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- 2026-09-23T1755 · [[_NOTES_W3a_ea_ai]]
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- 2026-09-23T1827 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-09-23T1827 · [[Time]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[A.Q. Khan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Grand Cayman]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[China Resources]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[National Bank of Oman]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Ghulam Ishaq Khan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Hong Kong China Limited]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Raymond Banoun]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Dennis DeConcini]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Saigol family]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Pakistan People's Party]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Ayub Khan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1825 · [[Arshad Pervez]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Real Justice PAC]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Center for a New American Security]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Omidyar Network]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Foundation for American Innovation]]
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- 2026-09-23T1824 · [[Federation of American Scientists]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Greg Brockman]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Nate Thomas]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Paul Christiano]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Bret Taylor]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Elie Hassenfeld]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Ajeya Cotra]]
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- 2026-09-23T1818 · [[Alignment Research Center]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Olney House Investigation]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Eugene Horsch]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[In the Year of the Pig]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[John Krol]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]]
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- 2026-09-23T1814 · [[Philadelphia Police Department]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Brendan Bordelon]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Stanford Social Innovation Review]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Washington Examiner]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Politico]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Forbes]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Houston Chronicle]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Marc Gunther]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Naina Bajekal]]
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- 2026-09-23T1807 · [[Semafor]]
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- 2026-09-23T1757 · [[_NOTES_W3a_ea_ai]]
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- 2026-09-23T1752 · [[_NOTES_W3b_policy_money]]
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- 2026-09-23T1744 · [[_NOTES_W3c_pakistan_bcci]]
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- 2026-09-23T1744 · [[_NOTES_W3e_media]]
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- 2026-09-23T1733 · [[Center for AI Safety]]
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- 2026-09-23T1727 · [[_NOTES_EA3_primaries_checks]]
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- 2026-09-23T1711 · [[_NOTES_Civil_suits]]
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- 2026-09-23T1709 · [[_manifest]]
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- 2026-09-23T1709 · [[Tasha McCauley]]
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- 2026-09-23T1709 · [[Adam D'Angelo]]
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- 2026-09-23T1709 · [[ICONIQ Capital]]
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- 2026-09-23T1704 · [[Benazir Bhutto]]
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- 2026-09-23T1704 · [[Zia ul-Haq]]
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- 2026-09-23T1703 · [[Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1702 · [[Mochtar Riady]]
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- 2026-09-23T1702 · [[Kuwait International Finance Company]]
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- 2026-09-23T1702 · [[Abu Nidal]]
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- 2026-09-23T1702 · [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]]
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- 2026-09-23T1702 · [[Abu Nidal Organization]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Agha Hasan Abedi]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[A.Q. Khan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[James Riady]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Khalid bin Mahfouz]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Harken Energy]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Abdullah Taha Bakhsh]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[LippoBank]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[Banque Arabe et Internationale d'Investissement]]
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- 2026-09-23T1700 · [[National Commercial Bank]]
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- 2026-09-23T1659 · [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]]
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- 2026-09-23T1659 · [[Holden Karnofsky]]
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- 2026-09-23T1659 · [[Alexander Berger]]
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- 2026-09-23T1656 · [[Institute for Progress]]
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- 2026-09-23T1656 · [[Alec Stapp]]
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- 2026-09-23T1656 · [[Caleb Watney]]
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- 2026-09-23T1656 · [[Jeff Alstott]]
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- 2026-09-23T1655 · [[Dustin Moskovitz]]
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- 2026-09-23T1655 · [[Redwood Research]]
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- 2026-09-23T1654 · [[Leading the Future]]
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- 2026-09-23T1654 · [[Public First Action]]
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- 2026-09-23T1654 · [[Americans for Responsible Innovation]]
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- 2026-09-23T1652 · [[Brian Chau]]
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- 2026-09-23T1652 · [[Ben Buchanan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1641 · [[_NOTES_N2_us_figures]]
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- 2026-09-23T1637 · [[_NOTES_E2_money_board]]
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- 2026-09-23T1636 · [[_NOTES_N1_pakistan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1635 · [[_NOTES_E1_openphil_people]]
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- 2026-09-23T1630 · [[_NOTES_E3_policy_people]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[U.S. Customs]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Dassault Company]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[William J. Casey]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[State Department]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Department of Justice]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[MOC - BCCI Scandal]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[KEY INDIVIDUALS]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Abu Dhabi]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Abu Dhabi Investment Authority]]
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- 2026-09-23T1612 · [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan]]
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- 2026-09-23T1540 · [[Mohammed Hammoud]]
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46
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ajeya Cotra.md
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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ajeya Cotra.md
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@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
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---
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category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
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tags:
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- Person
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- EffectiveAltruism
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- OpenPhilanthropy
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- AISafety
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- UCBerkeley
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alias:
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- Ajeya Cotra
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summary: "Berkeley-trained effective altruist who joined Open Philanthropy in 2016, led its technical AI-risk grantmaking, sat on the board of its grantee Redwood Research, and later joined METR's technical staff."
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relations:
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
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role: "research analyst from July 2016; later senior program officer, Potential Risks from Advanced AI"
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start: 2016-07
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fn: 1
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- type: founded
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with: "[[Effective Altruists of Berkeley]]"
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role: "student group founder"
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fn: 1
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created: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-09-23
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---
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Ajeya Cotra is an AI-risk researcher who joined [[Open Philanthropy]] in July 2016, was still on its staff in November 2023, and later joined the technical staff of the AI evaluation nonprofit [[METR]].[^1][^2] She holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the [[University of California, Berkeley]], where, according to her Open Philanthropy biography, she "founded the Effective Altruists of Berkeley student group and taught a course on effective altruism."[^1]
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### Open Philanthropy
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Cotra joined Open Philanthropy in July 2016 as a research analyst. Her archived biography of November 2023 gave her title as senior program officer for "Potential Risks from Advanced AI" and stated that she "leads Open Phil's grantmaking on technical research that could help to clarify and reduce catastrophic risks from advanced AI," conducting "analysis on threat models (ways that advanced AI could cause catastrophic harm) and technical agendas." Earlier she had worked "on estimating when transformative AI might be developed, estimating the expected returns to funding across cause areas related to global catastrophic risk, and thinking about how worldview diversification could be implemented in budget allocation."[^1]
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### Redwood Research
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[[Redwood Research]], the [[Berkeley]] alignment nonprofit announced in October 2021 with a board of [[Nate Thomas]], [[Paul Christiano]] and Open Philanthropy's co-chief executive [[Holden Karnofsky]], received 9.42 million dollars from Open Philanthropy in November 2021, 10.7 million in August 2022, 5.3 million in June 2023, 1.1 million in May 2025 and 36 million in November 2025.[^3][^4] Redwood's return for 2023 listed Cotra as a director, alongside Thomas as board chair and [[Buck Shlegeris]] as chief executive, after Christiano had left the board "thru 6/23" and Karnofsky "thru 11/23." Its return for 2024 listed her as a director "thru 8/24."[^3] In an April 2023 critique of Redwood posted on LessWrong under the pseudonym "Omega.", the authors quoted Cotra, identified with Open Philanthropy, among those who had endorsed Redwood at its launch, describing it as "experienced and competent at software engineering and engineering management," and wrote that "a Redwood board member is married to a different OP grantmaker."[^5]
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### METR
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METR, which began as ARC Evals inside Christiano's [[Alignment Research Center]] before spinning off in December 2023, lists Cotra among its technical staff, not among its advisers or board. It states that it does not accept funding from AI companies and does not name Open Philanthropy among its funders.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Open Philanthropy, "Ajeya Cotra," team biography, archived November 11, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20231111135945/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/about/team/ajeya-cotra/
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[^2]: METR, "About," retrieved September 23, 2026, https://metr.org/about ; METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/
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[^3]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2021 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871702255
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[^4]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, October 6, 2021, https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama ; Open Philanthropy, "Redwood Research, General Support," November 2021, archived August 11, 2022, http://web.archive.org/web/20220811081927/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2022)," archived November 6, 2022, http://web.archive.org/web/20221106183007/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2/ ; "Redwood Research, General Support (2023)," archived September 12, 2023, http://web.archive.org/web/20230912095528/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support-2023/ ; "Redwood Research, AI Safety Research Collaborations," May 2025, archived August 10, 2025, http://web.archive.org/web/20250810094119/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-ai-safety-research-collaborations/ ; Smith, Ben. "Coefficient Giving's CEO on Silicon Valley's $40 billion philanthropy boom." *Semafor,* September 3, 2026. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/03/2026/coefficient-givings-ceo-on-silicon-valley-40-billion-philanthropy-boom
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[^5]: Omega. "Critiques of prominent AI safety labs: Redwood Research." LessWrong, April 17, 2023, linkpost of the EA Forum original. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SuZ6Guuos7CjfwRQb/critiques-of-prominent-ai-safety-labs-redwood-research
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53
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ayub Khan.md
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---
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category: "Political Figure"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Pakistan
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- Military
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- BCCI
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- MilitaryRule
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alias:
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- Mohammad Ayub Khan
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- Muhammad Ayub Khan
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- Field Marshal Ayub Khan
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- General Ayub Khan
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summary: "Pakistani field marshal and president whose confidant I. I. Chundrigar chaired Agha Hasan Abedi's United Bank and whose information minister later became publisher of BCCI's magazine South."
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died: 1974-04-20
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location: "Islamabad, Pakistan"
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created: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-09-23
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relations:
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- type: member_of
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with: "[[British Indian Army]]"
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role: "commissioned officer"
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start: 1928
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fn: 1
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- type: head_of
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with: "[[Pakistan Army]]"
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role: "first Pakistani commander-in-chief"
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start: 1951-01
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fn: 1
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- type: head_of
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with: "[[Pakistan]]"
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role: "president"
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fn: 1
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---
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Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] army officer who became the first Pakistani commander-in-chief of the [[Pakistan Army]] in January 1951 and later ruled the country as president. [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], later founder of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), cultivated his government from the founding of [[United Bank Limited|United Bank]] in 1959.[^1][^2]
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### Army
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Ayub Khan was commissioned as an officer in the [[British Indian Army]] in 1928. In January 1951 he was appointed the first Pakistani commander-in-chief of the army.[^1]
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### United Bank and BCCI
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When United Bank was formed in 1959, Abedi appointed as chairman of its board [[I. I. Chundrigar]], a former prime minister whom the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]] called "a close confidante of Pakistani's then current prime minister, Ayub Khan." The report continued: "Abedi maintained close ties to Khan's government, later hiring General Khan's minister of information to become the 'publisher' of a BCCI promotional magazine, 'South.'" The report did not name the minister. After the separation of [[Bangladesh|East Pakistan]], when [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] came to power, the report said Abedi became "just as cozy with Pakistani 'socialist' Ali Bhutto, Khan's ideological opposite."[^2]
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### Death
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Ayub Khan died of a heart attack at his residence in [[Islamabad]] at 12:15 in the afternoon of April 20, 1974, aged 67. He had suffered from heart trouble for over eight years, "since the last days of his rule as President," had gone to the [[United States]] for an operation about two and a half years earlier, and had been admitted to the Combined Military Hospital in [[Rawalpindi]] about a month before his death. His wife, Begum Ayub Khan, and a daughter, Begum Nasim Aurangzeb, were at his bedside; his youngest son, Tahir Ayub, who reached the house ten minutes later, said that "he was speaking quite all right till almost the end and did not complain of any pain." His body was taken to his ancestral village, Rehana, for burial.[^1]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: "From The Past Pages Of Dawn: 1974: Fifty Years Ago: Ayub passes away," *Dawn*, April 21, 2024 (reprinting a 1974 dispatch of the Dawn Islamabad Bureau). https://www.dawn.com/news/1828743
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[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 3, "The Origin and Early Years of BCCI," section "Abedi As Pakistani Political Paymaster" (citing testimony of Masihur Rahman, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 1, p. 540). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
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59
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Brendan Bordelon.md
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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Brendan Bordelon.md
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---
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category: "Authors & Journalists"
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tags:
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- Person
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- Journalist
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- Politico
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- ArtificialIntelligence
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- OpenPhilanthropy
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summary: "Politico technology reporter, previously at National Journal, Morning Consult, National Review and the Daily Caller, who in 2023 reported on Open Philanthropy's network of funded AI policy fellows."
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location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
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relations:
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Politico]]"
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start: 2022
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fn: 2
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[National Journal]]"
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role: "technology correspondent"
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start: 2017
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end: 2022
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fn: 1
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[Morning Consult]]"
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end: 2017
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fn: 1
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[National Review]]"
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role: "political reporter"
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fn: 1
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- type: employed_by
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with: "[[The Daily Caller]]"
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fn: 1
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- type: investigated
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with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
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start: 2023
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fn: 5
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created: 2026-09-23
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updated: 2026-09-23
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---
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Brendan Bordelon is an American technology policy reporter at *[[Politico]]*. A native of the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and a graduate of the [[University of California, Riverside]], he worked at *[[The Daily Caller]]*, for two years as a political reporter at *[[National Review]]*, and at [[Morning Consult]], covering technology and cybersecurity policy, before [[National Journal]] hired him as technology correspondent from March 27, 2017.[^1] He also holds a master's degree from [[George Washington University]].[^2]
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### Politico
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Bordelon joined Politico on January 25, 2022 to write the *Morning Tech* newsletter.[^2] In January 2023 the global technology editor, [[Steve Heuser]], named him "Tech Influence reporter," covering the industry's influence on politics and policy.[^3] In September 2026 he was one of four authors, with [[Calder McHugh]], [[Christine Mui]] and [[Sam Sutton]], of the newsletter of Politico's new technology policy unit, Decoded.[^4]
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### Reporting on Open Philanthropy
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On October 13, 2023 Bordelon reported on the policy fellows funded by [[Open Philanthropy]], writing that the [[Horizon Institute for Public Service]] was "a nonprofit that Open Philanthropy effectively created in 2022," that Horizon fellows worked in the offices of Senators [[Martin Heinrich]], [[Mike Rounds]] and [[Todd Young]], and that the [[Center for Security and Emerging Technology]] was "funded almost entirely by Open Philanthropy." He described [[Jason Matheny]] of the [[RAND Corporation]] as "a luminary in the effective altruist community."[^5] On December 15, 2023 he reported on RAND's part in [[Joe Biden]]'s executive order on AI.[^6] *[[Semafor]]* reported in December 2025 that Open Philanthropy had been "bothered by media coverage of it, in particular a series of critical stories from Politico."[^7]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Roush, Chris. "National Journal hires Bordelon as tech reporter." *Talking Biz News,* March 20, 2017. https://talkingbiznews.com/they-talk-biz-news/national-journal-hires-bordelon-as-tech-reporter/
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[^2]: Ahmed, Mariam. "Bordelon to join Politico to anchor 'Morning Tech' newsletter." *Talking Biz News,* January 7, 2022. https://talkingbiznews.com/they-talk-biz-news/bordelon-to-join-politico-to-anchor-morning-tech-newsletter/
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[^3]: Roush, Chris. "Politico names Ives its deputy tech editor, Bordelon its tech influence reporter." *Talking Biz News,* January 7, 2023. https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/politico-names-ives-its-deputy-tech-editor-bordelon-its-tech-influence-reporter/
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[^4]: Roush, Chris. "Politico launches Decoded, a tech policy coverage initiative." *Talking Biz News,* September 16, 2026. https://talkingbiznews.com/media-news/politico-launches-decoded-a-tech-policy-coverage-initiative/
|
||||
[^5]: Bordelon, Brendan. "How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington." *Politico,* October 13, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20250902172514/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/open-philanthropy-funding-ai-policy-00121362
|
||||
[^6]: Bordelon, Brendan. "Think tank tied to tech billionaires played key role in Biden's AI order." *Politico,* December 15, 2023, archived February 11, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260211112614/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/15/billionaire-backed-think-tank-played-key-role-in-bidens-ai-order-00132128
|
||||
[^7]: Tani, Max. "AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms." *Semafor,* December 7, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2025/ai-critics-funded-ai-coverage-at-top-newsrooms
|
||||
66
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dennis DeConcini.md
Normal file
66
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Dennis DeConcini.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Senator
|
||||
- Arizona
|
||||
- KeatingFive
|
||||
- SavingsAndLoan
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Dennis Webster DeConcini
|
||||
- Dennis Deconcini
|
||||
- Senator DeConcini
|
||||
summary: "Democratic senator from Arizona from 1977 to 1995, one of the Keating Five, and chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in the 103rd Congress."
|
||||
born: 1937-05-08
|
||||
location: "Tucson, Arizona"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Senate]]"
|
||||
role: "Democratic senator from Arizona"
|
||||
start: 1977-01-03
|
||||
end: 1995-01-03
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman, 103rd Congress"
|
||||
start: 1993-01-03
|
||||
end: 1995-01-03
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Senate Ethics Committee]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "Keating Five inquiry; conduct found to give the appearance of being improper"
|
||||
end: 1991-02
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Dennis Webster DeConcini was a Democratic [[United States Senate|United States senator]] from [[Arizona]] from 1977 to 1995. He was one of the five senators who met federal bank regulators on behalf of [[Charles Keating]]'s [[Lincoln Savings and Loan]], and he chaired the [[Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]] in his last Congress.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Early Career
|
||||
|
||||
DeConcini was born in [[Tucson]], Pima County, on May 8, 1937, and attended public schools in Tucson and [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]]. He graduated from the [[University of Arizona]] in 1959 and from its law school in 1963, and served in the [[United States Army]] from 1959 to 1960 and the Army Reserve from 1960 to 1967. He was admitted to the Arizona bar in 1963 and practised in Tucson, was a member of the Arizona governor's staff from 1965 to 1967, and was Pima County attorney from 1973 to 1976.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Senate
|
||||
|
||||
He was elected to the Senate in 1976, reelected in 1982 and 1988, and served from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 1995. He did not run in 1994. In the 103rd Congress, from 1993 to 1995, he was chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Keating Five
|
||||
|
||||
Keating and his associates contributed 1.3 million dollars to the campaigns and favoured political causes of five senators, [[Alan Cranston]], DeConcini, [[John Glenn]], [[Donald W. Riegle Jr.|Donald Riegle]] and [[John McCain]], most of it while the [[Federal Home Loan Bank Board]] was investigating Lincoln. All but Riegle met the bank board's chairman, [[Edwin Gray]], on Keating's behalf on April 2, 1987, and all five met a week later with four regulators from [[San Francisco]] who were in charge of the Lincoln examination. The government seized the thrift, based in Irvine, California, in April 1989.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1991 the [[Senate Ethics Committee]] divided on party lines over four of the five. According to congressional sources, its three Democrats, the chairman [[Howell Heflin]], [[David Pryor]] and [[Terry Sanford]], wanted DeConcini, Riegle, Glenn and McCain treated alike, possibly through letters of criticism, while its three Republicans, [[Warren Rudman]], [[Trent Lott]] and [[Jesse Helms]], wanted McCain and Glenn dismissed; the committee's special counsel, Robert Bennett, had reportedly advised in a confidential report of September 1990 that there was no evidence Glenn and McCain had broken Senate rules.[^2] At the end of the 14-month investigation the committee concluded that Cranston may have committed major ethics violations and that no action was needed against the other four. It found that DeConcini's and Riegle's actions gave the appearance of being improper, and that Glenn and McCain had "exercised poor judgment."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### BCCI
|
||||
|
||||
In early 1990, after the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], several members of Congress criticized the plea agreement as too lenient. According to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]], "Documents obtained by the Subcommittee show that Barcella met with Senator Dennis Deconcini, one of the critics of the plea bargain, in an effort to persuade him that BCCI was not the corrupt institution that he and others had claimed." [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|Lawrence Barcella]], a former federal prosecutor, was then coordinating BCCI's defense. The report records no other contact between DeConcini and BCCI or its lawyers.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "DeCONCINI, Dennis Webster (1937-)," *Biographical Directory of the United States Congress* (Retro edition), archived October 1, 2021. http://web.archive.org/web/20211001181614/https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=d000185
|
||||
[^2]: "Panel Split on Punishing Keating 5," Associated Press, in the *Roanoke Times*, February 8, 1991, p. A-2. https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1991/rt9102/910208/02080761.htm
|
||||
[^3]: "No Wrist-Slap for the Keating Five," *Deseret News*, March 1, 1991. https://www.deseret.com/1991/3/1/18908149/no-wrist-slap-for-the-keating-five/
|
||||
[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm
|
||||
61
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Greg Brockman.md
Normal file
61
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Greg Brockman.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- OpenAI
|
||||
- SuperPAC
|
||||
- MAGAInc
|
||||
- LeadingTheFuture
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Greg Brockman
|
||||
- Gregory Brockman
|
||||
summary: "OpenAI cofounder and first chief technology officer who quit when removed as board chairman in November 2023, returned as president, and with Anna Brockman gave 50 million dollars to two political committees in 2025."
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
|
||||
role: "cofounder and founding chief technology officer"
|
||||
start: 2015-12
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[MAGA Inc.]]"
|
||||
role: "12.5 million dollars"
|
||||
start: 2025-09-12
|
||||
fn: 10
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Greg Brockman is a cofounder and the president of [[OpenAI]], the [[San Francisco]] artificial-intelligence company. When OpenAI was announced as a nonprofit laboratory on December 11, 2015, he was among the backers of its one-billion-dollar funding pledge, with [[Elon Musk]], [[Sam Altman]], [[Reid Hoffman]], [[Jessica Livingston]], [[Peter Thiel]], [[Amazon Web Services]] and [[Infosys]], and he became its chief technology officer, with Musk and Altman as co-chairs and [[Ilya Sutskever]] as chief scientist.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2023 Board Crisis
|
||||
|
||||
On November 17, 2023, OpenAI announced that Altman would leave as chief executive and the board, and that Brockman would step down as chairman of the board while remaining at the company. The directors who acted were Sutskever, [[Adam D'Angelo]], [[Tasha McCauley]] and [[Helen Toner]].[^3] Brockman quit instead.[^4] Microsoft's chief executive, [[Satya Nadella]], announced on November 20 that Altman and Brockman would lead a new advanced-research lab inside [[Microsoft]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
OpenAI's announcement of November 29, 2023 was subtitled "Mira Murati as CTO, Greg Brockman returns as President," restoring [[Mira Murati]] as chief technology officer, and named a new initial board of [[Bret Taylor]] as chair, [[Larry Summers]] and D'Angelo. Altman wrote to staff: "Greg and I are partners in running this company. We have never quite figured out how to communicate that on the org chart, but we will." Taylor wrote that the board was "thrilled that Sam, Mira and Greg are back together leading the company."[^5] The review that the board's special committee commissioned from the law firm [[WilmerHale]] covered "the November 17, 2023 removal of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from the OpenAI Board of Directors and Mr. Altman's termination as CEO." On March 8, 2024, the committee recommended that the full board "endorse the November 21 decision to rehire Mr. Altman and Mr. Brockman," and Taylor stated: "We have unanimously concluded that Sam and Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
In December 2023 OpenAI's superalignment team published "Weak-to-strong generalization," listing [[Collin Burns]] first among its authors and Brockman and Sutskever among its contributors.[^7] Burns was selected in April 2026 to direct the federal [[U.S. AI Safety Institute|Center for AI Standards and Innovation]] and removed within days.[^8] In February 2024 Musk sued OpenAI, Altman and Brockman in California state court for breach of contract over the company's founding agreement.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Political Giving
|
||||
|
||||
On September 12, 2025, Brockman gave 12,500,000 dollars to the super PAC [[Leading the Future]] and 12,500,000 dollars to the hybrid political committee [[MAGA Inc.]], listing his employer as OpenAI and his occupation as "President and Co-Founder." [[Anna Brockman]] of San Francisco gave the same amounts to both committees on the same day; the MAGA Inc. filing lists her occupation as "Retired." The four contributions total 50 million dollars.[^10] With 50 million dollars from the management company of [[Andreessen Horowitz]], attributed half to [[Marc Andreessen]] and half to [[Ben Horowitz]], and 100,000 dollars from the company behind [[Perplexity]], the Brockmans' 25 million dollars made up Leading the Future's 75.1 million dollars in contributions through July 2026.[^10][^11] The committee passed most of its money to affiliated committees; one of them, [[Think Big (PAC)|Think Big]], spent 8,145,697.68 dollars opposing [[Alex Bores]], the New York Assembly member who sponsored the state's [[RAISE Act]] on AI safety, in the Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district, where the [[Anthropic]]-funded [[Public First Action]] backed him.[^12][^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "OpenAI launches as a nonprofit with a billion-dollar pledge," December 11, 2015. *IEEE Spectrum,* December 2015. https://spectrum.ieee.org/billiondollar-nonprofit-ai-research-lab-to-open-in-san-francisco
|
||||
[^2]: "The messy, secretive reality behind OpenAI's bid to save the world." *MIT Technology Review,* February 17, 2020. https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/17/844721/ai-openai-moonshot-elon-musk-sam-altman-greg-brockman-messy-secretive-reality/
|
||||
[^3]: OpenAI. "OpenAI announces leadership transition." November 17, 2023, archived November 17, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20231117210540/https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transition
|
||||
[^4]: "Effective Altruism's Role in the OpenAI Chaos, Explained." *Bloomberg,* November 22, 2023. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-22/effective-altruism-s-role-in-the-openai-chaos-explained
|
||||
[^5]: OpenAI. "Sam Altman returns as CEO, OpenAI has a new initial board." November 29, 2023, archived September 13, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260913004743/https://openai.com/index/sam-altman-returns-as-ceo-openai-has-a-new-initial-board/
|
||||
[^6]: OpenAI. "Review completed & Altman, Brockman to continue to lead OpenAI." March 8, 2024, archived September 13, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260913014725/https://openai.com/index/review-completed-altman-brockman-to-continue-to-lead-openai/
|
||||
[^7]: OpenAI. "Weak-to-strong generalization." December 14, 2023, archived September 17, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260917090610/https://openai.com/index/weak-to-strong-generalization/
|
||||
[^8]: Mitchell, Elizabeth Troutman. "Trump Admin Changes Plan to Tap Former Anthropic Researcher to Direct Federal AI Safety Org." *The Daily Signal,* April 23, 2026, https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/04/23/trump-anthropic-researcher/ ; Khanna, Ro. Letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, August 13, 2026. https://democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/8.13.26-khanna-letter-to-commerce-on-caisi.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: "Elon Musk sues OpenAI and CEO Sam Altman over contract breach." *CNBC,* March 1, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/01/elon-musk-sues-openai-and-ceo-sam-altman-over-contract-breach.html
|
||||
[^10]: Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts (Schedule A) for committees C00916114 (Leading the Future) and C00892471 (MAGA Inc.), contributor name Brockman, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00916114&contributor_name=Brockman ; https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00892471&contributor_name=Brockman
|
||||
[^11]: Federal Election Commission, financial totals and itemized receipts for committee C00916114, 2025 to 2026 cycle, through the report of July 15, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00916114/?tab=summary
|
||||
[^12]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00923417 ("Think Big"), independent expenditures (Schedule E), by-candidate aggregation for Alex Bores, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/independent-expenditures/?committee_id=C00923417
|
||||
[^13]: Bellan, Rebecca. "Anthropic-funded group backs candidate attacked by rival AI super PAC." *TechCrunch,* February 20, 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/20/anthropic-funded-group-backs-candidate-attacked-by-rival-ai-super-pac/
|
||||
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Marc Gunther.md
Normal file
32
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Marc Gunther.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
summary: "Former Fortune senior writer who covers foundations, effective altruism and psychedelics, and whose 2018 Stanford Social Innovation Review article mapped the entities around Cari Tuna and Open Philanthropy."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Fortune (magazine)]]"
|
||||
role: "senior writer"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Marc Gunther is an American journalist who has worked as a reporter for nearly 50 years, on politics, government, television, the media business, corporate sustainability, the nonprofit world and psychedelics, for *[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]*, *[[The Guardian]]*, *[[The Chronicle of Philanthropy]]* and other publications. He edits the Medium publications *Nonprofit Chronicles*, *The Psychedelic Renaissance* and *The Great Vape Debate*, and describes his subjects as "psychedelics, smoking and vaping, animal rights, philanthropy and effective altruism."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Open Philanthropy
|
||||
|
||||
In the Summer 2018 issue of the *[[Stanford Social Innovation Review]]*, which described him as a former senior writer at *Fortune* and author or co-author of four books, Gunther profiled [[Cari Tuna]], who became an effective altruist after reading [[Peter Singer]]'s *The Life You Can Save* and joined the board of [[GiveWell]] in 2011. He wrote that she played "a key role in no fewer than seven entities" as a director or major donor, including [[Good Ventures]], the [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]] and donor-advised funds at the [[Silicon Valley Community Foundation]]. [[Alexander Berger]] told him that "each has a reason for being" and that "tax considerations are key." Gunther reported that [[Holden Karnofsky]], a co-founder of GiveWell who had worked at [[Bridgewater Associates]], sat on the board of [[OpenAI]], that Good Ventures made its first grant, of 50,000 dollars, to GiveWell in 2011, and that [[Open Philanthropy]], which separated from GiveWell in 2017, "does not disclose its annual operating costs or the salaries or benefits of its highest-paid staff members."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Gunther, Marc. "About." *Medium,* archived April 14, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20250414190549/https://marcgunther.medium.com/about
|
||||
[^2]: Gunther, Marc. "Giving in the Light of Reason." *Stanford Social Innovation Review,* Summer 2018. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/giving_in_the_light_of_reason
|
||||
92
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar.md
Normal file
92
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Anthropic
|
||||
- CarnegieEndowment
|
||||
- StanfordUniversity
|
||||
- PresidentsIntelligenceAdvisoryBoard
|
||||
- AIGovernance
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Tino Cuéllar
|
||||
- Tino Cuellar
|
||||
- Mariano-Florentino Cuellar
|
||||
summary: "Former California Supreme Court justice and Carnegie Endowment president who sat on Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust in 2026 before becoming Anthropic's first chief global affairs officer in August 2026."
