claimed the lives of some 70 prisoners. The decision also cited Berger’s admission that he never requested a transfer from concentration camp guard service and that he continues to receive a pension from Germany based on his employment in Germany, “including his wartime service.”
“Berger was part of the SS machinery of oppression that kept concentration camp prisoners in atrocious conditions of confinement,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division. “This ruling shows the Department's continued commitment to obtaining a measure of justice, however late, for the victims of wartime Nazi persecution.”
“This case is but one example of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s commitment to ensuring that the United States will not serve as a safe haven for human rights violators and war criminals,” said Assistant Director David C. Shaw of U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), National Security Investigations Division, who oversees the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. “We will continue to pursue these types of cases so that justice may be served.”
In 1946, British occupation authorities in Germany charged SS Obersturmführer Hans Griem, who had headed the Meppen sub-camps, and other Meppen personnel with war crimes for “ill-treatment and murder of Allied nationals.” Although Griem escaped before trial, the British court tried and convicted the three remaining defendants of war crimes in 1947.
The removal case was jointly tried by Eli Rosenbaum, HRSP Director of Human Rights Enforcement and Policy, HRSP Senior Trial Attorney Susan Masling and ICE New Orleans, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (Memphis), with assistance from HRSP Chief Historian Jeffrey S. Richter. The investigation was initiated by the HRSP and was conducted in partnership with HSI’s Nashville SAC office.
Since the 1979 inception of the Justice Department’s program to detect, investigate, and remove Nazi persecutors, it has won cases against 109 individuals. Over the past 30 years, the Justice Department has won more cases against persons who participated in Nazi persecution than have the law enforcement authorities of all the other countries in the world combined. HRSP’s case against Berger was part of its ongoing efforts to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals who engaged in genocide, torture, war crimes, recruitment or use of child soldiers, female genital mutilation, and other serious human rights violations. HRSP attorneys prosecuted the first torture case brought in the United States and have successfully prosecuted criminal cases against perpetrators of human rights violations in Guatemala, Ethiopia, Liberia, Cuba, and the former Yugoslavia, among others.
Americas best.
The Los Angeles Police Department LAPD does a Magnificent Job
Petrofilm Europe thanks the Los Angeles Police Department and its brave men and women. Officer from the LAPD, left, shakes hand with Petrofilm's Editor-in-Chief Harald Dahle-Sladek, Griffith Park Los Angeles California, June 1994.
The LAPD is a highly professional organization. The people working there do a tremendously professional and good job every day. In the blitz of the news coverages, these fine men and women tend to be somewhat hidden in the background. But they are there, the judicial law and order; backbone of the beacon of the free world, the United States of America.
Click picture Play video
LAPD: Empathy Respect Dignity
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland's
Readout of Participation in the Virtual Ministerial with Home Affairs Ministers of the G6 Countries
24.3.21
Earlier today, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland met virtually with the Home Affairs Ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom to advance cooperation against transnational crime, terrorism, and malign foreign interference. During the constructive dialogue, leaders discussed enhancing international sharing of law enforcement information, including through INTERPOL, and also addressed particular threats such as online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and trafficking and smuggling of humans. The ministerial was the Attorney General’s first international engagement in office.
U.S. Attorney General Garland was joined by U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The meeting was hosted and chaired by United Kingdom Home Secretary Priti Patel. Other G6 attendees included French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, Italian Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński, Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, EU Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, and EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
Attorney General Garland addresses officials of the G6 Countries
Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen
14.1.2021
Attends Security Briefing at FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center on Inauguration Planning and Recent Capitol Attack.
Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen attended a briefing today at the FBI’s Strategic Information and Operations Center (SIOC) on the recent attack on the Capitol building and law enforcement preparations for the upcoming presidential inauguration. Following the briefing, he addressed the assembled law enforcement partners and thanked them for their efforts.
“Americans can be proud of the effort the men and women of the Justice Department and our federal, state, and local partners have made in the days since the attack on the Capitol building,”
said Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
“As I have said repeatedly, our efforts at investigating the wrongdoing of that day are continuing around the clock and we are fully committed to hold those who engaged in criminal acts accountable. Simultaneously, security preparations for the presidential inauguration and peaceful transfer of power continue and we will have absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for any attempts to disrupt any aspect of the inauguration or associated events leading up to, on, and following January 20.”
During the SIOC visit, Rosen was briefed by federal, state, and local partners on specifics of the security plans for this week and next. Following that security briefing, Mr. Rosen met with a team of FBI leaders for another update on the investigations concerning the attack on the Capitol building.
To date, approximately 80 cases have been charged and 34 individuals have been arrested for their alleged criminal conduct during the attack on the Capitol Building. The FBI has opened approximately 200 subject case files and received about 140,000 digital media tips from the public. Notably, many of the tips are coming from friends, co-workers and other acquaintances of those allegedly involved in the attack.
The Department also launched a new online service for the public and media to track defendants charged with criminal offenses related to the Capitol attack. The link is at Investigations Regarding Violence at the Capitol (justice.gov).
Following arrests, or surrender, defendants will appear before district court magistrate/judge where the arrest takes place, in accordance with the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and prosecution will be by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Danske Bank Pleads Guilty to Fraud on U.S. Banks in Multi-Billion Dollar Scheme to Access the U.S. Financial System
Largest Bank in Denmark Agrees to Forfeit $2 Billion
Danske Bank A/S (Danske Bank), a global financial institution headquartered in Denmark, pleaded guilty today and agreed to forfeit $2 billion to resolve the United States’ investigation into Danske Bank’s fraud on U.S. banks.
According to court documents, Danske Bank defrauded U.S. banks regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and anti-money laundering controls to facilitate access to the U.S. financial system for Danske Bank Estonia’s high-risk customers, who resided outside of Estonia – including in Russia. The Justice Department will credit nearly $850 million in payments that Danske Bank makes to resolve related parallel investigations by other domestic and foreign authorities.
“Today’s guilty plea by Danske Bank and two-billion-dollar penalty demonstrate that the Department of Justice will fiercely guard the integrity of the U.S. financial system from tainted foreign money – Russian or otherwise,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Whether you are a U.S. or foreign bank, if you use the U.S. financial system, you must comply with our laws. We expect companies to invest in robust compliance programs – including at newly acquired or far-flung subsidiaries – and to step up and own up to misconduct when it occurs. Failure to do so may well be a one-way ticket to a multi-billion-dollar guilty plea.”
“Danske Bank lied to U.S. banks about its deficient anti-money laundering systems, inadequate transaction monitoring capabilities, and its high-risk, offshore customer base in order to gain unlawful access to the U.S. financial system,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today, Danske Bank accepted responsibility for defrauding U.S. financial institutions and funneling billions of dollars in suspicious and criminal transactions through the United States. As part of its guilty plea, Danske Bank will forfeit over $2 billion and implement significant changes to its compliance program and AML controls. This coordinated resolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Danish authorities sends a clear message that the Department of Justice stands ready to work with our partners around the world to investigate corporate wrongdoing and hold bad actors accountable for their criminal conduct.”
“For years, Danske Bank lied and deceived U.S. banks to pump billions of dollars of suspicious and criminal funds through the U.S. financial system,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York. “In doing so, Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark, deliberately disregarded U.S. law of which it is well aware, facilitated the laundering of criminal and suspicious proceeds through the United States, and placed the U.S. financial network at risk, all in the name of its bottom line. The bank is now being held to account. For its years-long criminal conduct, today Danske Bank pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud, will forfeit over $2 billion, and will implement and maintain a revamped compliance program and AML controls. Banks and other financial institutions around the world should heed this message: If you want to use the U.S. financial system, you must play by the rules. If you don’t, we will hold you accountable.”
“Danske Bank’s guilty plea for defrauding U.S. banks should serve as a stark warning to others that we will uncover the truth and deliver accountability,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “The FBI, working with international partners, will vigorously investigate any institution, wherever based, which is engaged in manipulating U.S. financial systems to enable money laundering. The FBI remains committed to safeguarding our national and economic security from threats which could cause harm to American institutions.”
According to admissions and court documents, between 2008 and 2016, Danske Bank offered banking services through its branch in Estonia, Danske Bank Estonia. Danske Bank Estonia had a lucrative business line serving non-resident customers known as the NRP. Danske Bank Estonia attracted NRP customers by ensuring that they could transfer large amounts of money through Danske Bank Estonia with little, if any, oversight. Danske Bank Estonia employees conspired with NRP customers to shield the true nature of their transactions, including by using shell companies that obscured actual ownership of the funds. Access to the U.S. financial system via the U.S. banks was critical to Danske Bank and its NRP customers, who relied on access to U.S. banks to process U.S. dollar transactions. Danske Bank Estonia processed $160 billion through U.S. banks on behalf of the NRP.