|
||||
location: "Matamoros, Mexico (born)"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
start: 2021-11
|
||||
end: 2026-06
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Long-Term Benefit Trust]]"
|
||||
role: "trustee"
|
||||
start: 2026-01
|
||||
end: 2026-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Anthropic]]"
|
||||
role: "chief global affairs officer"
|
||||
start: 2026-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Inflection AI]]"
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[LawZero]]"
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Harvard University]]"
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "board chair"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[President's Intelligence Advisory Board]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford University]]"
|
||||
role: "Stanley Morrison Professor; director, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: spouse_of
|
||||
with: "[[Lucy Koh]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Mariano-Florentino "Tino" Cuéllar is a lawyer, political scientist and former justice of the [[Supreme Court of California]] who was president of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] from November 2021 to June 2026 and in August 2026 became the first chief global affairs officer of [[Anthropic]].[^1][^2] He was born in [[Matamoros]], Mexico, and grew up mainly in communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. He graduated from [[Harvard University|Harvard College]] and [[Yale Law School]] and holds a Ph.D. in political science from [[Stanford University]]. He is married to Judge [[Lucy Koh]] of the [[Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals|U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]]; they have two children.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government and Stanford
|
||||
|
||||
Cuéllar began his career at the [[Department of the Treasury|U.S. Department of the Treasury]] in [[Bill Clinton]]'s second term. In the first term of the [[Barack Obama]] administration he led the [[White House]] [[Domestic Policy Council]]'s teams on civil and criminal justice, public health, immigration and regulatory reform; he had earlier co-chaired the Obama-Biden transition's immigration working group, and he co-chaired the Department of Education's Equity and Excellence Commission. He has served on the [[President's Intelligence Advisory Board]] and the [[State Department]]'s Foreign Affairs Policy Board.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
At Stanford he was the Stanley Morrison Professor, with appointments in law, political science and international affairs; he directed the [[Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies]], co-directed the [[Center for International Security and Cooperation]] and led its Honors Program in International Security Studies.[^1] Anthropic's announcement adds that he directed the Stanford Cyber Initiative, holds the Cameron Schrier Family Professorship at [[Stanford Law School]], where he "began organizing classes on artificial intelligence nearly a decade ago," and is a senior fellow at Stanford's [[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence|Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence]].[^2] During nearly seven years on the California Supreme Court, while continuing to teach at Stanford, he wrote opinions on "separation of powers, policing and criminal justice, democracy, technology and privacy, international agreements, and climate and environmental law."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
He is a member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] and chairs the board of the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]]. He previously chaired the boards of the [[Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences]] and the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies. The [[National Academy of Sciences]] appointed him to its Committee on Responsible Computing Research, and he co-chaired the bipartisan Task Force on Nuclear Proliferation and American Security and co-led California's Frontier AI Working Group.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Carnegie Endowment
|
||||
|
||||
Cuéllar became president of the endowment in November 2021; [[William Burns]] had been its president from 2015 to 2021.[^1][^3] In March 2022 [[Open Philanthropy]] recommended 597,717 dollars over two years to the endowment for "a research project on international AI governance led by [[Matt Sheehan]]."[^4] When [[Holden Karnofsky]] left Open Philanthropy for Carnegie as a visiting scholar on April 29, 2024, he wrote: "Tino Cuellar, Carnegie's President, has been an advocate for taking (what I see as) the biggest risks from AI seriously. Carnegie is looking to increase its attention to AI risk."[^5] Karnofsky, whose wife [[Daniela Amodei]] is Anthropic's president, joined Anthropic in January 2025.[^6] Cuéllar's Carnegie biography lists him as a director of [[Inflection AI]], Harvard University and [[LawZero]], and as a trustee of Anthropic's [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Anthropic
|
||||
|
||||
Cuéllar joined the Long-Term Benefit Trust, the body holding Anthropic's Class T shares and empowered to elect a growing share of its board, in January 2026, when the trustees [[Kanika Bahl]] and [[Zach Robinson]] left. [[Richard Fontaine]], chief executive of the [[Center for a New American Security]], had joined in May 2025, and [[Ben Bernanke]], former chairman of the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]], joined in July 2026.[^7] He left Carnegie in June 2026.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On August 4, 2026, Anthropic announced that he would join the company as its first chief global affairs officer, "leading the company's work on policy, strategic international engagement, and government relationships worldwide," and that he had stepped down from the trust, which would select a successor "under its normal process." Cuéllar said: "Democracies must set the terms on which this technology advances, and there is no more consequential place to be shaping that work right now than Anthropic." Daniela Amodei said that he had "spent his career helping public institutions respond to times of change with thoughtfulness, pragmatism, and deep commitment to the common good."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar," former president (2021 to 2026), biography, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/mariano-florentino-tino-cuellar
|
||||
[^2]: Anthropic, "Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar to join Anthropic as Chief Global Affairs Officer," August 4, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/tino-cuellar
|
||||
[^3]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "William J. Burns," former president (2015 to 2021), biography, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/william-j-burns
|
||||
[^4]: Open Philanthropy, "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, AI Governance Research," March 2022, archived July 8, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20220708131413/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace-ai-governance-research/
|
||||
[^5]: Karnofsky, Holden. "Joining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace." EA Forum, April 29, 2024. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7gzgwgwefwBku2cnL/joining-the-carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace
|
||||
[^6]: Mathews, Jessica. "Anthropic hired president Daniela Amodei's husband to work on the company's AI safety strategy." *Fortune,* February 13, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/anthropic-hired-president-daniela-amodei-husband-ai-safety-responsible-scaling/
|
||||
[^7]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates on changes in the trust's composition. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
|
||||
41
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Naina Bajekal.md
Normal file
41
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Naina Bajekal.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Authors & Journalists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Journalist
|
||||
- TimeMagazine
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
summary: "Former Time international editor and executive editor who joined Open Philanthropy, now Coefficient Giving, in July 2024 and leads its communications team."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Time]]"
|
||||
role: "reporter, later international editor and executive editor"
|
||||
end: 2024
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
role: "managing director, communications"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Newsweek]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Naina Bajekal is a journalist and the managing director for communications of Coefficient Giving, the name taken in November 2025 by [[Open Philanthropy]], the grantmaker of [[Dustin Moskovitz]] and [[Cari Tuna]]. She joined in July 2024.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Journalism
|
||||
|
||||
Bajekal holds a B.A. in English literature and modern languages from the [[University of Oxford]]. She began as a reporter in the [[London]] bureau of *[[Time]]*, held editing roles at *[[Newsweek]]*, [[Magnum Photos]] and the [[Fuller Project]], and returned to *Time* in 2018, where over six years she was international editor and executive editor, edited more than 30 cover stories and launched Women of the Year and the TIME100 AI list.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coefficient Giving
|
||||
|
||||
In December 2025 *[[Semafor]]* reported that *Time* had hosted four fellows of the [[Tarbell Center for AI Journalism]], most of whose funding came from Coefficient Giving. Bajekal said Coefficient had "no involvement in coverage decisions" and that AI held "enormous potential to accelerate science and fuel economic growth."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Coefficient Giving. "Naina Bajekal." Team page, archived May 23, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260523180247/https://coefficientgiving.org/team/naina-bajekal/
|
||||
[^2]: Tani, Max. "AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms." *Semafor,* December 7, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2025/ai-critics-funded-ai-coverage-at-top-newsrooms
|
||||
|
|
@ -42,9 +42,13 @@ Paul Christiano led alignment research at [[OpenAI]] from 2017 to 2021 and contr
|
|||
|
||||
In September 2023 Christiano became one of the five original trustees of [[Anthropic]]'s [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]], the body empowered to elect a growing share of the board of the company founded by Dario and Daniela Amodei. He left in April 2024 to become head of AI safety at the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]].[^3] Commerce Secretary [[Gina Raimondo]] announced the appointment on April 16, 2024.[^4] The Action Fund of the [[Center for AI Safety]], an Open Philanthropy grantee, stated that it had led a bipartisan congressional effort that "secured $10 million to establish" the institute.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### U.S. AI Safety Institute
|
||||
|
||||
On March 7, 2024, *[[VentureBeat]]* reported, citing unnamed sources, that staff members at the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] were threatening to resign over Christiano's expected appointment, that the hire "was allegedly rushed through the hiring process without anyone knowing until today," that it had come directly from Raimondo, and that staff feared his ties to effective altruism and longtermism "could threaten the institute's objectivity."[^6] The April 16 announcement placed him alongside the institute's director, [[Elizabeth Kelly]], its chief technology officer, [[Elham Tabassi]], and four other new leaders, among them the Stanford political scientist [[Rob Reich]] as senior advisor; the Commerce Department stated that Christiano would "design and conduct tests of frontier AI models, focusing on model evaluations for capabilities of national security concern."[^4][^7] Christiano had been expected to join the board of [[METR]], the evaluations group his Alignment Research Center had incubated as ARC Evals; its announcements of September and December 2023 stated that "he declined involvement in light of his new role as Head of Safety at the US AI Safety Institute."[^8] In June 2025 the Commerce Department under [[Howard Lutnick]] renamed the institute the Center for AI Standards and Innovation.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### The OpenAI Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
On September 9, 2026, the [[OpenAI Foundation]], the nonprofit that controls OpenAI Group PBC, appointed Christiano to its board and its Safety and Security Committee, chaired by [[Zico Kolter]], and made him a non-voting observer on the board of the for-profit company. The announcement described him as a senior technical advisor at the [[Center for AI Standards and Innovation]] within the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]], where he had "worked on evaluating frontier AI models, including capabilities with national security implications," and stated: "As a Senior Technical Advisor, Paul will recuse himself from all OpenAI-related matters as well as all model evaluations." The board chair, [[Bret Taylor]], said his "experience working on frontier AI safety and standards in government" would strengthen the board's oversight.[^1]
|
||||
On September 9, 2026, the [[OpenAI Foundation]], the nonprofit that controls OpenAI Group PBC, appointed Christiano to its board and its Safety and Security Committee, chaired by [[Zico Kolter]], and made him a non-voting observer on the board of the for-profit company. The announcement described him as a senior technical advisor at the Center for AI Standards and Innovation within the National Institute of Standards and Technology, where he had "worked on evaluating frontier AI models, including capabilities with national security implications," and stated: "As a Senior Technical Advisor, Paul will recuse himself from all OpenAI-related matters as well as all model evaluations." The board chair, [[Bret Taylor]], said his "experience working on frontier AI safety and standards in government" would strengthen the board's oversight.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -53,3 +57,7 @@ On September 9, 2026, the [[OpenAI Foundation]], the nonprofit that controls Ope
|
|||
[^3]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
|
||||
[^4]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^5]: Center for AI Safety Action Fund, "2024 Annual Impact Report." https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66438c042d15b14b53b83006/68012dcfec6880aba24f528a_CAIS-ActionFund-ImpactReport_05.pdf
|
||||
[^6]: Goldman, Sharon. "NIST staffers revolt against expected appointment of 'effective altruist' AI researcher to US AI Safety Institute." *VentureBeat,* March 7, 2024. https://venturebeat.com/ai/nist-staffers-revolt-against-potential-appointment-of-effective-altruist-ai-researcher-to-us-ai-safety-institute
|
||||
[^7]: U.S. Department of Commerce, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024, archived December 31, 2024. http://web.archive.org/web/20241231010954/https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^8]: Barnes, Beth. "ARC Evals is spinning out from ARC." METR, September 19, 2023, https://metr.org/blog/2023-09-19-spin-out-announcement/ ; METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/
|
||||
[^9]: Mitchell, Elizabeth Troutman. "Trump Admin Changes Plan to Tap Former Anthropic Researcher to Direct Federal AI Safety Org." *The Daily Signal,* April 23, 2026. https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/04/23/trump-anthropic-researcher/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
77
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Raymond Banoun.md
Normal file
77
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Raymond Banoun.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "BCCI Scandal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Lawyer
|
||||
- Prosecutor
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
- WhiteCollarDefense
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ray Banoun
|
||||
summary: "Former head of the fraud division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington who defended BCCI from 1988 and whom the Senate subcommittee found may have willfully misled it."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
role: "Assistant United States Attorney, District of Columbia, for 13 years; head of the Fraud Division"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Arent Fox]]"
|
||||
role: "partner; chair of the Business Fraud Group"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: represented
|
||||
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
|
||||
role: "defense counsel brought in by Robert Altman; oversaw production of documents to the Senate subcommittee"
|
||||
start: 1988
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: subject_of
|
||||
with: "[[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report]]"
|
||||
role: "found to have possibly acted unethically by willfully misleading the subcommittee"
|
||||
start: 1992-12
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft]]"
|
||||
role: "partner for 25 years; founder of the White Collar Group; managing partner of the Washington office for 10 years"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Banoun Law]]"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Raymond Banoun is an American lawyer who was for thirteen years an Assistant [[United States]] Attorney for the District of Columbia, heading its Fraud Division, and who from 1988 was one of the defense lawyers of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) in Washington. The Senate subcommittee of [[John Kerry]] concluded that he "may have acted unethically by willfully misleading it in an attempt to impede the investigation."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Prosecutor
|
||||
|
||||
Banoun received a B.A. from the City College of New York in 1965 and a J.D. with honors from [[George Washington University]] Law School in 1968. He clerked for U.S. District Judge [[Harold H. Greene]], served for three years as a Special Assistant to the United States Attorney for the Central District of California in [[Los Angeles]], and for thirteen years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, where he headed the Fraud Division.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### BCCI
|
||||
|
||||
He then became a partner at [[Arent Fox]], Kintner, Plotkin & Kahn in Washington, where he chaired the Business Fraud Group.[^1] The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]] listed him with [[Lawrence Wechsler]] and [[E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.|Lawrence Barcella]] as the former federal prosecutors among BCCI's Washington "cadre of professional help," which also included [[Clark Clifford]], former members of Congress [[John Culver]] and [[Michael Barnes]], and the former [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] attorneys [[Baldwin Tuttle]], Jerry Hawke and Michael Bradfield. [[Robert Altman]] brought Banoun into the case, according to the report, "to assist in the bank's defense." The report stated: "Aside from Altman, the lawyer who had the most contact with the Subcommittee concerning BCCI was Banoun."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Altman charged him with overseeing the production of documents in response to the subpoenas the subcommittee issued to BCCI in the summer of 1988, among them "all records relating to General Noriega's accounts in the United States." The subcommittee received information that was "clearly incomplete." Banoun told *[[Newsweek]]* that he had cooperated fully, but that "lawyers don't go around searching for documents for clients"; he told the *National Journal* that the subcommittee had been "outlawyered," adding, "We don't allow our clients to get pushed around. This is an adversary system, not a roll-over system"; and he complained to the *Legal Times* that "more and more these days the government [is] wanting information obtained under the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product," calling it "an unfortunate and frightening sign because it erodes very seriously the ability of a lawyer to represent a client." The report noted that "BCCI, of course, waived it [sic] attorney client privilege."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On May 14, 1989, Altman, Banoun and Wechsler met subcommittee staff and produced 775 pages of new documents concerning General [[Manuel Noriega]]. The lawyers stated that they had relied on the statements of the BCCI officer [[Amjad Awan]] and had conducted no independent searches for documents in response to the 1988 subpoena.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A memorandum by [[Roma Theus]], a partner in the Florida firm of [[Holland & Knight]], stated that Altman and Banoun "were doing everything within their power to call in political markers." Banoun called its author a misinformed "fruitcake." Theus told the subcommittee that his information came from the private investigator [[Phillip Manuel]], who had worked for Barcella; Manuel told the subcommittee he had no idea why Theus would write such a thing and that his only information about the investigation came from "journalists with who [sic] he played poker."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In the fall of 1988 Banoun was also charged with reviewing all of BCCI's accounts in Florida to decide whether criminal referrals should be made. According to the report, documents suggested "that despite evidence of criminal activity produced by the manager of one of BCCI Florida offices (one of BCCI's few honest officers) Banoun made no criminal referrals."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Florida License and the Senate
|
||||
|
||||
After the United States Attorney in Tampa, [[Robert Genzman]], told Florida regulators on January 31, 1990, that his office took no position on BCCI's state license, "BCCI's lawyers, principally former federal prosecutors Lawrence Wechsler, Lawrence Barcella, and Raymond Banoun, dissatisfied with this result, decided to talk to others in the Justice Department to bring about a different result." On February 13, 1990, [[Charles Saphos]], head of the narcotics section of the Criminal Division, wrote to the Florida comptroller, [[Gerald Lewis]], asking that BCCI be permitted to keep operating, and sent copies to the Federal Reserve "and to BCCI lawyers Banoun and Wechsler." When Lewis invited him to Tallahassee to explain, Saphos wrote back that the Department of Justice took no position on the license.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the report, documents showed that Wechsler "and Banoun lobbied the US Senate on behalf of BCCI," and John Culver, a former senator and another Arent Fox partner, lobbied the subcommittee "with Banoun, Weschler and Altman, assuring Subccommittee staff that the bank was fully cooperating, and that, save events in Florida, a sound and honorable institution." In the spring of 1990 Banoun called in his Arent Fox colleague Michael Barnes, a former congressman from [[Maryland]], over a pending article on [[First American Bank]] by the journalist [[Larry Gurwin]] for *Regardie's* magazine; Barnes called the publisher, William A. Regardie, to complain, and the magazine published the article.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Later Career
|
||||
|
||||
At the time of the Senate report in December 1992 Banoun headed the white collar criminal defense group in the Washington office of [[Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft]], which the report rendered as "Caldawater, Wickersham and Taft."[^2] He was a partner at Cadwalader for 25 years, founded its White Collar Group, and was managing partner of its Washington office for ten years, before establishing [[Banoun Law]] PLLC. He has chaired the [[American Bar Association]] Criminal Justice Section's White Collar Crime Committee and the Business Crimes Committee of the [[International Bar Association]]'s Section of Business Law, founded the ABA's annual National Institute on White Collar Crime, and co-authored the treatise *Money Laundering, Terrorism and Financial Institutions*. His practice covers the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]], money laundering and asset forfeiture, and foreign bank secrecy in jurisdictions including [[Switzerland]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Hong Kong]], [[Bermuda]], the [[Cayman Islands]], the [[Bahamas]] and [[Panama]]. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Raymond Banoun," Banoun Law LLC. https://sites.google.com/site/banounlaw
|
||||
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 17, "BCCI's Lawyers and Lobbyists," section "Ray Banoun." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/17law.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 13, "Clark Clifford and Robert Altman." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/13clifford.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
|
||||
|
|
@ -24,13 +24,13 @@ Abdul Qadeer Khan was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] scientist "closely associated wit
|
|||
|
||||
### Kahuta and the Procurement Network
|
||||
|
||||
In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the U.S. government regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
|
||||
In 1979 the administration of [[Jimmy Carter]] suspended aid to Pakistan under the Symington amendment after discovering the Kahuta enrichment plan; in 1981 the [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] administration obtained a five-year waiver from Congress because of Pakistan's role in channeling U.S. aid to the [[Mujahideen]] in [[Afghanistan]]. State Department telegrams of September and November 1985 show U.S. officials pressing [[West Germany]] over Pakistani agents seeking aluminum tubes for the Khan Laboratory's centrifuge program, and by fall 1986 the [[U.S. government]] regarded Multinational Inc. as a "procurement agent" for Khan's network. In May 1986 Representative [[Stephen Solarz]] told [[Zia ul-Haq]] that U.S. intelligence indicated Kahuta was enriching uranium to weapons grade, which Pakistani officials denied.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Pervez Case
|
||||
|
||||
Arshad Pervez, a native of Pakistan who had moved to [[Canada]] in 1967, ran an import-export business, A.P. Enterprises, in [[Toronto]]. In October 1986 he sought "maraging 350 steel," a high-strength steel used in gas centrifuge enrichment plants, from [[Carpenter Technology Corporation]] of Pennsylvania, whose staff alerted the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] and the [[U.S. Customs|United States Customs Service]]. Pervez named his client as Inam Ul-Haq of Multinational Corporation of Lahore. He offered a series of end uses, among them a research project of [[Karachi]] University's engineering program, rocket motors and antitank weapons, and paid 1,000 dollars to an undercover Customs agent posing as a [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]] licensing officer. In 1987 he added a request for beryllium and proposed commingling it with the steel. When the undercover agent suggested that other metals were for "another application in the plant at Kahuta," Pervez answered, "Could be," and at the end of the meeting said that "the Kahuta client is ready." He was arrested in [[Philadelphia]] in July 1987 while arranging the first shipment.[^1]
|
||||
Arshad Pervez, a native of Pakistan who had moved to [[Canada]] in 1967, ran an import-export business, A.P. Enterprises, in [[Toronto]]. In October 1986 he sought "maraging 350 steel," a high-strength steel used in gas centrifuge enrichment plants, from [[Carpenter Technology Corporation]] of Pennsylvania, whose staff alerted the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] and the [[U.S. Customs|United States Customs Service]]. Pervez named his client as [[Inam Ul-Haq]] of Multinational Corporation of Lahore. He offered a series of end uses, among them a research project of [[Karachi]] University's engineering program, rocket motors and antitank weapons, and paid 1,000 dollars to an undercover Customs agent posing as a [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]] licensing officer. In 1987 he added a request for beryllium and proposed commingling it with the steel. When the undercover agent suggested that other metals were for "another application in the plant at Kahuta," Pervez answered, "Could be," and at the end of the meeting said that "the Kahuta client is ready." He was arrested in [[Philadelphia]] in July 1987 while arranging the first shipment.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury indicted Pervez and Inam Ul-Haq on July 28, 1987. Pervez was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, attempting to export beryllium and making false statements to the Commerce Department, acquitted on the bribery counts after claiming entrapment, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment on the conspiracy count. On March 6, 1989, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] vacated the conspiracy and beryllium convictions and ordered a new trial on those counts under *Mathews v. United States*, which entitles a defendant who denies elements of the offense to an entrapment instruction whenever the evidence could support one, and remanded for a hearing on entrapment on the false statement counts.[^1] According to the [[National Security Archive]], Inam Ul-Haq, whom it called "a key figure in the A. Q. Khan nuclear procurement network," left the United States before he could be arrested.[^2]
|
||||
A federal grand jury indicted Pervez and Inam Ul-Haq on July 28, 1987. Pervez was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States, attempting to export beryllium and making false statements to the Commerce Department, acquitted on the bribery counts after claiming entrapment, and sentenced to five years' imprisonment on the conspiracy count. On March 6, 1989, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] vacated the conspiracy and beryllium convictions and ordered a new trial on those counts under *Mathews v. United States*, which entitles a defendant who denies elements of the offense to an entrapment instruction whenever the evidence could support one, and remanded for a hearing on entrapment on the false statement counts.[^1] According to the [[National Security Archive]], Inam Ul-Haq, whom it called "a key figure in the A. Q. Khan nuclear procurement network," left the United States before he could be arrested.[^2] The Third Circuit's ruling opened the way to a retrial on all counts; after plea negotiations Pervez pleaded nolo contendere to the count of illegal export of beryllium and was released from prison on April 4, 1990, on the basis of time served. The State Department's legal adviser, [[Abraham Sofaer]], wrote that the outcome "did not suggest either innocence on the defendant's part or a lack of evidence supporting the government's case."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
A State Department intelligence memorandum of December 29, 1987, linked [[Khan Research Laboratories]] to the maraging steel and the [[Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission]] to the beryllium, and concluded that the network "could not exist without the umbrella of government approval, protection, and funding." An [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]] memorandum stated that "there is no plausible end-use for 25 tons of grade 350 maraging steel other than in the manufacture of centrifuges." President Reagan certified to Congress on December 17, 1987, that "Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device," and in January 1988 invoked and then waived the Solarz amendment.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
60
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Elie Hassenfeld.md
Normal file
60
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Elie Hassenfeld.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- GiveWell
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
- BridgewaterAssociates
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Elie Hassenfeld
|
||||
summary: "Former Bridgewater analyst who cofounded GiveWell with Holden Karnofsky in 2007, has run it since, sat on Open Philanthropy's early leadership team and was a director of its Action Fund."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[GiveWell]]"
|
||||
role: "cofounder with Holden Karnofsky"
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[GiveWell]]"
|
||||
role: "co-executive director, executive director, then chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Bridgewater Associates]]"
|
||||
role: "analyst"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Elie Hassenfeld is the cofounder and chief executive of [[GiveWell]], the charity evaluator he started with [[Holden Karnofsky]] in 2007. His GiveWell biography states that he "co-founded GiveWell in 2007 when he was unable to find data-driven recommendations for his own charitable giving," that "prior to GiveWell, he worked in the hedge fund industry," and that he has a B.A. in religion from [[Columbia University]]. He also sits on GiveWell's board.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bridgewater and GiveWell
|
||||
|
||||
Hassenfeld and Karnofsky met as investment analysts at [[Bridgewater Associates]], the [[Connecticut]] hedge fund run by [[Ray Dalio]], where in 2006 they formed a group of eight colleagues to research charitable giving. In 2007 the two left their jobs, raised about 300,000 dollars from former coworkers and incorporated the organization as the Clear Fund.[^2][^3] In December 2007 both were found to have promoted GiveWell online without disclosing their affiliation; Hassenfeld posted comments on sites including Marginal Revolution and Boing Boing, among them under the name "Talia." GiveWell's board removed Karnofsky as executive director and fined him, while Hassenfeld remained at the head of the organization.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Compensation and Board
|
||||
|
||||
The Clear Fund's returns list Hassenfeld as co-executive director and board member, paid 100,000 dollars for 2013, 120,000 for 2014 and 141,330 for 2015, each time the same or nearly the same as Karnofsky; as executive director, paid 172,378 dollars for 2016, 186,582 for 2017 and 222,900 for 2018; and as chief executive officer, paid 262,395 dollars for 2019, 286,992 for 2020, 304,439 for 2021, 355,000 for 2022, 400,000 for 2023 and 424,805 dollars plus 38,590 dollars in other compensation for 2024.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
Its unpaid board over those years included [[Cari Tuna]] of the foundation [[Good Ventures]] as treasurer and later board member; Karnofsky as secretary and later vice chair "thru 8/21/23"; the [[Stanford University]] political scientist [[Rob Reich]], listed on every return from 2013 until April 2019; [[Greg Jensen]], listed until December 1, 2017; and [[Julia Wise]]. The returns for 2023 and 2024 list [[Daniela Amodei]], president of [[Anthropic]] and Karnofsky's wife, as a board member, with [[Tim Ogden]] as chair in 2024.[^5][^6] GiveWell's board listing of 2018 described Reich as "a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University"; in April 2024 the Commerce Department named him senior advisor to the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]].[^7][^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Open Philanthropy
|
||||
|
||||
GiveWell Labs, the joint project of GiveWell and Good Ventures, became the [[Open Philanthropy|Open Philanthropy Project]].[^2] A document prepared for a GiveWell board meeting of June 17, 2015, stated that Tuna, as president of Good Ventures, was "a member of OP's leadership team and decides on whether to approve grants," and that "the OP leadership team also includes Elie, Alexander and Howie," meaning Hassenfeld, [[Alexander Berger]] and a third staff member.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]], the 501(c)(4) affiliated with Open Philanthropy, listed Hassenfeld as an unpaid director on its returns for 2017 and 2018, alongside Tuna, [[Dustin Moskovitz]], Karnofsky and [[Divesh Makan]], and reported that he received 186,582 dollars and 222,900 dollars in those years from a related organization, the same amounts the Clear Fund reported paying him as executive director.[^5][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: GiveWell, "People," retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.givewell.org/about/people
|
||||
[^2]: Gunther, Marc. "Giving in the Light of Reason." *Stanford Social Innovation Review,* Summer 2018. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/giving_in_the_light_of_reason
|
||||
[^3]: GiveWell, "Our Story." https://www.givewell.org/about/story
|
||||
[^4]: GiveWell, "Full account of GiveWell staff's inappropriate online promotion in December 2007." https://www.givewell.org/about/official-records/board-meeting-3/FAQ-on-inappropriate-marketing/full-account ; "GiveWell in turmoil after 'horrible lapse of judgement' by founders." *Alliance.* https://www.alliancemagazine.org/news/givewell-in-turmoil-after-horrible-lapse-of-judgement-by-founders/
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "The Clear Fund," EIN 20-8625442, Form 990 compensation and officer listings for fiscal years 2013 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/208625442
|
||||
[^6]: Mathews, Jessica. "Anthropic hired president Daniela Amodei's husband to work on the company's AI safety strategy." *Fortune,* February 13, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/anthropic-hired-president-daniela-amodei-husband-ai-safety-responsible-scaling/
|
||||
[^7]: GiveWell, "People," archived December 21, 2018. http://web.archive.org/web/20181221001410/https://www.givewell.org/about/people
|
||||
[^8]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^9]: U.S. Department of Commerce, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024, archived December 31, 2024. http://web.archive.org/web/20241231010954/https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^10]: GiveWell, "Attachment C: The Open Philanthropy Project: Good Ventures' and GiveWell's roles and responsibilities," board meeting of June 17, 2015. https://files.givewell.org/files/ClearFund/Meeting_2015_06_17/Attachment_C_Open_Phil_roles_and_responsibilities.pdf
|
||||
[^11]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Coefficient Giving Action Fund," EIN 81-2644663, Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2016 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/812644663
|
||||
|
|
@ -27,19 +27,19 @@ Eugene Albert Horsch (born 1981) is the son of the Philadelphia pornographic fil
|
|||
|
||||
### Timaru and Bucks County
|
||||
|
||||
Horsch was born in [[Timaru]], [[New Zealand]], where his father, a fugitive from a [[Philadelphia]] methamphetamine charge, worked as a chemist under the stolen identity of Dr. Stanley Edward Stokowski. His mother was [[Myroslawa Ferkuniak|Myroslawa "Anna" Ferkuniak]], whom his father had married in [[Nevada]] under the same name. *The Press* of [[Christchurch]] reported in 1984 that the family had arrived in [[Canterbury, New Zealand|Canterbury]] in 1980 with an 18-month-old son, which does not agree with his 1981 New Zealand birth reported by the *Inquirer*. His father left New Zealand in March 1984 on a stolen passport, leaving his wife and son behind, and was arrested by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in [[Florida]] later that year; he was sentenced in April 1985 and imprisoned until 1987.[^3][^4] His mother died at the family's house on Devereaux Avenue in Philadelphia on July 28, 1989; her obituary gave the cause as a lengthy illness, and the *Inquirer* reported in 2026 that it was an accidental overdose.[^1][^5] He grew up in his father's house in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania]]. The [[Central Bucks School District]] has no record that he graduated.[^1][^6] The house on West Chew Avenue had been the home of his great-grandparents, [[Albert Hoersch|Albert]] and [[Helen E. Hoersch]], by 1968, and of their daughter [[Helen M. Hoersch]] until her death in 2004.[^7][^8][^9] The city's deed index records its transfer to him by a deed executed on October 1, 2007, with Helen M. Hoersch named as grantor; the *Inquirer* reported that his father used a power of attorney to make the transfer, for one dollar.[^10][^11]
|
||||
Horsch was born in [[Timaru]], [[New Zealand]], where his father, a fugitive from a [[Philadelphia]] methamphetamine charge, worked as a chemist under the stolen identity of Dr. Stanley Edward Stokowski. His mother was [[Myroslawa Ferkuniak|Myroslawa "Anna" Ferkuniak]], whom his father had married in [[Nevada]] under the same name. *[[The Press]]* of [[Christchurch]] reported in 1984 that the family had arrived in [[Canterbury, New Zealand|Canterbury]] in 1980 with an 18-month-old son, which does not agree with his 1981 New Zealand birth reported by the *Inquirer*. His father left New Zealand in March 1984 on a stolen passport, leaving his wife and son behind, and was arrested by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] in [[Florida]] later that year; he was sentenced in April 1985 and imprisoned until 1987.[^3][^4] His mother died at the family's house on Devereaux Avenue in Philadelphia on July 28, 1989; her obituary gave the cause as a lengthy illness, and the *Inquirer* reported in 2026 that it was an accidental overdose.[^1][^5] He grew up in his father's house in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania]]. The [[Central Bucks School District]] has no record that he graduated.[^1][^6] The house on West Chew Avenue had been the home of his great-grandparents, [[Albert Hoersch|Albert]] and [[Helen E. Hoersch]], by 1968, and of their daughter [[Helen M. Hoersch]] until her death in 2004.[^7][^8][^9] The city's deed index records its transfer to him by a deed executed on October 1, 2007, with Helen M. Hoersch named as grantor; the *Inquirer* reported that his father used a power of attorney to make the transfer, for one dollar.[^10][^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Convictions
|
||||
|
||||
In 2003, while a student at [[Drexel University]], Horsch caused a drunk-driving crash that left the other driver in a vegetative state; the man died sixteen years later. Horsch pleaded guilty in 2004 to driving under the influence and aggravated assault and was sentenced to two to four years. He was released in 2006. In 2013 police found about 1.9 million dollars' worth of marijuana in the house, and he was sentenced to four to eight years. He was in prison from 2013 to 2017. His father's former wife [[Amy McHale]] was last seen at the house in 2016. After a fire at the house in May 2025 he was charged with possession of marijuana and amphetamine and received three years of probation.[^1][^6][^12]
|
||||
In 2003, while a student at [[Drexel University]], Horsch caused a drunk-driving crash that left the other driver in a vegetative state; the man died sixteen years later. Horsch pleaded guilty in 2004 to driving under the influence and aggravated assault and was sentenced to two to four years. He was released in 2006. In 2013 police found about 1.9 million dollars' worth of marijuana in the house, and he was sentenced to four to eight years. He was in prison from 2013 to 2017. His father's former wife [[Amy McHale]] was last seen at the house in 2016. After a fire at the house in May 2025 he was charged with possession of marijuana and amphetamine and received three years of probation.[^1][^6][^12] Firefighters had answered a small fire on the second floor on May 18, 2025, and a fire marshal and a patrolman found a marijuana grow, an AR-15 pattern rifle modified to fire automatically, a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, and a 9mm pistol, all with destroyed serial numbers, and more than a hundred rounds of ammunition. According to a spokesperson for District Attorney [[Larry Krasner]], [[Jerome Brown]] told the court that the guns had belonged to his father, who had died three days before the raid, and that he had planned to dispose of them properly. The *Inquirer* reported that he pleaded guilty to manufacturing drugs and that prosecutors withdrew the gun charges.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Krista Killen]], who lived in the house and appeared in his father's films, told friends that Horsch broke down her bedroom door and threatened to kill her. She died of drug intoxication some months after his father's death in May 2025.[^13]
|
||||
[[Krista Killen]], who lived in the house and appeared in his father's films, told friends that Horsch broke down her bedroom door and threatened to kill her. She died of drug intoxication some months after his father's death in May 2025.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
### Arrest and Federal Case
|
||||
|
||||
On the morning of June 19, 2026, a federal park ranger approached Horsch's BMW at a fire hydrant beside [[Independence National Historical Park]]. His passenger said he was going to hurt her. She carried an identification card in the name of [[Blair Tonzelli]], missing since 2023. In the car were two handguns with obliterated serial numbers, a switchblade, a baton, a cattle prod, crack cocaine, and [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] credentials with his photograph in the name Eugene Frederick Steiner. The search of his house produced forged FBI credentials and the computer used to make them.[^2][^13]
|
||||
On the morning of June 19, 2026, a federal park ranger approached Horsch's BMW at a fire hydrant beside [[Independence National Historical Park]]. His passenger said he was going to hurt her. She carried an identification card in the name of [[Blair Tonzelli]], missing since 2023. In the car were two handguns with obliterated serial numbers, a switchblade, a baton, a cattle prod, crack cocaine, and [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] credentials with his photograph in the name Eugene Frederick Steiner. The search of his house produced forged FBI credentials and the computer used to make them.[^2][^14]
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury indicted him on July 9, 2026. State prosecutors withdrew their five counts on August 6. [[United States]] v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296, is before Judge [[John Milton Younge]] in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]. A January trial date had been reported; on the defense's request the trial was postponed in September 2026 to begin no earlier than March 22.[^14] He is represented by [[Jerome Brown]], who had also defended his father in the federal case of 2009; the government's attorneys of record are Maureen McCartney and Justin Ashenfelter, who appear for the United States Attorney's Office in the district's grand jury and warrant matters.[^15] Brown said: "We categorically deny that Eugene Horsch is a serial killer," "there's zero evidence right now that anyone was killed at that location," and "I'd be shocked if they found any harm related to those missing persons at that location."[^2][^12][^16][^17]
|
||||
A federal grand jury indicted him on July 9, 2026. On August 6 Assistant District Attorney [[Alyssa Amoroso]] of the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]] withdrew the five state counts of illegal gun and drug possession, telling a city judge that the [[United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|United States Attorney's Office]] would handle the case; neither Horsch nor Brown attended the hearing.[^15] [[United States]] v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296, is before Judge [[John Milton Younge]] in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]. A January trial date had been reported; on the defense's request the trial was postponed in September 2026 to begin no earlier than March 22.[^16] He is represented by Jerome Brown, who had also defended his father in the federal case of 2009; the government's attorneys of record are Maureen McCartney and Justin Ashenfelter, who appear for the United States Attorney's Office in the district's grand jury and warrant matters.[^17] Brown said: "We categorically deny that Eugene Horsch is a serial killer," "there's zero evidence right now that anyone was killed at that location," and "I'd be shocked if they found any harm related to those missing persons at that location."[^2][^12][^18][^19]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -55,8 +55,10 @@ A federal grand jury indicted him on July 9, 2026. State prosecutors withdrew th
|
|||
[^10]: "What we know about the Olney investigation into missing women," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* June 27, 2026 (which calls Helen M. Hoersch his sister; her 1991 and 2004 notices make her his aunt). https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/olney-investigation-eugene-horsch-missing-women-20260627.html
|
||||
[^11]: City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, real estate transfer index, 417 W. Chew Ave., deed document 51798675, executed October 1, 2007, recorded October 26, 2007, grantor "Hoersch Helen M," grantee "Horsch Eugene A"; later mortgages of 2007 and 2009 and satisfaction of 2025, via the city's open data (rtt_summary). https://phl.carto.com/api/v2/sql?q=SELECT%20*%20FROM%20rtt_summary%20WHERE%20street_address%20=%20%27417%20W%20CHEW%20AVE%27
|
||||
[^12]: "Who is Eugene Horsch? Man at Center of Philadelphia 'House of Horrors,'" *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/who-is-eugene-horsch-man-at-center-of-philadelphia-house-of-horrors-12459693
|
||||
[^13]: "Five takeaways from Philly missing women mystery connected to Raymond and Eugene Horsch," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 4, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-missing-women-20260804.html
|
||||
[^14]: Charns, David. "Eugene Horsch trial delayed amid missing women investigations." *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/eugene-horsch-trial-delayed-amid-philadelphia-missing-women-investigations/4467226/
|
||||
[^15]: *United States v. Horsch,* Nos. 2:26-mj-01270 and 2:26-cr-00296, and *United States v. Horsch,* No. 2:09-cr-00794 (E.D. Pa.), docket metadata and attorney listings via CourtListener search. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73593607/united-states-v-horsch/
|
||||
[^16]: United States v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296 (E.D. Pa. filed July 8, 2026), docket via CourtListener / RECAP.
|
||||
[^17]: "Eugene Horsch Denies He's a Serial Killer as Philadelphia Cops Hunt for Missing Women," *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/philadelphia-obviously-serial-killer-former-fbi-agent-12457175
|
||||
[^13]: Marin, Max, Ryan W. Briggs, Ellie Rushing, and Barbara Laker. "Police searched Olney home last summer, but drugs, not missing women, were the focus," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 1, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-raymond-horsch-olney-home-search-guns-drugs-20260701.html
|
||||
[^14]: "Five takeaways from Philly missing women mystery connected to Raymond and Eugene Horsch," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 4, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-missing-women-20260804.html
|
||||
[^15]: Rushing, Ellie. "Feds will take over gun case of Olney man at center of missing women investigation, as Philly DA withdraws charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 6, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-federal-charges-olney-missing-women-20260806.html
|
||||
[^16]: Charns, David. "Eugene Horsch trial delayed amid missing women investigations." *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/eugene-horsch-trial-delayed-amid-philadelphia-missing-women-investigations/4467226/
|
||||
[^17]: *United States v. Horsch,* Nos. 2:26-mj-01270 and 2:26-cr-00296, and *United States v. Horsch,* No. 2:09-cr-00794 (E.D. Pa.), docket metadata and attorney listings via CourtListener search. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73593607/united-states-v-horsch/
|
||||
[^18]: United States v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296 (E.D. Pa. filed July 8, 2026), docket via CourtListener / RECAP.
|
||||
[^19]: "Eugene Horsch Denies He's a Serial Killer as Philadelphia Cops Hunt for Missing Women," *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/philadelphia-obviously-serial-killer-former-fbi-agent-12457175
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
82
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ghulam Ishaq Khan.md
Normal file
82
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/Ghulam Ishaq Khan.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Political Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Pakistan
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- NuclearProliferation
|
||||
- CivilService
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Ishaq Khan
|
||||
- G. I. Khan
|
||||
summary: "Pakistani civil servant who ran the State Bank under Bhutto and the finance ministry under Zia, chaired the Pakistani BCCI Foundation, and was president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993."
|
||||
born: 1915-01-15
|
||||
died: 2006-10-27
|
||||
location: "Peshawar, Pakistan"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "governor of the State Bank of Pakistan"
|
||||
start: 1971-12
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Zia ul-Haq]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "minister of finance"
|
||||
start: 1977
|
||||
end: 1984
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[BCCI Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "chairman of the Pakistani BCCI Foundation"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Pakistan]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
start: 1988-08-17
|
||||
end: 1993
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: relative_of
|
||||
with: "[[Anwar Saifullah]]"
|
||||
role: "father-in-law"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Ghulam Ishaq Khan was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] civil servant who was governor of the [[State Bank of Pakistan]] under [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]], minister of finance under [[Zia ul-Haq]], and president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. Through the 1980s he chaired the Pakistani foundation of [[Agha Hasan Abedi]]'s [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), which received the bank's Pakistani profits free of tax.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Civil Service
|
||||
|
||||
He was born on January 15, 1915, in Ismail Khel, a village about eight kilometres from [[Bannu]] toward Lakki Marwat, in what became the [[North-West Frontier Province]]. His father died when he was a child. After graduating in chemistry and botany he joined the NWFP Civil Service in 1938, and in his early years served as treasury officer in Bannu, extra assistant commissioner in [[Abbottabad]], assistant commissioner of Haripur and Nowshera, and, in the mid-1940s, bursar of Islamia College in [[Peshawar]]. He was Development Commissioner of the NWFP in the early 1950s, federal secretary of irrigation, water and power from 1954, member for finance of the [[Water and Power Development Authority]] from 1956 and its chairman from 1963, and secretary of finance and secretary of the cabinet in the second half of the 1960s.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bhutto and Zia
|
||||
|
||||
In December 1971 Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed him governor of the State Bank, a post he held for slightly over three years before becoming secretary of defence in March 1975, according to his obituary in *Dawn*. A United Press International dispatch of 1988 described him instead as having been "deputy defense minister" under Bhutto.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1977, shortly after the chief of army staff, General Zia ul-Haq, proclaimed himself Chief Martial Law Administrator, suspended the constitution and overthrew Bhutto's government, Ishaq Khan was made secretary-general-in-chief. He then served as federal finance minister in the military government, from 1977 to 1984. In early 1985 he was elected to the [[Senate of Pakistan|Senate]] on the NWFP quota of seats reserved for technocrats, and Zia nominated him as a candidate for chairman of the Senate.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The BCCI Foundation
|
||||
|
||||
The Pakistani [[BCCI Foundation]] was created "as a means of sheltering BCCI profits from taxation," according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]], and "in 1981, it received tax-free status while Ishaq Khan was Pakistan's minister of finance." The foundation received BCCI's profits from its Pakistani operations "and then used some of those profits to finance projects the Pakistani government wanted and could not pay for itself." Among them, BCCI "provided $10 million in grants in the late 1980's to finance an officially 'private' science and technology institute named for Pakistani President Ishaq Khan, whose director, A. Qadir Khan, has been closely associated with Pakistan's efforts to build a nuclear bomb." The report stated that Ishaq Khan "had served as chairman of the BCCI Foundation throughout the 1980's, and had close ties to Abedi."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The report recorded that "among BCCI officials, it was generally believed that if Zia had still been alive in October, 1988, he would have used his influence with the U.S. government to soften the handling of the case against BCCI in Tampa," and continued: "With Zia gone, BCCI was not left without resources in Pakistan, however. The man who became President, Ishaq Khan, had served as chairman of the BCCI Foundation."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
He established the 2.2 billion rupee [[Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute]] of Engineering Sciences and Technology in [[Swabi]], of which [[A.Q. Khan]] was project director. His long-time aide [[Roedad Khan]] said that his part in the nuclear programme had led a U.S. diplomat to call him "Mr Nuke."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### President
|
||||
|
||||
On August 17, 1988, the [[C-130]] carrying Zia exploded after takeoff from Bahawalpur. As acting president, Ishaq Khan said in a national broadcast, "There is the possibility of sabotage in the crash. The aircraft exploded soon after takeoff. I have ordered an inquiry into the incident." He declared a state of emergency "with immediate effect," and the army was deployed at government installations in the capital and in [[Karachi]]. Zia had announced on July 20 that elections would be held on November 16 and declared the next day that they would be held on a non-party basis; on the day of the crash [[Benazir Bhutto]] had petitioned the Supreme Court to require elections on a party basis.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
He held the presidency for over four years. In that time he removed two elected governments, one led by Benazir Bhutto and the other by [[Nawaz Sharif]], installing interim governments first under a deal with Sharif in 1990 and later with Bhutto in 1993. He left the President's House in 1993 under a compromise brokered by the chief of army staff, General [[Abdul Waheed Kakar]], that also removed Sharif as prime minister. "He would never speak about those days and happenings around him as he always chose to keep memories of those times close to his heart describing them as state's secrets," said Haroon Bilour, a member of his family.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
Ishaq Khan died at his residence in University Town, Peshawar, at 10:55 on the morning of October 27, 2006, at about 92, and was buried the same day in the University Town graveyard with official protocol. Those at his funeral prayers included [[Qazi Hussain Ahmed]], [[Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain]], [[Samiul Haq]], [[Gohar Ayub Khan]], former President [[Farooq Leghari]], the federal ministers [[Ijazul Haq]] and Salim Saifullah Khan, and the minister of state Omer Ayub; Prime Minister [[Shaukat Aziz]] later called on the family. He left a son, Mamoon Ishaq Khan, and five daughters, of whom Samina was married to the former federal minister [[Anwar Saifullah]] and Rakhsha to Irfanullah Marwat, a provincial minister in [[Sindh]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Amir, Intikhab. "Ghulam Ishaq Khan passes away," *Dawn*, October 28, 2006. https://www.dawn.com/news/216492/ghulam-ishaq-khan-passes-away
|
||||
[^2]: Barnetson, Denholm. "President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel and...," United Press International, August 17, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/17/President-Mohammad-Zia-ul-Haq-US-Ambassador-Arnold-Raphel-and/3467587793600/
|
||||
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 5, "BCCI's Relationship with Foreign Governments, Central Banks, and International Organizations," section "Pakistan." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/05foreign.htm
|
||||
65
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John Krol.md
Normal file
65
10 - PEOPLE/(H-M)/John Krol.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Historical Figure"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- CatholicChurch
|
||||
- Cardinal
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Censorship
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- John Joseph Krol
|
||||
- Cardinal Krol
|
||||
- Cardinal John Krol
|
||||
summary: "Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1961 to 1988 and cardinal from 1967, who led sixteen religious leaders in condemning R.C. Horsch's film Black Mass in 1975."
|
||||
born: 1910-10-26
|
||||
died: 1996-03-03
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia]]"
|
||||
role: "archbishop"
|
||||
start: 1961-03-22
|
||||
end: 1988-02-11
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: appointed
|
||||
with: "[[Pope John XXIII]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1961-02-11
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]]"
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
start: 1971
|
||||
end: 1974
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
John Joseph Krol (October 26, 1910, to March 3, 1996) was archbishop of the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia]] from 1961 to 1988 and a cardinal from 1967. He was known both as a conservative and as an opponent of the nuclear arms race. In 1975 he led the religious leaders of [[Philadelphia]] who condemned the film [[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]] by Ray Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cleveland and Rome
|
||||
|
||||
Krol was born in [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]] to Polish immigrants, the fourth of eight children, and managed the meat department of a Kroger store before entering the priesthood. Bishop Joseph Schrembs of Cleveland ordained him on February 20, 1937, and he earned a licentiate in canon law at the [[Pontifical Gregorian University]] in [[Rome]] in 1940. He was auxiliary bishop of Cleveland from 1953 to 1961.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Philadelphia
|
||||
|
||||
[[Pope John XXIII]] named him the tenth archbishop of Philadelphia on February 11, 1961, and he was installed on March 22, succeeding John Francis O'Hara. He cleared several million dollars of archdiocesan debt within two years and opened 34 parishes over the following fifteen years. At the [[Second Vatican Council]] he was an undersecretary who organized its debates and votes. [[Pope Paul VI]] made him a cardinal on June 26, 1967, in the same consistory as Karol Wojtyła, later [[Pope John Paul II]], and both voted in the two conclaves of 1978. He was president of the [[United States Conference of Catholic Bishops]] from 1971 to 1974. He retired on February 11, 1988, and was succeeded by [[Anthony Bevilacqua]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Black Mass
|
||||
|
||||
In February 1975 a midnight run of *Black Mass*, a film of a satanic mass, was cancelled at the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]] in Center City "after reported pressure by the Philadelphia Archdiocese," according to [[Art Carduner]], whose [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]] showed it instead on March 1.[^3] Krol led sixteen Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish leaders in a joint statement that called the film "a blasphemous attack on the religious rites held in sacred reverence by millions of Christian believers" and "a frontal attack on the sacred itself," said that it was "obviously intended not to be viewed as a film, but as a blasphemous ritualistic observance," and asked everyone in the local film industry "to resist and reject every attempt to market or portray this film." The signers included Rabbi Charles Lacks of the [[Greater Philadelphia Board of Rabbis]] and Francis G. Brown of the [[Philadelphia Yearly Meeting]] of the Religious Society of Friends.[^4] Eleven weeks before the Bandbox screening, on December 10, 1974, Hoersch had been arrested by the [[United States Secret Service]] for counterfeiting ten-dollar bills.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Death
|
||||
|
||||
Krol, who had diabetes and a heart ailment, was hospitalized on February 14, 1996, and failed to respond to treatment for kidney problems and a blood clot in a lung, according to the [[Associated Press]]. He died at his home on March 3, 1996, aged 85.[^2] He was buried in the crypt of the [[Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul]] after a funeral attended by seven cardinals, sixty bishops, and 1,500 priests, at which Cardinal [[John O'Connor]] of [[New York City|New York]] preached.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Weil, Martin. "Cardinal John Krol Dies; Philadelphia Archbishop," *The Washington Post,* March 4, 1996; "Cardinal Krol laid to rest," United Press International, March 8, 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/03/04/cardinal-john-krol-dies/8d845f35-61a2-4b44-934a-0bdc39ca14df/ ; https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/03/08/Cardinal-Krol-laid-to-rest/8760826261200/
|
||||
[^2]: Weil, Martin. "Cardinal John Krol Dies; Philadelphia Archbishop," *The Washington Post,* March 4, 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/03/04/cardinal-john-krol-dies/8d845f35-61a2-4b44-934a-0bdc39ca14df/
|
||||
[^3]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
|
||||
[^4]: "Offensive Material: Leaders Condemn Black Mass Film," Religious News Service, *Lake Shore Visitor* (Erie), March 7, 1975, p. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/image/951794835/
|
||||
[^5]: "[...] bogus $180,000 in Bucks raid," *The Morning Call* (Allentown), December 11, 1974, p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/275702319/
|
||||
[^6]: "Cardinal Krol laid to rest," United Press International, March 8, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/03/08/Cardinal-Krol-laid-to-rest/8760826261200/
|
||||
67
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Arshad Pervez.md
Normal file
67
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Arshad Pervez.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Nuclear Scientists & Programs"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Pakistan
|
||||
- Canada
|
||||
- NuclearProliferation
|
||||
- ExportControl
|
||||
- Kahuta
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Arshad Z. Pervez
|
||||
- Arshed Pervez
|
||||
summary: "Pakistani-born Toronto trader arrested in 1987 while buying maraging steel and beryllium for Pakistan's nuclear program, whose case ended in 1990 with a nolo contendere plea and release for time served."
|
||||
location: "Toronto, Canada"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[A.P. Enterprises]]"
|
||||
start: 1986
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Multinational Inc.]]"
|
||||
role: "buyer of maraging steel and beryllium for Inam Ul-Haq's Lahore firm"
|
||||
start: 1986-10
|
||||
end: 1987-07
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Department of Justice]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "United States v. Pervez, Crim. No. 87-00283"
|
||||
start: 1987-07-28
|
||||
end: 1990-04-04
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Arshad Z. Pervez was a native of [[Pakistan]] who moved to [[Canada]] in 1967 and ran an import-export business in [[Toronto]]. In July 1987 he was arrested in [[Philadelphia]] while arranging the shipment to Pakistan of maraging steel, a high-strength steel used in gas centrifuges, and he had also sought beryllium for the same buyer, a [[Lahore]] firm that [[United States]] officials regarded as a procurement agent for the nuclear network of [[A.Q. Khan]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### A.P. Enterprises
|
||||
|
||||
Pervez incorporated [[A.P. Enterprises]] in Toronto in 1986 and contracted with companies in [[Saudi Arabia]] and Pakistan to export pillows, food, mini-TVs, satellite antennas, computers and lumber. In October 1986 he asked a business acquaintance to find a source of "maraging steel" and was referred to [[Carpenter Technology Corporation]] of Pennsylvania. Carpenter's staff told him the steel required a [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]] license for use in an unsafeguarded nuclear facility; one of them, Tomley, notified the [[Nuclear Regulatory Commission]] and the [[U.S. Customs|United States Customs Service]]. In November 1986 Tomley and the Customs special agent John New, posing as a marketing analyst for Carpenter, met Pervez in Toronto, where he named his client as [[Inam Ul-Haq]] of [[Multinational Inc.|Multinational Corporation]] of Lahore.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Sting
|
||||
|
||||
Pervez offered a series of end uses: the Pakistani equivalent of [[NASA]], a research project of [[Karachi]] University's engineering program, rocket motors, high-speed compressors and turbines, and antitank weapons. Told in December 1986 that a cash payment to the licensing officer might be needed, he said he would pay 5,000 dollars and then asked to reduce the "kickback" to 3,000. On January 13, 1987, he met in Philadelphia the Customs special agent Frank Rovello, who was posing as a Commerce Department licensing officer, and gave him 1,000 dollars as a down payment on the license. The next day he toured Carpenter's plant at Reading; at dinner Tomley told him he believed the end use was the uranium enrichment plant in Pakistan, and, according to New, Pervez nodded. About a month later he mailed two end-use statements, one in the name of Noeem Pasha, general manager of Multinational, and one from the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, stating that the steel would be used for turbines and compressors.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Commerce Department issued a false license on March 31, 1987. At a later meeting in Toronto Pervez added beryllium to the order, and when New said it was illegal to ship, remarked that "the United States won't mind a small piece." When New suggested that other hard metals were for "another application in the plant at Kahuta," Pervez answered, "Could be," and at the end of the meeting said that "the Kahuta client is ready." On June 18, 1987, he gave New the dimensions and chemical formula of the beryllium by telephone and asked him to commingle it with the steel. In July he drove to Philadelphia to arrange the first shipment of steel and make another payment to Rovello, and was arrested.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Exhibits assembled for the prosecution included his notebooks, with entries reading "atom," "military," and "my expert is procurement manager for nuclear plant." In a letter of early 1987 Ul-Haq told him that "personal interests must not be allowed to overtake national interests," that "in this bargain I have suffered a loss of nearly 15000 $," and that the loss could be "made up" by an "order for other items." A [[State Department]] intelligence report called Pervez "a convenient tool" for Pakistani procurement agents, who had supplied him with nuclear "shopping lists." Ul-Haq left the United States before he could be arrested. On September 2, 1987, the U.S. consulate in Lahore reported a secondhand claim, which its source had not witnessed, that the Pakistani government had detained him and was rotating him among locations in Pakistan-controlled [[Kashmir]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Trial
|
||||
|
||||
A federal grand jury indicted Pervez and Ul-Haq on eight counts on July 28, 1987. Pervez admitted the elements of the bribery counts and claimed entrapment. On December 17, 1987, the jury convicted him of conspiracy to defraud the government, attempting to export beryllium without a license, and making false statements to the Commerce Department about the steel, and acquitted him on the bribery and interstate travel counts; Ul-Haq was also found guilty of conspiracy and false statements. According to the State Department, the jurors found Pervez's testimony "confused and not credible" and "accepted the theory that [he] was part of a plot to send nuclear materials to Kahuta for an enrichment program aimed at producing nuclear bombs." He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment on the conspiracy count, with sentence suspended and five years' probation on the remaining counts.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
On the day of the verdict President [[Ronald Reagan]] certified to Congress that he had "concluded that Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device," which allowed aid to Pakistan to resume. [[Kenneth Adelman]] of the [[Arms Control and Disarmament Agency]] had argued since the arrest for invoking the Solarz amendment, which required a cut-off of aid when a recipient's agents illegally procured nuclear materials in the United States, warning that if the administration "lawyer[ed] our way around" it, "Zia will conclude once again that he need do nothing about his bomb program." In January 1988 the [[White House]] invoked the amendment and waived it.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Appeal and Plea
|
||||
|
||||
On March 6, 1989, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]] (Judges Becker, Hutchinson and Scirica) vacated the conspiracy and beryllium convictions and ordered a new trial on them under *Mathews v. United States*, and remanded for a hearing on entrapment on the false statement counts.[^1] The ruling allowed Pervez to seek a retrial on all counts. After plea negotiations he pleaded nolo contendere to the count of illegal export of beryllium, and he was released from prison on April 4, 1990, on the basis of time served. The State Department's legal adviser, [[Abraham Sofaer]], wrote that the outcome "did not suggest either innocence on the defendant's part or a lack of evidence supporting the government's case."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]] stated that arms trafficking involving the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] "included the financing of Pakistan's procurement of nuclear weapons through BCCI Canada, as documented in the Parvez case," citing the testimony of the State Department's deputy legal adviser, [[Alan Kreczko]]. The Third Circuit's opinion does not mention BCCI or any bank.[^1][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: *United States v. Pervez*, 871 F.2d 310 (3d Cir. 1989), No. 88-1109, argued October 19, 1988, decided March 6, 1989, opinion of Scirica, J. https://static.case.law/f2d/871/cases/0310-01.json
|
||||
[^2]: Burr, William, ed. "The Pervez Case and Reagan Administration Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy, 1987," National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 446, November 22, 2013, including Documents 18, 21, 23A-C, 24 and 28A-B (Department of State, memorandum from Abraham Sofaer to Mr. Kimmitt, "Pakistan Nuclear-Final Resolution of Pervez Case," April 10, 1990). https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb446/
|
||||
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality" (citing testimony of Alan Kreczko, Deputy Legal Adviser, Department of State, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, p. 599). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
|
||||
56
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Saigol family.md
Normal file
56
10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Saigol family.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Business & Finance"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- Family
|
||||
- Pakistan
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- Textiles
|
||||
- Nationalization
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Saigols
|
||||
- the Saigols
|
||||
- Saigol Group
|
||||
- Saigol group
|
||||
summary: "Punjabi textile and industrial family whose account Agha Hasan Abedi carried from Habib Bank to United Bank and BCCI, and which owed BCCI 44 million dollars by 1990."
|
||||
location: "Pakistan"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Kohinoor Textile Mills]]"
|
||||
role: "Yusuf, Bashir and Sayed Saigol"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "loans; 44 million dollars owed with no evidence of repayment, per Price Waterhouse"
|
||||
end: 1990
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Saigol family was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] industrial family whose fortune began in textiles and which, according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]], was "as close to 'old wealth' as existed at the time within Pakistan's commercial class." [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] held the family's account at [[Habib Bank]], [[United Bank Limited|United Bank]] and the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) in turn, and by 1990 the family owed BCCI 44 million dollars.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Origins
|
||||
|
||||
According to the Pakistani columnist [[Ikram Sehgal]], the Saigols were Awans from the village of Khothian, later renamed Saigolabad, and set up a rubber shoe factory in [[Calcutta]] in 1930. As civilian contractors for the wartime logistics centred in Calcutta during the Second World War they "became fabulously rich." They planned their first textile mills in Calcutta at the partition of 1947; on the personal intervention of [[Muhammad Ali Jinnah]] the machinery was moved to Pakistan to set up the [[Kohinoor Textile Mills]] at [[Faisalabad]], and Nasim Saigol later claimed that the first letter of credit opened with the [[State Bank of Pakistan]] was for the mills. The group was owned jointly by three of the four sons of the founder, Amin Saigol: Yusuf, Bashir and Sayed. The fourth, Gul Saigol, stayed in India in 1947.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Habib, United and BCCI
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate report described the Saigol group as "one of the major industrial and trade groups in Pakistan by the mid-1950's." Abedi "first secured the Saigol account while at Habib, and took the account with him when he left to form United Bank, making the Saigol's United's principal shareholders." At the time, "some in Pakistani's commercial community wondered how Abedi had managed to take the important Saigol relationship from the Habib Bank. Thirty years later, Price Waterhouse was to detail the reason," namely "Abedi's willingness to reschedule millions in loans to the Saigols whenever they found it inconvenient to repay them." The report cited Price Waterhouse's "Problem Loans" reports to BCCI of February 14, 1990, and a BCCI Task Force Report on the Saigols.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
According to the report, "the nationalization of Pakistani banking which provided the impetus for BCCI also insured that BCCI would retain the Saigol relationship, as a substantial portion of their businesses were also nationalized by Bhutto in 1972." BCCI gave the Saigols and the [[Gokal brothers]] "the freedom to defer repayment of past loans and to borrow new money at will," and "a special privilege similar to that afforded BCCI's own officers: when something went wrong and they lost money, BCCI would help them cover it up."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1990 Audit
|
||||
|
||||
In the new audit reports that began reaching BCCI's acting head, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], in February 1990, [[Price Waterhouse]] found that there was no evidence that the Saigols' loans or interest on them were being repaid, and that BCCI had lied to the auditors about the family's accounts. The auditors wrote: "Representations previously given about the beneficial ownership of companies to which new loans were extended in Bahrain in 1989 have been false. The loans have been given, in part, to repay delinquent loans in other locations." The same audit raised problems with the lending to the BCCI shareholders [[Ghaith Pharaon]], the bin Mahfouz family and members of the [[Abu Dhabi]] royal family.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Split
|
||||
|
||||
According to Sehgal, the Saigol group divided in 1976 among sixteen male descendants and afterwards operated as four groups: the Saigol group of Nasim Saigol, the Mohib group of Rafiq Saigol, the Kohinoor group of Tariq Sayed Saigol, and a smaller Iqbal Saigol group.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 3, "The Origin and Early Years of BCCI," sections "Abedi As Pakistani Political Paymaster" and "Impact of Nationalization" (citing Price Waterhouse reports to BCCI on "Problem Loans," February 14, 1990, "S. Hrg. 103-350" [sic], pt. 1, pp. 359-360, and BCCI Task Force Report on Saigols, pp. 437-438). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 10, "BCCI and Its Accountants" (citing S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 1, p. 360). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/10accounta.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Sehgal, Ikram. "Family business in Pakistan-II: The Houses of Habibs, Adamjees and Saigols," *Pakistan Observer*, September 16, 2022. https://pakobserver.net/family-business-in-pakistan-ii-the-houses-of-habibs-adamjees-and-saigols-by-ikram-sehgal/
|
||||
85
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Bret Taylor.md
Normal file
85
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Bret Taylor.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Technologists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- OpenAI
|
||||
- Salesforce
|
||||
- Twitter
|
||||
- Facebook
|
||||
- Google
|
||||
- Axon
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Bret Taylor
|
||||
summary: "Google Maps co-creator, Facebook chief technology officer, Salesforce co-chief executive and Twitter board chair who has chaired OpenAI's board since Sam Altman's reinstatement in November 2023."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
|
||||
role: "chair of the board of directors"
|
||||
start: 2023-11-29
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Google]]"
|
||||
role: "group product manager"
|
||||
end: 2007-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[FriendFeed]]"
|
||||
role: "cofounder and chief executive officer"
|
||||
start: 2007-10
|
||||
end: 2009-08
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Facebook]]"
|
||||
role: "chief technology officer"
|
||||
start: 2009-08
|
||||
end: 2012-07
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Quip]]"
|
||||
role: "cofounder and chief executive officer"
|
||||
start: 2012-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Salesforce]]"
|
||||
role: "president and chief product officer, president and chief operating officer, then vice chair and co-chief executive officer"
|
||||
start: 2017-11
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Twitter]]"
|
||||
role: "director; independent board chair from November 2021"
|
||||
start: 2016-07
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Axon Enterprise]]"
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
start: 2014-06
|
||||
end: 2019-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Bret Taylor is a software executive who has chaired the board of [[OpenAI]] since November 2023. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in computer science from [[Stanford University]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Career
|
||||
|
||||
According to the proxy statement [[Twitter]] filed in April 2022, Taylor was a group product manager at [[Google]] before June 2007, where he "co-created Google Maps and the Google Maps API." From June to September 2007 he was an entrepreneur-in-residence at the venture firm [[Benchmark]], where he cofounded [[FriendFeed]], a social network he ran as chief executive from October 2007 to August 2009. He was chief technology officer of [[Facebook]] from August 2009 to July 2012, then cofounded the productivity-software company [[Quip]], which [[Salesforce]] acquired.[^2] Salesforce's proxy statement of the same month gave his Quip tenure as chief executive from September 2012 to August 2016 and as president of Quip within Salesforce from August 2016 to November 2017; Twitter's gave it as chief executive through November 2017. At Salesforce he was president and chief product officer from November 2017, president and chief operating officer from December 2019, and vice chair and co-chief executive from November 2021. The Salesforce statement gave his age as 41.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Taylor joined Twitter's board in July 2016 and became its independent board chair in November 2021. From June 2014 to June 2019 he was a director of [[Axon Enterprise]], "formerly known as TASER International," which the Twitter statement described as "a protection technologies company."[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### OpenAI
|
||||
|
||||
After OpenAI's board removed [[Sam Altman]] as chief executive on November 17, 2023, Altman returned on November 29 with "a new initial board" of Taylor as chair, [[Larry Summers]] and [[Adam D'Angelo]]. Altman thanked "Will Hurd, Brian Chesky, Bret Taylor and Larry Summers" for having "put their lives on hold" to support the company. In his own message to staff Taylor wrote that the board was "thrilled that Sam, Mira and Greg are back together leading the company," that it would include "a non-voting observer for [[Microsoft]]," and that it would convene "an independent committee of the Board to oversee a review of the recent events." On December 8, 2023, he announced that the committee, consisting of himself and Summers, had selected Anjan Sahni and Hallie B. Levin of [[WilmerHale]] to conduct the review.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 8, 2024, the special committee announced that the review was complete and that the board expressed "full confidence" in Altman and [[Greg Brockman]]. "We have unanimously concluded that Sam and Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI," Taylor stated. The WilmerHale summary found that the prior board's decision "did not arise out of concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI's finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners," and that Altman's "conduct did not mandate removal." The board added [[Sue Desmond-Hellmann]], former chief executive of the [[Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation]], [[Nicole Seligman]], formerly of [[Sony]], and [[Fidji Simo]] of [[Instacart]], and Altman rejoined it.[^4] Reporting in May 2024 on an account of the removal given by the former director [[Helen Toner]], *CNBC* quoted Taylor as saying the review had found "a significant breakdown of trust between the prior board and Sam and Greg."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On September 9, 2026, the [[OpenAI Foundation]], the nonprofit controlling OpenAI Group PBC, appointed [[Paul Christiano]], then a senior technical advisor at the federal [[U.S. AI Safety Institute|Center for AI Standards and Innovation]], to its board. Taylor, as board chair, said Christiano's "experience working on frontier AI safety and standards in government" would strengthen its oversight.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: OpenAI. "Sam Altman returns as CEO, OpenAI has a new initial board." November 29, 2023, with update of December 8, 2023, archived September 13, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260913004743/https://openai.com/index/sam-altman-returns-as-ceo-openai-has-a-new-initial-board/
|
||||
[^2]: Twitter, Inc. Schedule 14A definitive proxy statement, filed April 12, 2022, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1418091/000114036122014049/ny20001921x3_def14a.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Salesforce, Inc. Schedule 14A definitive proxy statement, filed April 28, 2022, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1108524/000119312522127612/d301179ddef14a.htm
|
||||
[^4]: OpenAI. "Review completed & Altman, Brockman to continue to lead OpenAI." March 8, 2024, archived September 13, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260913014725/https://openai.com/index/review-completed-altman-brockman-to-continue-to-lead-openai/
|
||||
[^5]: "Former OpenAI board member explains why CEO Sam Altman got fired before he was rehired." *CNBC,* May 29, 2024. https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/29/former-openai-board-member-explains-why-ceo-sam-altman-was-fired.html
|
||||
[^6]: OpenAI Foundation, "Paul Christiano joins OpenAI Foundation Board," September 9, 2026. https://openaifoundation.org/news/paul-christiano-joins-openai-foundation-board
|
||||
49
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nate Thomas.md
Normal file
49
10 - PEOPLE/(T-Z)/Nate Thomas.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Person
|
||||
- AISafety
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- Longtermism
|
||||
- RedwoodResearch
|
||||
- StanfordUniversity
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Nathaniel Thomas
|
||||
- Nathaniel C. Thomas
|
||||
summary: "Stanford-affiliated machine-learning researcher who cofounded Redwood Research in 2021 as chief executive, later chaired its board, and led the affiliated Constellation Institute in Berkeley."
|
||||
location: "Berkeley, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Constellation Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "chief executive"
|
||||
end: 2024-07
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Nathaniel "Nate" Thomas is a machine-learning researcher who cofounded [[Redwood Research]], the [[Berkeley]], California AI-alignment nonprofit, in 2021 and served as its chief executive and later its board chair.[^1][^2] Redwood's filings with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] are made in care of Nathaniel Thomas at 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 1200, Berkeley.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Stanford
|
||||
|
||||
Thomas was the lead author, with [[Tess Smidt]] of the [[University of California, Berkeley]] and the [[Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory]] and five researchers from [[Google]] in Mountain View (Steven Kearnes, Lusann Yang, Li Li, Kai Kohlhoff and Patrick Riley), of "Tensor field networks: Rotation- and translation-equivariant neural networks for 3D point clouds," posted in February 2018. The paper gives his affiliation as [[Stanford University]].[^3] In April 2023 the pseudonymous authors of a LessWrong critique of Redwood, signed "Omega.", wrote that "CEO Nate Thomas has a Physics PhD and published some papers on ML during his PhD."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Redwood Research
|
||||
|
||||
Announcing the organization on October 6, 2021, Thomas wrote: "Redwood Research is a longtermist research lab focusing on applied AI alignment. We're led by Nate Thomas (CEO), [[Buck Shlegeris]] (CTO), and [[Bill Zito]] (COO/software engineer); our board is Nate, [[Paul Christiano]] and [[Holden Karnofsky]]. We currently have ten people on staff."[^1] Karnofsky was then co-chief executive of [[Open Philanthropy]], which recommended "four grants totaling $9,420,000 to Redwood Research for general support" in November 2021, with [[Nick Beckstead]] as grant investigator, and gave Redwood 62.52 million dollars in all by the end of 2025.[^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
On Redwood's return for 2021 Thomas was chief executive and president and was paid 56,250 dollars, the same as Shlegeris and Zito, with Karnofsky as unpaid treasurer and Christiano as unpaid secretary. For 2022 he was chairperson and president, paid 274,361 dollars. The return for 2023 listed him as director and board chair, Shlegeris as chief executive, and Open Philanthropy's senior program officer for AI risk, [[Ajeya Cotra]], as a director.[^2] The "Omega." critique stated: "Two of Redwood's leadership team have or have had relationships to an OP grant maker. A Redwood board member is married to a different OP grantmaker. A co-CEO of OP is one of the other three board members of Redwood."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Constellation
|
||||
|
||||
The same critique described Constellation as an office of about 30,000 square feet run by Redwood, "hosting staff from several technical AI safety focused and longtermist EA-aligned organizations such as OP, ARC, the Atlas Fellowship, CEA and OpenAI," and stated that "OP pays Redwood for use of the space."[^4] The [[Constellation Institute]], EIN 93-2465256, a 501(c)(3) filing from Redwood's Shattuck Avenue address, listed Thomas as chief executive on its return for 2023, when it paid him 91,091 dollars while Redwood paid him 183,333 dollars, each reporting the other's payment as related-organization compensation. Its return for 2024 listed him as chief executive "thru 7/24."[^2][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Thomas, Nate. "We're Redwood Research, we do applied alignment research, AMA." LessWrong, October 6, 2021, linkpost of the EA Forum original. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/qHvHvBR8L6oycnMXe/we-re-redwood-research-we-do-applied-alignment-research-ama
|
||||
[^2]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, organization record and Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2021 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871702255
|
||||
[^3]: Thomas, Nathaniel, Tess Smidt, Steven Kearnes, Lusann Yang, Li Li, Kai Kohlhoff, and Patrick Riley. "Tensor field networks: Rotation- and translation-equivariant neural networks for 3D point clouds." arXiv:1802.08219, submitted February 22, 2018, revised May 18, 2018. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1802.08219
|
||||
[^4]: Omega. "Critiques of prominent AI safety labs: Redwood Research." LessWrong, April 17, 2023, linkpost of the EA Forum original. https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/SuZ6Guuos7CjfwRQb/critiques-of-prominent-ai-safety-labs-redwood-research
|
||||
[^5]: Open Philanthropy, "Redwood Research, General Support," November 2021, archived August 11, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20220811081927/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/redwood-research-general-support/
|
||||
[^6]: Smith, Ben. "Coefficient Giving's CEO on Silicon Valley's $40 billion philanthropy boom." *Semafor,* September 3, 2026. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/03/2026/coefficient-givings-ceo-on-silicon-valley-40-billion-philanthropy-boom
|
||||
[^7]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Constellation Institute Inc," EIN 93-2465256, organization record, Form 990 data and Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2023 and 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/932465256
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Foreign Government"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- PoliticalParty
|
||||
- Pakistan
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- BhuttoFamily
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- PPP
|
||||
- Pakistan Peoples Party
|
||||
summary: "Pakistani political party of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, which a 1978 government White Paper said had received two or three crores of rupees through Agha Hasan Abedi in 1977."