U.S. banks required Danske Bank and Danske Bank Estonia to provide information to open and maintain accounts, including information related to anti-money laundering (AML) controls, transaction monitoring, and customers. Danske Bank knew that the U.S. banks expected honest, complete, and accurate responses and that the U.S. banks would not maintain, or open, U.S. dollar accounts for Danske Bank Estonia without the required information.
By at least February 2014, as a result of internal audits, information from regulators, and an internal whistleblower, Danske Bank knew that some NRP customers were engaged in highly suspicious and potentially criminal transactions, including transactions through U.S. banks. Danske Bank also knew that Danske Bank Estonia’s anti-money laundering program and procedures did not meet Danske Bank’s standards and were not appropriate to meet the risks associated with the NRP. Instead of providing the U.S. banks with truthful information, Danske Bank lied about the state of Danske Bank Estonia’s AML compliance program, transaction monitoring capabilities, and information regarding Danske Bank Estonia’s customers and their risk profile.
Today, Danske Bank pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the company has agreed to criminal forfeiture of $2.059 billion. Danske Bank will also enter into separate criminal or civil resolutions with domestic and foreign authorities and the department will credit approximately $850 million in payments the bank makes to the SEC and the Danish authorities.
The department reached its resolution with Danske Bank based on a number of factors, including the nature, seriousness, and pervasiveness of the offense conduct. This included a bank fraud conspiracy in which Danske Bank misled U.S. banks in order to maintain and in one case open U.S. dollar accounts through which Danske Bank processed $160 billion for its non-resident customers; the bank’s failure to voluntarily and timely disclose the conduct to the department; the state of Danske Bank’s compliance program and the progress of its remediation; the bank’s resolutions with other domestic and foreign authorities, including the imposition of an independent expert by Danish authorities; and the bank’s continued cooperation with the department’s ongoing investigation. Danske Bank received full credit for cooperation and remediation because it provided full cooperation with the investigation and demonstrated recognition and affirmative acceptance of responsibility for its criminal conduct, including by, among other things, providing substantial information from its internal investigation, voluntarily and expediently producing a significant amount of documents located outside the United States in ways that did not implicate foreign data privacy laws, making foreign witnesses available for interviews, collecting and producing voluminous evidence and information including with translations where necessary, and providing detailed analysis of complex, cross-border transactions. Danske Bank has also enhanced and committed to continue improving its compliance programs and has agreed to the appointment of an independent expert selected by its regulator.
Additionally, the SEC announced a separate settlement with Danske Bank today in connection with a related, parallel proceeding. Under the terms of that resolution, Danske Bank agreed to pay approximately $413 million, which includes a civil monetary penalty of $178.6 million, as well as disgorgement that will be credited to any such payments made to the Danish authorities or the department in connection with Danske Bank’s guilty plea.
The FBI is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Margaret A. Moeser and Patrick B. Gushue of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tara M. La Morte and Sheb Swett for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance in this case.
The department appreciates the significant assistance provided by the SEC and the authorities in Denmark. The department further appreciates the assistance provided by authorities in Estonia in response to multiple Mutual Legal Assistance requests.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks to Announce Landmark Agreement with City and Police Department Ending ‘Crime-Free’ Rental Housing Program in Hesperia, California
Hello. My name is Kristen Clarke, and I am the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. It is my honor to be joined today by U.S. Attorney E. Martin Estrada for the Central District of California.
Every person in this country is entitled to seek and access housing, free from discrimination. Yet the recent rise of so-called “crime-free” ordinances threaten this promise for far too many people. “Crime-free” ordinances are policies that often encourage or require landlords to evict tenant – and their families – based on alleged criminal activity, even if the offense is minor, or even in the absence of any arrest, charge or conviction. By some estimates, approximately 2,000 communities across at least 48 states have enacted some form of a “crime-free” program. Generally, these programs do not promote public safety. Rather, they have sometimes been enacted in response to growing racial diversity in communities.
These programs may result in racial exclusion and reinforce racial residential segregation, thus undermining the goals of the Fair Housing Act and other federal civil rights laws. Indeed, these “crime free” programs often amplify the stark, documented racial disparities across our criminal legal system – in which, for example, Black individuals are arrested at five times the rate of white people – and bring those disparities to bear in the housing market. These programs can uproot lives and destabilize communities; often unjustly forcing people into homelessness and resulting in lost jobs, schooling and opportunities.
Hesperia, California, enacted one such “crime-free” rental housing program in 2015. And today, I am pleased to announce that the Justice Department has filed a consent order to resolve allegations of race and national origin discrimination by the City of Hesperia and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department related to the adoption and enforcement of that program. Today’s consent order resolves a 2019 federal lawsuit brought by the Justice Department that alleged that the City of Hesperia’s “crime-free” ordinance violated the Fair Housing Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This landmark agreement is historic: it is the Justice Department’s first settlement in a case challenging a “crime-free” ordinance and results in the full repeal of the program and nearly $1 million in monetary commitments. U.S. Attorney Estrada, our partner in this matter, will discuss the specific provisions of the settlement in greater detail shortly.
Let me now share a little bit more about this case.
Our lawsuit alleged that the City of Hesperia, with substantial support from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, enacted and enforced its ordinance to drive Black and Latinx renters out of their homes and out of Hesperia, and to discourage Black and Latinx applicants from moving to Hesperia. One City Councilmember said the purpose of the program was “to correct a demographical problem,” and that the people to be targeted by the ordinance were “no addition and of no value to this community, period.” Another City Councilmember explained that the ordinance’s purpose was to get landlords to remove “blight” from their rental units, and compared it to “call[ing] an exterminator out to kill roaches.” As our complaint makes clear, Hesperia’s ordinance was a blatantly discriminatory solution to a problem that didn’t exist.
Hesperia’s “crime free” program required all rental property owners to evict tenants that the Sheriff’s Department reported engaged in any purported “criminal activity” on or near the rental property – regardless of whether those allegations resulted in an arrest, charge or conviction. This meant evictions of entire families for conduct involving one tenant or even guests or estranged family members, evictions of survivors of domestic violence, and evictions in the absence of concrete evidence of criminal activity. The program also required all landlords to screen potential tenants through the Sheriff’s Department for any “violations” of the rules of the program in the past.
The program entrusted the Sheriff’s Department with tremendous power, latitude and discretion, all of which was used to disrupt the lives of Hesperia’s residents, many of whom were Black and Latinx. As our lawsuit sets forth, in enforcing the “crime-free” program, the Sheriff’s Department targeted Black and Latinx individuals and neighborhoods. Indeed, Black renters were almost four times more likely, and Latinx renters 29% more likely, to be evicted under the program than white renters.
Though Hesperia later made participation in the program voluntary, the key features of the program remained.
The program had real and devastating impacts on families across the City of Hesperia.
For example, a Black woman living in Hesperia called the police repeatedly to come to her home because she did not feel safe with her boyfriend. The Sheriff’s Department notified her landlord about the numerous domestic disturbance calls and threatened the landlord with a misdemeanor. The landlord then forced the woman and her children out of their home. With nowhere to go, the family moved into a motel and attempted to rent another home in Hesperia, but the applications were repeatedly denied. Unable to rent another home for her family in Hesperia, she was forced to uproot her life, leave a house full of furniture behind, and move across the country.
Another woman was similarly forced out of her home after she called 911 to get medical assistance for her boyfriend, which landed her on the Sheriff Department’s violators list.
And one family was torn apart after a mother’s call to the police for help got them kicked out of their home and placed on the same violators list, making it impossible to find another rental in Hesperia. The parents moved away and made the impossible decision to leave their teenage daughter behind to finish high school.
These examples are neither isolated nor unique, and they highlight the ways the program harmed families without advancing public safety. As previously noted, the use of such “crime-free” ordinances is not limited to the City of Hesperia. We hope today’s settlement send a strong message to other jurisdictions with “crime-free” programs across the country, letting them know that they will be held accountable if their programs are discriminatory.
We encourage municipalities and law enforcement agencies to proactively assess their “crime-free” programs to determine whether they are unlawfully targeting communities of color or otherwise violating federal law. Indeed, in addition to the Fair Housing Act, many of these programs may raise concerns under the recently-amended Violence Against Women Act, which prohibits the eviction of tenants because of their requests for assistance from law enforcement, whether or not the requests are related to domestic violence. Jurisdictions should be embracing diversity, not resorting to racist presumptions, stereotypes, or illegal tactics to drive people out. The Justice Department will continue to fight discriminatory and unlawful “crime-free” ordinances and work to ensure that everyone – regardless of criminal background and life experience – has fair and equal access to housing.
I will now turn it over to U.S. Attorney Estrada.