|
||||
location: "Pakistan"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Agha Hasan Abedi]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "two or three crores of rupees for the March 1977 election campaign, per the Zia government's July 1978 White Paper"
|
||||
start: 1977
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) was the political party of [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]], prime minister of [[Pakistan]] until his overthrow by [[Zia ul-Haq]] in 1977, and later of his daughter [[Benazir Bhutto]], its leader until her death in 2007. The military government's White Paper on the 1977 elections named the banker [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] as a source of the party's campaign money.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 1978 White Paper
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1978 the Government of Pakistan issued a White Paper on "The Conduct of the General Elections in March 1977." According to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]], "in a section analyzing the illegal funding of campaign activities for the PPP, the party of Bhutto, the White Paper describes how 'the other large source of funds was the money brought in by Agha Hasan Abdi [sic]' amounting to 'two or three crores of rupees.'" A later passage described Abedi's "travels . . . loaded as he used to be with bagfuls of money." The White Paper was entered into the record of the Senate hearings on the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, pp. 314-317).[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Abedi had by then founded BCCI outside Pakistan; the report described the Bhutto government's nationalization of Pakistani banking, which took his [[United Bank Limited|United Bank]], as the impetus for the new bank. The report stated that Abedi "swiftly changed allegiances" after the coup to Bhutto's successor, Zia, and that Zia "later executed Bhutto for financial crimes, in which Abedi, among others, was clearly involved, while forming close ties to Abedi, on whose financial skills he increasingly relied."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Under Zia
|
||||
|
||||
Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan in April 1986 after two years of self-imposed exile, "vowing to oust Zia and restore democracy." After dismissing Prime Minister [[Mohammad Khan Junejo]] on May 29, 1988, Zia announced on July 20 that elections would be held on November 16, and declared the next day that they would be held on a non-party basis. On August 17, 1988, the day Zia was killed in the crash of his [[C-130]], Benazir Bhutto petitioned the Supreme Court to require the elections to be held on a party basis.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Government and Dismissal
|
||||
|
||||
Benazir Bhutto was prime minister from 1988 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996.[^2] President [[Ghulam Ishaq Khan]], who had chaired the Pakistani BCCI Foundation through the 1980s, removed her first government, installing an interim government under a deal with [[Nawaz Sharif]] in 1990.[^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 27, 2007, while campaigning for elections due on January 8, 2008, Benazir Bhutto was shot and killed as she left a rally in [[Rawalpindi]]. Her husband, [[Asif Ali Zardari]], flew in from [[Dubai]] to escort her coffin. Protests followed across the country, with eleven deaths reported in "the PPP's heartland province of Sindh."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 3, "The Origin and Early Years of BCCI," section "Abedi As Pakistani Political Paymaster" (citing White Paper on the General Elections, Government of Pakistan, July 1978, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, pp. 314-317). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
|
||||
[^2]: "Benazir Bhutto killed in attack," BBC News, December 27, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm
|
||||
[^3]: Barnetson, Denholm. "President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel and...," United Press International, August 17, 1988. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/17/President-Mohammad-Zia-ul-Haq-US-Ambassador-Arnold-Raphel-and/3467587793600/
|
||||
[^4]: Amir, Intikhab. "Ghulam Ishaq Khan passes away," *Dawn*, October 28, 2006. https://www.dawn.com/news/216492/ghulam-ishaq-khan-passes-away
|
||||
[^5]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 5, "BCCI's Relationship with Foreign Governments, Central Banks, and International Organizations," section "Pakistan." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/05foreign.htm
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "U.S. Government"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "OSTP"
|
||||
- "White House Office of Science and Technology Policy"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Government
|
||||
- USA
|
||||
- WhiteHouse
|
||||
- AIPolicy
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
summary: "White House science and technology office whose directors under Biden and Trump shaped federal AI policy, from Eric Lander's 2022 resignation to Michael Kratsios's 2025 AI Action Plan."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Eric Lander]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director and presidential science adviser"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
end: 2022-02
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Arati Prabhakar]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
start: 2022-09
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Kratsios]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director; assistant to the president for science and technology"
|
||||
start: 2025-03
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Rachel Wallace]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "general counsel, later deputy counsel and chief operating officer"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Jason Matheny]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "deputy director for national security"
|
||||
start: 2021-03
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Tom Kalil]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "consultant while on the Schmidt Futures payroll"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Aidinoff]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief of staff"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Daniel Correa]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "assistant director for innovation policy"
|
||||
fn: 13
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is an office of the [[White House]] whose director advises the president on science and technology. The director, who also carries the title of assistant to the president for science and technology, is confirmed by the Senate.[^1][^2][^3] It is distinct from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]]'s former [[Office of Science and Technology]].
|
||||
|
||||
### Lander
|
||||
|
||||
[[Eric Lander]], the geneticist whom President [[Joe Biden]] made director and a member of the Cabinet, headed an office of about 140 people. On February 7, 2022, *[[Politico]]* reported that a two-month White House investigation had found "credible evidence" that Lander had bullied his general counsel, [[Rachel Wallace]], and "credible evidence of disrespectful interactions with staff by Dr. Lander and OSTP leadership." Fourteen current and former OSTP staff described "a toxic work environment." Wallace, a career civil servant who had worked at OSTP under both [[Barack Obama|Obama]] and [[Donald Trump|Trump]], had complained in September 2021. As discipline, the White House required Lander to hold more collaborative meetings, such as "brown bag sessions." After learning of the story, Lander wrote to staff: "It's my responsibility to set a respectful tone for our community. It's clear that I have not lived up to this responsibility." Wallace said the apology "did not come close to addressing the full extent of his egregious behavior."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
That evening Biden accepted Lander's resignation. Press Secretary [[Jen Psaki]] said the president accepted it "with gratitude for his work at OSTP on the pandemic, the Cancer Moonshot, climate change, and other key priorities."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
In March 2022 *Politico* reported that [[Schmidt Futures]], the philanthropy of the former [[Google]] chief executive [[Eric Schmidt]], had paid for staff working in the office: its chief innovation officer, [[Tom Kalil]], remained on the Schmidt Futures payroll for four months while serving as an unpaid consultant to OSTP, and the organization indirectly covered the salary of the office's chief of staff, [[Marc Aidinoff]], for about six weeks. Wallace raised ethical concerns about the arrangement. Schmidt called the report "largely false."[^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Prabhakar
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate confirmed [[Arati Prabhakar]] as director on September 22, 2022, by 56 to 40, after invoking cloture the day before by 58 to 38. Ten Republicans voted for her (Senators [[Roy Blunt|Blunt]], [[Richard Burr|Burr]], [[Bill Cassidy|Cassidy]], [[Susan Collins|Collins]], [[Cynthia Lummis|Lummis]], [[Jerry Moran|Moran]], [[Lisa Murkowski|Murkowski]], [[Rob Portman|Portman]], [[Mike Rounds|Rounds]] and [[Thom Tillis|Tillis]]), and one Democrat, [[Joe Manchin]], voted against.[^1] Under Biden the office also published a "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights," which described the use of automated systems "in ways that threaten the rights of the American public" as "among the great challenges posed to democracy today."[^8] During the same period [[Jason Matheny]], founding director of the [[Center for Security and Emerging Technology]], served as OSTP's deputy director for national security,[^9] and [[Jeff Alstott]] of the [[Rand Corporation|RAND Corporation]] as its assistant director for technology competition and risks.[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Kratsios and the AI Action Plan
|
||||
|
||||
On March 25, 2025, the Senate confirmed [[Michael Kratsios]] of South Carolina as director by 74 to 25, after a cloture vote of 73 to 25; 53 Republicans voted in favor, and all 25 votes against came from Democrats and independents.[^2] The reporter [[Caleb Ecarma]] described Kratsios as a former board member of the [[Foundation for American Innovation]] (FAI), a former chief of staff and principal at [[Thiel Capital]], a former chief financial officer of [[Clarium Capital|Clarium Capital Management]] and a former employee of [[Scale AI]], and wrote that he had interviewed engineers for the [[Department of Government Efficiency]].[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
In March 2025 FAI's chief economist, [[Samuel Hammond]], answered OSTP's request for comment on the plan, asking the administration to "drive AI adoption within the Federal government," to review federal IT procurement rules and to exempt AI data centers from parts of the [[National Environmental Policy Act]].[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 23, 2025, the White House released *America's AI Action Plan*, whose cover reads "Winning the Race" and which the White House announced as "Winning the AI Race: America's AI Action Plan." The release said it identified "over 90 Federal policy actions across three pillars." The plan's introduction is signed by three officials: Kratsios, as assistant to the president for science and technology; [[David Sacks|David O. Sacks]], special advisor for AI and crypto; and [[Marco Rubio|Marco A. Rubio]], assistant to the president for national security affairs.[^3][^12] It opens with a statement by Trump that it is "a national security imperative for the United States to achieve and maintain unquestioned and unchallenged global technological dominance," cites [[Executive Order 14179]] of January 23, 2025, "Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence," and states that "President Trump rescinded the Biden Administration's dangerous actions on day one." It quotes Vice President [[JD Vance]]'s remark at the Paris AI Action Summit that onerous regulation "would not only unfairly benefit incumbents... it would mean paralyzing one of the most promising technologies we have seen in generations." Among its recommendations is that the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] revise its AI Risk Management Framework "to eliminate references to misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Kratsios said in the White House release that the plan "galvanizes Federal efforts to turbocharge our innovation capacity, build cutting-edge infrastructure, and lead globally." Sacks said "we must center American workers and avoid Orwellian uses of AI," and Rubio, then also acting national security adviser, said "Winning the AI Race is non-negotiable."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Staff and Alumni
|
||||
|
||||
[[Daniel Correa]], chief executive of the [[Federation of American Scientists]], was OSTP's assistant director for innovation policy for four years under Obama.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: U.S. Senate, roll call votes 117th Congress, 2nd session, No. 345 (cloture, September 21, 2022) and No. 348 (confirmation, September 22, 2022), PN2267, Arati Prabhakar. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1172/vote_117_2_00348.xml
|
||||
[^2]: U.S. Senate, roll call votes 119th Congress, 1st session, No. 138 (cloture) and No. 139 (confirmation), March 25, 2025, PN13-8, Michael Kratsios. https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_votes/vote1191/vote_119_1_00139.xml
|
||||
[^3]: The White House, *America's AI Action Plan*, July 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf
|
||||
[^4]: Thompson, Alex. "Biden's top science adviser bullied and demeaned subordinates, according to White House investigation." *Politico,* February 7, 2022, archived October 20, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20251020183906/https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/07/eric-lander-white-house-investigation-00006077
|
||||
[^5]: "In town pool report #11: News -- Dr. Lander resignation," February 7, 2022, and "Digest of Other White House Announcements," February 7, 2022, The American Presidency Project. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/pool-reports-february-7-2022 ; https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/digest-other-white-house-announcements-4884
|
||||
[^6]: Thompson, Alex. "How Eric Schmidt built an expansive AI influence operation." *Politico,* March 28, 2022. https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/28/google-eric-schmidt-white-house-00020712
|
||||
[^7]: "Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt says story alleging his foundation indirectly paid White House science staffers is 'largely false.'" CNBC, March 29, 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/29/ex-google-ceo-eric-schmidt-responds-to-white-house-related-allegations.html
|
||||
[^8]: Office of Science and Technology Policy, "Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights," archived White House website. https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/ostp/ai-bill-of-rights/
|
||||
[^9]: "Jason Matheny to serve Biden White House in national security and tech roles." *FedScoop,* March 9, 2021. https://fedscoop.com/white-house-announces-top-tech-adviser-jason-matheny-national-security/
|
||||
[^10]: RAND Corporation, "Jeff Alstott," staff profile and publications list, archived September 17, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260917062102/https://www.rand.org/about/people/a/alstott_jeffrey.html
|
||||
[^11]: Ecarma, Caleb. "The little-known think tank pushing Trump to replace the federal workforce with AI." *Oligarch Watch*, September 10, 2025. https://oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-little-known-think-tank-pushing
|
||||
[^12]: The White House, "White House Unveils America's AI Action Plan," July 23, 2025. https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2025/07/white-house-unveils-americas-ai-action-plan/
|
||||
[^13]: Federation of American Scientists, "Daniel Correa," biography, accessed September 23, 2026. https://fas.org/expert/daniel-correa/
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- MunicipalGovernment
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Censorship
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Licenses and Inspections
|
||||
- Department of Licenses and Inspections
|
||||
- L&I
|
||||
summary: "Philadelphia's building-code and licensing department, whose deputy commissioner Leo Goldstein closed R.C. Horsch's Underground Cinema 16 in 1969, and which Mayor Cherelle Parker split under two commissioners in 2024."
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Basil Merenda]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "commissioner for inspections, safety and compliance"
|
||||
start: 2024-02-08
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Bridget Collins-Greenwald]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "commissioner for quality of life"
|
||||
start: 2024-02-08
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections enforces the building codes and business licensing laws of [[Philadelphia]]. In October 1969 its deputy commissioner, [[Leo Goldstein]], closed [[Underground Cinema 16]], the theater of Ray Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]], in the week it planned to preview the [[Vietnam War]] documentary *[[In the Year of the Pig]]*.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cinema 16 and the Tate Administration
|
||||
|
||||
On October 29, 1969, the department ordered Cinema 16, at 2021 Sansom Street, closed because it lacked the requisite licenses. Goldstein posted the theater, and "police were instructed to keep it empty." Hoersch, then 26, called the matter a "simple confusion" over the city's requirements.[^1] The alternative weekly *[[The Distant Drummer]]*, in an article on the administration of Mayor [[James H. J. Tate]], reported that the department had closed the theater for want of a statement of occupancy and five minor building-code violations, which were corrected within a day, and quoted Goldstein: "I first heard about the theatre (Cinema 16) when I read in the BULLETIN that they were going to play that Vietnam film (In the Year of the Pig)." In the same period the department closed the "Space" annex of the [[Theatre of the Living Arts]] and the Manning Street Theater. While Cinema 16 was shut, the film was shown at the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Market Street Collapse
|
||||
|
||||
On June 5, 2013, during the demolition of a building at 22nd and Market Streets, a freestanding wall fell onto a [[Salvation Army]] thrift store. [[CBS News]] reported that the collapse killed six people and injured 14; *[[Billy Penn]]* reported six deaths, a seventh weeks later, and 13 people seriously injured. The contractor and a heavy equipment operator were arrested.[^3][^4] After a ten-month investigation, the Mayor's Special Independent Advisory Commission found that "the City's regulatory controls in place at the time were inadequate and there was a lack of effective action on the part of L & I personnel," and proposed "separating L & I into two separate departments," one of them a new Department of Buildings.[^3] The commission, appointed under Mayor [[Michael Nutter]], described the department as "fragmented by divergent mandates accumulated over decades of mission expansion, chronic underfunding."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The 2024 Division
|
||||
|
||||
On February 8, 2024, Mayor [[Cherelle Parker]] named [[Basil Merenda]] L&I Commissioner for Inspections, Safety and Compliance, responsible for "enforcing the City's codes for the safe and lawful construction and use of buildings," and [[Bridget Collins-Greenwald]] L&I Commissioner for Quality of Life, responsible for nuisance businesses, the regulation of short-term rentals, bedbug infestations, and the city's plastic bag ban. Merenda had chaired the Joint Task Force on Regulatory Reform for Licenses and Inspections with Councilmember Mike Driscoll, who said that "the recommendation to split L&I was central to the report of the Joint Task Force."[^5] In December 2023 City Controller Christy Brady had announced a review of unlicensed properties.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Police to Inspect Building: Cinema 16 Shut Down In License Dispute; Owner Is 'Confused'," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* October 30, 1969, p. 19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/169186622/
|
||||
[^2]: "Mayor Tate's War On [title cut off in the scan]," *The Distant Drummer,* no. 65, December 25, 1969, p. 8, Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p16002coll34/id/473
|
||||
[^3]: "Report Blames City For Failing To Heed Warnings Before Deadly Market St. Building Collapse," *CBS Philadelphia,* September 25, 2014. https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/report-blames-city-for-failing-to-heed-warnings-before-deadly-market-st-building-collapse/
|
||||
[^4]: Rinde, Meir. "Mayor Parker enacts long recommended split for L&I," *Billy Penn,* February 14, 2024. https://billypenn.com/2024/02/14/philly-licenses-and-inspections-department-reform/
|
||||
[^5]: Office of the Mayor, City of Philadelphia, "Mayor Cherelle L. Parker Names Commissioners of Licenses and Inspections: One for Building Enforcement and Compliance, One for Quality of Life and Nuisances," February 8, 2024. https://www.phila.gov/2024-02-08-mayor-cherelle-l-parker-names-commissioners-of-licenses-and-inspections-one-for-building-enforcement-compliance-one-for-quality-of-life-and-nuisances-long-sought-reform-in-philadelphi/
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- LawEnforcement
|
||||
- Prosecution
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia
|
||||
- Philadelphia DA's office
|
||||
- DAO
|
||||
summary: "Prosecutor for the city and county of Philadelphia, led since 2018 by Larry Krasner, which charged and in August 2026 withdrew state gun and drug counts against Eugene Horsch."
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[James C. Crumlish Jr.]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "district attorney"
|
||||
start: 1962
|
||||
end: 1966
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[R. Seth Williams]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "district attorney"
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Larry Krasner]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "district attorney"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Alyssa Amoroso]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "assistant district attorney"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: prosecuted
|
||||
with: "[[Eugene Horsch]]"
|
||||
start: 2025
|
||||
end: 2026-08-06
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office is the prosecutor for the city and county of [[Philadelphia]]. It has been led since 2018 by [[Larry Krasner]]. In 2025 it prosecuted [[Eugene Horsch]] on drug counts, and after his arrest in June 2026 it charged him with illegal gun and drug possession; on August 6, 2026, it withdrew those charges in favor of the federal prosecution.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### District Attorneys
|
||||
|
||||
[[James C. Crumlish Jr.]] was district attorney from 1962 to 1966 and later sat as a judge of the [[Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania|Commonwealth Court]] until his death in 1992.[^4] On January 19, 2012, the [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania]], in an opinion by Chief Justice [[Ronald Castille]], held that the Philadelphia costs-of-prosecution statute did not permit the office to recover the salaries of its assistant district attorneys and county detectives from [[Gerald Garzone]] and [[Louis Garzone]], the funeral directors it had prosecuted in the body-parts case of 2008.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 21, 2017, a federal grand jury returned a 23-count indictment charging District Attorney [[R. Seth Williams|Rufus Seth Williams]] with bribery, extortion, and honest services wire fraud "in connection with tens of thousands of dollars' worth of concealed bribes that he received from two business owners in exchange for his agreement to perform official acts," and with defrauding a nursing home and family friends of money meant for a relative's care. The case was brought by the [[United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey|United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey]] with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s Philadelphia Division, [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] Criminal Investigation, and [[Homeland Security Investigations]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Krasner first ran for district attorney in 2017. On November 4, 2025, he won a third term against the Republican nominee, [[Patrick Dugan]], a former judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Horsch Prosecutions
|
||||
|
||||
[[R.C. Horsch]] said that staff of the office attended the 1973 premiere of his film [[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]] at the 1812 Theater on Chestnut Street.[^7] In March 2009 the office, through Assistant District Attorney [[Jill Fertel]], prosecuted him for approaching a nine-year-old girl in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]].[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
Firefighters answered a small fire on the second floor of the house at 417 West Chew Avenue on May 18, 2025. A fire marshal and a police patrolman found a marijuana grow, a BCI Defense rifle of AR-15 pattern modified to fire automatically, a 12-gauge Stevens Model 67 shotgun with a sawed-off barrel, a 9mm Girsan MC28 pistol, and more than a hundred rounds of ammunition; the serial numbers had been destroyed on all three guns. According to a spokesperson for Krasner, the defense lawyer [[Jerome Brown]] told the court that the weapons had belonged to Eugene Horsch's father, who had died three days before the raid, and that Eugene Horsch had planned to dispose of them properly. He pleaded guilty to manufacturing drugs, prosecutors withdrew the gun charges, and he received three years of probation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
After his arrest near [[Independence Hall]] on June 19, 2026, the office charged him with illegal gun and drug possession. On the morning of August 6, 2026, Assistant District Attorney [[Alyssa Amoroso]] withdrew the charges, telling a city judge that the [[United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|United States Attorney's Office]] would handle the case. Neither Horsch nor Brown attended the hearing.[^3] Amoroso, a 2017 graduate of the [[Villanova University]] law school, had interned in the office's Municipal Court Unit in 2016.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Referral of Krasner
|
||||
|
||||
On September 15, 2026, in the federal habeas proceeding over Dennis Johnson's 2009 conviction for second-degree murder, Judge [[Paul S. Diamond]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] wrote: "I have thus reluctantly concluded that Philadelphia's highest law enforcement official and one of his top assistants may have violated the law." He referred "the DAO, Mr. Krasner, and Stiegler to this District's [[United States]] Attorney's Office for investigation and other appropriate action," writing that a possible threat by Krasner "could amount to obstruction of justice," that efforts to mislead the court "might amount to conspiracy," and that the supervisor Matthew Stiegler "may have committed perjury while on the stand." Krasner said: "I respectfully and vigorously disagree," and "I look forward to appealing to the higher court as soon as the law allows."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Orso, Anna, Ellie Rushing, and Jesse Bunch. "Larry Krasner reelected as Philadelphia District Attorney," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* November 4, 2025. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/philadelphia/district-attorney-election-results-winner-20251104.html
|
||||
[^2]: Marin, Max, Ryan W. Briggs, Ellie Rushing, and Barbara Laker. "Police searched Olney home last summer, but drugs, not missing women, were the focus," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 1, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-raymond-horsch-olney-home-search-guns-drugs-20260701.html
|
||||
[^3]: Rushing, Ellie. "Feds will take over gun case of Olney man at center of missing women investigation, as Philly DA withdraws charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 6, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-federal-charges-olney-missing-women-20260806.html
|
||||
[^4]: "James Crumlish," Ballotpedia; "James C. Crumlish," Find a Grave memorial 117845657 (1920 to 1992). https://ballotpedia.org/James_Crumlish ; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/117845657/james-c_-crumlish
|
||||
[^5]: Commonwealth v. Garzone, 34 A.3d 67, 613 Pa. 481 (Pa. 2012), opinion of Castille, C.J., decided January 19, 2012. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13924150246787701071
|
||||
[^6]: United States Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, "Philadelphia District Attorney Rufus Seth Williams Indicted On Bribery And Extortion Charges," press release, March 21, 2017, archived. http://web.archive.org/web/20260524023339/https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/philadelphia-district-attorney-rufus-seth-williams-indicted-bribery-and-extortion-charges
|
||||
[^7]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio, republishing interviews recorded in 2013. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
|
||||
[^8]: Rushing, Ellie, Barbara Laker, Ryan W. Briggs, and Max Marin. "Raymond Horsch was convicted of luring a 9-year-old girl to his car in 2009. Now those court records could be destroyed." *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 22, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/raymond-horsch-child-luring-kensington-records-expunged-20260922.html
|
||||
[^9]: "Profiles in Justice: ADA Alyssa Amoroso," Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, *The Justice Wire* (Medium), about 2021. https://medium.com/philadelphia-justice/profiles-in-justice-ada-alyssa-amoroso-64b95bd178bb
|
||||
[^10]: Palmer, Chris. "A federal judge said he believes DA Larry Krasner may have broken the law, and he referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 15, 2026, updated September 16, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/paul-diamond-judge-larry-krasner-crimes-prosecution-20260915.html
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- LawEnforcement
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Police
|
||||
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
- MOVE
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- PPD
|
||||
- Philadelphia police
|
||||
summary: "Municipal police force of Philadelphia, created by the Act of Consolidation of 1854, which with the FBI has led the 2026 Olney House Investigation into women connected to R.C. Horsch."
|
||||
start: 1854
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Frank Rizzo]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "police commissioner"
|
||||
start: 1967
|
||||
end: 1971
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Gregore J. Sambor]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "police commissioner"
|
||||
end: 1985
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Danielle Outlaw]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "police commissioner"
|
||||
start: 2020-02
|
||||
end: 2023-09-22
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[John M. Stanford Jr.]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "interim police commissioner"
|
||||
start: 2023-09-22
|
||||
end: 2024-01-02
|
||||
fn: 9
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Olney House Investigation]]"
|
||||
start: 2026-06-19
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Eugene Horsch]]"
|
||||
start: 2013
|
||||
fn: 12
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Philadelphia Police Department is the municipal police force of [[Philadelphia]]. It was created by the Act of Consolidation of 1854, which united the city and county under a single government. Since June 2026 it has conducted, with the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]], the [[Olney House Investigation]] into women connected to the house of the pornographer [[R.C. Horsch]] and his son [[Eugene Horsch]] on West Chew Avenue.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Consolidation
|
||||
|
||||
In July 1700 the Common Council established a night watch. The Act of Consolidation of 1854 gave the new department a jurisdiction of 129 and a half square miles and roughly 500,000 inhabitants, raised the potential size of the force to 820 patrolmen, and set tiered salaries by rank. The department is the fourth largest police force in the [[United States]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leary, Rizzo, and the 1974 Crime Commission
|
||||
|
||||
In the riot of 1964, which began when "a scuffle with police during a routine arrest touched off days of rioting," Commissioner Howard Leary instructed police to contain the area and use minimal force; [[Frank Rizzo|Frank L. Rizzo]] fought with Leary over his strict controls on the use of firearms.[^1] To win reelection in 1967, Mayor [[James H. J. Tate]] "figured he needed to send a law and order message" and named Rizzo commissioner.[^3] Rizzo was commissioner from 1967 to 1971 and mayor from 1972 to 1980. He "declared war on the city's dissident groups, especially Black Power militants," and his police raided the offices of the [[Black Panther Party]] and strip-searched members in front of news photographers.[^1] He resigned in 1971 to run for mayor.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
A crime commission reported in 1974 that graft in the department was "ongoing, widespread, systematic, and occurring at all levels of the Police Department." Three times between 1974 and 1983 courts found that the department had violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and the resulting consent decrees set quotas for hiring women, African Americans, and Hispanics.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In the 1969 administration of Mayor Tate, when the [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]] closed Ray Hoersch's [[Underground Cinema 16]] on Sansom Street, "police were instructed to keep it empty."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### MOVE
|
||||
|
||||
In 1978 police surrounded the [[Powelton Village]] base of the group [[MOVE]] to enforce a court-ordered eviction; the shootout killed one police officer and injured several officers and MOVE members. On May 13, 1985, with the approval of Mayor [[W. Wilson Goode]], the department dropped a bomb on a fortified row house in West Philadelphia on Osage Avenue. The bombing killed eleven people, five of them children, and destroyed sixty-one homes. Goode later apologized and brought in Commissioner Kevin Tucker, who introduced foot patrols, neighborhood advisory councils, and ministations.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Commissioner [[Gregore J. Sambor]], a military veteran, had been ordered by Goode to prepare the tactical plan and delegated it to three officers. The plan called for tear gas to be fired into the house and for "a satchel of explosives" to be dropped on a rooftop bunker; Sambor admitted that he "had no backup plan if the tear gas didn't work." When the fire started he allowed it to burn. The MOVE Commission found that the three officers had prepared the plan "hastily and without sufficient information or adequate intelligence." Sambor retired six months later, and gave no interviews afterward except when compelled to testify in a federal case in 1996. "I was told any possibility for injury or death inside the bunker was minimal," he said.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
In the [[39th District]] scandal, officers were accused of "systematically robbing, beating, and framing suspects in drug cases"; ten were imprisoned and about four million dollars was paid in settlements. In March 2015 the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] criticized the department for a "lack of transparency" in use-of-force cases.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Commissioners Since 2008
|
||||
|
||||
[[Charles H. Ramsey]], a former chief of police of [[Washington, D.C.]], was appointed by Mayor [[Michael Nutter]] and was commissioner from January 2008 to January 2016; he promoted [[Kevin Bethel]] to deputy commissioner for patrol operations in 2009.[^6][^7] [[Danielle Outlaw]], who had become chief of police in [[Portland, Oregon]], in 2017, was sworn in in February 2020 as the first Black woman to lead the department. She left on September 22, 2023, to become a deputy security chief at the [[Port Authority of New York and New Jersey]], and her top deputy, [[John M. Stanford Jr.]], was named interim commissioner.[^8] Mayor [[Jim Kenney]] appointed Stanford on September 22, 2023, and named [[Frank Vanore]], who had joined the department in 1990, interim first deputy commissioner.[^9] Bethel, who had joined the force in 1986 and retired in 2016, was sworn in as commissioner on January 2, 2024.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Narcotics Bureau and the Nordo Cases
|
||||
|
||||
An Internal Affairs report of August 2018 found that, from a meeting in May 2017 called by Inspector [[Raymond Evers]] and Chief Inspector Anthony Boyle, the Narcotics Bureau had developed a practice of running low-level arrestees as informants off the books, falsifying paperwork and withholding information from the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]].[^10] The former homicide detective [[Philip Nordo]], dismissed in 2017, was convicted on June 1, 2022, of rape, sexual assault, stalking, and other offenses, and the district attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit reviewed about 62 homicide convictions in which he had been involved.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Horsch Cases
|
||||
|
||||
In 2013 the department found about 1.9 million dollars' worth of marijuana in the house on West Chew Avenue in [[Olney, Philadelphia|Olney]], and Eugene Horsch was sentenced to four to eight years. After a fire at the house on May 18, 2025, a fire marshal and a patrolman discovered a marijuana grow and three firearms with destroyed serial numbers.[^12][^13] In December 2014 an assistant United States attorney, [[Elizabeth F. Abrams]], prosecuted a felon-in-possession case investigated by the FBI and the department.[^14]
|
||||
|
||||
Commissioner Bethel, Deputy Commissioner Vanore, and Special Agent in Charge [[Wayne Jacobs]] of the FBI's Philadelphia Field Office said at a briefing on September 16, 2026, that five women shown in material recovered from the house appeared to be dead; on August 12 Inspector Evers had identified [[Gabrielle Amarando]] and [[Maribel Fresses]] as two of them.[^2][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Elkins, Alex. "Police Department, Philadelphia," *The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia,* Rutgers University, 2016. https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/police-department-philadelphia/
|
||||
[^2]: Sharber, Cory. "Police, FBI provide updates on Horsch missing women case," *WHYY,* September 16, 2026. https://whyy.org/articles/olney-home-investigation-abuse/
|
||||
[^3]: Finkel, Ken. "The Rise of Rizzo," PhillyHistory Blog, City of Philadelphia Department of Records, September 10, 2018. https://blog.phillyhistory.org/index.php/2018/09/the-rise-of-rizzo/
|
||||
[^4]: "Police to Inspect Building: Cinema 16 Shut Down In License Dispute; Owner Is 'Confused'," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* October 30, 1969, p. 19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/169186622/
|
||||
[^5]: Gambacorta, David. "Gregore J. Sambor, police commissioner," *Philadelphia Daily News,* May 6, 2010. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/special_packages/dailynews/20100506_Gregore_J__Sambor__police_commissioner.html
|
||||
[^6]: "Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Former D.C. Police Chief, Announces Retirement," *NBC4 Washington,* October 2015; Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University, "Charles H. Ramsey." https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/philadelphia-police-commissioner-charles-ramsey-announces-retirement/69043/ ; https://cebcp.org/hall-of-fame/charles-ramsey/
|
||||
[^7]: "Kevin J. Bethel sworn in as Philadelphia's newest police commissioner," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* January 2, 2024, and "Kevin Bethel, Philly's new police commissioner, has a 'strong and direct' style," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* November 22, 2023. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/kevin-bethel-philadelphia-police-commissioner-sworn-in-20240102.html
|
||||
[^8]: Palmer, Chris, Anna Orso, and Oona Goodin-Smith. "Danielle Outlaw, Philadelphia Police Commissioner, resigns for a job at Port Authority of New York and New Jersey," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 5, 2023. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/danielle-outlaw-philadephia-police-commissioner-resigns-replacement-20230905.html
|
||||
[^9]: Office of the Mayor, City of Philadelphia, "Mayor Jim Kenney Appoints John M. Stanford, Jr. as Interim Police Commissioner for the Philadelphia Police Department, Frank Vanore as Interim 1st Deputy Commissioner," September 22, 2023. https://www.phila.gov/2023-09-22-mayor-jim-kenney-appoints-john-m-stanford-jr-as-interim-police-commissioner-for-the-philadelphia-police-department-frank-vanore-as-interim-1st-deputy-commissioner/
|
||||
[^10]: "Report: Philly narcotics cops faked paperwork to hide informants. Hundreds of cases may be challenged," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* January 13, 2019; Rushing, Ellie, Barbara Laker, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs. "'I knew she was gone': Police say at least two missing women likely killed inside Olney home linked to violent pornography," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 12, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-police-narcotics-drugs-informants-practices-raymond-evers-anthony-boyle-20190113.html ; https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-horsch-murder-missing-women-20260812.html
|
||||
[^11]: Office of the Philadelphia District Attorney, "Former Homicide Detective Philip Nordo Accused of Sexual Assault, Theft Found Guilty on All Counts," press release, June 1, 2022. https://phillyda.org/news/former-homicide-detective-philip-nordo-accused-of-sexual-assault-theft-found-guilty-on-all-counts/
|
||||
[^12]: "Five takeaways from Philly missing women mystery connected to Raymond and Eugene Horsch," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 4, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-missing-women-20260804.html
|
||||
[^13]: Marin, Max, Ryan W. Briggs, Ellie Rushing, and Barbara Laker. "Police searched Olney home last summer, but drugs, not missing women, were the focus," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 1, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-raymond-horsch-olney-home-search-guns-drugs-20260701.html
|
||||
[^14]: United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, "Man Charged With Possession Of A Firearm By A Convicted Felon," press release, December 16, 2014, archived. https://web.archive.org/web/20260524074237/https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/man-charged-possession-firearm-convicted-felon
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- StateJudiciary
|
||||
- Court
|
||||
- Pennsylvania
|
||||
- Garzone
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Pennsylvania Superior Court
|
||||
- Pa. Super. Ct.
|
||||
summary: "Intermediate appellate court of Pennsylvania, established in 1895, which ruled on the Garzone and Mastromarino body-parts sentences in 2010 and on which Judge John B. Hannum sat before 1969."
|
||||
start: 1895
|
||||
location: "Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania is one of the two statewide intermediate appellate courts of [[Pennsylvania]]; the other is the [[Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania|Commonwealth Court]]. It was established in 1895 to hear appeals from the Courts of Common Pleas and relieve the caseload of the [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania]]. It has fifteen judges, elected to ten-year terms.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Judges
|
||||
|
||||
[[John B. Hannum]], a former chairman of the Chester County Republican Committee, sat on the court by appointment before [[Richard Nixon]] named him to the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]] in 1969. The Federal Judicial Center dates his service on the court to 1968 and 1969, and his *[[The Philadelphia Inquirer|Inquirer]]* obituary gives his appointment as 1967.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Body-Parts Appeals
|
||||
|
||||
After [[Gerald Garzone]] and [[Louis Garzone]] of the [[Garzone Funeral Home]] in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]] pleaded guilty in 2008 to selling corpses to the tissue-recovery company of [[Michael Mastromarino]], the trial court, on a motion by the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office|Commonwealth]], ordered each to pay about 90,000 dollars in costs, most of it the salaries of the assistant district attorneys and county detectives assigned to the case. On April 13, 2010, in an opinion by Judge Stevens, the court vacated the salary portion in Gerald Garzone's case and affirmed the rest: "although the crimes in this case are particularly heinous, if the General Assembly intended to permit such recovery of regularly paid salaries of assistant district attorneys and detectives to be costs associated with the prosecution, the Legislature would have expressly done so." It ruled in Louis Garzone's appeal the next day. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania affirmed on January 19, 2012.[^4][^5][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Mastromarino had been sentenced in Philadelphia on October 22, 2008, to 25 to 58 years, concurrent with his sentence in [[New York City|New York]], including consecutive sentences on 32 of 244 theft counts and aggravated sentences for abuse of corpse. The court affirmed the sentence on July 21, 2010, again in an opinion by Judge Stevens.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In the [[Olney House Investigation]] of 2026, police examined the access of the pornographer [[R.C. Horsch]] to the Garzone crematorium in the years before 2007.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Post-Conviction Appeals
|
||||
|
||||
The firm of the Philadelphia defense lawyer [[Jerome Brown]], counsel to R.C. Horsch in 2009 and to his son [[Eugene Horsch]] in 2026, advertises two post-conviction victories in the court resting on alleged detective misconduct, *Commonwealth v. Silverman* (2019) and *Commonwealth v. Ronald Thomas* (2020).[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania, "Superior Court." https://www.pacourts.us/courts/superior-court
|
||||
[^2]: "Pennsylvania Superior Court: Over 125 Years of Justice," Jenkins Law Library, December 1, 2023. https://www.jenkinslaw.org/blog/2023/12/01/pennsylvania-superior-court-over-125-years-justice
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Hannum, John Berne." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/hannum-john-berne; Downey, Sally A. "John B. Hannum, 92, judge," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* April 25, 2007. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20070425_John_B__Hannum__92__judge.html
|
||||
[^4]: Commonwealth v. Garzone (Gerald Garzone), 993 A.2d 306, 2010 PA Super 57 (Pa. Super. Ct., filed April 13, 2010), opinion of Stevens, J. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=12429640407209552656
|
||||
[^5]: Commonwealth v. Garzone (Louis Garzone), 993 A.2d 1245 (Pa. Super. Ct., filed April 14, 2010), No. 780 EDA 2009.
|
||||
[^6]: Commonwealth v. Garzone, 34 A.3d 67, 613 Pa. 481 (Pa. 2012), opinion of Castille, C.J., decided January 19, 2012. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=13924150246787701071
|
||||
[^7]: Commonwealth v. Mastromarino, 2 A.3d 581, 2010 PA Super 128 (Pa. Super. Ct., filed July 21, 2010), opinion of Stevens, J. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1483314488518887260
|
||||
[^8]: Briggs, Ryan W., Max Marin, Barbara Laker, and Ellie Rushing. "Raymond Horsch had access to a Kensington crematorium linked to illegal body parts sales, years before missing persons investigation," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-missing-women-kensington-bodies-crematorium-20260921.html
|
||||
[^9]: Law Offices of Jerome Michael Brown, firm website. https://jeromebrownlaw.com/
|
||||
127
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/U.S. AI Safety Institute.md
Normal file
127
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/GOVERNMENT/USA/U.S. AI Safety Institute.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,127 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "U.S. Government"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "US AI Safety Institute"
|
||||
- "U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute"
|
||||
- "AI Safety Institute"
|
||||
- "AISI"
|
||||
- "USAISI"
|
||||
- "Center for AI Standards and Innovation"
|
||||
- "CAISI"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Government
|
||||
- NIST
|
||||
- AISafety
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- DepartmentOfCommerce
|
||||
summary: "Federal AI-evaluation body created inside NIST in November 2023, renamed the Center for AI Standards and Innovation in June 2025, with Paul Christiano as its first head of AI safety."
|
||||
start: 2023-11
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Elizabeth Kelly]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "inaugural director"
|
||||
start: 2024-02
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Elham Tabassi]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief technology officer"
|
||||
start: 2024-02
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Paul Christiano]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "head of AI safety; later senior technical advisor"
|
||||
start: 2024-04
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Adam Russell]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief vision officer"
|
||||
start: 2024-04
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Mara Campbell]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "acting chief operating officer and chief of staff"
|
||||
start: 2024-04
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Rob Reich]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "senior advisor"
|
||||
start: 2024-04
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Mark Latonero]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "head of international engagement"
|
||||
start: 2024-04
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Collin Burns]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "selected as director, removed April 2026"
|
||||
start: 2026-04
|
||||
end: 2026-04
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Chris Fall]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director"
|
||||
start: 2026-04
|
||||
end: 2026-07
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Arvind Raman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "acting director"
|
||||
start: 2026-07
|
||||
fn: 14
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The U.S. AI Safety Institute (AISI) is a body within the [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) of the [[Department of Commerce]], created in November 2023 at the direction of President [[Joe Biden]] to carry out the tasks his executive order on artificial intelligence assigned to Commerce.[^1][^2] In June 2025 the [[Donald Trump]] administration renamed it the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI).[^2] NIST describes CAISI as "industry's primary point of contact within the U.S. government to facilitate testing and collaborative research related to harnessing and securing the potential of commercial AI systems."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leadership Under Raimondo
|
||||
|
||||
On February 7, 2024, Commerce Secretary [[Gina Raimondo]] named [[Elizabeth Kelly]], then special assistant to the president for economic policy, as the institute's inaugural director and [[Elham Tabassi]], NIST's chief AI advisor, as chief technology officer. Kelly said that "our first priority will be executing the tasks assigned to NIST in President Biden's executive order," and that she looked forward "to building the institute as a long-term asset for the country and the world."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
On March 7, 2024, *[[VentureBeat]]* reported, citing unnamed sources, that NIST staff members were threatening to resign over the expected appointment of [[Paul Christiano]], whom it described as an "effective altruist," that the hire "was allegedly rushed through the hiring process without anyone knowing until today," and that it had come directly from Raimondo. The staff concern was that his ties to effective altruism and longtermism "could threaten the institute's objectivity." Divyansh Kaushik of the [[Federation of American Scientists]] defended him as qualified for the executive order's work on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear risks.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 16, 2024, Raimondo named Christiano head of AI safety, [[Adam Russell]] chief vision officer, [[Mara Campbell]] acting chief operating officer and chief of staff, [[Rob Reich]] senior advisor, and [[Mark Latonero]] head of international engagement, saying: "we need the top talent our nation has to offer."[^5] The Commerce Department's release stated that Christiano would "design and conduct tests of frontier AI models, focusing on model evaluations for capabilities of national security concern," and noted that he had "launched a leading initiative to conduct third-party evaluations of frontier models, now housed at Model Evaluation and Threat Research ([[METR]])." Russell came from the AI division of the [[University of Southern California]]'s Information Sciences Institute and had been a program manager at the [[DARPA|Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency]] and at the [[Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity]] and had helped establish [[ARPA-H]]. Campbell had been deputy chief operating officer of the Commerce Department's [[Economic Development Administration]]. Latonero had been deputy director of the National AI Initiative Office at the White House [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]]. Reich, a professor of political science at [[Stanford University]] and associate director of its [[Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence|Institute for Human-Centered AI]], took public-service leave to advise the institute and "lead engagement with civil society organizations."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
Christiano had founded the [[Alignment Research Center]], to which [[Open Philanthropy]] gave 1,515,000 dollars in 2022, and was one of the original trustees of [[Anthropic]]'s [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]], which he left that month to take the post.[^7][^8] Reich had been a director of the Clear Fund, the legal entity of [[GiveWell]], on its returns for 2013 through April 2019, on the same board as [[Holden Karnofsky]] and [[Cari Tuna]]; GiveWell's own board listing of 2018 identified him as "a Professor of Political Science at Stanford University."[^9][^10] The Action Fund of the [[Center for AI Safety]] stated that it had led a bipartisan congressional effort that "secured $10 million to establish" the institute.[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Renaming
|
||||
|
||||
The Daily Signal reported in April 2026 that Commerce Secretary [[Howard Lutnick]] had said at the time of the June 2025 renaming: "For far too long, censorship and regulations have been used under the guise of national security. Innovators will no longer be limited by these standards," and that "CAISI will evaluate and enhance U.S. innovation of these rapidly developing commercial AI systems while ensuring they remain secure to our national security standards."[^2] NIST's page for the center lists among its tasks unclassified evaluations of AI capabilities posing national-security risks, in which "CAISI will focus on demonstrable risks, such as cybersecurity, biosecurity, and chemical weapons," assessments of "U.S. and adversary AI systems," including "the possibility of backdoors and other covert, malicious behavior," coordination with the [[Department of Defense]], the [[Department of Energy]], the [[Department of Homeland Security]], the Office of Science and Technology Policy and "the Intelligence Community," and representing U.S. interests abroad "to guard against burdensome and unnecessary regulation of American technologies by foreign governments." Its published work in 2026 included evaluations of [[DeepSeek]] V4 Pro and of two models from the Chinese company [[Z.ai]], and a joint assessment with the British [[AI Security Institute]] of Moonshot AI's Kimi K3.[^3] In September 2026 the [[OpenAI Foundation]] described Christiano as a senior technical advisor at CAISI when it appointed him to its board.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leadership Turnover, 2026
|
||||
|
||||
[[Collin Burns]], the first-listed author of [[OpenAI]]'s 2023 "Weak-to-strong generalization" research, on which OpenAI's president [[Greg Brockman]] was listed as a contributor, was selected in April 2026 to direct CAISI.[^2][^12][^13] Accounts of his departure differ. The Daily Signal, citing sources familiar with the matter, reported on April 23, 2026 that Burns, "a former researcher at Anthropic and OpenAI, was tapped to lead" the center, "but while Burns was in the onboarding process, the Commerce Department selected a different person to lead the organization," [[Chris Fall]], who had directed the Department of Energy's [[Office of Science]] in the first Trump administration. It noted that Anthropic had declined the [[Pentagon]]'s request for unrestricted use of its technology and that Secretary of War [[Pete Hegseth]] had declared the company a "supply chain risk to national security."[^2] A letter of August 13, 2026 from Representative [[Ro Khanna]] to Lutnick, published by the Democratic side of the [[House Select Committee on the CCP]], stated instead that Burns "was ousted just four days into his tenure as CAISI's leader," adding: "Many believe this was driven by the administration's hostility toward his former employer."[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
On July 20, 2026, CNBC confirmed that Fall had resigned about three months after being picked; a Commerce spokesperson, Kristen Eichamer, said that NIST's director, [[Arvind Raman]], would serve as acting director and declined to say why Fall had left. The same report noted that [[David Sacks]] had stepped down as [[White House]] AI and crypto czar in March 2026 without being replaced.[^14] Khanna's letter stated that the Trump administration's AI Action Plan had directed CAISI to evaluate Chinese frontier models "for alignment with Chinese Communist Party talking points and censorship," and that CAISI had reportedly stopped publishing findings on content manipulation in its latest evaluations of Chinese models.[^13]
|
||||
|
||||
In September 2026 the publication *Effort*, founded by [[Brian Chau]], wrote, citing a former employee of the [[Foundation for American Innovation]], that [[Sophia Brown]], formerly strategy and partnerships director of the [[Horizon Institute for Public Service]], had been hired into CAISI under the Intergovernmental Personnel Act through that foundation.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Key Executive Leadership at U.S. AI Safety Institute," February 7, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/02/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-key-executive-leadership-us
|
||||
[^2]: Mitchell, Elizabeth Troutman. "Trump Admin Changes Plan to Tap Former Anthropic Researcher to Direct Federal AI Safety Org." *The Daily Signal,* April 23, 2026. https://www.dailysignal.com/2026/04/23/trump-anthropic-researcher/
|
||||
[^3]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI)," retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.nist.gov/caisi
|
||||
[^4]: Goldman, Sharon. "NIST staffers revolt against expected appointment of 'effective altruist' AI researcher to US AI Safety Institute." *VentureBeat,* March 7, 2024. https://venturebeat.com/ai/nist-staffers-revolt-against-potential-appointment-of-effective-altruist-ai-researcher-to-us-ai-safety-institute
|
||||
[^5]: National Institute of Standards and Technology, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024. https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Department of Commerce, "U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Announces Expansion of U.S. AI Safety Institute Leadership Team," April 16, 2024, archived December 31, 2024. http://web.archive.org/web/20241231010954/https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2024/04/us-commerce-secretary-gina-raimondo-announces-expansion-us-ai-safety
|
||||
[^7]: OpenAI Foundation, "Paul Christiano joins OpenAI Foundation Board," September 9, 2026, https://openaifoundation.org/news/paul-christiano-joins-openai-foundation-board ; Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support," March 2022, archived November 9, 2025, http://web.archive.org/web/20251109144648/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support/ ; Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support (November 2022)," archived October 5, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20251005184734/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support-november-2022/
|
||||
[^8]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
|
||||
[^9]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "The Clear Fund," EIN 20-8625442, Form 990 officer and director listings for fiscal years 2013 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/208625442
|
||||
[^10]: GiveWell, "People," archived December 21, 2018. http://web.archive.org/web/20181221001410/https://www.givewell.org/about/people
|
||||
[^11]: Center for AI Safety Action Fund, "2024 Annual Impact Report." https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/66438c042d15b14b53b83006/68012dcfec6880aba24f528a_CAIS-ActionFund-ImpactReport_05.pdf
|
||||
[^12]: OpenAI, "Weak-to-strong generalization," December 14, 2023, archived September 17, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260917090610/https://openai.com/index/weak-to-strong-generalization/
|
||||
[^13]: Khanna, Ro. Letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, August 13, 2026, published by the Democrats of the House Select Committee on the CCP. https://democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/democrats-selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/8.13.26-khanna-letter-to-commerce-on-caisi.pdf
|
||||
[^14]: Capoot, Ashley. "Trump administration's head of AI safety agency resigns after 3 months on job." *CNBC,* July 20, 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/20/trumps-head-of-ai-safety-agency-caisi-resigns-after-months-on-job.html
|
||||
[^15]: Effort. "Effective Altruism is Buying Political Staff." September 19, 2026. https://www.effort.news/aisi
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- FederalJudiciary
|
||||
- Court
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Pennsylvania
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Eastern District of Pennsylvania
|
||||
- E.D. Pa.
|
||||
- EDPA
|
||||
summary: "Federal trial court for southeastern Pennsylvania, sitting in Philadelphia, created when Congress divided the District of Pennsylvania in 1818, which heard four federal cases against R.C. Horsch and his son Eugene."
|
||||
start: 1818-04-20
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Francis Hopkinson]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "judge of the District of Pennsylvania"
|
||||
start: 1789-09-26
|
||||
end: 1791-05-09
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Paul S. Diamond]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "district judge"
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The [[United States]] District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania is the federal trial court for southeastern [[Pennsylvania]], sitting in [[Philadelphia]]. It descends from the District of Pennsylvania organized by the [[Judiciary Act of 1789]] and was created when Congress divided that district in 1818. Between 1974 and 2026 its judges heard four federal cases involving [[R.C. Horsch]] and his son [[Eugene Horsch]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The District of Pennsylvania
|
||||
|
||||
The Judiciary Act of 1789 organized Pennsylvania as one judicial district and authorized one judgeship.[^1] [[George Washington]] nominated [[Francis Hopkinson]], born in Philadelphia in 1737 and a delegate to the [[Continental Congress]] in 1776, on September 24, 1789; his commission issued on September 26, and his service ended with his death on May 9, 1791.[^3] The court sat in Philadelphia and in [[York, Pennsylvania|York]] until Congress limited its sessions to Philadelphia in 1796. Pennsylvania was assigned to the Third Circuit in 1801, and the Judiciary Act of 1802 again organized the federal courts into six circuits.[^1][^2] An act of April 20, 1818, divided the Commonwealth into two judicial districts, the Eastern and the Western, and in 1901 Congress established the Middle District of Pennsylvania.[^1][^2] Appeals lie to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Horsch Cases
|
||||
|
||||
In October 1974 Judge [[John B. Hannum]], a former chairman of the Chester County Republican Committee appointed by [[Richard Nixon]] in 1969, decided *Hoersch v. Froehlke*, rejecting the claim of Raymond C. Hoersch Jr., later R.C. Horsch, that his involuntary call to active duty in 1970 had been invalid.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
In April 1985 Hoersch, who had spent seven years as a fugitive, part of them in [[New Zealand]] under a stolen identity, was sentenced by Judge [[Joseph L. McGlynn Jr.]], a former assistant United States attorney in the district, to three years for manufacturing methamphetamine, and Judge [[Donald W. Van Artsdalen]], a former district attorney of [[Bucks County, Pennsylvania|Bucks County]], added a year and a day for jumping bail. He was represented by [[Sally A. Kocher]] of the [[Defender Association of Philadelphia]].[^5][^6][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
*United States v. Horsch*, No. 2:09-cr-00794, filed on December 15, 2009, charged him with cultivating marijuana at his house in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania|New Britain Township]]. Assistant United States Attorney [[Elizabeth F. Abrams]] prosecuted, [[Jerome Brown]] defended, and Judge [[Richard Barclay Surrick]] sentenced him in 2012 to 54 months.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
*United States v. Horsch*, No. 2:26-cr-00296, the prosecution of Eugene Horsch on counts of possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a fraudulent federal identification document, followed a federal grand jury indictment of July 9, 2026, and is assigned to Judge [[John Milton Younge]], a former general counsel of the [[Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority]] and judge of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas appointed by [[Donald Trump]] in 2019. Brown again appears for the defense. The trial was postponed in September 2026 at the defense's request to begin no earlier than March 22.[^9][^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### Judge Diamond and the District Attorney
|
||||
|
||||
On September 15, 2026, in a habeas proceeding over a 2009 murder conviction, Judge [[Paul S. Diamond]] of the court referred District Attorney [[Larry Krasner]], his supervisor Matthew Stiegler, and the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]] to the district's United States Attorney's Office "for investigation and other appropriate action."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federal Judicial Center, "U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Pennsylvania: Legislative History." https://www.fjc.gov/history/courts/us-district-courts-districts-pennsylvania-legislative-history
|
||||
[^2]: United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, "History of the Court." https://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/history
|
||||
[^3]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Hopkinson, Francis." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/hopkinson-francis
|
||||
[^4]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Hannum, John Berne"; Hoersch v. Froehlke, 382 F. Supp. 1235 (E.D. Pa. 1974), Civ. A. No. 72-1759, decided October 11, 1974. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/hannum-john-berne ; https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2596970/hoersch-v-froehlke/
|
||||
[^5]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "McGlynn, Joseph Leo, Jr." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/mcglynn-joseph-leo-jr
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "VanArtsdalen, Donald West." https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/vanartsdalen-donald-west
|
||||
[^7]: Smith, Jim. "Fugitive's Luck Runs Out With 4-Year Jail Sentence," *Philadelphia Daily News,* April 27, 1985, p. 8. https://www.newspapers.com/image/185948055/
|
||||
[^8]: *United States v. Horsch,* No. 2:09-cr-00794-RBS (E.D. Pa.), filed December 15, 2009; judgments of June 28 and July 3, 2012, docket via CourtListener RECAP. https://www.courtlistener.com/?q=Horsch&type=r&court=paed
|
||||
[^9]: Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, "Younge, John Milton"; Kramer, Jillian. "Eugene Horsch indicted in federal court on firearms, fake credentials charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 9, 2026. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/younge-john-milton ; https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-olney-house-federal-indictment-20260709.html
|
||||
[^10]: Charns, David. "Eugene Horsch trial delayed amid missing women investigations." *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/eugene-horsch-trial-delayed-amid-philadelphia-missing-women-investigations/4467226/
|
||||
[^11]: Palmer, Chris. "A federal judge said he believes DA Larry Krasner may have broken the law, and he referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 15, 2026, updated September 16, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/paul-diamond-judge-larry-krasner-crimes-prosecution-20260915.html
|
||||
83
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Alignment Research Center.md
Normal file
83
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Alignment Research Center.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "AI & Effective Altruism"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "ARC"
|
||||
- "ARC Theory"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- AISafety
|
||||
- EffectiveAltruism
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
- FTX
|
||||
summary: "AI-alignment nonprofit run by Paul Christiano, funded in 2022 by Open Philanthropy and the FTX Foundation, which incubated the evaluations team that became METR."
|
||||
location: "Covina, California (mailing address)"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Paul Christiano]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "executive director and president"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Buck Shlegeris]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ben Hoskin]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[FTX Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "1.25 million dollars, later returned to the FTX bankruptcy estate"
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Beth Barnes]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "head of ARC Evals"
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
end: 2023-12
|
||||
fn: 11
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Alignment Research Center (ARC) is a nonprofit that does theoretical research on aligning machine-learning systems with human interests. It was founded by [[Paul Christiano]], who had led alignment research at [[OpenAI]] from 2017 to 2021.[^1] [[Open Philanthropy]] described it in 2022 as focused on "developing strategies for AI alignment that can be adopted by industry today and scaled to future machine learning systems."[^2] Open Philanthropy's 2017 grant page for its 30-million-dollar grant to OpenAI had disclosed that Christiano and [[Dario Amodei]] were "technical advisors to Open Philanthropy" and lived "in the same house as Holden," meaning the grantmaker's chief executive, [[Holden Karnofsky]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Filings
|
||||
|
||||
The organization is registered with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as Alignment Research Center, EIN 86-3605182, a 501(c)(3) whose exemption was ruled on March 1, 2022. It files from 440 North Barranca Avenue, box 9807, in [[Covina, California]].[^4] [[METR]], the evaluations group ARC incubated, files from box 3345 at the same Covina street address.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
ARC reported revenue of 475,650 dollars and expenses of 153,352 dollars for 2021, ending the year with assets of 323,598 dollars. For 2022 it reported revenue of 4,466,022 dollars, expenses of 1,425,170 dollars and assets of 4,716,204 dollars, and paid its officers nothing. For 2023 revenue rose to 10,043,597 dollars and expenses to 6,272,135 dollars, with year-end assets of 7,411,763 dollars and compensation of current officers of 376,083 dollars.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding
|
||||
|
||||
Open Philanthropy recommended 265,000 dollars to ARC for general support in March 2022, filed under its focus area "Navigating Transformative AI," and 1,250,000 dollars over two years in November 2022, which the grant page said "follows our March 2022 support."[^2][^6] No later Open Philanthropy grant page for ARC has been found.
|
||||
|
||||
Earlier in 2022 ARC also received 1.25 million dollars from the [[FTX Foundation]]. On November 15, 2022, amid the collapse of [[Sam Bankman-Fried]]'s exchange [[FTX]], ARC wrote: "We now believe that this money morally (if not legally) belongs to FTX customers or creditors, so we intend to return $1.25M to them." It added that the decision was "particularly straightforward" for ARC "because we haven't spent most of the money and have other supporters happy to fill our funding gap." A 2024 update to the same page stated that "ARC has now returned this grant (less legal and administrative expenses) to the FTX bankruptcy estate."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Governance
|
||||
|
||||
ARC's team page, published April 30, 2024, lists Christiano, [[Jacob Hilton]], [[Victor Lecomte]], [[Wilson Wu]] and [[Mike Winer]] as full-time researchers and [[Harshita Khera]] in operations. Christiano is executive director and president; the board consists of Christiano, [[Buck Shlegeris]] and [[Ben Hoskin]]; [[Kyle Scott]] is treasurer and Khera secretary.[^8] Shlegeris is chief executive of [[Redwood Research]], whose board Christiano sat on from its founding in 2021 until June 2023, alongside Karnofsky.[^9] From September 2023 to April 2024 Christiano was also one of the five original trustees of [[Anthropic]]'s [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]], leaving it to become head of AI safety at the [[U.S. AI Safety Institute]].[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
### ARC Evals and METR
|
||||
|
||||
In 2022 ARC hired [[Beth Barnes]] to build an evaluations team, ARC Evals. Barnes wrote in September 2023 that Christiano "remained focused on theory, but spent a significant minority of his time overseeing and advising on evaluations work," and that the team had completed evaluations of OpenAI's GPT-4 and Anthropic's Claude in partnership with the two companies.[^11] On December 4, 2023, the team announced that it was "wrapping up our incubation period at ARC" and becoming a standalone 501(c)(3) named METR, with Barnes continuing to lead it and ARC Evals staff transferring to the new entity. The announcement added: "While we had initially planned for Paul Christiano to be a board member and advisor, he declined involvement in light of his new role as Head of Safety at the US AI Safety Institute."[^12]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: OpenAI Foundation, "Paul Christiano joins OpenAI Foundation Board," September 9, 2026. https://openaifoundation.org/news/paul-christiano-joins-openai-foundation-board
|
||||
[^2]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support," March 2022, archived November 9, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20251109144648/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support/
|
||||
[^3]: Open Philanthropy, "OpenAI, General Support," grant of March 2017, archived January 1, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20250101012608/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/openai-general-support/
|
||||
[^4]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Alignment Research Center," EIN 86-3605182, organization record and Form 990 data for fiscal years 2021 to 2023, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/863605182.json
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Model Evaluation And Threat Research," EIN 99-1219864, organization record, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/api/v2/organizations/991219864.json
|
||||
[^6]: Open Philanthropy, "Alignment Research Center, General Support (November 2022)," archived October 5, 2025. http://web.archive.org/web/20251005184734/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/alignment-research-center-general-support-november-2022/
|
||||
[^7]: Alignment Research Center, "Funding from FTX," November 15, 2022, with 2024 update. https://www.alignment.org/funding-from-ftx/
|
||||
[^8]: Alignment Research Center, "Team," April 30, 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.alignment.org/team/
|
||||
[^9]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Redwood Research Group Inc," EIN 87-1702255, Form 990 Part VII officer listings for fiscal years 2021 to 2024, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/871702255
|
||||
[^10]: Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
|
||||
[^11]: Barnes, Beth. "ARC Evals is spinning out from ARC." METR, September 19, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-09-19-spin-out-announcement/
|
||||
[^12]: METR, "ARC Evals is now METR," December 4, 2023. https://metr.org/blog/2023-12-04-metr-announcement/
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "Carnegie Endowment"
|
||||
- "CEIP"
|
||||
- "Carnegie"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- ThinkTank
|
||||
- ForeignPolicy
|
||||
- AIGovernance
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
- Nonproliferation
|
||||
summary: "Washington foreign-policy think tank founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1910, led by William Burns and then Tino Cuéllar, which hosted Holden Karnofsky and took Open Philanthropy money for AI-governance work."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
start: 1910
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Andrew Carnegie]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "founding gift of 10 million dollars"
|
||||
start: 1910
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[William Burns]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "president"
|
||||
start: 2015
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "597,717 dollars over two years for AI governance research led by Matt Sheehan"
|
||||
start: 2022-03
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Matt Sheehan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "senior fellow, Asia Program; co-director, China AI Initiative"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is a foreign-policy research institution headquartered at 1779 Massachusetts Avenue NW in [[Washington, D.C.]], which describes itself as the oldest international-affairs think tank in the [[United States]].[^1][^2] It was founded in 1910 with a gift of 10 million dollars from [[Andrew Carnegie]], then, in its words, "one of the richest people in the world after the sale of Carnegie Steel to J.P. Morgan," who sought to "hasten the abolition of war, the foulest blot upon our civilization."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### History
|
||||
|
||||
In 1945 the former Carnegie president [[James T. Shotwell]] led a delegation of advisers to the conference that drafted the [[United Nations]] charter and persuaded the U.S. delegation to add an amendment establishing the permanent UN Commission on Human Rights. From the 1970s the endowment built a program on reducing nuclear risks and became, in its own description, "the premier authoritative source of expertise on nonproliferation." Before the [[Iraq War]] it convened a working group on a weapons-inspection regime, several of whose recommendations were incorporated in UN Resolution 1441. A Middle Class Task Force launched in 2018 produced a report that, the endowment states, "helped form the basis of President [[Joe Biden]]'s reinvigorated foreign policy."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
Besides its Washington and California offices it runs centers in Asia, [[Beirut]], [[Berlin]], [[Brussels]] and [[New Delhi]]: Carnegie China; Carnegie Europe, founded in 2007; Carnegie India, founded in April 2016; the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, founded in 2006; and the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. It lists "over 200 experts" and states that it conducts "strategic dialogues and back-channel diplomacy" and that its scholars "have served in nearly every administration since the endowment's founding." Its trustees have included [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight Eisenhower]], [[Elihu Root]], [[John Foster Dulles]], [[Nicholas Murray Butler]], [[Bill Bradley]], [[Robert Zoellick]], [[Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala]] and [[Penny Pritzker]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Presidents
|
||||
|
||||
[[William Burns]], who had retired from the Foreign Service in 2014 after serving as deputy secretary of state, was president from 2015 to 2021.[^2] [[Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar]], a former justice of the [[Supreme Court of California]] who had served on the [[President's Intelligence Advisory Board]], was president from November 2021 to June 2026. His Carnegie biography lists him as a director of [[Inflection AI]], [[Harvard University]] and [[LawZero]] and as a trustee of [[Anthropic]]'s [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]], which he joined in January 2026 while still president. On August 4, 2026, Anthropic announced that he would join it as its first chief global affairs officer.[^3][^4][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### AI Governance
|
||||
|
||||
In March 2022 [[Open Philanthropy]] recommended 597,717 dollars over two years to the endowment "to support a research project on international AI governance led by Matt Sheehan," under its focus area "Potential Risks from Advanced AI." The same grant page listed another Open Philanthropy grant of 613,380 dollars over three years to the endowment for a project on "Chinese and Indian Perspectives on Biotech Security Risks."[^6] [[Matt Sheehan]], a senior fellow in the Asia Program and co-director of the China AI Initiative, lived and worked in China from 2010 to 2016 and was previously a fellow at MacroPolo, the think tank of the [[Paulson Institute]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
On April 29, 2024, [[Holden Karnofsky]] announced that he had left Open Philanthropy to join Carnegie as a visiting scholar and would "analyze and write about topics relevant to AI risk reduction," while continuing to serve on Open Philanthropy's board. He wrote that Cuéllar "has been an advocate for taking (what I see as) the biggest risks from AI seriously," that "Carnegie is looking to increase its attention to AI risk," and that its scholars on the subject included Sheehan, "who specializes in China's AI ecosystem." He cited among his reasons for leaving Open Philanthropy "the fact that I'm married to the President of a major AI company," [[Daniela Amodei]] of Anthropic.[^4] He joined Anthropic in January 2025.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Our Story," retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/our-story
|
||||
[^2]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "William J. Burns," former president (2015 to 2021), biography, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/william-j-burns
|
||||
[^3]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar," former president (2021 to 2026), biography, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/mariano-florentino-tino-cuellar
|
||||
[^4]: Karnofsky, Holden. "Joining the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace." EA Forum, April 29, 2024. https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/7gzgwgwefwBku2cnL/joining-the-carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace ; Anthropic, "The Long-Term Benefit Trust," September 19, 2023, with later updates. https://www.anthropic.com/news/the-long-term-benefit-trust
|
||||
[^5]: Anthropic, "Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar to join Anthropic as Chief Global Affairs Officer," August 4, 2026. https://www.anthropic.com/news/tino-cuellar
|
||||
[^6]: Open Philanthropy, "Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, AI Governance Research," March 2022, archived July 8, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20220708131413/https://www.openphilanthropy.org/grants/carnegie-endowment-for-international-peace-ai-governance-research/
|
||||
[^7]: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "Matt Sheehan," biography, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://carnegieendowment.org/people/matt-sheehan
|
||||
[^8]: Mathews, Jessica. "Anthropic hired president Daniela Amodei's husband to work on the company's AI safety strategy." *Fortune,* February 13, 2025. https://fortune.com/2025/02/13/anthropic-hired-president-daniela-amodei-husband-ai-safety-responsible-scaling/
|
||||
253
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Center for a New American Security.md
Normal file
253
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Center for a New American Security.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,253 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "CNAS"
|
||||
- "Center For New American Security Inc"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- ThinkTank
|
||||
- NationalSecurity
|
||||
- AIPolicy
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
- DefenseIndustry
|
||||
summary: "Washington national-security think tank founded in 2007 by Kurt Campbell and Michèle Flournoy, funded by defense contractors, the Pentagon and Coefficient Giving, whose chief executive Richard Fontaine sits on Anthropic's Long-Term Benefit Trust."
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Kurt Campbell]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Michèle Flournoy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michèle Flournoy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Victoria Nuland]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
end: 2019
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Richard Fontaine]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Kurt Campbell]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Avril Haines]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ely Ratner]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "executive vice president and director of studies"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[David S. Cohen]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct senior fellow"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Peter Harrell]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct senior fellow"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Susanna V. Blume]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director, Defense Program"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Elizabeth Rosenberg]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director, Energy, Economics and Security Program"
|
||||
end: 2021
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Paul Scharre]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director, Technology and National Security Program, from 2017"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Ben FitzGerald]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director, Technology and National Security Program"
|
||||
end: 2017
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Gregory Allen]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct fellow, Technology and National Security Program"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Vivek Chilukuri]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "senior fellow and director, Technology and National Security Program"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Sellitto]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct senior fellow; head of global affairs at Anthropic"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Lynne E. Parker]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct senior fellow"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Tim Fist]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "senior adjunct fellow"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Jordan Schneider]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "adjunct fellow"
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "500,000 dollars or more in fiscal 2025, as Coefficient Giving"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "500,000 dollars or more in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Northrop Grumman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "500,000 dollars or more in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Amazon]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "500,000 dollars or more in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Rand Corporation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "250,000 to 499,999 dollars in fiscal 2025, conduit for DALHAP Investments Ltd."