Lab Owner Convicted in $463 Million Genetic Testing Scheme to Defraud Medicare
A federal jury in the Southern District of Florida convicted a Georgia man today for his role in a scheme to defraud Medicare by submitting over $463 million in genetic and other laboratory tests that patients did not need and that were procured through the payment of kickbacks.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Minal Patel, 44, of Atlanta, owned LabSolutions LLC (LabSolutions), a lab enrolled with Medicare that performed sophisticated genetic tests. Patel conspired with patient brokers, telemedicine companies, and call centers to target Medicare beneficiaries with telemarketing calls falsely stating that Medicare covered expensive cancer genetic tests. After the Medicare beneficiaries agreed to take a test, Patel paid kickbacks and bribes to patient brokers to obtain signed doctors’ orders authorizing the tests from telemedicine companies. To conceal the kickbacks, Patel required patient brokers to sign contracts that falsely stated that they were performing legitimate advertising services for LabSolutions.
The telemedicine doctors approved the expensive testing even though they were not treating the beneficiaries and often did not even speak with them. From July 2016 through August 2019, LabSolutions submitted more than $463 million in claims to Medicare, including for medically unnecessary genetic tests, of which Medicare paid over $187 million. In that timeframe, Patel personally received over $21 million in Medicare proceeds.
Patel was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive illegal health care kickbacks, four counts of paying illegal health care kickbacks, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the first conspiracy count, 10 years on each health care fraud count, five years on the second conspiracy count, 10 years on each kickback count, and 20 years on the third conspiracy count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division; Special Agent in Charge Robert M. DeWitt of the FBI Miami Field Office; and Special Agent in Charge Omar Pérez Aybar of the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) Miami Regional Office made the announcement.
The FBI and HHS-OIG investigated the case.
Trial Attorneys Jamie de Boer, Emily Gurskis, Reginald Cuyler Jr., and Katherine Rookard of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case.
The case was brought as part of Operation Double Helix, a federal law enforcement action led by the Health Care Fraud Strike Force, under the supervision of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, focused on fraudulent genetic cancer testing that has resulted in charges against dozens of defendants associated with telemedicine companies and cancer genetic testing laboratories for their alleged participation in one of the largest health care fraud schemes ever charged.
Polarization of the American society has become more evident under president Donald J Trump.
Dear friends and readers!
We have become aware of the violent culture underpinning American politics of today, even though such incidents are usually not acknow-ledged or reported, but often repressed and denied. The outcome of the first American civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 decided who should be included in the winner’s club and steer the new nation into the future.
The second American civil war, which is fought in our own time by stealth, is deciding who shall not be included in the winner’s club. It is against these two contradictory scenarios that many of the violent political deaths that has occurred in the United States speak more clearly to us, stand out in a way we have not realized before and warn us. Stay vigilant folks. Help fight terrorism, domestic and foreign. Report suspicious incidents to the authorities. Have a blessed day, cheers!
EUROPE'S UNANIMOUS VERDICT
SHAME
TO DEMOCRACY AND TO THE FREE WORLD
01/07/2021 12:00 AM EST
Statement of Acting Attorney General
Jeffrey A. Rosen
“Yesterday, our Nation watched in disbelief as a mob breached the Capitol Building and required federal and local law enforcement to help restore order. The Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack on our Government and the rule of law face the full consequences of their actions under the law.
Our criminal prosecutors have been working throughout the night with special agents and investigators from the U.S. Capitol Police, FBI, ATF, Metropolitan Police Department, and the public to gather the evidence, identify perpetrators, and charge federal crimes where warranted. Some participants in yesterday’s violence will be charged today, and we will continue to methodically assess evidence, charge crimes and make arrests in the coming days and weeks to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under the law.”
ROME ITALY
Sig. Claudio G. Fava PhD
Star film critic and film selector at RAI TV 2
I met Claudio G Fava in Rai 2 in November 1977. I was an aspiring journalist at 27 years old from Oslo, Norway. I was in Rome to make a reportage of Italian film and Television. I sat in the office of Claudio at RAI2 with him behind his desk. He was my mentor and teacher and with him I started to grow as a person in journalism and film. I had written for the largest newspaper in Norway, "Aftenposten" (The Evening Post) for some years, and it was my idea to go to Rome and to see what they did there. Claudio had a remarkable intellect, very sharp and always with a humoristic twist to it. Claudio was - and will always remain a great, intelligent journalist and a humanistic person.
Aftenposten - The Eveing Post - is the largest daily circulating newspaper in Norway
Article by Harald Dahle. Fava: "The danger of color film in Cinema is that it gives a pseudo-realistic impression of reality."
A great critic, a talking exception and an extraordinary friend. It is a great pain to have to remember, but there is also the pleasure of having met such an extraordinary person.
Sig. Claudio G. Fava PhD
OBITUARY
Genoa. A crowd of friends brought their last farewells to Claudio G. Fava, who died suddenly on Sunday at the age of 83, to the church of San Francesco di Albaro this morning. Among them Mimmo Angeli, the director of Corriere mercantile, the newspaper where Fava began his long career as a journalist and then as a film critic.
"We started together, the desks side by side" he says moved. “With him, he never lacked the joke, thanks to his English humor, but also the desire to help you, a feature that is increasingly difficult to find today. I remember his smile and his great culture, which, however, he never made a difference ”.
“A great critic, a talking exception and an extraordinary friend. This is how the theater and film critic Aldo Viganò remembers him. "It is a great pain to have to remember, but there is also the pleasure of having met such an extraordinary person".
For Oreste De Fornari, critic and television author
“Claudio was a funny and intelligent person, who talked about everything. Any pretext was enough to have a digression from him, a historical anecdote, something that enriched us ”.
At the funeral also Franco Bampi, president of A Compagna, a friend above all of Claudio's wife, the painter and Elena Pongiglione, vice president of A Compagna:
“We were organizing for May 30 the presentation of his latest book that collected the writings of the merchant courier. A polite and kind person, with a very fine humor ".
Fava: Brilliant.
Angelica never married. And she never told weather or not she once loved Benito Mussolini
PETROFILM.COM
INTEGRITY EMPATHY RESPECT DIGNITY
Founder and Editor-in-chief
Основатель и главный редактор
創始人兼總編輯
"COMRADE BALABANOFF"
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini
Painting of Angelica Balabanoff by artist and Professor Julio Bars in his home at Piazza Mazzini, Rome. Photographed with permission in Bars' studio by Harald Dahle in November 1977
Angelica Balabanoff, the daughter of a Jewish wealthy landowner and businessman, was born in Chernigov, in 1878. The youngest of sixteen children, she was surrounded by governesses who taught her many languages. At the age of eleven she was sent to a boarding school in Switzerland.
Article written by Harald Dahle and published in "Arbeiderbladet" the workers newspaper in Norway after his meeting with painter Julio Bars in Rome. Dahle also visited Balabanoff's grave at the Roman cementery, Cemitero deglo Inglesi in Rome, excactly where she wanted to be burried. The title of journalist Harald Dahle's article is, "Angelika Balabanoff, one the great socialists of our time. Let dowm by Lenin, betrayed by Mussolini."
There is a thematic link between Erich Fromm and Angelica Balabanoff. Both were Jews and fought for a more socialistic and humanistic society. Membership in the International Erich Fromm Society for Harald Dahle-Sladek, below.
ANGELICA BALABANOFF
At the age of nineteen she enrolled at the Université Nouvelle in Brussels. The university had been built around the personality of Élisée Reclus, who was an exile from France because of his anarchism and his participation in the Paris Commune. According to Bertram D. Wolfe, the author of Strange Communists I Have Known (1966): "At the university and at the People's House of the Belgian Socialist and Labor Movement all her teachers were either socialists or anarchists. She heard the greats of the Belgian Socialist Party, she attended debates on labor history and tactics, she foregathered with poor Italian and Russian emigres. From them and from books she sought to find the answers to the two questions she had asked her mother and to which her mother had had no answers. Her rebelliousness became libertarianism, her compassion for the poor and suffering, equalitarianism."
Balabanoff was greatly influenced by Antonio Labriola, who taught philosophy and ethics at the University of Rome. She adopted his maxim that it was the duty of all socialists to put their knowledge "at the service of the proletariat." Labriola saw Marxism "not as a final, self-sufficient schematisation of history, but rather as a collection of pointers to the understanding of human affairs."
In 1900 Balabanoff joined the Italian Socialist Party where she became closely associated with leaders such as Giacinto Menotti Serrati and Filippo Turati. Balabanoff worked for a variety of trade union organizations without pay. According to Max Shachtman:
"Moved by a genuine compassion for the exploited and oppressed, and a powerful spirit of indignation at all iniquity, she became, after joining the pre-war Italian Socialist Party, one of its most stirring and popular agitators."
“Comrade Balabanoff! There is someone here I would like you to meet!”