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[DARPA]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "100,000 to 249,999 dollars in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Anduril Industries]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "100,000 to 249,999 dollars in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Founders Pledge]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "100,000 to 249,999 dollars in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Open Society Foundations]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "100,000 to 249,999 dollars in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Scale AI]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "50,000 to 99,999 dollars in fiscal 2025"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
end: 2025-09
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a [[Washington, D.C.]] national-security think tank established in 2007 by [[Kurt Campbell|Kurt M. Campbell]] and [[Michèle Flournoy|Michèle A. Flournoy]], its co-founders. It describes itself as "an independent, bipartisan, nonprofit organization" and states that "our board members, founders, leaders, scholars, and interns have held or gone on to prominent positions in the U.S. government, at the departments of Defense and State, the White House, and the Central Intelligence Agency as well as in Congress and the private sector." It "does not engage in lobbying activity" and states that, to the extent it accepts foreign funding, "its activities will be limited to bona fide scholastic, academic, and research-related activities."[^1] Its offices are at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leadership
|
||||
|
||||
The chief executive, [[Richard Fontaine]], is concurrently a member of the [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]] of [[Anthropic]] and executive director of the North America group of the [[Trilateral Commission]]. He was foreign-policy adviser to Senator [[John McCain]] and to McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, minority deputy staff director on the [[Senate Armed Services Committee]], associate director for Near Eastern affairs at the [[National Security Council]] in 2003 and 2004, and a staff member at the [[State Department]] and on the [[Senate Foreign Relations Committee]]. He served on the [[Defense Policy Board]] from 2021 to 2025.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Flournoy was chief executive in 2017.[^4] [[Victoria Nuland]] was chief executive from 2018 to 2019.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Movement into Government
|
||||
|
||||
On January 21, 2021, CNAS congratulated "its experts and alumni selected for positions of responsibility in the Biden administration." Nuland was nominated as under secretary of state for political affairs; [[Ely Ratner]], CNAS's executive vice president and director of studies, was named special assistant to the secretary of defense; [[Susanna V. Blume]], director of the Defense Program, was named senior adviser to the secretary of defense performing the duties of director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation; [[Elizabeth Rosenberg]], director of the Energy, Economics and Security program, was named counselor to the deputy secretary of the Treasury; and [[Kayla M. Williams]] was named an assistant secretary of veterans affairs. Two adjunct senior fellows entered government: [[David S. Cohen]] as deputy director of the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and [[Peter Harrell]] as senior director for international economics and competitiveness on the National Security Council staff. The alumni [[Derek Chollet]] and [[Colin Kahl]] were named counselor of the State Department and under secretary of defense. The release stated that they entered government alongside two CNAS board members, Campbell and [[Avril Haines]]. Fontaine said: "We take great pride in knowing that they will bring their talents and expertise into government. The Center will remain the locus of national security policy development and dedicated to preparing other rising leaders for service."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Technology and National Security Program
|
||||
|
||||
On July 17, 2017, CNAS named [[Paul Scharre]], who had led its Future of Warfare Initiative, director of its Technology and National Security Program, which would "focus on the policy implications of artificial intelligence, autonomy, cyber-physical systems, and other emerging technologies for national security." He replaced [[Ben FitzGerald]], "who left CNAS to become a professional staff member for the Majority Staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee." Flournoy described Scharre as "a former Army Ranger with experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, and ... a former force planner in the Pentagon." The same release announced that [[Melissa Flagg]], a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for research, had joined as an adjunct senior fellow, and that [[Gregory Allen]] would be an adjunct fellow working on "the implications of the artificial intelligence revolution for international security."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
The program states that it produces research "to help U.S. and allied policymakers responsibly win and manage the great power competition with China over critical and emerging technologies." In 2026 its director was [[Vivek Chilukuri]] and its deputy director [[Janet Egan]]. Its adjunct fellows included [[Michael Sellitto]], listed as "Head of Global Affairs, Anthropic"; [[Lynne E. Parker]], listed with the [[University of Tennessee]]; [[Tim Fist]]; [[Keegan McBride]] of the [[Oxford Internet Institute]]; [[Elsa B. Kania]]; [[Jack Shanahan|John (Jack) N.T. Shanahan]]; [[Anthony Vinci]]; and [[Jordan Schneider]].[^6] Fist was also director of emerging technology policy at the [[Institute for Progress]].[^7] CNAS's wider roster of adjunct experts included [[Nathaniel Fick]], [[Markus Anderljung]] and [[Richard Danzig]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding
|
||||
|
||||
CNAS publishes an annual list of donors. For the year from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, it listed four at 500,000 dollars and above: Amazon.com, Inc.; Coefficient Giving, the former [[Open Philanthropy]]; Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation; and the [[Department of Defense]]'s [[Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office]]. At 250,000 to 499,999 dollars were the [[Carnegie Corporation of New York]], the Embassy of Japan, the [[Smith Richardson Foundation|Smith and Richardson Foundation]], DALHAP Investments Ltd., routed through the [[Rand Corporation|RAND Corporation]], and the [[Defense Threat Reduction Agency]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
At 100,000 to 249,999 dollars the list included Amazon Web Services, [[Anduril Industries]], [[Chevron]], [[Cisco Systems]], [[Google]], [[Intel]], [[JPMorgan Chase]], [[Leidos]], [[Lockheed Martin]], [[Meta]], [[Pfizer]], [[Qualcomm]], [[RTX Corporation]], the [[Semiconductor Industry Association]], the [[Business Roundtable]], the [[Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office]], [[Founders Pledge]], the [[Open Society Foundations]], the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]], [[DARPA]], the U.S. European Command's Russia Strategic Initiative, through [[Huntington Ingalls Industries]], and the [[Savannah River National Laboratory]] of the [[National Nuclear Security Administration]] through Longenecker & Associates. At 50,000 to 99,999 dollars were [[Microsoft]], [[NVIDIA]], [[Scale AI]], [[BAE Systems]], [[Boeing]], [[Humanity United]], the [[Rockefeller Brothers Fund]], the German Federal Foreign Office, the Korea Foundation and the NATO Summit Consortium, through the [[Atlantic Council]]. Smaller donors included [[Neal Blue]], through [[General Atomics]], Epirus, [[ExxonMobil]], [[General Dynamics]], [[SoftBank Group]], the Lithuanian Ministry of Defence, Flournoy, Danzig, [[Robert O. Work]] and Peter Harrell.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Coefficient Giving is also a listed supporter of [[Americans for Responsible Innovation]] and of the [[Foundation for American Innovation]].[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
CNAS files with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as Center For New American Security Inc, EIN 20-8084828. Its returns show the following (in dollars):[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Contributions | Assets |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 2016 | 14,790,085 | 9,157,223 | 14,559,714 | 8,611,251 |
|
||||
| 2017 | 12,531,802 | 9,751,151 | 12,166,810 | 11,555,217 |
|
||||
| 2018 | 7,812,811 | 10,589,419 | 7,527,359 | 8,397,810 |
|
||||
| 2019 | 13,571,524 | 11,638,724 | 13,238,323 | 10,283,116 |
|
||||
| 2020 | 11,033,683 | 10,115,430 | 10,726,982 | 11,631,735 |
|
||||
| 2021 | 11,475,266 | 8,650,458 | 11,111,724 | 13,596,395 |
|
||||
| 2022 | 18,714,520 | 10,806,569 | 18,244,145 | 21,809,358 |
|
||||
| 2023 | 14,400,563 | 11,784,293 | 13,321,466 | 25,669,934 |
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Center for a New American Security, "About CNAS," accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.cnas.org/mission
|
||||
[^2]: Center for a New American Security, "CNAS Supporters," contributions from October 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025, accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.cnas.org/support-cnas/cnas-supporters
|
||||
[^3]: Center for a New American Security, "Richard Fontaine," biography, accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.cnas.org/people/richard-fontaine
|
||||
[^4]: Urwitz, Neal. "Paul Scharre Named Director of CNAS Technology and National Security Program." Center for a New American Security, July 17, 2017. https://www.cnas.org/press/press-release/paul-scharre-named-director-of-cnas-technology-and-national-security-program
|
||||
[^5]: Korman, Shai. "CNAS Experts and Alumni Selected for Senior Leadership Positions in the Biden Administration." Center for a New American Security, January 21, 2021. https://www.cnas.org/press/press-release/cnas-experts-and-alumni-selected-for-senior-leadership-positions-in-the-biden-administration
|
||||
[^6]: Center for a New American Security, "Technology & National Security," research team listing, accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.cnas.org/research/technology-and-national-security
|
||||
[^7]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Institute For Progress," EIN 87-2449729, Form 990 filings for fiscal years 2021 through 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/872449729
|
||||
[^8]: Foundation for American Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.thefai.org/about-us
|
||||
[^9]: Americans for Responsible Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://ari.us/about-us/
|
||||
[^10]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Center For New American Security Inc," EIN 20-8084828, Form 990 data for tax years 2016 through 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/208084828
|
||||
83
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/China Resources.md
Normal file
83
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/China Resources.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- China
|
||||
- StateOwnedEnterprise
|
||||
- HongKong
|
||||
- LippoGroup
|
||||
- CampaignFinance
|
||||
- Intelligence
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- China Resources (Holdings)
|
||||
- China Resources (Holdings) Co., Ltd.
|
||||
- China Resources Company
|
||||
- CR
|
||||
- Liow & Co.
|
||||
summary: "Hong Kong trading company of the Chinese government, founded in 1938, which became the Lippo Group's principal partner in China and bought 15 percent of the Hong Kong Chinese Bank in 1992."
|
||||
start: 1938
|
||||
location: "Hong Kong"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Yang Lianan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "founder and head of Liow & Co."
|
||||
start: 1938
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Qian Zhiguang]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "first chairman"
|
||||
start: 1948
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[China]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "wholly owned and operated by the government of the People's Republic of China"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Shen Jueren]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chairman"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Lippo Land]]"
|
||||
role: "tens of millions of dollars"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Lippo Group]]"
|
||||
role: "joint ventures in the People's Republic of China"
|
||||
start: 1993
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
China Resources is a company of the government of the [[China|People's Republic of China]], founded in [[Hong Kong]] in 1938 as Liow & Co. In the 1990s it became the principal mainland partner of the [[Riady family]]'s [[Lippo Group]], bought 15 percent of the Lippo-owned [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]] in 1992, and put tens of millions of dollars into [[Lippo Land]]. Congressional committees investigating the 1996 federal election campaigns examined its chairman's meetings in Washington arranged by the Lippo executive [[John Huang]].[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Liow & Co.
|
||||
|
||||
According to the company, its predecessor, Liow & Co., was established in Hong Kong in 1938 "to unite democrats resisting the Japanese aggression in Hong Kong and overseas, to collect, store and manage contributions and materials donated in support anti-Japanese war effort, and to procure military supplies and medicines for anti-Japanese bases," "under the leadership of the previous generation of proletarian revolutionaries," [[Zhou Enlai]] and [[Chen Yun]], and was headed by [[Yang Lianan]]. During the war it worked with the China Defense League of [[Soong Ching-ling]], carrying donated material to the anti-Japanese bases and buying military supplies and medicines for the [[Eighth Route Army]] and the [[New Fourth Army]]. In the civil war it ran the blockade to deliver supplies to the mainland, and in 1948 and 1949 it moved more than 350 democrats and more than 700 cultural figures and overseas Chinese from Hong Kong to the Northeast Liberated Areas for the first session of the [[Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
In 1948 Liow & Co. was restructured and renamed China Resources, the second character of the Chinese name being taken, according to the company, from the style name of [[Mao Zedong]], and [[Qian Zhiguang]] became the first chairman of the board. From 1953 to 1982, the company's "General Trading Agency Phase," it organized in 1956 the first Chinese Export Commodities Fair, precursor of the Canton Fair; its subsidiary Ng Fung Hong ran the "triple express trains" carrying fresh and frozen food to Hong Kong from 1962; and in the early 1970s it helped carry mainland oil to Hong Kong. In 1983, with the completion of the China Resources Building in Hong Kong, it was restructured as China Resources (Holdings) Co., Ltd. In 1992 it invested in Winland, a listed company, which was renamed China Resources Enterprise.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Lippo
|
||||
|
||||
The House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight described China Resources as "a Chinese Government owned company which is a joint venture partner with the Lippo Group and partner in the Lippo controlled Hong Kong Chinese Bank." In late 1992 China Resources bought 15 percent of the bank, and it "subsequently infused the failing LippoLand with tens of millions of dollars, effectively bailing the Riady family out of a precarious financial situation. Since 1993, the Lippo Group and China Resources entered into dozens of joint venture projects in the People's Republic of China."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs called it "a company wholly-owned and operated by the PRC government" and Lippo's "principal partner on the mainland." In the spring of 1997, according to the Senate committee, [[Stephen Riady]] announced that the Hong Kong Chinese Bank would be renamed the Lippo China Resources Bank "to reflect that China Resources is now an equal partner with Lippo in the bank," and when Lippo Land, the Indonesian company building two new cities outside [[Jakarta]], faced a cash flow crisis that threatened a run on Lippo Bank, China Resources "injected tens of millions of dollars into Lippo Land and became a substantial partner in that entity as well." The committee recorded the testimony of [[Thomas Hampson]], president of Search International, that China Resources "is widely reported to be a corporate agent of economic and political espionage serving the government of China." The committee added: "Intelligence officials have confirmed in the press that the Chinese intelligence establishment is heavily involved in the operation of China Resources, and that China Resources selects overseas business partners in part on the basis of their value as potential intelligence gatherers."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
James Alexander, a former chief executive of [[LippoBank]], told the Senate committee that in 1991 Huang was sent to [[Beijing]] to negotiate with China Resources over a Lippo proposal to join forces to buy the Hong Kong branch of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Shen Jueren in Washington
|
||||
|
||||
In 1993 Huang and [[Mochtar Riady]] asked Commerce Secretary [[Ron Brown]] to meet [[Shen Jueren]], chairman of China Resources and "a major partner of the Lippo Group." During the same visit Huang and Riady arranged a meeting between Shen and Vice President [[Al Gore]]. In a letter of October 7, 1993, Huang thanked Gore's chief of staff, [[Jack Quinn]], for meeting Shen at the [[White House]]; Quinn told the House committee he had no recollection of meeting Shen or of the letter. The Senate committee found that Gore "may have met with Shen Jueren in the White House and also exchanged words with him at a subsequent DNC event," a [[Democratic National Committee]] function in [[Los Angeles]] on September 27, 1993, recorded on a White House audio tape. On September 23, 1993, Huang had drawn two checks of 15,000 dollars each payable to the DNC on the accounts of the Riady companies [[Hip Hing Holdings]] and Toy Center Holdings, and a third on September 27 on San Jose Holdings; the Senate committee described them as overseas-funded contributions from companies that lost money that year.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
While Huang was at the [[United States Department of Commerce|Commerce Department]], his telephone records showed four calls to David Chan, president of the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, "an interest jointly owned by Lippo and China Resources."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Our History," China Resources (Holdings) Co., Ltd. https://en.crc.com.hk/ourhistory/index.html
|
||||
[^2]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2, text at notes 114-120 (citing letter from John Huang to Ronald H. Brown, September 10, 1993; testimony of Thomas R. Hampson before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, 105th Cong., 1st sess., Part II, p. 29; and deposition of Jack Quinn, November 4, 1997). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, *Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connection with 1996 Federal Election Campaigns,* S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, ch. 13, "John Huang's Years at Lippo" (citing James Wood, "Article Details Chinese Intelligence Network in Hong Kong," BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 9, 1995; letter from John Huang to Jack Quinn, October 7, 1993; and White House Communications Agency audio tape, September 27, 1993). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/1-13.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, *Investigation of Illegal or Improper Activities in Connection with 1996 Federal Election Campaigns,* S. Rept. 105-167, 1998, ch. 14, "John Huang at Commerce," note 281. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1998_rpt/sgo-sir/1-14.htm
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "FAS"
|
||||
- "Federation of Atomic Scientists"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- SciencePolicy
|
||||
- NuclearWeapons
|
||||
- AIPolicy
|
||||
- RevolvingDoor
|
||||
summary: "Science-policy nonprofit founded in 1945 by atomic researchers as the Federation of Atomic Scientists, led by the former OSTP official Daniel Correa, whose AI program is funded by the Future of Life Institute."
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Daniel Correa]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Divyansh Kaushik]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "fellow, then associate director for emerging technologies and national security"
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
end: 2024
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Future of Life Institute]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "1,500,000-dollar grant on AI and global risk"
|
||||
start: 2025
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[MacArthur Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "30 grants totaling 11,510,500 dollars, 1984 to 2022"
|
||||
start: 1984
|
||||
end: 2022
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is a science-policy nonprofit. It states that after the atomic bombings of [[Hiroshima]] and [[Nagasaki]] "a group of atomic researchers, deeply concerned about the use of science for malice," formed the Federation of Atomic Scientists, which "soon became the Federation of American Scientists in recognition of the hundreds of scientists across diverse disciplines who joined." It works on "nuclear weapons, biological and chemical agents, and climate change," and on "a broad suite of contemporary issues where science, technology, and innovation policy can deliver dramatic progress," and in 2025 extended its work to state and local governments. Through a Fiscal Sponsorship Program it provides "sponsorship and support for philanthropic endeavors" in science and technology policy.[^1] The [[MacArthur Foundation]] gives its founding year as 1945.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
FAS hosts archives of government documents on intelligence and nuclear weapons, including the Senate report *[[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|The BCCI Affair]]*, with an editorial note by the archivist [[Steven Aftergood]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Leadership
|
||||
|
||||
[[Daniel Correa]] is chief executive. He founded FAS's Day One Project, "a nonpartisan initiative focused on developing new ideas across science and technology policy" and "supporting scientists and technologists to serve in government." Earlier he led the Technology and Public Policy Project at the [[Freeman Spogli Institute]] of [[Stanford University]]; in 2017 established the Federal Innovation Council as an initiative of the [[Partnership for Public Service]]; spent four years under President [[Barack Obama]] as assistant director for innovation policy at the [[White House]] [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]]; and was the first employee of the [[Information Technology and Innovation Foundation]]. He holds a law degree from [[Yale Law School]], a master's in economics from [[Yale University]] and a bachelor's degree from [[Dartmouth College]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Correa sits on the external board of the [[Institute for Progress]], with [[Zach Graves|Zachary Graves]] of the [[Foundation for American Innovation]] and [[Tamara Winter]] of [[Stripe Press]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Artificial Intelligence
|
||||
|
||||
FAS states that it works "to ensure that government agencies have the technical assistance and talent needed to execute on AI priorities."[^6] In February 2025 the [[Future of Life Institute]] published a grant of 1,500,000 dollars to FAS "to investigate the implications of artificial intelligence on global risk," an 18-month project on "the nexus between AI and several global issues, including nuclear deterrence and security, bioengineering, autonomy and lethality, and cyber security-related issues."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Divyansh Kaushik]], who holds a doctorate from [[Carnegie Mellon University]], was an FAS fellow from 2022 to 2023 and then associate director for emerging technologies and national security; his FAS biography later described him as "a former Senior Fellow." He helped establish the Congressional Graduate Research and Development Caucus.[^8][^9] In February 2024 *Politico* quoted him on the AI-safety groups then lobbying Congress, which he said were "trying to build more mature efforts to get in front of more members, make arguments that at least sound reasonable."[^10] On June 6, 2024, [[Beacon Global Strategies]], which described itself as "a leading strategic advisory firm focusing on global public policy, government procurement, and geopolitical risk analysis," announced him as a vice president; its biography describes him as "a pivotal resource for Congress and the administration on emerging tech policy" and a non-resident senior fellow at American Policy Ventures and FAS.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Finances
|
||||
|
||||
FAS files with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] under EIN 23-7185827. Its returns show the following (in dollars):[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Contributions | Assets | Officer pay |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 2016 | 1,740,062 | 1,355,747 | 1,605,208 | 4,986,652 | 170,671 |
|
||||
| 2017 | 1,486,251 | 1,441,697 | 629,988 | 4,669,624 | 171,171 |
|
||||
| 2018 | 1,479,501 | 1,236,460 | 1,381,858 | 5,252,829 | 188,694 |
|
||||
| 2019 | 2,190,213 | 1,638,629 | 1,855,531 | 6,083,790 | 151,250 |
|
||||
| 2020 | 6,756,159 | 2,874,949 | 5,993,596 | 9,565,658 | 165,000 |
|
||||
| 2021 | 3,626,877 | 4,910,525 | 3,405,342 | 8,204,575 | 230,848 |
|
||||
| 2022 | 28,862,818 | 8,407,200 | 28,835,955 | 35,241,179 | 150,156 |
|
||||
| 2023 | 11,455,084 | 18,307,032 | 11,271,212 | 28,887,502 | 739,821 |
|
||||
|
||||
The MacArthur Foundation lists 30 grants to FAS totaling 11,510,500 dollars from 1984 to 2022, under its Nuclear Challenges program and its Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, the most recent being 125,000 dollars in 2022, 300,000 dollars in 2021 and 1,870,000 dollars in 2017.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federation of American Scientists, "About FAS," accessed September 23, 2026. https://fas.org/about-fas/
|
||||
[^2]: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, "Federation of American Scientists," grantee record, accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.macfound.org/grantee/federation-of-american-scientists-1487/
|
||||
[^3]: Aftergood, Steven. Editorial note, "The BCCI Affair," Federation of American Scientists. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/
|
||||
[^4]: Federation of American Scientists, "Daniel Correa," biography, accessed September 23, 2026. https://fas.org/expert/daniel-correa/
|
||||
[^5]: Institute for Progress, "About," accessed September 2026. https://ifp.org/about/
|
||||
[^6]: Federation of American Scientists, "Artificial Intelligence," accessed September 23, 2026. https://fas.org/initiative/artificial-intelligence/
|
||||
[^7]: Future of Life Institute, "Federation of American Scientists (FAS)," grant record, published February 1, 2025. https://futureoflife.org/grant/federation-of-american-scientists-fas/
|
||||
[^8]: Beacon Global Strategies, "Dr. Divyansh Kaushik," biography and press release of June 6, 2024, accessed September 23, 2026. https://bgsdc.com/team/dr-divyansh-kaushik/
|
||||
[^9]: Federation of American Scientists, "Divyansh Kaushik," biography, accessed September 23, 2026. https://fas.org/expert/divyansh-kaushik/
|
||||
[^10]: Bordelon, Brendan. "AI doomsayers funded by billionaires ramp up lobbying." *Politico,* February 23, 2024. http://web.archive.org/web/20240223123509id_/https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/23/ai-safety-washington-lobbying-00142783
|
||||
[^11]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Federation of American Scientists," EIN 23-7185827, Form 990 data for tax years 2016 through 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/237185827
|
||||
46
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Forbes.md
Normal file
46
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Forbes.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "Forbes Media"
|
||||
- "Forbes magazine"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Business
|
||||
- HongKong
|
||||
summary: "American business magazine whose owners sold a majority stake in 2014 to Integrated Whale Media Investments, a Hong Kong group, which in 2023 terminated a deal to sell it to Austin Russell."
|
||||
location: "New York City, New York, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Integrated Whale Media Investments]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Elevation Partners]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 2014
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Steve Forbes]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chairman and editor-in-chief"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Forbes is an American business magazine and media company published by Forbes Media LLC. [[Steve Forbes]] is its chairman and editor-in-chief.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sale to Integrated Whale Media
|
||||
|
||||
On July 18, 2014 Forbes Media announced that a group of international investors would buy a majority stake, that the Forbes family would keep "a significant ownership stake," and that the private equity firm [[Elevation Partners]] would "fully exit its investment." Terms were not disclosed. The buyer, the newly formed [[Hong Kong]] group [[Integrated Whale Media Investments]] (IWM), was led by [[Integrated Asset Management]] (Asia) Limited, founded by [[Tak Cheung Yam]]; another significant investor was [[Wayne Hsieh]], co-founder of [[ASUSTeK Computer]], based in [[Singapore]]. Yam said: "As more market-based economies emerge globally, interest in the information that Forbes provides and the message it delivers resonates with a growing audience."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Austin Russell bid
|
||||
|
||||
In May 2023 [[Austin Russell]], founder and chief executive of [[Luminar Technologies]], whom Forbes had named the "world's youngest self-made billionaire" in 2021, agreed to buy 82 percent of Forbes Global Media Holdings at a valuation of nearly 800 million dollars. He missed the November 1, 2023 closing deadline, and on November 21 IWM terminated the agreement. *[[TechCrunch]]* reported that investors including India's [[Sun Group]], whose vice chairman [[Shiv Khemka]] had "committed to invest $300 million," "didn't wire the money they were contractually obligated to."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Forbes Corporate Communications. "Forbes Media Agrees To Sell Majority Stake To A Group Of International Investors To Accelerate The Company's Global Growth." *Forbes,* July 18, 2014. http://web.archive.org/web/20140718220248/http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbespr/2014/07/18/forbes-media-agrees-to-sell-majority-stake-to-a-group-of-international-investors-to-accelerate-the-companys-global-growth/
|
||||
[^2]: "Tech CEO Austin Russell's bid to buy Forbes fails." *TechCrunch,* November 21, 2023. https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/21/tech-ceo-austin-russells-bid-to-buy-forbes-fails/
|
||||
182
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Foundation for American Innovation.md
Normal file
182
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Foundation for American Innovation.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "New Right"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "FAI"
|
||||
- "Lincoln Network"
|
||||
- "Lincoln Labs"
|
||||
- "The Foundation for American Innovation"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- ThinkTank
|
||||
- AIPolicy
|
||||
- TechRight
|
||||
- Lobbying
|
||||
- PeterThiel
|
||||
summary: "Washington technology think tank founded in Silicon Valley in 2014 as Lincoln Labs, renamed in 2023, funded by conservative foundations, Coefficient Giving and AI companies, whose former board member Michael Kratsios became OSTP director."
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C."
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Garrett Johnson]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2014
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Garrett Johnson]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chairman of the board"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Zach Graves]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "executive director"
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Kratsios]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "former board member"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Mike Solana]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Trae Stephens]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "former board member"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Samuel Hammond]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief economist"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Dean Ball]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "senior fellow"
|
||||
start: 2025
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Alexei Bulazel]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "former senior fellow"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Jon Askonas]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "former senior fellow"
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Open Philanthropy]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter, as Coefficient Giving"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Survival and Flourishing Fund]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Sarah Scaife Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Walton Family Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Stand Together]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed philanthropic supporter, as Stand Together Trust"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Anthropic]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed corporate supporter or event sponsor"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[OpenAI]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed corporate supporter or event sponsor"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Andreessen Horowitz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "listed corporate supporter or event sponsor, as a16z"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Acorn Consulting]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "registered outside lobbying firm"
|
||||
start: 2026
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Foundation for American Innovation (FAI) is a [[Washington, D.C.]] technology think tank. It describes itself as "a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, established in Silicon Valley in 2014 as Lincoln Labs/Lincoln Network, and refounded in 2023 as FAI," now "a national technology think tank headquartered steps from the U.S. Capitol Complex" at 408 C Street NE. It lists its fields as "technology and statecraft; frontier artificial intelligence; governance futurism; energy and infrastructure; and science and innovation," and states that it "does not adhere to a one-voice policy" and "generally does not take positions as an institution."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Lincoln Network and the Rename
|
||||
|
||||
On April 25, 2023, Lincoln Network announced that it had become the Foundation for American Innovation. The letter, signed by [[Zach Graves]] as executive director and [[Garrett Johnson]] as "Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board," stated: "When we began in 2014, our goal was to host events bringing together D.C. and Silicon Valley, two worlds that often misunderstand each other. But today, thanks to our Labs (previously Studio) and Policy Research teams, we're not a network, but a central hub, or Foundation." It gave the organization's mission as developing "technology, talent, and ideas that support a better, freer, and more abundant future," and listed its research subjects as "government modernization, R&D in breakthrough technologies, and U.S.-China strategic competition."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
Graves sat, with [[Tamara Winter]] of [[Stripe Press]] and [[Daniel Correa|Dan Correa]] of the [[Federation of American Scientists]], on the external board of the [[Institute for Progress]], another Washington think tank.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Funding
|
||||
|
||||
FAI names as "major philanthropic supporters" [[Arnold Ventures]], the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, the Beth and Ravenel Curry Foundation, Coefficient Giving, the [[David and Lucile Packard Foundation]], the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, [[DonorsTrust]], the [[Doris Duke Foundation]], the [[Ethereum Foundation]], the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, the [[John S. and James L. Knight Foundation]], the [[John Templeton Foundation]], the [[Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]], the Miles Foundation, the Proton Foundation, Recoding America Fund, Renaissance Philanthropy, the [[Sarah Scaife Foundation]], the [[Searle Freedom Trust]], the [[Silicon Valley Community Foundation]], [[Stand Together|Stand Together Trust]], the [[Survival and Flourishing Fund]], the [[Walton Family Foundation]] and the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]].[^1] Coefficient Giving, the name adopted in November 2025 by Open Philanthropy, the grantmaker of [[Dustin Moskovitz]] and [[Cari Tuna]], is also a listed supporter of [[Americans for Responsible Innovation]], a lobby for AI regulation.[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Its "corporate supporters and event sponsors" include a16z ([[Andreessen Horowitz]]), [[Alphabet]], [[Amazon]], [[Anthropic]], Astro Mechanica, [[Boom Supersonic]], [[Cognition AI]], [[DuckDuckGo]], [[ExxonMobil]], [[First Solar]], Hadrian, [[Lightspeed Venture Partners]], [[Meta]], [[Microsoft]], [[Mozilla]], Narya Capital, New American Industrial Alliance, [[NRG Energy]], [[Oklo]], [[OpenAI]], Paradigm Capital, Playground Global, [[Qualcomm]], Rainmaker, Reflection AI, [[Shopify]], [[Southern Company]], [[T-Mobile]], [[Uber]], Ulysses, Variance, [[Waymo]], XYZ Venture Capital, [[Y Combinator|YCombinator]], [[Yelp]] and Zanskar Geothermal. Under a "National Interest Gift Policy" it refuses gifts from foreign governments and from "entities with substantial ties to any country listed as a U.S. foreign adversary under 15 CFR 791.4 (China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela)."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The organization is registered with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as The Foundation For American Innovation, EIN 47-2239840, with tax exemption issued in March 2015. Its returns show the following (in dollars):[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Officer pay | Other wages | Assets |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 2015 | 566,305 | 461,716 | 0 | 0 | 374,933 |
|
||||
| 2016 | 888,486 | 635,159 | 176,671 | 0 | 550,776 |
|
||||
| 2017 | 1,684,910 | 1,530,645 | 394,058 | 55,703 | 748,387 |
|
||||
| 2018 | 2,844,753 | 2,425,635 | 0 | 998,946 | 1,201,098 |
|
||||
| 2019 | 2,573,058 | 2,369,119 | 193,446 | 941,626 | 1,388,565 |
|
||||
| 2020 | 2,505,566 | 2,645,933 | 323,789 | 1,205,288 | 1,261,317 |
|
||||
| 2021 | 4,377,840 | 3,278,966 | 210,941 | 1,538,338 | 2,320,528 |
|
||||
| 2022 | 3,932,822 | 4,347,192 | 779,024 | 1,268,195 | 1,896,389 |
|
||||
|
||||
### FAI Action and Lobbying
|
||||
|
||||
For "legislative advocacy and policy lobbying," FAI partners with "our affiliated sister organization, FAI Action, a 501(c)(4) entity," which it calls "a separate legal entity."[^1] In the second quarter of 2026 two firms registered to lobby for the two organizations. Mission Strategies LLC registered FAI Action, Inc., described as "Advancing policies to drive effective energy and AI policy," reporting 40,000 dollars for the quarter on "Energy issues," with the lobbyist [[Yogin Kothari]], a former professional staff member of the [[Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee]]. [[Acorn Consulting]] registered the Foundation for American Innovation itself, reporting 10,000 dollars for "Permitting reform," with the lobbyist [[James Kungel]], former chief of staff to Senator [[Joe Manchin]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Staff in the Second Trump Administration
|
||||
|
||||
In September 2025 the reporter [[Caleb Ecarma]] wrote in *Oligarch Watch* that FAI had ties to [[Peter Thiel]], [[Elon Musk]] and [[Charles Koch]], whom he called "right-wing billionaires," and that "the Trump administration installed staffers from FAI in key positions." He identified [[Michael Kratsios]], a former FAI board member, as director of the [[White House]] [[Office of Science and Technology Policy]], "where he co-authored the administration's 'AI Action Plan,'" and wrote that Kratsios had helped staff the [[Department of Government Efficiency]] (DOGE), "interviewing the engineers who wanted to join the team." Ecarma reported that [[Dean Ball]], who had served with Kratsios in the White House on AI policy, was returning to FAI as a senior fellow; that [[Alexei Bulazel]], a former FAI senior fellow, was senior director for cyber at the [[National Security Council]]; and that [[Jon Askonas]], another former senior fellow, was on the Policy Planning Staff of the [[State Department]]. FAI did not respond to his request for comment.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Ecarma wrote that "one current and two former FAI board members have worked at Thiel's venture capital firms." He described Kratsios as a former chief of staff and principal at [[Thiel Capital]] and chief financial officer of [[Clarium Capital|Clarium Capital Management]], whose most recent employer, [[Scale AI]], counted Thiel's [[Founders Fund]] among its investors; the board member [[Mike Solana]] as a vice president at Founders Fund; and the former board member [[Trae Stephens]] as a Founders Fund partner, co-founder and executive chairman of [[Anduril Industries]], and an early employee of [[Palantir Technologies]]. He wrote that Thiel had spoken at FAI events at least twice, and that one of those events and several FAI podcast episodes featured [[David Sacks]], the White House AI and crypto adviser, with the event also featuring the [[PayPal]] co-founder [[Luke Nosek]].[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Policy Papers
|
||||
|
||||
In October 2024 FAI published "Efficiency Agenda for the Executive Branch," a roadmap for a future Trump administration calling for using "AI to streamline operations and reduce bureaucracy," including by "reducing the federal workforce for positions that can be automated." It stated that occupations "within the realm of administrative and knowledge labor," including accountants, auditors, legal secretaries and data managers, could be replaced by existing large language models, and that Biden-era restrictions on government use of AI were "much too risk-averse." A section on "eliminating waste" called for an executive order requiring agencies "to reduce improper payments and fraud" and to identify data-sharing needs and legal barriers. Ecarma wrote that Trump "implemented FAI's recommendation in his executive order creating DOGE," which granted DOGE "full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, software systems, and IT systems."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
In March 2025 FAI's chief economist, [[Samuel Hammond]], submitted a comment to OSTP's request for information on the AI Action Plan. According to Ecarma, Hammond asked the administration, "and DOGE in particular, 'to drive AI adoption within the Federal government'" by taking the "opposite approach" of the Biden administration's approval processes; urged a review of [[FedRAMP]] and "broader IT procurement guidelines" to "reduce compliance burdens" that he said "benefit Big Tech incumbents"; cited a federal recall of [[Tesla]]'s self-driving software for rolling through stop signs, "something drivers do every day," as an example of excessive enforcement; and recommended removing clean-energy goals from a Biden executive order on AI infrastructure and granting AI data centers categorical exclusions from the [[National Environmental Policy Act]]. Ecarma noted that about three months later the administration weakened NEPA regulations at several agencies.[^7] Hammond also sits on the board of advisors of Americans for Responsible Innovation.[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Foundation for American Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://www.thefai.org/about-us
|
||||
[^2]: Graves, Zach, and Garrett Johnson. "Lincoln Network Becomes the Foundation for American Innovation." Foundation for American Innovation, April 25, 2023. https://www.thefai.org/posts/lincoln-becomes-fai
|
||||
[^3]: Institute for Progress, "About," accessed September 2026. https://ifp.org/about/
|
||||
[^4]: Americans for Responsible Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://ari.us/about-us/
|
||||
[^5]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "The Foundation For American Innovation," EIN 47-2239840, Form 990 data for tax years 2015 through 2022. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/472239840
|
||||
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Lobbying Disclosure Act database, registrations and second-quarter 2026 reports of Mission Strategies LLC (Energy) for client FAI Action, Inc. (posted June 19 and July 16, 2026) and of Acorn Consulting for client The Foundation for American Innovation (posted July 17, 2026), retrieved September 23, 2026. https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=FAI+Action ; https://lda.gov/api/v1/filings/?client_name=Foundation+for+American+Innovation
|
||||
[^7]: Ecarma, Caleb. "The little-known think tank pushing Trump to replace the federal workforce with AI." *Oligarch Watch*, September 10, 2025. https://oligarchwatch.substack.com/p/the-little-known-think-tank-pushing
|
||||
[^8]: Americans for Responsible Innovation, "Our Team," accessed September 23, 2026. https://ari.us/team/
|
||||
48
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Hong Kong China Limited.md
Normal file
48
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Hong Kong China Limited.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- LippoGroup
|
||||
- RiadyFamily
|
||||
- HongKong
|
||||
- RealEstate
|
||||
- Whitewater
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Hong Kong China Ltd.
|
||||
- Hong Kong China Ltd
|
||||
- HKCL
|
||||
summary: "Hong Kong property subsidiary of the Riady family's Lippo Group, which wired 99,985 dollars to Webster Hubbell on June 27, 1994, the day he agreed to consult for it."
|
||||
location: "Hong Kong"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[David T. Yeh]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Webster Hubbell]]"
|
||||
role: "consulting retainer of 100,000 dollars a year; 99,985 dollars wired to his NationsBank account"
|
||||
start: 1994-06-27
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Hong Kong China Limited was a property investment and development company in [[Hong Kong]] controlled by the [[Riady family]] through the [[Lippo Group]]. On June 27, 1994, it paid the former Associate Attorney General [[Webster Hubbell]] 99,985 dollars under a consulting agreement for which, the Independent Counsel found, Hubbell produced no substantive work.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ownership
|
||||
|
||||
A House committee, citing sources of 1995 and 1996, reported that Lippo owned 70 percent of Hong Kong China Ltd., "a property investment and development firm with $1.2 billion in assets," and 59 percent of the [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]], "a banking and finance firm with $2.3 billion in assets." The Office of the Independent Counsel described it as "a Lippo/Riady controlled entity based in Hong Kong" and as a subsidiary of the Lippo Group, of which [[James Riady]] was head. Its directors included [[David T. Yeh]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Hubbell Retainer
|
||||
|
||||
Hubbell announced his resignation from the [[Department of Justice]] on March 14, 1994, and left on April 8. He had known James Riady since the mid-1980s, when Riady came to [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] to set up an investment group to gain control of [[Worthen Bank]]. After announcing his resignation, Hubbell sought work from Lippo through [[Douglas Buford]], a Little Rock lawyer, former law partner of the presidential adviser [[Bruce Lindsey]], and a new client of Lippo; Buford passed the message to Lippo's representative [[John Huang]]. Huang also received a call from Buford, [[Mark Grobmyer]] or [[C. Joseph Giroir|Joe Giroir]] explaining that Hubbell was in trouble and that his family needed help, and told Riady.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Hubbell's calendar records a meeting with Riady at the [[Hay-Adams Hotel]] at 7:30 in the morning of June 23, 1994. That morning Riady, Huang and Grobmyer met President [[Bill Clinton]] in the [[White House|Oval Office]]. According to Hubbell, Riady wanted a one-year agreement with a retainer of 100,000 dollars, payable quarterly. In a letter dated June 27, 1994, to "David T. Yeh, Director of Hong Kong China Limited," Hubbell wrote: "I am pleased to provide my consultant services to your company. As you know, I provide a broad range of consultant services including extensive expertise in capital markets, U.S. placements, A.D.R. and investments." He confirmed "the full range of my services for a fee of $100,000.00 per year payable in quarterly installments beginning on July 1, 1994." That same day Hong Kong China Limited wired 99,985 dollars into Hubbell's account at NationsBank in [[Washington, D.C.]] Hubbell said he was surprised that Riady had sent the full amount so soon.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The House committee reported that "the hiring occurred around the same time as John Huang finally was approved for a position at the Department of Commerce," and that "both Riady and Hubbell refuse to describe what services, if any, Hubbell performed." In September 1994 Hubbell and his wife traveled to Hong Kong, where he had several meetings in a large office building downtown "with the name Lippo prominently displayed," and then to [[Jakarta]], where he met [[Mochtar Riady]] and the U.S. ambassador. Hubbell pleaded guilty to mail fraud and tax evasion in December 1994. He said he did no work for Riady after the plea, and none of the Lippo-related documents he produced showed any substantive work for Lippo. Clinton testified that he had no recollection of encouraging Riady to help Hubbell. The Independent Counsel concluded that the evidence was insufficient to prove that the consulting payments Hubbell received from seventeen supporters of the President were intended to affect his cooperation with the investigation.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2, section "Webster Hubbell" and note 6 (citing *Indonesian Enterprise,* Publication Secretariat for the Non Aligned Movement, 1995, vol. 3, pp. 261-274, and "Lippo, a Player in Asia, Seeks U.S. Empire," *Washington Times,* October 24, 1996). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Office of the Independent Counsel, *Final Report of the Independent Counsel In Re: Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association,* vol. 3, part C, "Webster L. Hubbell's Billing Practices and Tax Filings," section "Hong Kong China Limited/Lippo Group (James Riady)" (citing letter from Webb Hubbell to David T. Yeh, June 27, 1994, Doc. No. HIC 016946, and NationsBank account summary for Webster and Suzanna Hubbell, June 17 to July 14, 1994). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON/pdf/GPO-ICREPORT-MADISON-3-2.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight, *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law,* H. Rept. 105-829, 1998, vol. 2, notes 91-94. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm
|
||||
35
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Houston Chronicle.md
Normal file
35
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Houston Chronicle.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Newspaper
|
||||
- Texas
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
summary: "Houston daily newspaper, the largest in Texas in 1987, when the Houston Endowment sold it to the Hearst Corporation for 400 million dollars."
|
||||
location: "Houston, Texas, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Hearst Corporation]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1987
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Houston Endowment]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1987
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Houston Chronicle is a daily newspaper in [[Houston]], [[Texas]]. On March 12, 1987, when it was the largest daily in Texas, with a paid circulation of 425,434 daily and 528,153 on Sunday, it was sold to the [[Hearst Corporation]] for 400 million dollars. Its owner, the nonprofit [[Houston Endowment]], had to give up its controlling interest in the paper by 1989 under federal law.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### BCCI and Bush reporting
|
||||
|
||||
On June 4, 1992 the Chronicle published Jerry Urban's "Bush Said Friend's Arbusto Investment Was His Own, Not Saudi Money," on the investment by [[James R. Bath]] in [[George W. Bush]]'s oil company [[Arbusto Energy]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "Houston Chronicle Bought by Hearst for $400 Million." *The Washington Post,* March 13, 1987. http://web.archive.org/web/20251106213046/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1987/03/13/houston-chronicle-bought-by-hearst-for-400-million/7f0b6b51-2861-4938-88bd-0f43a32d6e88/
|
||||
[^2]: Urban, Jerry. "Bush Said Friend's Arbusto Investment Was His Own, Not Saudi Money." *Houston Chronicle,* June 4, 1992. Reproduced at https://911timeline.s3.amazonaws.com/1990s/houstonchronicle060492.html
|
||||
80
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/National Bank of Oman.md
Normal file
80
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/National Bank of Oman.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- FinancialInstitution
|
||||
- Oman
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- ParallelBank
|
||||
- Afghanistan
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- NBO
|
||||
- National Bank of Oman SAOG
|
||||
summary: "Oman's first incorporated bank, founded in 1973, in which BCCI bought Bank of America's stake in 1987 and which the Senate listed among BCCI's parallel banks."