Angelica turned around to face the voice. It was Franco, one of her colleagues on the Central Committee of the Italian Socialist Party.
“Good evening! How are you!” He gently kissed her on the cheek. With him was a young man rather shabbily dressed, looking somewhat down and out.
Angelica had seen thousands like him. No work and few prospects.
Her life had been so different. Born in Ukraine in 1878, she was the youngest of 14 children, 7 of whom had died before she was born. Her family was very well to do and she wanted for nothing except a mother’s love.
Her mother was a tyrant insisting that the poor peasant household servants bow and scrape, even before the children. Angelica still cringed with embarrassment thinking of grown men humiliating themselves before her because they needed to make a living. Needed the work.
As she got older, Angelica vowed to make it her life’s work to change things. Rebelling against her mother, she left home at 18 to study at the Universite Nouvelle in Brussels, Europe’s most radical institution of higher learning. There she met and studied with George Plekanoff, founder of democratic socialism.
She continued her studies in Italy, fell madly in love with the country and made it her adopted home. She had risen quickly in the Italian Socialist Party and soon was a member of the Central Committee. She spoke five languages fluently and was always in demand as a speaker.
The party sent her to Switzerland in 1901 to organize Italian textile workers, mostly women who had been recruited as a docile and cheap workforce. She had her work cut out for her.
Here in Switzerland, she sharpened her skills, made friends and influenced people. Tonight, she was giving a lecture to a group of the textile workers, mostly women with a sprinkling of men and the unemployed.
Angelica spied the down and out young man sitting quietly in the back, never saying anything.
Now she looked at him more closely. She guessed he was four or five years younger than her. Ruggedly handsome, lithe and muscular with smoldering dark eyes. His hair was parted and neatly combed. His clothes were pressed if somewhat threadbare. There was something about this young man which piqued her interest.
“Franco” she whispered to her colleague “Who is that young man in the back? I want to meet him” Franco smiled at her. “I didn’t think socialist women were interested in men!”. Angelica smirked. Franco continued. “Yes I know. He might be able to help you shepherd all of these textile women along the socialist path. What we don’t do for the party!”
Franco returned with the twenty something. “Angelica, this young man needs work. Is there anyway we can help him find something before he starves to death?”
“Are you Italian?” Angelica asked. “Si si. Sono Italiano.” came the reply
“E qual e il tuo nome?” And what is your name?
“Benito. Benito Mussolini”
Angelica quickly asked if he was socialist and probed with several questions trying to determine his level of education and political awareness. He had much to learn.
“Where are you staying?” Benito was living on the streets.
Angelica took the young Benito under her wing. He had been a vagrant begging for loose change. Angelica groomed him, taking him off the streets. She introduced him to Nietsche, Hegel, Marx. Mussolini would become a socialist party rising star. Years later the two of them would edit the party newspaper Avanti!
Franco would later laugh. “Benito is Angelica’s socialist project!”
Most thought Benito and Angelica were a couple. Benito however was quite the ladies man, fathering a daughter with the woman he would later marry and fathering a son with one he didn’t.
The halcyon days and nights in Switzerland came to an end and both returned to Italy to build socialism, both continuing to edit Avanti!.
One morning over breakfast, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, Angelica was stunned to read Benito’s editorial in the paper – demanding that Italy enter the war on the side of Britain and France. She quickly dressed and headed for the office and a confrontation.
The Socialist Party is for peace! Immediate peace! Why should we fight in a war of Princes and royal families? What is in it for the workers besides death? Why should the son of a cobbler kill the son of a farmer?” Angelica raged at Benito who smiled and then laughed at her.
“Your socialism is for women!!”, he thundered. My socialism is for men…..men of action!!. Italy needs a strong hand and my socialism will give it to them!!”
Stunned, Angelica returned home filled with anger and anguish. Benito was her creation. She had created this monster. With the steely determination of a socialist revolutionary, she made her plan.
At the next meeting of the Central Committee of the party she rose and bitterly denounced Benito for supporting the war. The vast majority of socialists supported her. Benito smiled at her and walked out. Mussolini was drummed out of the Italian Socialist Party at Angelica’s instigation. He would have his revenge.
In 1917 Angelica would travel to Russia and serve as Secretary to the Comintern however she was soon disappointed with the direction of the revolution under Lenin. Angelica was a “Menshevik to the bone“, never a Bolshevik. After Kronstadt she and Emma Goldman would both leave the USSR knowing the revolution had been lost.
Years later after crushing the Italian socialists, Mussolini would quip “Angelica made me everything I am today. If not for her I would be a mediocre schoolteacher!”
Mussolini was not a forgiving man to his enemies and certainly not to Angelica. She was forced to flee Italy with the rise of fascism, spent the war years in New York, became friends with Norman Thomas and wrote a book denouncing Mussolini as a traitor to socialism.
After the war Angelica returned to her beloved Italy and became the Grande dame of European socialism, remaining an active leader in the Italian Socialist Party. She refused to align with the Communists or the Christian Democrats and remained true to democratic socialism until her death in 1965.
Today there are streets named after her in Rome as well as a school specializing in music and art. She would have liked that. Nothing is named for the man she mentored.
Pietro Canonica
Maria Assunta Raggi Canonica
L'ultima delle Nobildonne Borghese
Scritto da Harald Dahle-Sladek
La visita del Sig. Harald Dahle-Sladek alla Sig.ra Maria Canonica presso la casa Borghese a Roma mercoledì 16 novembre 1977, dalle 13.00 alle 15.20. Scritto sulla base del mio incontro con Maria Canonica. Dono questo articolo al Museo Pietro Canonica, Roma. Con i più sentiti ringraziamenti e auguri a Bianca Maria Santese, Direttore del Museo Pietro Canonica e Villa Borghese.
Maria Assunta Raggi
Dipinto di Pietro Canonica
Mentre camminavamo insieme lentamente per le stanze private della sua casa, mi sono reso conto che non c'era differenza tra lei e l'arte del suo defunto e carissimo marito Pietro Canonica; era l'arte del marito, era l'ultima delle nobildonne Borghese che ora risiedevano nel palazzo di famiglia, nutrendo lo spirito del Primo Maestro. Illuminandomi il ricordo di lui, assicurandomi al contempo il proprio destino come una delle donne più rispettate d'Italia a pieno titolo. Non sotto l'ombra pesante di Pietro, certo! Il suo bel viso ora in una prospettiva elegante mentre la sua graziosa ombra le faceva da supporto. La fragile luce del sole di novembre che rimbalzava attraverso i sei singoli vetri delle finestre in alto sul muro grigio nello studio di Pietro e gli diede nuova vita. Qui, e solo qui - nel tabernacolo della più raffinata arte scultorea italiana, per ventotto anni strazianti e solitari dopo la sua morte nel 1959, era stata tutt'uno con lui nello spirito ogni singolo giorno. Ecco come l'ho vista.
Arrivando dal freddo nord tre settimane prima, dall'estremità del continente continentale europeo, la Norvegia, ho avuto per grazia di Dio, e tramite un altro amico della signora Canonica e me stesso, il professore diplomatico Dr. Panagiotis "Takis" Kizeridis , ho avuto tempo con Maria, e ora mi stava aspettando. All'epoca il Dr. Kizeridis era il nuovo addetto culturale italiano a Oslo. Era stato professore presso l'Università americana di Roma, e ha proseguito con il suo dottorato di ricerca sulle chiese norvegesi a doghe di legno - incluse nel patrimonio mondiale dell'UNESCO. Takis aveva lo sfondo perfetto per i miei incontri visionari nella Città eterna, circondata così fantasiosamente da sette pittoresche colline.
Feci segno all'autista di fermare il taxi in cima a Via Veneto, vicino all'Hotel Dinesen sulla mia sinistra, lo pagai, più una mancia e chiusi piano la porta dietro di me. Era l'ora italiana, un quarto all'una in una giornata mite e leggermente nuvolosa! Il palcoscenico era pronto, il sipario pronto a salire - la scena: la potente famiglia Borghese italiana di papi, cardinali, imprese e funzionari. Ma, proprio in questo giorno, cosa più importante, incontrare la moglie del compianto Maestro Pietro Canonica. Un uomo con una psiche così profonda e potente da assomigliare a queste parole classiche dell'inferno di Dante,
“S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero, Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.”
Maria sembrava fragile. Non malato, ma estetico, con una postura degna di una regina. Il suo collo, bello e dritto, evidenziato da un abito di ispirazione romantica in celeste che sottolineava la femminilità del suo corpo eretto e snello. E nel tessuto blu, i piccoli uccelli aumentavano l'impressione di vitalità generale e amore per la vita. Io stessa ero un'umile discepola arrivata a rendere omaggio all'ultima nobildonna Borghese di inimmagi-nabile bellezza, empatia, rispetto e dignità. In un contesto storico più ampio è diventata una Borghese, poiché la stessa parola Borghese viene applicata a individui particolar-mente dotati di talento. I nomi di Borghese e Canonica sono così intrecciati che non si può dire cosa li separa, solo cosa li unisce. Ultima delle nobildonne Borghese, Maria Canonica ne è l'ultima conferma.
E poi mi prese la mano e disse: "Ti stavo aspettando, per favore lasciaci entrare". L'ho seguita con pietà mentre mi faceva strada con eleganza nella storica Villa Borghese, il santuario di Pietro e la loro bella dimora. Il Comune di Roma non avrebbe potuto trovare “inquilini” migliori per preservare e continuare la tradizione Borghese. Fu un atto divino divino, come se tutti i papi defunti ei dignitari appartenenti alla famiglia Borghese avessero chiesto che questa coppia risiedesse lì, e solo loro!
E così è andata! Una superba impressione scolpita dopo l'altra: Pietro prosperò! L'argilla, il marmo e il metallo sono stati trasformati in straordinarie bellezze d'arte. Un cavallo, un gruppo di persone e un simbolo nazionalista: tutto ha preso vita qui tra le mani di Pietro, a palazzo Borghese. E più tardi, durante le lunghe ore delle notti romane, gli spiriti inquieti della defunta famiglia Borghese scivolavano di stanza in stanza, ispezionando le ultime conquiste artistiche del Maestro, in un silenzio complottista, fuori rotta. Senza lasciare tracce!
"Eravamo molto vicini", mi conferma, e continua, "Amo molto Pietro, e spero di avergli dato il mio amore perché potesse fare la sua bella arte". Ora, c'era una luce che passava sul suo essere, il ricordo della sua fiamma eterna, Pietro? Eravamo seduti nello studio, lo studio di Pietro, a solo un metro l'uno dall'altro. Il bel peso delle opere scolpite mi ha fatto sentire molto piccolo. Ecco qualcosa di molto più grande di noi due! Era oltre l'infinito dell'uomo - ed era stato innalzato a un livello sacro dal Dio di Pietro dotato di immaginazione, spiritualità e mani magiche!
Non da quando Bernini aveva visto l'Italia qualcosa di così drammatico e bello come le opere che uscivano dalle mani di Pietro. I nobili europei erano in soggezione. "Ho viaggiato con Pietro", mi spiega Maria, siamo stati insieme in tante corti e case di famiglie nobili. Ovunque fu ricevuto come un pari a loro; perché sapevano, dalla sua arte, che aveva nelle sue due mani il potere di immortalarli, uno per uno! E tutti volevano essere santi! "
Una giovane cameriera arriva con un vassoio con due tazze di tè e una torta. Posa con cautela il vassoio su un tavolino di legno dai molteplici lati con un piatto speciale in cima, dice Prego e lascia la stanza come una ballerina. Poi Maria rompe il silenzio: "Per favore, serviti con il tè e una torta italiana molto bella, la preferita di Pietro". Ho pensato, se fosse il suo preferito, devo averne un pezzo!
Quando ho incontrato Maria, i suoi capelli erano già sui toni del grigio. Nel novembre 1977, esattamente dieci anni prima di morire, era diventata una persona anziana, non una persona anziana. Il bagliore profondo nei suoi bellissimi occhi, il sorriso radioso sul suo viso senza rughe e la gentilezza nella sua voce, quando parlava, erano conferme vibranti, ma enigmatiche, del suo carattere molto speciale, come se stesse tenendo un tesoro vicino a lui. il suo petto. E l'ha fatto! Possedeva l'unica chiave della storia di vita intima di Pietro Canonicas. E ora mi ha invitato a entrare!
“Era la luce che affascinava Pietro”, mi rivela Maria, e continua, “ha scolpito gli oggetti direttamente dalla luce. Pensiamo a una scultura come a una persona che crea forma e forme eliminando il materiale in eccesso, ma qui il fattore principale è la luce! Lo è sempre stato per Pietro. Mentre la luce del sole si è spostata lentamente attraverso la finestra qui (indica la grande finestra sul muro) ha forzato più in profondità l'oggetto con cui era occupato. Il cambio di luce gli ha fornito una nuova visione dei suoi processi creativi. Lo so, perché stavo seduto qui per ore ad ammirarlo mentre lavorava. E poi me ne sono andato in modo che potesse essere completamente assorbito, perché i suoi lavori erano spesso creativamente molto impegnativi per lui per tutto il tempo in cui è durato quel particolare progetto ".
Anche voi viaggiavate insieme, le chiedo? "Abbiamo sempre viaggiato insieme", ha risposto. “Questo è il modo in cui Pietro poteva rilassarsi e ottenere nuovi impulsi e forza per mettersi al passo con il nuovo lavoro. Ma nonostante la differenza di età tra noi, entrambi abbiamo apprezzato immensamente la nostra azienda ". Lei ride e si alza dalla sedia, e continua: "Ora ti mostrerò l'ampio spettro e la varietà dell'arte di Pietro. Per favore Seguimi."
Le sue guance stavano brillando adesso! Parlava con grande schiettezza dell'arte che aveva realizzato Pietro e le toccava con le mani mentre passava pazientemente da un oggetto all'altro. Sono arrivato! Ero letteralmente venuto in paradiso, tranne che San Pietro non è venuto a salutarmi! Sei anni prima, nell'agosto 1971, mi trovavo nella Cappella Sistina in Vaticano, e poi pensavo di essere il paradiso. E ora sapevo per certo che la Cappella Sistina era solo l'anticamera del Cielo. Il vero paradiso era qui tra Pietro e Maria.
E ora mi accorsi di una voce debole da qualche parte nella grande sala espositiva piena di opere d'arte scolpite di Pietro che sussurrava attentamente dagli strati nascosti di desideri profondi: "Hai visto il fiume che ha attraversato i nostri cuori, ei ponti che ci hanno dato speranza ? " E, eh sì, ora ho visto i ponti da Maria a Pietro. Nel profondo dei suoi occhi ho visto i ponti. Stavano riposando saldamente sul fondo del mare della sua bellezza interiore. Questa è stata una storia d'amore tra il grande Maestro, ora in Paradiso, e sua moglie qui sulla Terra. E l'arte che lui aveva lasciato per lei per sopportare la vita da sola.
Ogni giorno i loro cuori cantavano insieme: "Andiamo dove va il nostro cuore! Andiamo dove c'è la pace, dagli amici e dai cari. I sussurri attraverso le montagne ce li ricordano. I nostri cuori cantanti stanno sbocciando. Piangiamo di gioia e asciugiamo le lacrime pesanti. Alla fine, il sole raggiunse i nostri ricordi sbiaditi, illuminando gli oscuri tunnel della speranza e della pazienza. Sì, andiamo dove va il nostro cuore, ci portano in un posto migliore in cui essere. Tra amici, gli uccelli e gli alberi, i fiori, il mare e io e te! " Mi chiede quale sia la mia impressione e le rispondo che avrei bisogno del resto della mia vita per apprezzare tutto ciò che ha fatto Pietro e per scandagliare il suo genio. Che mondo meraviglioso! Un artista così superlativo - e l'ultima della nobildonna Borghese.
Quando avevo lasciato Maria, sapevo che la mia vita non sarebbe mai più stata la stessa.
Pietro Canonica
Maria Assunta Raggi Canonica
The last of the Borghese Noblewomen
Written by Harald Dahle-Sladek
The visit of Harald Dahle-Sladek to Mrs. Maria Canonica at the Villa Borghese, their home in Rome Wednesday November 16 1977, at 1pm till 3.20pm. Written on the basis of my meeting with Maria Canonica. I donate this article to the Pietro Canonica Museum, Rome. With the greatest thanks and best wishes to Bianca Maria Santese, Director of the Pietro Canonica Museum and Villa Borghese.
Maria Assunta Raggi
Painting by Pietro Canonica
As we walked slowly together through the private quarters of her home, I came to realize that there was no difference between her and the art of her late and very dear husband Pietro Canonica; she was the art of her husband, she was the last of the Borghese noblewomen who now resided in the family palace, nurturing the spirit of the Primo Maestro. Enlightening the memory of him for me, while securing her own destiny as one of Italy’s most respected women in her own right. Not in the burdening shadow of Pietro, off course! Her beautiful face now in elegant perspective as her graceful shadow fell supportive behind. The fragile November sunlight bouncing through the six individual window panes high up on the grey wall in Pietro’s studio and gave it renewed life. Here, and only here - in the tabernacle of the finest of Italian sculptured art had she, for twenty-eight, heart-wrenching, lonely years after his death in 1959, been at one with him in spirit every, single day. This is how I saw her.