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
location: "Muscat, Oman"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[W.J. Towell & Co.]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "51 percent at founding"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Bank of America]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "39 percent at founding"
|
||||
start: 1973
|
||||
end: 1987
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "39 percent bought from Bank of America, per the bank; 29 percent, per the Senate report quoting British journalists"
|
||||
start: 1987
|
||||
end: 1991
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Oman]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "recapitalisation by the Omani government after BCCI's suspension"
|
||||
start: 1991
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1981
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The National Bank of Oman (NBO) was the first incorporated bank in [[Oman]], established in 1973. In 1987 the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) bought the stake of [[Bank of America]], and the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]] listed the bank among the "parallel banks" through which BCCI conducted its financial manipulations.[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founding and Ownership
|
||||
|
||||
The National Bank of Oman JSC was registered under number 1003704 with an initial capital of 500,000 Omani rials and opened with two branches in 1973. Its initial principal shareholders were [[W.J. Towell & Co.]], with 51 percent, and Bank of America, with 39 percent. "In 1987, Bank of Credit and Commerce International (Luxembourg) Holdings SA (BCCI) acquired Bank of America's 39 per cent stake." When BCCI's operations were suspended in 1991, the Omani government recapitalised the bank. The [[Suhail Bahwan Group]] took a 35 percent holding through a private issue of shares in 2003, and in 2005 it and other minority holders sold part of their holdings to the [[Commercial Bank of Qatar]], which held 34.9 percent of the issued capital. The bank's shares are listed on the Muscat Securities Market, and it was the only Omani bank licensed to operate in [[Dubai]].[^1] The Senate report put BCCI's share at 29 percent, quoting British journalists.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
Bank of America had also supplied BCCI's founding capital. According to the Senate report, [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] obtained 2.5 million dollars for the new bank from Bank of America, supplemented by 500,000 dollars from [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] of [[Abu Dhabi]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Parallel Bank
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate report described BCCI's two-part corporate structure in [[Luxembourg]] and [[Grand Cayman]] as "intentionally further complicated by the establishment of a series of additional entities, used as 'parallel banks' by BCCI as needed for financial manipulations." These included the [[Kuwait International Finance Company]] (KIFCO), the Geneva bank [[Banque de Commerce et de Placements]] (BCP), "the National Bank of Oman, again with BCCI formally holding only a minority interest," a wholly owned finance subsidiary, Credit & Finance Corporation Ltd., and the [[ICIC]] entities in Grand Cayman. Where BCCI's official interest was a minority, "its apparent lack of control was the consequence of local regulations prohibiting a foreign bank from owning a majority share. Each time, BCCI found ways to evade the regulations through the use of front-men or nominees." In its chapter on BCCI's criminality the report again named "ICIC in the Grand Caymans, the Banque de Commerce et Placements in Geneva, the National Bank of Oman, and the Kuwaiti Investment Finance Corporation (KIFCO)" as affiliated entities BCCI used as its losses grew.[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Akbar and Capcom
|
||||
|
||||
[[Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar|Z. A. Akbar]], a protege of BCCI's chief executive [[Swaleh Naqvi]], was "plucked from his job at National Bank of Oman in 1981 to manage BCCI's investments from its headquarters in London," and by 1984 was managing over 5.5 billion dollars at BCCI's treasury. When [[Capcom]] opened Capcom Futures in the [[United States]] in late 1984, "Mohammed Saghir, born in the same town in India as Abedi, and a former cohort of Akbar's at the National Bank of Oman, was brought in to run the Chicago operations." The Senate report also recorded that when Global Chemical and Maintenance Systems, a company owned by [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil|A. R. Khalil]] and managed by one Powell, opened an office in Oman in 1976, Powell "met Z.A. Akbar who was then working at the National Bank of Oman, which was partially owned by BCCI."[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Oman and Afghanistan
|
||||
|
||||
In its chapter on BCCI and intelligence, where it also called the bank "the Bank of Oman," the Senate report stated that "BCCI may have been moving money through the National Bank of Oman to fund the war in Afghanistan." It quoted British journalists who cited *[[The Wall Street Journal]]* of October 23, 1991, and "a member of the late General Zia's cabinet" as saying, "It was Arab money that was pouring through BCCI," and who wrote: "The Bank which carried the money on from Oman to Pakistan and into Afghanistan was National Bank of Oman, where BCCI owned 29%."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The same chapter recorded dealings between the bank and [[Bruce Rappaport]]: "The National Bank of Oman and its CEO, Case Zawawi, also did business with Bruce Rappaport." [[Jerry Townsend]], president of Colonial Shipping in [[Atlanta]], who said he had worked as a Soviet analyst for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] and was employed by Rappaport from 1981 to 1990, told the subcommittee that Rappaport had business relations in Oman with Zawawi at the bank, and that Rappaport once flew [[Zubin Mehta]] and the London Philharmonic to Oman to entertain the Sultan. The report cited a 1985 *[[New York Times]]* article on a [[Pasadena, California|Pasadena]] company, [[Tetra Tech]], "operated by a former CIA agent," which "helps manage several key Omani government agencies," and listed BCCI loans outstanding on March 3, 1991, to Omani borrowers, among them 8 million dollars to Oman Aviation Service, 13 million to Oman Flour Mills, 13 million to the Oman Development Bank, 16 million to Oman Building and Contracting Services, and 14 million to the Sultanate of Oman.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "About National Bank of Oman," National Bank of Oman SAOG. https://www.nbo.om/en/Pages/About-Us/About-National-Bank-of-Oman.aspx
|
||||
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 3, "The Origin and Early Years of BCCI," section "Critical Elements of BCCI's Creation" (citing testimony of Masihur Rahman, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 1, pp. 489-491). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence," section "Oman." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
|
||||
[^5]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 21, "Capcom: A Case Study of Money Laundering." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/21capcom.htm
|
||||
148
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Omidyar Network.md
Normal file
148
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Omidyar Network.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,148 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "Omidyar Network Fund"
|
||||
- "Omidyar Network Fund Inc"
|
||||
- "ON"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- ImpactInvesting
|
||||
- AIPolicy
|
||||
- Anthropic
|
||||
summary: "Philanthropic investment firm of The Omidyar Group, run through an LLC and a private foundation, which bought Anthropic shares from the FTX estate in 2024 and funds AI-policy groups including Americans for Responsible Innovation."
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Pierre Omidyar]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Pam Omidyar]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Pam Omidyar]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board member"
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Mike Kubzansky]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
end: 2026-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michele Jawando]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "chief executive officer; earlier senior vice president of programs and president"
|
||||
start: 2026-03
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Pat Christen]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "board chair"
|
||||
fn: 4
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Anthropic]]"
|
||||
role: "shareholder; bought just under 50,000 shares from the FTX bankruptcy estate with the Ford and Nathan Cummings foundations"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Humane Intelligence]]"
|
||||
role: "seed funding; partner in the 30-million-dollar generative-AI effort"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Collective Intelligence Project]]"
|
||||
role: "partner in the 30-million-dollar generative-AI effort"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[AI Now Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "partner in the 30-million-dollar generative-AI effort"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Economic Security Project Action]]"
|
||||
role: "partner in the 30-million-dollar generative-AI effort"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[AFL-CIO Technology Institute]]"
|
||||
role: "partner in the 30-million-dollar generative-AI effort"
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Center for American Progress]]"
|
||||
role: "governance-of-tech partner"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator]]"
|
||||
role: "governance-of-tech partner"
|
||||
fn: 8
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Ford Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "co-purchaser of Anthropic shares"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: partner_of
|
||||
with: "[[Nathan Cummings Foundation]]"
|
||||
role: "co-purchaser of Anthropic shares"
|
||||
start: 2024
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Omidyar Network is a [[San Francisco]] philanthropic organization that describes itself as "a venture of The Omidyar Group" and gives its mission as "to bend the arc of the digital revolution toward shared power, prosperity, and possibility." It states that it has "committed more than $1.9 billion to initiatives that share our vision."[^1] It operates "both a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and a 501(c)(3) foundation," a "dual checkbook structure." The LLC invests in startups and "also allows us to invest in not-for-profits beyond public charities, such as 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations," while "policy advocacy, ballot initiatives, and coalition building are critical ways Omidyar Network leverages our resources."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
The foundation files with the [[Internal Revenue Service]] as Omidyar Network Fund Inc, EIN 20-1173866, at 535 Mission Street in San Francisco, in care of George E. Diener, under an IRS ruling dated February 1, 2005. It files as a private foundation (Form 990-PF). For the tax period ending December 2024 it reported assets of 382,487,320 dollars and income of 112,303,357 dollars. Earlier returns show the following (in dollars):[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
| Year | Revenue | Expenses | Assets |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 2013 | 85,433,257 | 47,484,427 | 319,941,051 |
|
||||
| 2014 | 63,219,899 | 45,316,923 | 321,874,224 |
|
||||
| 2015 | 193,202,032 | 57,796,178 | 446,696,927 |
|
||||
| 2019 | 63,634,282 | 107,667,084 | 490,860,479 |
|
||||
| 2020 | 21,031,743 | 74,652,984 | 490,038,780 |
|
||||
| 2021 | 45,099,453 | 52,643,847 | 495,201,056 |
|
||||
| 2022 | 25,198,385 | 30,544,043 | 367,592,522 |
|
||||
| 2023 | 5,560,652 | 28,555,210 | 392,593,149 |
|
||||
|
||||
### Leadership
|
||||
|
||||
[[Mike Kubzansky]] joined Omidyar Network in 2013 and was chief executive from 2018. On March 11, 2026, the organization announced that [[Michele Jawando]] would succeed him. Jawando had joined in 2021 as senior vice president of programs and become president in 2025; she had worked for Representative [[Gregory Meeks]] and Senator [[Kirsten Gillibrand]], had been a senior executive at [[Google]], and had led strategic initiatives at the [[Center for American Progress]]. The announcement said Kubzansky was "moving on to build and lead a new entity that will shape AI investment for the public good." The board chair is [[Pat Christen]].[^4] Its website lists [[Pierre Omidyar]] and [[Pam Omidyar]] as co-founders, Pam Omidyar also as a board member, [[Marta Tellado|Marta L. Tellado]] as a board member and [[Mona Sutphen]] as a board observer.[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Generative AI Fund
|
||||
|
||||
On December 5, 2023, Omidyar Network announced "an initial $30M investment across a diverse slate of organizations to support the responsible development of generative AI," describing it as "part of the new funders initiative on AI launched by the White House last month." The announcement said the investment came "on the heels of the recent Open AI saga," the November 2023 crisis on the board of [[OpenAI]], and that Omidyar aimed to ensure "that the future of this technology is not defined by market considerations of a few dominant players." Kubzansky said the investment would "help bridge the gap between private interests and the common good."[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
The named partners were [[Humane Intelligence]], whose co-founder [[Rumman Chowdhury]] thanked Omidyar "for our initial seed funding" for AI red-teaming exercises; the [[Collective Intelligence Project]], to run "AI Alignment Assemblies"; the [[AI Now Institute]]; [[Economic Security Project Action]], with the [[Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator]], to "develop proposals for AI governance structures including public options for generative AI"; and the [[AFL-CIO Technology Institute]], to "help working people tell their stories to policymakers in Congress and statehouses." Omidyar also said it would "invest in private venture capital funds" backing companies that use generative AI in healthcare diagnosis, chip design and batteries.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Anthropic Shares
|
||||
|
||||
On April 1, 2024, Omidyar Network announced that it, with the [[Ford Foundation]] and the [[Nathan Cummings Foundation]], had bought "just under 50,000 shares" of [[Anthropic]] stock that had been offered for sale in the bankruptcy proceedings of [[FTX]]. Kubzansky said: "As a philanthropic leader who manages both our grants and our capital for social good, we are investing in generative AI that protects and promotes the public interest and prioritizes the long-term benefit of humanity." The statement cited Anthropic's "long-term benefit trust" (the [[Long-Term Benefit Trust]]), which "oversees some seats on its board, effectively creating a buffer against direct investor influence," and said that "following the governance failures at OpenAI, we are hopeful that having mission-aligned investors ... will help protect and reinforce the safety and other mission-driven priorities of Anthropic's work."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### AI Policy Grantmaking
|
||||
|
||||
Under its "Governance of Tech" program, Omidyar Network funds groups on online safety, including "social media warning labels" and the effect of "AI companions" on children; on tech competition and antitrust enforcement, working with smaller companies that "share a common interest in scaling American-led innovation and 'winning' the AI race"; on "public AI infrastructure"; and on AI-enabled worker surveillance and algorithmic management. The partners it lists as "people and organizations we're funding" are the AI Now Institute, the [[Young People's Alliance]], the Center for American Progress, the Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund, the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, [[Carnegie Mellon University]]'s Open Forum for AI, and [[Americans for Responsible Innovation]].[^8] Americans for Responsible Innovation is a 501(c)(4) that lobbies Congress on AI regulation and that also lists Coefficient Giving, the former [[Open Philanthropy]], as a supporter.[^9]
|
||||
|
||||
Before this public grantmaking, in April 2023, [[Jeff Alstott]] of the [[Rand Corporation]] emailed a proposal for licensing advanced AI to members of the Omidyar Network, asking recipients to keep the document "off the public internet."[^10]
|
||||
|
||||
On December 11, 2025, Kubzansky condemned the Trump administration's executive order "preempting essential state and local AI regulations." He wrote that "as a philanthropic investor in AI companies and funds, Omidyar Network is acutely aware of the risks to innovators and investors created by inconsistent or poorly drafted rules. But the solution is not to preempt state and local laws," and urged Congress "to reject any attempts to impose a national moratorium on new AI safeguards."[^11]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Omidyar Network, "Who We Are," accessed September 23, 2026. https://omidyar.com/who-we-are/
|
||||
[^2]: Omidyar Network, "Our Approach," accessed September 23, 2026. https://omidyar.com/how-we-invest/our-approach/
|
||||
[^3]: ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer, "Omidyar Network Fund Inc," EIN 20-1173866, Form 990-PF data for tax years 2013 through 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/201173866
|
||||
[^4]: Omidyar Network, "Omidyar Network Appoints Michele L. Jawando as Chief Executive Officer," March 11, 2026. https://omidyar.com/update/omidyar-network-appoints-michele-l-jawando-ceo/
|
||||
[^5]: Omidyar Network, "Our Team," staff, board and founders, accessed September 23, 2026. https://omidyar.com/who-we-are/our-team/
|
||||
[^6]: Omidyar Network, "Omidyar Network launches a dedicated funding effort to promote inclusive and responsible development of generative AI," December 5, 2023. https://omidyar.com/update/omidyar-network-launches-a-dedicated-funding-effort-to-promote-inclusive-and-responsible-development-of-generative-ai/
|
||||
[^7]: Omidyar Network, "Omidyar Network purchases shares of Anthropic," April 1, 2024. https://omidyar.com/update/omidyar-network-purchases-shares-of-anthropic/
|
||||
[^8]: Omidyar Network, "Governance of Tech," accessed September 23, 2026. https://omidyar.com/priority/governance-of-tech/
|
||||
[^9]: Americans for Responsible Innovation, "About Us," accessed September 23, 2026. https://ari.us/about-us/
|
||||
[^10]: Bordelon, Brendan. "How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington." *Politico,* October 13, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20250902172514/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/open-philanthropy-funding-ai-policy-00121362
|
||||
[^11]: Omidyar Network, "Omidyar Network condemns Trump administration EO banning state AI regulations," December 11, 2025. https://omidyar.com/update/omidyar-network-statement-on-trump-eo/
|
||||
67
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Politico.md
Normal file
67
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Politico.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "The Politico"
|
||||
- "POLITICO"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Journalism
|
||||
- WashingtonDC
|
||||
- AxelSpringer
|
||||
summary: "Washington political news organization launched in January 2007 by John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei with Robert Allbritton's money, sold with Protocol and Politico Europe to Axel Springer in 2021."
|
||||
start: 2007
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Robert Allbritton]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "owner of 100 percent of the stock at founding"
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[John F. Harris]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Jim VandeHei]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
end: 2016
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Axel Springer]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Politico is a political news organization in [[Washington, D.C.]] Its founders, [[John F. Harris]] and [[Jim VandeHei]], left *[[Washington Post|The Washington Post]]* in November 2006 to build it for [[Robert Allbritton]] of [[Allbritton Communications]], whose planned Capitol Hill newspaper, the *Capitol Leader*, became the new publication; the website launched in January 2007.[^1] In 2021 Allbritton sold it to the German publisher [[Axel Springer]].[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Founding under Allbritton
|
||||
|
||||
Allbritton's company president, [[Frederick J. Ryan Jr.|Fred Ryan]], described the plan as an "ESPN of Politics." When the deal with Harris and VandeHei was signed in November 2006, Allbritton, who financed the company personally, "retained ownership of 100 percent of its stock." Its early growth rested on the Playbook newsletter of [[Mike Allen]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### 2016 departures
|
||||
|
||||
In 2016 VandeHei pressed Allbritton to sell part of the company; the owner "refused to pursue it." Luke Mullins of *[[Washingtonian]]* wrote that the sources of tension "included...power, ambition, ego, glory. But they also included money." VandeHei, Mike Allen and [[Roy Schwartz]] left, VandeHei saying "I plan to start a new venture when I depart."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Sale to Axel Springer
|
||||
|
||||
On August 26, 2021 Axel Springer announced that it had agreed to acquire Politico from Allbritton, together with the remaining 50 percent of their joint venture [[Politico Europe]], launched in 2014, and the technology news site [[Protocol (website)|Protocol]]. The parties did not disclose terms. Allbritton stayed on as publisher of Politico and Protocol. Axel Springer's chief executive, [[Mathias Döpfner]], said: "We mutually believe in the necessity of editorial independence and nonpartisan reporting." Allbritton said he "would only welcome a new investor that reflected my values and POLITICO's distinctive company values."[^2] [[CNBC]], citing "a person familiar with the matter," put the price at more than 1 billion dollars and reported that [[KKR]] owned about 48 percent of Axel Springer at the time.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coverage of Open Philanthropy
|
||||
|
||||
On October 13, 2023 the Politico reporter [[Brendan Bordelon]] published "How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington," on the funding by [[Open Philanthropy]] of fellows placed in congressional offices and federal agencies through the [[Horizon Institute for Public Service]], followed on December 15, 2023 by "Think tank tied to tech billionaires played key role in Biden's AI order," on the [[RAND Corporation]].[^4][^5] In December 2025 *[[Semafor]]* reported that Open Philanthropy had been "bothered by media coverage of it, in particular a series of critical stories from Politico," and had hired political communications staff.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Mullins, Luke. "What Really Happened at Politico." *Washingtonian,* July 17, 2016. https://washingtonian.com/2016/07/17/politico-breakup-vandehei-allbritton-allen/
|
||||
[^2]: Axel Springer. "Axel Springer to Acquire POLITICO." Press release, *BusinessWire,* August 26, 2021. http://web.archive.org/web/20260504093436/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210826005451/en/Axel-Springer-to-Acquire-POLITICO
|
||||
[^3]: "Politico sells to German publishing giant Axel Springer in deal worth about $1 billion." *CNBC,* August 26, 2021. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/26/axel-springer-to-buy-politico.html
|
||||
[^4]: Bordelon, Brendan. "How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington." *Politico,* October 13, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20250902172514/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/10/13/open-philanthropy-funding-ai-policy-00121362
|
||||
[^5]: Bordelon, Brendan. "Think tank tied to tech billionaires played key role in Biden's AI order." *Politico,* December 15, 2023, archived February 11, 2026. http://web.archive.org/web/20260211112614/https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/15/billionaire-backed-think-tank-played-key-role-in-bidens-ai-order-00132128
|
||||
[^6]: Tani, Max. "AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms." *Semafor,* December 7, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2025/ai-critics-funded-ai-coverage-at-top-newsrooms
|
||||
161
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Real Justice PAC.md
Normal file
161
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Real Justice PAC.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,161 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "Real Justice"
|
||||
- "RJP"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- PoliticalActionCommittee
|
||||
- Prosecutors
|
||||
- CampaignFinance
|
||||
- OpenPhilanthropy
|
||||
summary: "San Francisco hybrid PAC registered in 2017 to elect reform prosecutors, financed by Cari Tuna, the Open Philanthropy Action Fund and its affiliated Grassroots Law PAC, and fined by Philadelphia over Krasner's 2021 campaign."
|
||||
start: 2017-02
|
||||
location: "San Francisco, California"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: director_of
|
||||
with: "[[Becky Bond]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "treasurer and custodian of records"
|
||||
start: 2017
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Shaun King]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "team member; led social media"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Kieschnick]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "team member"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Zack Malitz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "team member"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: member_of
|
||||
with: "[[Hector Sigala]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "team member; co-founder of Middle Seat"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Middle Seat]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "digital consultant"
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Grassroots Law PAC]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "affiliated committee; 1,100,065.18 dollars, 2021 to 2023"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
end: 2023
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Grassroots Law PAC]]"
|
||||
role: "transfer between affiliated committees, 125,000 dollars"
|
||||
start: 2024-10
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Sixteen Thirty Fund]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "100,000 dollars"
|
||||
start: 2019-07
|
||||
fn: 6
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Larry Krasner]]"
|
||||
role: "159,400 dollars to his campaign committee and litigation fund, 2018 to 2024"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
end: 2024
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: contractor_to
|
||||
with: "[[Larry Krasner]]"
|
||||
role: "supplied campaign staff to his 2021 reelection campaign under a prepaid agreement"
|
||||
start: 2021-01
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[George Gascón]]"
|
||||
role: "450,000 dollars to his 2020 Los Angeles district attorney committee"
|
||||
start: 2020
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Chesa Boudin]]"
|
||||
role: "155,346 dollars against his recall"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
end: 2022
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Wesley Bell]]"
|
||||
role: "57,500 dollars"
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Lee Merritt]]"
|
||||
role: "75,000 dollars to his Texas attorney general campaign"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 7
|
||||
- type: employed_by
|
||||
with: "[[Brandon Evans]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "staff; embedded campaign manager for the 2021 Krasner campaign"
|
||||
start: 2021
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
- type: investigated
|
||||
with: "[[Philadelphia Board of Ethics]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "settlement, 30,000 dollars in penalties"
|
||||
start: 2021-12
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Real Justice PAC is a [[San Francisco]] political action committee that works to elect county and municipal prosecutors. It registered with the [[Federal Election Commission]] on February 7, 2017, as committee C00632554, a hybrid PAC with a non-contribution account, unauthorized by any candidate. Its treasurer and custodian of records is [[Becky Bond|Rebecca (Becky) Bond]], at 3041 Mission Street, and the FEC lists "Grassroots Law PAC" as its affiliated committee.[^1] In early 2017 it also registered with the Pennsylvania Department of State to operate in Pennsylvania.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Mission and Staff
|
||||
|
||||
Its 2018 website stated that it "works to elect reform-minded prosecutors at the county and municipal level who are committed to using the powers of their office to fight structural racism and defend our communities from abuse by state power," and that it would test "the 'big organizing' approach outlined in the book Becky Bond co-authored," *Rules for Revolutionaries*, developed on the 2016 [[Bernie Sanders]] presidential campaign. It cited "the 2017 success of Larry Krasner in Philadelphia" as having "raised the bar for what reformers could demand once in office." Digital work was to be run with the consultancy [[Middle Seat]], "a consulting firm created by former top Bernie Sanders campaign staffers," with an "email fundraising in a box" program "created by Middle Seat and supervised by Up PAC."[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
The site listed its team. Bond had been a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign, president of CREDO SuperPAC and political director of [[CREDO Mobile]]. [[Michael Kieschnick]] had been national campaign manager for [[NextGen Climate]]'s 60-million-dollar federal election programs in 2016 and was "the cofounder and former CEO of CREDO." [[Shaun King]], then writing for [[The Intercept]] and affiliated with the Justice Collaborative of [[Harvard Law School]], was described as a man who "has raised over $20 million for grassroots causes," and was to lead the PAC's social media. [[Zack Malitz]] had helped lead the Sanders campaign's digital organizing department, and [[Hector Sigala]], its national social media director, was "a principal and co-founder of Middle Seat."[^3] By 2022 the PAC stated that "18 prosecutors we supported have won elections."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Receipts
|
||||
|
||||
FEC totals by two-year cycle are (in dollars):[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
| Cycle | Receipts | Disbursements | Itemized individual contributions |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|
|
||||
| 2018 | 3,597,456.42 | 2,464,806.86 | 1,104,582.50 |
|
||||
| 2020 | 3,234,082.57 | 3,798,048.30 | 751,634.71 |
|
||||
| 2022 | 1,664,374.63 | 2,145,056.83 | 420,143.95 |
|
||||
| 2024 | 890,210.80 | 947,431.81 | 150,263.50 |
|
||||
| 2026 (partial) | 75,052.38 | 105,833.00 | 38,842.00 |
|
||||
|
||||
Its largest itemized sources were [[Cari Tuna]], the wife of [[Dustin Moskovitz]], who gave 653,480 dollars on March 9, 2017, 350,000 dollars on May 22, 2018, and 850,000 dollars on August 27, 2018, listing herself as self-employed; the [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]], which gave 750,000 dollars on October 29, 2019; and [[Grassroots Law PAC]], FEC committee C00712109, which gave 200,000 dollars five times between May 2021 and December 2023, plus 100,000 dollars on September 13, 2023, and 65.18 dollars in January 2021, for 1,100,065.18 dollars in all. Other large receipts were 200,000 dollars from The Action PAC (October 22, 2020), 100,000 dollars from the [[Sixteen Thirty Fund]] (July 31, 2019), 100,000 dollars from a Robert Smith who listed [[Vista Equity Partners]] as his employer (January 28, 2021) and 78,635 dollars from the Accountable Justice Action Fund (November 17, 2020).[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
A receipt of 86,229 dollars itemized as from [[Wells Fargo]] Bank on May 11, 2020, was a loan: the PAC's disbursements show a repayment of the same amount on April 11, 2024, described as a loan repayment from the non-contribution account, and a further 50,000 dollars to Wells Fargo on January 12, 2022, described as a "PPP LOAN PAYABLE" from the same account.[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Grassroots Law PAC, the committee that became Real Justice's second-largest identified source, is also treasured by Bond. Money ran in both directions: Real Justice paid Grassroots Law PAC 125,000 dollars on October 18, 2024, recorded as a "TRANSFER BETWEEN AFFILIATED COMMITTEES," and paid 36,196.64 dollars to the Grassroots Law Project on June 22, 2021, recorded as "PAYROLL."[^1][^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Candidates
|
||||
|
||||
Its FEC disbursements to candidate committees include 450,000 dollars to "Run George Run: George Gascon for LA DA 2020," for [[George Gascón]], in February and October 2020; 159,400 dollars in eight payments from 2018 to 2024 to committees of the Philadelphia district attorney [[Larry Krasner]], including 25,200 dollars in December 2023 and January 2024 to the "Lawrence Krasner for District Attorney Litigation Fund," one payment described as a "CONTRIBUTION TO LEGAL DEFENSE FUND"; 60,000 dollars in 2018 for [[Joe Gonzales]] in Bexar County, Texas; 57,500 dollars in four 2018 payments to Friends of Wesley Bell, for [[Wesley Bell]] in St. Louis County, Missouri; 11,675 dollars in 2018 for [[Diana Becton]] in Contra Costa County, California; and 75,000 dollars on June 30, 2021, to the civil-rights lawyer [[Lee Merritt]], whose Texas attorney general campaign the PAC promoted.[^4][^7] Against the recall of the San Francisco district attorney [[Chesa Boudin]], it paid 150,350.65 dollars in 2021 to "San Franciscans Against the Recall of Chesa Boudin, Sponsored by Real Justice PAC" and 4,995.35 dollars in December 2022 to "Friends of Chesa Boudin Opposing the Recall."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
Its vendors included Top Political Action Committee (637,308.89 dollars in 2018), Bernal Alto LLC (287,943.68 dollars in 2018 for "non-federal organizing services & consulting"), [[The Movement Cooperative]] (77,000 dollars in 2019), Middle Seat Consulting for digital advertising, and [[SEIU]] Local 221 (30,000 dollars in 2018). Legal payments included 98,965.16 dollars to Levan Muhic Stapleton LLC in 2021, 46,346 dollars to [[Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders]] in 2021, and 134,000 dollars in 2023 and 2024 to The Beasley Firm, LLC, described as "settlement for disputed claim."[^7]
|
||||
|
||||
### Philadelphia Ethics Settlement
|
||||
|
||||
On January 20, 2021, Krasner's reelection campaign and the PAC entered an agreement "whereby Real Justice PAC staff would perform work for the Krasner Campaign, paid for in advance by the Krasner Campaign." Krasner announced his candidacy on February 21, 2021. Between March and May 2021 the PAC invoiced the campaign 48,165.59 dollars in staff time, "$31,492.40 of which was for the embedded campaign manager for the Krasner Campaign who is employed by the PAC," plus travel and a 1,000-dollar voter-file committee expense. The campaign reported its payments only as "Political Consulting," which the [[Philadelphia Board of Ethics]] found "insufficient to identify what the expenditures were for."[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
The PAC's own Philadelphia reports omitted these expenditures and 2,618 contributions. Its amended reports, filed in August 2021, listed payments for "Campaign management services provided to Krasner for District Attorney paid by campaign" to [[Brandon Evans]] and staff time for field organizing and social media. The PAC stated that it had relied on campaign-finance counsel who advised that spending prepaid by a candidate was not reportable. In a settlement approved on December 8, 2021, Real Justice PAC and Bond were held jointly liable for 30,000 dollars in penalties; the board's chair, Michael H. Reed, did not participate.[^2][^9] Krasner's campaign and its treasurer, [[Vernon Anastasio]], agreed in a separate settlement to pay 10,000 dollars, having also spent 1,000 dollars in excess pre-candidacy contributions.[^8][^9]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Federal Election Commission, committee C00632554, "Real Justice PAC," Form 1 statement of organization first filed February 7, 2017, and committee record; and committee C00712109, "Grassroots Law PAC," committee record, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00632554/ ; https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00712109/
|
||||
[^2]: Board of Ethics of the City of Philadelphia, Settlement Agreement with Real Justice PAC and Rebecca Bond, approved December 8, 2021. https://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/Settlement%20Agreements/sa_realjusticepac_approvedbyboard_12.8.21.pdf
|
||||
[^3]: Real Justice PAC, home page, archived June 1, 2018. http://web.archive.org/web/20180601201659/https://realjusticepac.org/
|
||||
[^4]: Real Justice PAC, "About," archived January 19, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20220119164443/https://realjusticepac.org/about/
|
||||
[^5]: Federal Election Commission, financial totals for committee C00632554 by two-year period, 2018 to 2026, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/committee/C00632554/?tab=summary
|
||||
[^6]: Federal Election Commission, itemized receipts (Schedule A) for committee C00632554, all cycles, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/?committee_id=C00632554
|
||||
[^7]: Federal Election Commission, itemized disbursements (Schedule B) for committee C00632554, all cycles, retrieved September 23, 2026. https://www.fec.gov/data/disbursements/?committee_id=C00632554
|
||||
[^8]: Board of Ethics of the City of Philadelphia, Settlement Agreement with Lawrence Krasner for District Attorney, Lawrence Krasner and Vernon Anastasio, approved December 8, 2021. https://www.phila.gov/ethicsboard/settlement%20agreements/sa_krasnerforda_approvedbyboard_12.8.21.pdf
|
||||
[^9]: City of Philadelphia, "Board of Ethics settlement agreements, December 9, 2021." https://www.phila.gov/2021-12-09-board-of-ethics-settlement-agreements-december-9-2021/
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Religion
|
||||
- CatholicChurch
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Censorship
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Archdiocese of Philadelphia
|
||||
- Philadelphia Archdiocese
|
||||
- Diocese of Philadelphia
|
||||
summary: "Roman Catholic see erected in 1808 and made an archdiocese in 1875, whose archbishop Cardinal John Krol led the 1975 condemnation of R.C. Horsch's film Black Mass."
|
||||
start: 1808-04-08
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[Michael Egan (bishop)|Michael Egan]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "bishop"
|
||||
start: 1810-10-28
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: head_of
|
||||
with: "[[James Frederick Wood]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "bishop, then archbishop"
|
||||
end: 1883-06-20
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia is the see of the [[Catholic Church]] for southeastern [[Pennsylvania]], seated at [[Philadelphia]]. [[Pope Pius VII]] erected the Diocese of Philadelphia by bulls dated April 8, 1808, and it was made an archdiocese on February 12, 1875. Its tenth archbishop, Cardinal [[John Krol]], led the religious leaders who in 1975 condemned [[R.C. Horsch]]'s film [[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]].[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Diocese
|
||||
|
||||
The bulls of 1808 gave the diocese "the entire two States of Pennsylvania and Delaware, and the western and southern part of the State of [[New Jersey]]," and an accompanying brief named the Franciscan [[Michael Egan (bishop)|Michael Egan]], stationed at [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]], its first bishop. Owing to the political conditions in Europe the briefs did not reach [[Baltimore]] until 1810, and in the interval Egan served in Philadelphia as vicar general to Bishop [[John Carroll (archbishop)|John Carroll]]. He was consecrated at Baltimore on October 28, 1810. His successors contended with the lay trustees of St. Mary's Church in the Hogan schism; after fruitless admonitions the administrator [[Francis Patrick Kenrick]] closed St. Mary's and its cemeteries on April 16, 1831, and the trustees surrendered on May 18. Kenrick opened in 1832 what became the diocesan seminary of St. Charles Borromeo.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The western part of Pennsylvania was separated as the Diocese of [[Pittsburgh]] on August 8, 1843, and the Dioceses of [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]] and [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania|Harrisburg]] on March 3, 1868. At the death of Bishop [[John Neumann|John Nepomucene Neumann]] on January 5, 1860, the Catholic population of the diocese, which still included [[Delaware]], was estimated at 200,000, with 157 churches and 147 priests. His successor, [[James Frederick Wood]], born in Philadelphia in 1813 and baptized by a Unitarian minister, had been a bank clerk in [[Cincinnati]] before his conversion and "was acknowledged by the financial world as thoroughly acquainted with every phase of the banking" business. Wood became the first archbishop in 1875 and died on June 20, 1883.[^1] In 1911 the archdiocese comprised the city and county of Philadelphia and the counties of Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, and Schuylkill, an area of 5,043 square miles with a 1910 population of 2,712,708.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cardinal Krol
|
||||
|
||||
John Krol, born in [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]] in 1910, was appointed archbishop of Philadelphia on February 11, 1961, was made a cardinal by [[Pope Paul VI]] on June 26, 1967, and retired on February 11, 1988. He died at his home in Philadelphia on March 3, 1996.[^2][^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Black Mass
|
||||
|
||||
In late February 1975 a midnight run of *Black Mass*, a film of a satanic mass by the Philadelphia filmmaker Ray Hoersch, later R.C. Horsch, was cancelled at the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]] "after reported pressure by the Philadelphia Archdiocese," according to [[Art Carduner]] of the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]], which screened it instead on March 1.[^4] Sixteen Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, and Jewish leaders of Philadelphia, led by Krol, signed a statement calling the film "a blasphemous attack on the religious rites held in sacred reverence by millions of Christian believers" and urging "believers of every religious conviction to use every moral force to discourage the showing of this film in the Philadelphia area."[^5] Horsch said in an interview recorded in 2013 that the archdiocese had the run cancelled after one screening.[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Loughlin, James. "Archdiocese of Philadelphia," *The Catholic Encyclopedia,* vol. 11, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11793b.htm
|
||||
[^2]: "Cardinal Krol laid to rest," United Press International, March 8, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/03/08/Cardinal-Krol-laid-to-rest/8760826261200/
|
||||
[^3]: Weil, Martin. "Cardinal John Krol Dies; Philadelphia Archbishop," *The Washington Post,* March 4, 1996. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1996/03/04/cardinal-john-krol-dies/8d845f35-61a2-4b44-934a-0bdc39ca14df/
|
||||
[^4]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
|
||||
[^5]: "Offensive Material: Leaders Condemn Black Mass Film," Religious News Service, *Lake Shore Visitor* (Erie), March 7, 1975, p. 3. https://www.newspapers.com/image/951794835/
|
||||
[^6]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 2: Performance," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 172, September 20, 2026, audio at 30:51 to 32:04, republishing interviews recorded in 2013. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/20/ray-horsch-3/
|
||||
102
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Semafor.md
Normal file
102
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Semafor.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Journalism
|
||||
- FTX
|
||||
- SamBankmanFried
|
||||
summary: "News company launched October 18, 2022 by Ben Smith and Justin Smith with 25 million dollars from investors including Sam Bankman-Fried, whose roughly 10 million dollars it repurchased in 2023 for FTX creditors."