Arriving from the cold North three weeks earlier, from the very end of the European main land continent, Norway, I had by the Grace of God, and through another friend of Mrs. Canonica and myself, Diplomat Professor Dr. Panagiotis “Takis” Kizeridis, been given time with Maria, and now she was waiting for me. At the time Dr. Kizeridis was the new Italian Cultural Attaché in Oslo. He had been a professor at the American University in Rome, and continued with his PhD on Norwegian wooden stave churches – included in the UNESCO world heritage. Takis had the perfect background for my visionary meetings in the eternal City, so imaginatively surrounded by seven picturesque hills.
I gave sign to the driver to stop the taxi at the top of Via Veneto, near Hotel Dinesen on my left side, paid him, plus a tip and closed the door quietly behind me. It was Italian time, a quarter to one on a slightly overcast, mild day! The stage was set, the curtain ready to go up – the scene: Italy’s powerful Borghese family of popes, cardinals, businesses and official servants. But, on this very day more importantly, to meet with the wife of the late Maestro Pietro Canonica. A man with a psyche so deep and powerful that it resembles these classic words from Dante’s inferno,
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse A persona che mai tornasse al mondo, Questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo Non torno vivo alcun, s'i'odo il vero, Senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.”
If I but thought that my response were made to one perhaps returning to the world, this tongue of flame would cease to flicker. But since from those depths, no one has yet returned alive - if I hear what's true - I answer without fear of being shamed.
Maria looked frail. Not sick, but aesthetic, with a posture worthy of a Queen. Her neck, beautiful and straight, highlighted by a romantic inspired dress in light blue that underscored the femininity of her upright and slim body. And in the blue fabric, small birds were increasing the impression of overall vitality and love for life. I, myself was a humble disciple who had come to pay respect to the last Borghese noblewoman of unimaginable beauty, empathy, respect and dignity. In a larger historical context she became a Borghese, as the very word Borghese is applied to especially talent full individuals. The names of Borghese and Canonica are so intertwined that one cannot say what separates them, only what joins them together. As the last of Borghese noblewomen, Maria Canonica is the ultimate confirmation of this.
And then she took my hand and said, “I have been waiting for you, please let us go inside.” I followed her with piety as she elegantly led the way into the historic Borghese Villa, Pietro’s sanctuary and their beautiful home. The Commune of Rome could not have found better “tenants” to preserve and continue the Borghese tradition. It was a Divine act of God, as if all the deceased popes and dignitaries belonging to the Borghese family demanded that this couple should reside there, and only them!
And so it went! One superb sculpted impression after the other – Pietro thrived! Clay, marble and metal were transformed into stunning beauties of art. A horse, a group of people, and a nationalistic symbol – it all came to life here between Pietro’s hands, at the Borghese palace. And later, during the long hours of the Roman nights, restless spirits of the deceased Borghese family were gliding from room to room, inspecting the Maestro’s latest artistic achievements, in conspiratorial silence, off course. Leaving no traces behind!
“We were very close,” she confirms to me, and continuous, “I love Pietro very much, and I hope that I gave him my love so that he could make his beautiful art.” Now, there was a light passing over her being, the memory of her eternal flame, Pietro? We were sitting in the studio, Pietro’s studio, only one meter from each other. The beautiful weight of sculpted works made me feel very small. Here was something much larger than the two of us! It was beyond the limitless of man – and had been lifted up on a sacred level by Pietro’s God gifted imagination, spirituality and magic hands!
Not since Bernini had Italy seen something as dramatic and beautiful as the works coming from Pietro’s hands. European nobles were in awe. “I traveled with Pietro,” Maria explains to me, we went to many courts and noble families’ homes together. Everywhere he was received as an equal to them; because they knew, from his art, that he had the power in his two hands to immortalize them, one by one! And they all wished to be Saints!”
A young maid arrives with a tray of two cups of tea and cake. She carefully puts the tray down on a small, many-sided table made of wood with a special plate on the top, and says Prego and leaves the room like a ballerina. Then Maria breaks the silence, “Please, help yourself with tea, and a very nice Italian cake, Pietro’s favorite.” I thought, if it was his favorite – I must have a piece!
When I met Maria, her hair was already in shades of grey. By November 1977, exactly ten years before she passed away, she had become an elderly person, not an old person. The deep glow in her beautiful eyes, the radiant smile on her wrinkle-free face, and the politeness in her voice, when she spoke, were vibrant, but enigmatic confirmations of her very special character, as if she was holding a treasure close to her chest. And she did! She possessed the only key to Pietro Canonicas’ intimate life story. And now she invited me in!
“It was the light that fascinated Pietro,” Maria reveals to me, and continues, “he carved the objects directly from light. We think of a sculpture as a person who creates form and shapes by eliminating excess material, but the light is the main factor here! It always were for Pietro. As the sunlight slowly shifted through the window here (she points to the large window on the wall) he forced deeper into the object that he was occupied with. The light-shift gave him new insight into his own creative processes. I know, because I used to sit here for hours admire him working. And then I left so that he could be fully absorbed, because his works were creatively often quite demanding on him for as long as that particular project lasted.”
Did you also travel together, I ask her? “We always traveled together,” she answered. “This is the way Pietro could unwind and get new impulses and strength to catch up with new work. But in spite of the age difference between us, we both enjoyed our company immensely.” She laughs and gets up from the chair, and continues, “Now I will show you the broad specter and variety of Pietro’s art. Please follow me.”
Her cheeks were glowing now! She spoke with great candor about the art that Pietro had made and she touched them with her hands as she patiently moved from one object to the next. I had arrived! I had literary come to Heaven, except that St. Peter did not come and greet me! Six years earlier, in August 1971, I had stood in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, and then I thought I was I Heaven. And now I knew for certain that the Sistine Chapel was just the ante room to Heaven. The real Heaven was here among Pietro and Maria.
And now I became aware of a faint voice somewhere in the large display room packed with Pietro’s sculpted art that whispered carefully from the hidden layers of deep longings: “Did you see the river that crossed between our hearts, and the bridges that gave us hope?” And, oh yes, now I saw the bridges from Maria to Pietro. Deep in her eyes I saw the bridges. They were resting firmly on the seabed of her inner beauty. This was a love affair between the great Maestro, now in Heaven and his wife here on Earth. And the art he had left behind for her to bear the life alone.
Every day their Hearts sang together, “We go where our hearts goes! We go where the peace is, to friends and beloved ones. Whispers across mountains remind us of them. Our singing hearts are blossoming. We cry of joy and dry the heavy tears. At last, sunshine came upon our fading memories, enlightening the dark tunnels of hope and patience. Yes, we go where our heart goes, they lead us to a better place to be. Among friends, the birds and threes, flowers, the sea, and you and me!” She asks me what my impression is, and I answer her that I would need the rest of my life to appreciate everything that Pietro have made and to fathom his genius. What a wonderful world! Such a superlative Artist - and the last of the Borghese noblewoman.
I knew when I had left Maria that my life would never really be the same again.
Maria Assunta Raggi
2nd wife of Pietro Canonica 2a moglie di Pietro Canonica
Pietro and Maria in the Mountains 1955 Pietro e Maria in Montagna 1955
Il generale russo Dmitry Skalon 1840-1914 e lo scultore italiano Pietro Canonica 1869-1959 a San Pietroburgo per l'inaugurazione del monumento ad Alessandro II di Russia nel 1914
Russian general Dmitry Skalon 1840—1914 and Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica 1869—1959 in Saint Petersburg for the inauguration of the monument to Alexander II of Russia in 1914
Studio
Terme de Caracalla as seen from FAO
FAO FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
There were six thousand people working at FAO in Rome when I visited the headquarter in 1973. And it came to a halt! Today, only four thousand work there, but the world needs more food than ever. FAO was my first assignment to a world organization. Mr. Arne Løken from the Norwegian Department of Food and Nourishment (Nærings-depratementet) invited me over to FAO. We stayed at the same hotel, St’Anselmo on the Aventine Height.
A group from Norway and elsewhere dined together in the charming backyard of the hotel one evening, when Arne Løken, then a man in his sixties, grudgingly pointed out to me that what I just ate, was “Sopa de verdure”, green vegetable soup. I thanked him for the information. The next day I had with me my Tandberg reel-to-reel tape recorder and ran up the steps at FAO to an appointment with a Danish representative. What a day it was, in June of 1973.
Headquarter Viale delle Terme di Caracalla 00153 Rome, Italy
In addition to its Headquarters in Rome, Italy, FAO has an extensive decentralized network of Regional, Subregional, Country and Liaison Offices. FAO is dedicated to recruiting the best staff possible, hiring internationally minded people to carry out its work toward the eradication of hunger. We invite you to explore the opportunities and benefits of working with us.
FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, processing, training, visa or other fee). For more information click here. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.
Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide. We believe that everyone can play a part in ending hunger.
1950 The World Census of Agriculture
The Census creates guidelines to generate internationally comparable figures on variables defining the structure of agriculture. This Census helps countries to carry out their national agricultural censuses using standard international concepts, definitions and methodology
1951 FAO moves to Rome
Following the fifth session of the General Conference in 1949 where Member States decided to move the offices of FAO to Rome, two ships, Saturnia and Vulcania, set sail from Washington in the early spring of 1951 with 76 families on board.
1970 Second World Food Congress
The Second World Food Congress turns the spotlight of public attention onto ‘hunger and malnutrition’ in the world and on international efforts to eliminate it. The Congress reviews the state of hunger and malnutrition in the world and identifies areas of immediate action in line with FAO’s strategy.
1974 World Food Conference
The food crisis is reaching its peak at the very time of FAO's World Food Conference. The conference proposes to establish a world food bank ensuring access to around 10 million tonnes of stored grain, to found an International Fund for Agricultural Development, to improve tropical agriculture, and to set up a new food forecasting system that would provide early warning of future crises.
1996 Rome Declaration on World Food Security
The Declaration is adopted by 112 Heads or Deputy Heads of State and over 70 high-level representatives from other countries. The Declaration reaffirms the universal right to safe and nutritious food.
ARTICLE
Monuments Carved in Stone on Barren Fields
By Harald Dahle-Sladek
When one talks about Life, it is pertinent to ask, what life does one mean? The entire life, or just selected parts of it? The parts that we like and prefer and leave the rest not to be mentioned? The person who says she “loves me”, but ignore everything that I have achieved after I came out of the hospital?
The people who will walk a mile with me, but say “no thank you” to carry my burden and walk another mile? The ones who never invited me for a cup of tea, but proclaim seriously that I am a “friend”? The ones who admire their own achievements highly, but never had time to visit me once? What life are they adhering to? The one in parts, or the one in totality?
Stonehenge: A warning sign for our time.
I want to be seen in totality; I do not want that my life be selectively butchered and twisted into something it is not. My articles are monuments in stone in a barren landscape devoid of humanism. They are there to warn and to encourage, but not to be neglected.
In today’s vain world, where it has become so increasingly popular to talk IN a mobile phone, instead of empathizing WITH and showing human DIGNITY; where one is accustomed to appreciating media hype, political lies, lack of responsibilities leading to mass starvations and mass death; in such a world and coldness between people, the abnormal has become the trend, and sadly this is what we adhere to.
In such an inter human setting, the message is clear, why bother to respect the other person right in front of ourselves. It is so much easier to babble because the spoken word carries no longer any commitment, it is free, it does not cost anything to say this or the other. Life is easy when one is free not to engage in another person’s life-and-death experiences, when it is so much more convenient to look at a movie.
People who ignore monuments carved out in granite on barren fields are confirming themselves to the believes of death and destruction. We who write and warn have the humanistic right to say this. It is our task in life. Not to be kind to death and destruction, but to admire and encourage Life. We expect the same from others as we expect from ourselves. And if “the other” fail, we must go forward alone, and warn. That is our destiny.
The Imperial College London: Sales of the PC2000 Seismic Iran Maps
P. R. OF CHINA
Click and Play
Xi and Communist Party ideologues coined the phrase "Chinese Dream" to describe his overarching plans for China as its leader. Since 2013, the phrase has emerged as the distinctive official ideology of the party leadership under the great leader Xi Jinping.
China’s Rights in the South China Sea, and it's Maritime Borders, must they be Respected?
Ancient China claims soverign rights to all of South China Sea. Must this be respected by the United States, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philipines and the world? Start a constructive, friendly and sustainable dialogue with the ancient and proud Chinese people.
Click and Play: Spratley Islands
Shooting 2D seismic in Transition Zone 1 Hendijan North of the Persian Gulf. PC2000 seismic project in Iranian waters was the world's largest 2D seismic project at the time. Three seismic vessels, two Norwegian vessels and one Iranian vessel took part.
Mehdi Mirmoezi President of the National Iranian Oil Company NIOC, Deputy Minister of Petroleum. The interview took place in the Headquarter of the National Iranian Oil Company in Tehran. Petrofilm: creating Dialogue and Common Ground.
Click and Play: The National Iranian Oil Company NIOC
Mohammad Hossein Adeli PhD was Deputy Foreign Minister of Economic Affairs in President Mohammad Khatami's Govern- ment. He was the Governor of the Central Bank in President Hashemi Rafsanjani's Govern-ment. Ambassador to Ottawa and Tokyo. He is founder of the Ravand Eco- nomic Forum and Secretary General of Gas Export-ing Countries Forum. A Petrofilm Dialogue interview.
Click and Play: The Foreign Ministry Tehran
TOTAL South Pars Logistic Base on the free trade Kish Island Iran. Petrofilm Interview
Click and Play: TOTAL South Pars Logistic Base Kish Island
China's Guard of Honor join Russia's V-Day parade
Click and Play
PLA 90TH BIRTHDAY Click and Play
I.R. IRAN FIRST ROUND
August 7 2018 First round Reimposing certain sanctions with respect to Islamic Republic of Iran
READ SANCTIONS LIST
Click and Read
Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List
Click and Read
Click and PlayForeign Department
The Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs and former Governor of the Central Bank, Ambassador to Tokyo and Ottawa, His Excellency Hossein Adeli PhD and Harald Dahle after a one hour long filmed interview in the Foreign Department.
Click and Play
Manouchehr Mottaki Harald Dahle
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's Government talks with Harald Jan Dahle about the various currencies Iran uses when trading. At one time Motttaki was leading Iran's nuclear negotiations.
Ali Ahani about Iran Norway relations
Hello friends,
Without serious dialogue and common ground, there can be little hope for progress. Where there are clear disregard for humanistic values and human lives, real peace is not possible.
It is not enough to "talk peace", one also has to live a humanistic life. Who are we? We have to show the other side who we are and what values we adhere to.
Unlimited economic growth is not ad-visable, our natural resources are under severe threat. The increasing global warming should be our number one con-cern, for future generations.
In order to solve these common chal-lenges, we need to seriously focus on easing tensions and find common ground. Let Albert Schweitzer's words, "Reverence for Life" be our guiding light!
Have a good day!
Harald J. Dahle Founder DialogueNow
Six years in the the Islamic Republic of Iran followed by 14 years research.
Creating Dialogue and Common Ground with the Islamic Republic of Iran as an alternative to sanctions and war.
Altogether I spent five years in Iran, and using the following fourteen years working on the subject.
Meeting Hossein Adeli Ph.D.
HE Hossein Adeli Ph.D. had been Governor of the Central Bank in President Rafsanjanis Government. When I met him in 2002 and 2003, he was Deputy Foreign Minister for Economic Affairs in the Foreign Depart-ment Tehran when Dahle met him.
Adeli is founder of the Rawand Institute, and economic think-tank. He as reveived the highest order of the Rising Sun from the Emperor Akhito of Japan himself. Adeli has also been Ambassador to Tokyo as well as to Ottawa.
Meetings in the Foreign Ministry in Tehran
"Hello Dr. Adeli.."
Click and Play
"Please have a seat.."
"Thank you"
"On a scale from one to ten,
who has been the best person to be interviewed by you?"
"You, Dr. Adeli, and without a doubt, you are the clear winner, scoring ten points!"
Mr. Dahle turns to the cameraman who gives his approval, as well!
"Ha, ha, ha, thank you so much Mr. Dahle!"
"Our economy in Iran has a rising curve, and"
"when I sat as Governor of the Central Bank,
in President Rafsanjani's Government."
"many of the economic reforms that we applied at the time became a sucsess later."
"There are many conflicts in the world, and we don't want to see that the one who is stronger takes the gun and shoot."
"The general policy of Iran is to have a friendly relation with every country in the world including the United States,"
"Provided that this kind of relationship would be based on an equal footing, on a mutual beneficial sort of relationship"
President of the People's Republic of China His Excellency Jang Semin and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Khatami togheter in April 2002 on the State visit of Jang Semin.
"BIN HAI 517" IN FUJAIRAH-SHARJAH
CNPC BGP "BIN HAI 504"
TZ-1 MUDFLATS WITH CHRIS FARLOW
TZ-1 SHALLOW WATER SHOOTING
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Click and Play
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin
Click and Play: Interview with Willy Wimmer 1
Click and Play: Interview with Willy Wimmer 2
Click and Play
INDUSTRY 4.0 GERMANY'S 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Click and Play
Macron: Europe must defend itself
Click and Play
"Europe can no longer rely on the United States for its security. It is up to us to guarantee European security,"
Macron told an audi-ence of some 250 diplomats, law-makers and international relations experts on August 27.
His comments follow US President Don-ald Trump repeatedly distan-ced himself from the NATO military alliance, which groups the United States with most of Europe and has underpinned European security since World War II.
Macron's comments are likely to find support in EU powerhouse Germany after Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made a similar call for boosted military coop-eration last week. Writing in the Handelsblatt newspaper, Maas called for Europe to "take an equal share of the responsibility" and "form a counter-weight" to Washington as Europe-US relations cool.
Click and Play
Europe has becomme a Vassal of the United States and is in many areas not Master in it's own House.
CLICK RUSSIAN EMPIRE LOGO
Greater Coat of Arms of the Russian Empire
Russia to Ural is an integrated part of the European plain.
PETROFILM AT THE AVIASTAR PLANE FACTORY IN ULYANOVSK RUSSIA
Click and Play
Outside factory; inside assembly line.
Iranian deal without the US: Delegation makes visit to Moscow to forge new agreement
Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov
With Nord Stream 1 and 2 Russia has be-come an an even larger supplier of beutiful Russian gas to Western Europe, to the dismay of the United States.
Click and Play
TOTAL halts $2 billion gas project in Iran
French oil giant Total is preparing to pull out of Iran to avoid risking US sanctions. The company said on Wednesday that it was unable to proceed with a $2 billion project to develop the country's giant South Pars gas field.
In a statement, Total said it "will have to unwind all related operations" before November 4, unless it's granted a speci-fic waiver by US authorities that would protect it against sanctions. In a deal first signed in late 2016, Total agreed to operate the South Pars project with a stake of 50.1%.
Partners in the project are TOTAL and Chinese state oil company CNPC.
Harald Dahle right at the TOTAL supply base on Iranian Kish island Iran
The TOTAL supply base on Kish was the very first enterprice that I encountered. I had flown in the night before, pitch black, found a hotel and had started from scratch. I stayed on Kish for the next three weeks and took part in one seminar and two conferences.
Einar Steensnes Bijan N Zangeneh
Minister of energy and oil Norway, HE Einar Steensnes with Minister of petroleum, HE Bijan Namdahr Zangeneh. (C)2003 H. Dahle
Mohajerani, Khatami: Dialogue among civilizations.
The seminar was a writers seminar in regi of International Pen, the world asso- ciaion of writers. The first conference was on Iran's Free Trade Industrial Zones, and the second was in regi of Seyyed Ata'ollah Mohajerani.
The Iranian writer journalist and author served as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran under President Mohammad Khatami until 2000 when he was re-signed from office for alleged permissiveness.
He also served as the speaker of the cabinet during that time. He later became the president of the Iranian International Centre for Dialogue among Civili zations, but resigned from the post.
Vision of Iran below: Harald Dahle's Grand Dialogue Project in the I. R. of Iran
Harald Jan Dahle is promoting his grand dia- logue project Vision of Iran, while MJF Con-tract Director Reza Shaeri looks on. Picture is from the Kish University on the free trade zone Kish island Iran forty minutes by plane from Dubai.
THE GOVERNMENT OF IRAN
HE Mohammad Ali Abtahi Vice President in President Khatami's Government talks with Harald Jan Dahle about the relation betwe-en the Leader and the President and more.
Click and Play
THE PETROLEUM MINISTRY
HE Bijan Namdahr Zangeneh
FROM THE GEMINI 10 CAPSULE
Harald Dahle introduces his TV Space Docu mentary from NASA's Gemini 10 capsule.
Participating in the program, the Euro- pean Space related industries, the European Space Agency, the Centre nat- ional d'études spatiales, CNES the Ari- ane launcher program and NASA with it's space programs.
Animation of two intersecting Impact Craters
Asteroid evaporates two cities in a blink of an eye.
Los Alamos scientist Galen Gisler and I did this asteroid impact in the ocean simulation together while he was head of Faculty of Mathematical Studies & Geological Processes at the University of Oslo, Norway.
Director of Intergrated Petroleum Risk Man-agement, IPRM DNV Mr. Kennish left, with Director Egil Olbjorn DNV right. Petrofilms Harald Jan Dahle inbetween.
ROCKWELL AUTOMATION
Buoy tanker Anna Knutsen on Statfjord C
SHOOTING SEISMIC IN TZ-1 Hendijan Iran
Chris protects ears during shootings, with another geophone in action below.
Chris and myself on the mudflats in TZ-1 Hendyjan North of the Persian Gulf. Chris is the on-site seismic Manager with base on board Bin Hai 504, picture below.
BIN HAI 517 IN SHARJAH UAE
THE UNITED STATES
Click and Play
Joe Biden 46th President of the United States
Click shield and Play
B-52's from Barksdale AFB land in Qatar
Click and Play
Click and Play
Click and Play
CNPC's Bureau of Geophysical Prospec-ting BGP's Headquarter Hendijan north of the Persian Gulf.
Click and Play
CNPC BGP representative in Hendijan
CNPC TRAILER CAMP HENDIJAN
In North of the Persian Gulf lies the BGP trailer camp. Click and Play
Below left is Harald Dahle at the CNPC BGP trailer camp at Hendijan Norh of the Persian Gulf Iran.
CNPC TAKES OVER FOR TOTAL
China’s top oil and gas company CNPC is considering taking over Total’s stake in thew giant Iranian South Pars gas project if the French company leaves Iran to comply with any new U.S. sanctions, industry sources said.
Total signed the $1 billion deal to devel op the South Pars gas field in July. The contract gave CNPC the option to take over Total’s stake if it pulled out, accord- ing to sources involved in the talks.
The deal was the first major Western energy investment in the Islamic Repub- lic since international sanctions, includ- ing most of those imposed by the Unit ed States, were lifted as part of a land mark agreement in 2015 over Iran’s nuclear program.
RULE BRITANNIA
Click and Play
Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté
FRIEDERICH II
Click and Play
King of Prussia Friederich 2nd
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY HABSBURG EMPIRE
Click and Play
The National Anthem of Schlesien
Silesia is a region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is about 40,000 km², and its population about eight million people.
OBERSCHLESIEN
Click and Play
CHILE, PRUSSIA Gloria March Click & Play
Click and Play
Trinity ATS-1 is a super-computer at Los Alamos Natio-nal laboratory in New Mexico. It was built as the first Advanced Technology System for the National Nuclear Security Administration NNSA.
As of November 2017 Trinity is standing at the 7th rank among the most powerful super-computers in the world, after an upgrade with Intel “Knights Landing” Xeon Phi process-ors, while it debuted in November 2015 at 6th.
Click and Play
Stockpile stewardship LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY
Most work for stockpile ste-wardship is under taken at United States Department of Energy National lab-oratories.
Click and Play
Mostly at Los Alamos National Labora-tory, Sandia National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Nevada Test Site and the Depart-ment of Energy production facilities.
Sierra Supercomputer
Click and Play
All together these reserach facilities employs around 27.500 personnel and cost billions of dollars each year to operate.
Click and Play
THE UNITED STATES AND GLOBAL OIL
The big gap between what the United States now produces and what it con-sumes, nearly 10 million barrels a day, is simply too wide to be bridged.
The oil market is seamless and is largely driven by supply and demand. Middle Eastern supplies affect the price of Mid-dle Eastern oil, yes, but also the price of global oil.
And while the United States can and should conserve energy and develop alternate energy sour-ces, the gap between what the United States now produces and what it consumes, nearly 10 million barrels a day, is simply too wide to be bridged.
THE NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL COMPANY, N.I.O.C
President of NIOC, HE Mehdi Mirmoezi, Depty Minister of Oil, talks with Harald Jan Teodor Dahle about the situation in NIOC, the Persian Carpet 2000 seismic project and the cooperation with Norway's medium sized oil company Statoil.
Click and Play
Harald Jan Dahle with the President of the National Iranian Oil Company and Deputy Minister of Oil, His Excellency Mehdi Mirmoezi, May 19 2002.
NIOC EXPLORATION DEPARTMENT
Director General of NIOC Explo-ration Department Mohammad Mohaddes talks to Harald Jan Dahle.
Click and Play
Mohammad Mohaddes Harald Dahle
THE NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL COMPANY GEOPHYSICAL DEPARTMENT
Click and Play
Hussein Nassiri Harald Dahle
Hussein Nassiri, Advisor to President Director of Iran's Free Trade Economic Zones and Harald Jan Dahle.
CNPC BGP BIN HAI 504
CNPC BIN HAI 504 HAI SHI 1
BIN HAI 504 DATA ROOM
HENDIJAN: WE STRUCK OIL
Click and Play
THE BIG HENDIJAN ANTICLINE
NIOC GEOPHYSICS DEPT.
CNPC BGP HQ HENDYJAN
Luxembourg
haroldsw