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
location: "New York City, New York, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Ben Smith]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Justin Smith]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Sam Bankman-Fried]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "about 10 million dollars, repurchased 2023"
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
end: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Jorge Paulo Lemann]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[David Bradley]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Jessica Lessin]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[John Thornton]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2022
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Stand Together]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Henry Kravis]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Jerry Yang]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Jamal Daniel]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: funded
|
||||
with: "[[Gallup]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2023
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Semafor is a news company founded by [[Justin Smith]], former chief executive of [[Bloomberg Media]], and [[Ben Smith]], former editor-in-chief of [[BuzzFeed News]] and columnist at the *[[New York Times]]*; the two are not related. It launched on October 18, 2022 with a staff of 60 and 25 million dollars in private capital.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Launch investors
|
||||
|
||||
The first round came from the [[Atlantic Media|Atlantic]] chairman emeritus [[David Bradley]], [[The Information]] founder [[Jessica Lessin]], [[John Thornton]], founder of the [[American Journalism Project]], [[Sam Bankman-Fried]], founder of [[FTX]], and [[3G Capital]] co-founder [[Jorge Paulo Lemann]], as well as Justin Smith. [[Gina Chua]] was executive editor, [[Benjy Sarlin]] Washington bureau chief, [[Liz Hoffman]] business editor, [[Reed Albergotti]] technology editor and [[Steve Clemons]] editor at large. Justin Smith said the name meant "the bearer of a signal" and was "the same word in 35 different languages."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Bankman-Fried stake
|
||||
|
||||
After the collapse of FTX, Justin Smith wrote to staff on December 2, 2022 that the company had "set up a series of firewalls to ensure independence from our investors" and that Bankman-Fried "has no influence over our editorial coverage or operations"; Semafor said it would let "government investigations determine what happens with Bankman-Fried's investment."[^2] On May 24, 2023 Semafor announced a 19-million-dollar round, bringing its total raised to 34 million dollars after "the repurchase of the approximately $10 million in funds from Sam Bankman-Fried," which Semafor said would be "returned to FTX creditors as directed by officials." The new investors were [[Gallup]]; [[Henry Kravis]], co-founder of [[KKR]]; [[Jamal Daniel]], founder of Crest Media and owner of [[Al-Monitor]]; [[Jerry Yang]] of [[Yahoo]] and AME Cloud Ventures; Lemann again; and [[Stand Together]], the philanthropic network founded by [[Charles Koch]].[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coverage of effective altruism and technology
|
||||
|
||||
On December 7, 2025 Semafor's media reporter [[Max Tani]] reported that the [[Tarbell Center for AI Journalism]], mostly funded by [[Open Philanthropy]] as Coefficient Giving, had placed fellows at *[[Time]]*, [[Bloomberg]], *[[The Verge]]*, the *[[Los Angeles Times]]* and *The Information*, and that Semafor itself had briefly hosted a fellow, ending the agreement "after several weeks without publishing any of their work." Coefficient's communications director, [[Naina Bajekal]], said: "We have no involvement in coverage decisions."[^4] Semafor has also reported on [[Jaan Tallinn]]'s AI investments and donations (April 2023), a lawsuit against [[Charles C. Johnson]] (October 2024) and a private club founded by [[Peter Thiel]] and [[Auren Hoffman]] (August 2025).[^5][^6][^7] On September 3, 2026 Ben Smith published an interview with Coefficient Giving's chief executive, [[Alexander Berger]].[^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Johnson, Ted. "Semafor Launches With Aim Of Boosting Trust In Global News Amid A Busy Digital Marketplace." *Deadline,* October 18, 2022. http://web.archive.org/web/20250210093253/https://deadline.com/2022/10/semafor-ben-smith-justin-smith-1235147535/
|
||||
[^2]: "Semafor Puts Its Sam Bankman-Fried Investment in the Feds' Hands." *The Daily Beast,* December 2, 2022. https://www.thedailybeast.com/semafor-puts-its-sam-bankman-fried-investment-in-the-feds-hands/
|
||||
[^3]: Spangler, Todd. "Semafor Banks $19 Million in New Funding as News Startup Is Set to Relinquish $10 Million Investment From Sam Bankman-Fried." *Variety,* May 24, 2023. http://web.archive.org/web/20230601031949/https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/semafor-funding-ben-smith-justin-smith-1235623955/
|
||||
[^4]: Tani, Max. "AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms." *Semafor,* December 7, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2025/ai-critics-funded-ai-coverage-at-top-newsrooms
|
||||
[^5]: "Co-founder of Skype invested in hot AI startups but thinks he failed." *Semafor,* April 28, 2023. https://www.semafor.com/article/04/28/2023/co-founder-of-skype-invested-in-hot-ai-startups-but-thinks-he-failed
|
||||
[^6]: "Business Partner Sues Chuck Johnson for Falsely Presenting as Intelligence Agent." *Semafor,* October 16, 2024. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/16/2024/business-partner-sues-chuck-johnson-for-falsely-presenting-as-intelligence-agent
|
||||
[^7]: "Private club founded by Peter Thiel, Auren Hoffman eyes campus near DC." *Semafor,* August 8, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/08/08/2025/private-club-founded-by-peter-thiel-auren-hoffman-eyes-campus-near-dc
|
||||
[^8]: Smith, Ben. "Coefficient Giving's CEO on Silicon Valley's $40 billion philanthropy boom." *Semafor,* September 3, 2026. https://www.semafor.com/article/09/03/2026/coefficient-givings-ceo-on-silicon-valley-40-billion-philanthropy-boom
|
||||
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "SSIR"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Philanthropy
|
||||
- StanfordUniversity
|
||||
summary: "Quarterly on philanthropy and nonprofits launched in spring 2003 by the Center for Social Innovation at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, a Hewlett Foundation grantee."
|
||||
start: 2003
|
||||
location: "Stanford, California, USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: founded
|
||||
with: "[[Stanford Graduate School of Business]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2003
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) is a quarterly on philanthropy, nonprofits and social enterprise at [[Stanford University]]. According to the [[Stanford Graduate School of Business]], its Center for Social Innovation, a grantee of the [[William and Flora Hewlett Foundation]], launched the review in the spring of 2003.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coverage of Open Philanthropy
|
||||
|
||||
The review's Summer 2018 issue carried "Giving in the Light of Reason" by [[Marc Gunther]], a profile of [[Cari Tuna]] and [[Open Philanthropy]] that counted seven entities in which Tuna served as a director or major donor, among them [[Good Ventures]], the [[Open Philanthropy Action Fund]] and [[GiveWell]], and quoted [[Alexander Berger]] that "tax considerations are key."[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Stanford Graduate School of Business. "History of the Center for Social Innovation." https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/experience/news-history/history/csi
|
||||
[^2]: Gunther, Marc. "Giving in the Light of Reason." *Stanford Social Innovation Review,* Summer 2018. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/giving_in_the_light_of_reason
|
||||
96
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Philadelphia Inquirer.md
Normal file
96
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/The Philadelphia Inquirer.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Media & Entertainment"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Newspaper
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Annenberg
|
||||
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Philadelphia Inquirer
|
||||
- Inquirer
|
||||
- The Pennsylvania Inquirer
|
||||
- Inquirer.com
|
||||
summary: "Philadelphia daily founded in 1829, owned by the Annenbergs, Knight Ridder, local investors and H.F. Lenfest, and since 2016 by a nonprofit institute under the Philadelphia Foundation."
|
||||
start: 1829-06-01
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Moses Annenberg]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 1936
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Walter Annenberg]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
end: 1969
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Knight Ridder]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Brian P. Tierney]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2006
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Alden Global Capital]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2010
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Lewis Katz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[George E. Norcross III]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[H.F. Lenfest]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2012
|
||||
end: 2016
|
||||
fn: 5
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Lenfest Institute for Journalism]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2016-01-12
|
||||
fn: 2
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
*The Philadelphia Inquirer* is a daily newspaper in [[Philadelphia]], founded on Monday, June 1, 1829, as the *Pennsylvania Inquirer*. Since 2016 it has been owned by a tax-exempt institute created at the request of [[H.F. Lenfest|H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest]] by the [[Philadelphia Foundation]]. Since June 2026 it has reported the [[Olney House Investigation]] into women connected to the pornographer [[R.C. Horsch]], and its files from 1969 to 1975 record the closing of his [[Underground Cinema 16]] and the cancellation of his film [[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]].[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Annenberg
|
||||
|
||||
[[Moses Annenberg]] announced in 1936 that he had bought the paper for four million dollars, with the assumption of 6.8 million dollars in debt. His son [[Walter Annenberg]] inherited the business, and in 1957 bought the *[[Philadelphia Daily News]]* for three million dollars from the Philadelphia builder [[Matthew McCloskey|Matt McCloskey]]. In 1969 the two papers were sold for 55 million dollars to [[John S. Knight]]'s company, Knight Newspapers, which later merged with Ridder Publications to form [[Knight Ridder]].[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Tierney, the Hedge Funds, and the 2012 Group
|
||||
|
||||
Investors led by the public relations executive [[Brian P. Tierney]] bought the papers in 2006 for 515 million dollars. Hedge funds led by [[Alden Global Capital]] and Angelo, Gordon and Company bought the company out of bankruptcy in 2010 for 139 million dollars. In April 2012 a local group led by [[Lewis Katz]] and [[George E. Norcross III]], with Lenfest, [[Krishna P. Singh|Krishna P. "Kris" Singh]], [[William P. Hankowsky]], and Joseph Buckelew, agreed to pay 55 million dollars for the papers and their website, the same price Walter Annenberg had received in 1969.[^5] In May 2014 Lenfest and Katz won the company at auction for 88 million dollars, outbidding their co-owner Norcross and his associates.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Lenfest Institute
|
||||
|
||||
On January 12, 2016, Lenfest announced that he had donated the *Inquirer*, the *Daily News*, and philly.com to a newly created tax-exempt organization, the [[Lenfest Institute for Journalism|Institute for Journalism in New Media]], operating under the TPF Special Assets Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation, and would contribute 20 million dollars to its endowment. The operating company, Philadelphia Media Network, was converted to a public benefit corporation and remained a self-governing, for-profit company. "Of all the things I've done, this is the most important. Because of the journalism," Lenfest said. The foundation's president, [[Pedro Ramos]], said: "We're not getting into the newspaper business," and "In a democracy, great cities need and depend on quality journalism."[^2][^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coverage of the Horsch Cases
|
||||
|
||||
On October 30, 1969, the paper reported that the [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]] had ordered Cinema 16 closed.[^3] On February 28, 1975, it reported that *Black Mass* had been cancelled at the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]] "after reported pressure by the Philadelphia Archdiocese" and would be shown at the [[Bandbox Theater]].[^4] From June 2026 its reporters, among them Ellie Rushing, Barbara Laker, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs, reported the search of the house on West Chew Avenue, the prosecutions of [[Eugene Horsch]], R.C. Horsch's access to the crematorium of the [[Garzone Funeral Home]], and his 2009 conviction for luring a child. On August 28, 2026, the paper reported, citing unnamed sources, that investigators believed a video showed Horsch killing a woman.[^7][^8]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: "The History of the Philadelphia Inquirer," Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia. https://www.broadcastpioneers.com/inquirerhistory.html
|
||||
[^2]: Gammage, Jeff. "Lenfest donates newspapers, website to new media institute," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* January 11, 2016. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/business/20160112_Lenfest_donates_newspapers__website_to_new_media_institute.html
|
||||
[^3]: "Police to Inspect Building: Cinema 16 Shut Down In License Dispute; Owner Is 'Confused'," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* October 30, 1969, p. 19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/169186622/
|
||||
[^4]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
|
||||
[^5]: Armstrong, Mike. "Local investors buy Inquirer, Daily News, website," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* April 2, 2012. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/business/20120402_Local_group_to_buy_Phila__Media_Network_for__55_million.html
|
||||
[^6]: The Lenfest Institute for Journalism, "H.F. Lenfest Launches Institute for Journalism in New Media, Donates Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, Makes $20 Million Gift to New Endowment," press release, January 12, 2016. https://www.lenfestinstitute.org/solutions-resources/h-f-lenfest-launches-institute-journalism-new-media-donates-philadelphia-inquirer-daily-news-philly-com-makes-20-million-gift-new-endowment-ensure-future/
|
||||
[^7]: Rushing, Ellie, Barbara Laker, Ryan W. Briggs, and Max Marin. "Raymond Horsch was convicted of luring a 9-year-old girl to his car in 2009. Now those court records could be destroyed." *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 22, 2026; Briggs, Ryan W., Max Marin, Barbara Laker, and Ellie Rushing. "Raymond Horsch had access to a Kensington crematorium linked to illegal body parts sales, years before missing persons investigation," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/raymond-horsch-child-luring-kensington-records-expunged-20260922.html ; https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-missing-women-kensington-bodies-crematorium-20260921.html
|
||||
[^8]: "Police believe a new video shows violent pornographer Raymond 'R.C.' Horsch killing a woman on camera, sources say," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 28, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/raymond-horsch-woman-killed-snuff-film-olney-20260828.html
|
||||
|
|
@ -1,12 +1,26 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- "Time (magazine)"
|
||||
- "TIME"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- organization
|
||||
- media
|
||||
- contra-war
|
||||
summary: Time magazine covered the Dark Alliance story, calling it the hottest topic in black America during the height of the public reaction in 1996.
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- ContraWar
|
||||
summary: "American news magazine, first published in 1923, which ran Beaty and Gwynne's 1991 BCCI exposé and was sold by Meredith to Marc and Lynne Benioff in 2018 for 190 million dollars."
|
||||
start: 1923
|
||||
location: "New York City, New York"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Marc Benioff]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Lynne Benioff]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2018
|
||||
fn: 3
|
||||
---
|
||||
Time magazine covered the [[Dark Alliance]] story, calling it "the hottest topic in black America" during the height of the public reaction in 1996. The magazine's coverage was part of the initial wave of media attention that preceded the establishment media counterattack.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -14,7 +28,17 @@ Time magazine covered the [[Dark Alliance]] story, calling it "the hottest topic
|
|||
|
||||
Time's characterization of the Dark Alliance series reflected the genuine public interest and outrage that the story generated in African American communities across the [[United States]]. The magazine's coverage came during the brief window between the series' publication in August 1996 and the October 1996 counterattack by the [[New York Times]], [[Washington Post]], and [[Los Angeles Times]]. After the establishment papers attacked [[Gary Webb]]'s reporting, coverage of the story's substance largely disappeared from mainstream media outlets including Time.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Ownership
|
||||
|
||||
On September 16, 2018, the [[Meredith Corporation]], which had acquired Time Inc., announced that it would sell the Time brand to [[Marc Benioff]] and [[Lynne Benioff]] for 190 million dollars in cash. The purchase was personal to the Benioffs and "unrelated to Salesforce.com," and the couple were not to be "involved in the day-to-day operations or journalistic decisions," which remained with the editor-in-chief, Edward Felsenthal. Citigroup and Cooley advised Meredith; BDT & Company and Goodwin Procter advised the Benioffs. Meredith applied the proceeds to reducing its debt. "TIME has always been a trusted reflection of the state of the world," the Benioffs said.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### BCCI Reporting
|
||||
|
||||
On July 29, 1991, Time published "B.C.C.I.: The Dirtiest Bank of All," by [[Jonathan Beaty]] and [[S. C. Gwynne]], which the two reporters later expanded into *The Outlaw Bank* (1993).[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 27.
|
||||
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 27.
|
||||
[^3]: Meredith Corporation, "Meredith Corporation To Sell TIME Media Brand To Marc And Lynne Benioff," PR Newswire, September 16, 2018. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meredith-corporation-to-sell-time-media-brand-to-marc-and-lynne-benioff-300713440.html
|
||||
[^4]: "B.C.C.I.: The Dirtiest Bank of All," *Time,* July 29, 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718229/b-c-c-i-the-dirtiest-bank-of-all/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
49
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Washington Examiner.md
Normal file
49
20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Washington Examiner.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||
aliases:
|
||||
- "The Washington Examiner"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Organization
|
||||
- Media
|
||||
- Journalism
|
||||
- WashingtonDC
|
||||
- Anschutz
|
||||
summary: "Washington political publication built from suburban Journal Newspapers, which Philip Anschutz bought through his new Clarity Media Group in 2004 and relaunched as a free daily in 2005."
|
||||
start: 2005
|
||||
location: "Washington, D.C., USA"
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Philip Anschutz]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2004
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
- type: owned
|
||||
with: "[[Clarity Media Group]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
start: 2004
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
The Washington Examiner is a political publication in [[Washington, D.C.]] owned by the Denver billionaire [[Philip Anschutz]]. It grew out of Journal Newspapers Inc., the [[Alexandria, Virginia]] publisher of the *Northern Virginia Journal*, the *Prince George's Journal* and the *Montgomery Journal*, which Anschutz bought in 2004.[^1] It launched as a free paper in 2005.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Anschutz purchase
|
||||
|
||||
On September 30, 2004 Anschutz, a founder of [[Qwest Communications]] and an investor in [[D.C. United]], announced the purchase of Journal Newspapers through [[Clarity Media Group]], "a newly created investment arm" headed by the former [[Denver Post]] publisher [[Ryan McKibben]] and the paper's former chief financial officer Frederick Anderson. Clarity did not disclose financial terms. Anschutz also owned the *[[San Francisco Examiner]],* a majority stake in [[Regal Entertainment Group]] and four [[Major League Soccer]] teams. The three suburban dailies had a combined circulation of 115,000 and had passed through several owners and heavy layoffs; Clarity said it would add "regional, national, and world news" while keeping the free tabloid format. McKibben said: "I'm not going to say the Washington Times or The Washington Post is our competition."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### Examiner chain
|
||||
|
||||
Anschutz had bought the *San Francisco Examiner* for 11 million dollars in 2004 and extended its "Eagle" masthead to his other Examiner papers. By June 2009 the *Washington Examiner* distributed 260,000 copies on Thursdays, with advertisers including [[Macy's]], [[Southwest Airlines]] and [[Citibank]], and Clarity had closed its *Baltimore Examiner*. That month the sale of *[[The Weekly Standard]]* to Anschutz was announced; Dirk Smillie of *[[Forbes]]* wrote that the magazine lost an estimated 5 million dollars a year on a circulation of 80,000.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Coverage of effective altruism
|
||||
|
||||
In November 2025 the Examiner reporter [[Robert Schmad]] published "Effective Altruism-linked nonprofit placed fellows in key government offices, secured influence," on the [[Horizon Institute for Public Service]], followed in April 2026 by "Documents show how a tech-connected nonprofit shaped Biden-era AI policy."[^3][^4] In December 2025 *[[Semafor]]* noted a critical Examiner piece on the donor ties of the [[Tarbell Center for AI Journalism]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Shin, Annys. "Anschutz Purchases Journal Newspapers." *The Washington Post,* October 1, 2004, p. E02. http://web.archive.org/web/20180128120921/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63529-2004Sep30.html
|
||||
[^2]: Smillie, Dirk. "The Stealth Media Mogul." *Forbes,* June 29, 2009. https://www.forbes.com/2009/06/28/anschutz-weekly-standard-business-media-examiner.html
|
||||
[^3]: Schmad, Robert. "Effective Altruism-linked nonprofit placed fellows in key government offices, secured influence." *Washington Examiner,* November 6, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/3874805/effective-altruism-linked-nonprofit-placed-fellows-in-key-government-offices-secured-influence/
|
||||
[^4]: Schmad, Robert. "Documents show how a tech-connected nonprofit shaped Biden-era AI policy." *Washington Examiner,* April 17, 2026. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/investigations/4532389/
|
||||
[^5]: Tani, Max. "AI critics funded AI coverage at top newsrooms." *Semafor,* December 7, 2025. https://www.semafor.com/article/12/07/2025/ai-critics-funded-ai-coverage-at-top-newsrooms
|
||||
|
|
@ -27,33 +27,33 @@ The house at 417 West Chew Avenue was the home of Raymond Horsch's paternal gran
|
|||
|
||||
### Earlier Police Contact
|
||||
|
||||
Police entered Horsch properties three times before 2026. In 2009 officers in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania]], searching Raymond Horsch's house after a woman there reported noises, found 455 marijuana plants, firearms, pornography showing women who appeared to be bleeding, and identification cards belonging to several women. The former chief, [[Robert Scafidi]], said the district attorney's office took the cards. "I really don't know what happened after that," he said. In 2013 Philadelphia police found about 1.9 million dollars' worth of marijuana in the Chew Avenue house, and Eugene Horsch was sentenced to four to eight years. In May 2025, the month Raymond Horsch died, a fire at the house brought narcotics officers, who recorded marijuana plants, firearms, and containers of chemicals. Eugene Horsch received three years of probation on drug counts.[^11][^12][^13][^14]
|
||||
Police entered Horsch properties three times before 2026. In 2009 officers in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania]], searching Raymond Horsch's house after a woman there reported noises, found 455 marijuana plants, firearms, pornography showing women who appeared to be bleeding, and identification cards belonging to several women. The former chief, [[Robert Scafidi]], said the district attorney's office took the cards. "I really don't know what happened after that," he said. In 2013 Philadelphia police found about 1.9 million dollars' worth of marijuana in the Chew Avenue house, and Eugene Horsch was sentenced to four to eight years. In May 2025, the month Raymond Horsch died, a fire at the house brought narcotics officers, who recorded marijuana plants, firearms, and containers of chemicals. Eugene Horsch received three years of probation on drug counts.[^11][^12][^13][^14] Firefighters had answered a small fire on the second floor on May 18, 2025, and a fire marshal and a patrolman found a marijuana grow, an AR-15 pattern rifle modified to fire automatically, a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun, and a 9mm pistol, all with destroyed serial numbers, and more than a hundred rounds of ammunition. According to a spokesperson for District Attorney [[Larry Krasner]], [[Jerome Brown]] told the court that the guns had belonged to Raymond Horsch, who had died three days before the raid, and that Eugene Horsch had planned to dispose of them properly. The *Inquirer* reported that Eugene Horsch pleaded guilty to manufacturing drugs and that prosecutors withdrew the gun charges.[^15]
|
||||
|
||||
[[Gabrielle Amarando]] disappeared in 2012 at 22. [[Amy McHale]], Raymond Horsch's third wife, married to him from 2004 to 2008, was last seen at the house in 2016, at 44, according to her family.[^15] [[Nicole Fusaro]], 27, was last seen in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]] on July 19, 2018, and [[Maribel Fresses]] disappeared the same year. [[Blair Tonzelli]], 35, was reported missing in February 2023. A photograph of Tonzelli, nude, with an apparent black eye and blood near her mouth, ran as a lead image on Raymond Horsch's website from about 2020 until at least September 2023. From about 2017 to 2021 the same website advertised an escort service whose client reviews describe visits to the house.[^1][^14][^16][^17]
|
||||
[[Gabrielle Amarando]] disappeared in 2012 at 22. [[Amy McHale]], Raymond Horsch's third wife, married to him from 2004 to 2008, was last seen at the house in 2016, at 44, according to her family.[^16] [[Nicole Fusaro]], 27, was last seen in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]] on July 19, 2018, and [[Maribel Fresses]] disappeared the same year. [[Blair Tonzelli]], 35, was reported missing in February 2023. A photograph of Tonzelli, nude, with an apparent black eye and blood near her mouth, ran as a lead image on Raymond Horsch's website from about 2020 until at least September 2023. From about 2017 to 2021 the same website advertised an escort service whose client reviews describe visits to the house.[^1][^14][^17][^18]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Stop at Independence Mall
|
||||
|
||||
At about eight in the morning on June 19, 2026, a federal park ranger approached a black BMW parked at a fire hydrant beside [[Independence National Historical Park]]. The woman in the passenger seat said the driver was going to hurt her. She carried an identification card bearing her own photograph and Tonzelli's name. She told officers that she did not know Tonzelli. Officers found scissors, a switchblade, a second knife, a baton, a cattle prod, a glass pipe, crack cocaine in a dashboard compartment, a .38 revolver and a .40 caliber Taurus pistol with obliterated serial numbers hidden in the car, and [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] credentials in the name Eugene Frederick Steiner carrying Horsch's photograph. Both occupants were treated at a hospital for hyperventilation and then taken to the agency's Philadelphia headquarters. The criminal complaint filed on June 26 was sworn by DEA Special Agent Curtis A. McRoy.[^12][^18][^19][^20]
|
||||
At about eight in the morning on June 19, 2026, a federal park ranger approached a black BMW parked at a fire hydrant beside [[Independence National Historical Park]]. The woman in the passenger seat said the driver was going to hurt her. She carried an identification card bearing her own photograph and Tonzelli's name. She told officers that she did not know Tonzelli. Officers found scissors, a switchblade, a second knife, a baton, a cattle prod, a glass pipe, crack cocaine in a dashboard compartment, a .38 revolver and a .40 caliber Taurus pistol with obliterated serial numbers hidden in the car, and [[Drug Enforcement Administration]] credentials in the name Eugene Frederick Steiner carrying Horsch's photograph. Both occupants were treated at a hospital for hyperventilation and then taken to the agency's Philadelphia headquarters. The criminal complaint filed on June 26 was sworn by DEA Special Agent Curtis A. McRoy.[^12][^19][^20][^21]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Search
|
||||
|
||||
About fifteen FBI agents, some in hazardous-materials suits, began searching the house on June 26. They found a third handgun, forged FBI credentials and the desktop computer used to make them, a marijuana grow, hidden compartments, five urns, vats of chemicals, and a 55-gallon drum plumbed into the basement sewer line. They also found handwritten pages that refer to [[Ted Bundy]] and describe the pleasure of hurting a woman with a zip tie. Raymond Horsch's self-published 2014 book Empathy describes strangling a woman and dissolving her body with sodium hydroxide in a basement bathtub. The liquids were sent to a laboratory in [[Chicago]]. [[Krista Killen]], who lived in the house for years, had died of drug intoxication some months after Raymond Horsch. Eugene Horsch was held on 500,000 dollars bail at the [[Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility]].[^12][^13][^17][^21]
|
||||
About fifteen FBI agents, some in hazardous-materials suits, began searching the house on June 26. They found a third handgun, forged FBI credentials and the desktop computer used to make them, a marijuana grow, hidden compartments, five urns, vats of chemicals, and a 55-gallon drum plumbed into the basement sewer line. They also found handwritten pages that refer to [[Ted Bundy]] and describe the pleasure of hurting a woman with a zip tie. Raymond Horsch's self-published 2014 book Empathy describes strangling a woman and dissolving her body with sodium hydroxide in a basement bathtub. The liquids were sent to a laboratory in [[Chicago]]. [[Krista Killen]], who lived in the house for years, had died of drug intoxication some months after Raymond Horsch. Eugene Horsch was held on 500,000 dollars bail at the [[Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility]].[^12][^13][^18][^22]
|
||||
|
||||
The hard drives held more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and 10,000 pages of documents. On August 28 the [[The Philadelphia Inquirer|Inquirer]] reported, citing unnamed sources, that investigators believed one video showed Raymond Horsch killing a woman.[^13][^22]
|
||||
The hard drives held more than 600,000 images, 70,000 videos, and 10,000 pages of documents. On August 28 the [[The Philadelphia Inquirer|Inquirer]] reported, citing unnamed sources, that investigators believed one video showed Raymond Horsch killing a woman.[^13][^23]
|
||||
|
||||
### The September 16 Briefing
|
||||
|
||||
Police Commissioner [[Kevin Bethel]], Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore, and FBI Special Agent [[Wayne Jacobs]] said on September 16 that about 30 percent of the files had been reviewed and 58 people identified in them. Five women shown appear to be dead, they said: Gabrielle Amarando and Maribel Fresses, identified on August 12 by Inspector [[Raymond Evers]] as shown alive and then apparently dead; Nicole Fusaro; a 25-year-old whose relatives asked that her name be withheld; and a woman in her mid-twenties not yet identified. Amy McHale and Blair Tonzelli remain missing.[^23][^24] Vanore described a video in which Raymond Horsch, naked and holding a camera with a second camera fixed in a corner of the room, gives a woman drugs and money, handcuffs her to a bed, and tightens a zip tie around her neck with pliers until she stops moving. The department withheld her name. Her cousin, Jonathan Halloran-Koren, identified her as Nicole Fusaro and wrote to Mayor [[Cherelle Parker]] and the City Council that the department had described her death to reporters in detail it had not given the family. A department spokesman, Sergeant Eric Gripp, said detectives had traveled to northern [[New Jersey]] to brief the family before the announcement.[^1][^2][^25] Ten people seen in the material had since died of overdoses elsewhere, sixteen living people had been interviewed and twenty-five were still being sought; Ryan Gallagher, the department's assistant director of forensics, also spoke.[^26]
|
||||
Police Commissioner [[Kevin Bethel]], Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore, and FBI Special Agent [[Wayne Jacobs]] said on September 16 that about 30 percent of the files had been reviewed and 58 people identified in them. Five women shown appear to be dead, they said: Gabrielle Amarando and Maribel Fresses, identified on August 12 by Inspector [[Raymond Evers]] as shown alive and then apparently dead; Nicole Fusaro; a 25-year-old whose relatives asked that her name be withheld; and a woman in her mid-twenties not yet identified. Amy McHale and Blair Tonzelli remain missing.[^24][^25] Vanore described a video in which Raymond Horsch, naked and holding a camera with a second camera fixed in a corner of the room, gives a woman drugs and money, handcuffs her to a bed, and tightens a zip tie around her neck with pliers until she stops moving. The department withheld her name. Her cousin, Jonathan Halloran-Koren, identified her as Nicole Fusaro and wrote to Mayor [[Cherelle Parker]] and the City Council that the department had described her death to reporters in detail it had not given the family. A department spokesman, Sergeant Eric Gripp, said detectives had traveled to northern [[New Jersey]] to brief the family before the announcement.[^1][^2][^26] Ten people seen in the material had since died of overdoses elsewhere, sixteen living people had been interviewed and twenty-five were still being sought; Ryan Gallagher, the department's assistant director of forensics, also spoke.[^27]
|
||||
|
||||
Police said they believed three of the five urns held the ashes of Raymond Horsch, his sister, and a friend. Two are unidentified. "We did never recover a body here," Vanore said. Bethel said: "We're going to dictate the pace." Jacobs said further search warrants were planned.[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Crematorium
|
||||
|
||||
Police are examining Raymond Horsch's access, in the years before 2007, to the Kensington crematorium of the [[Garzone Funeral Home]], whose operators pleaded guilty in 2008 to selling more than 240 corpses to a [[New York City|New York]] tissue-recovery company. The man identified as his contact there, [[George Newsome]], died in 2014. The five women believed dead disappeared between 2012 and 2023. The [[Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office]] has declined to say whether the city sent unclaimed bodies to the crematorium.[^16]
|
||||
Police are examining Raymond Horsch's access, in the years before 2007, to the Kensington crematorium of the [[Garzone Funeral Home]], whose operators pleaded guilty in 2008 to selling more than 240 corpses to a [[New York City|New York]] tissue-recovery company. The man identified as his contact there, [[George Newsome]], died in 2014. The five women believed dead disappeared between 2012 and 2023. The [[Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office]] has declined to say whether the city sent unclaimed bodies to the crematorium.[^17]
|
||||
|
||||
### Charges
|
||||
|
||||
State prosecutors withdrew all five state counts against Eugene Horsch at a preliminary hearing on August 6, 2026. A federal grand jury had indicted him on July 9 on two counts, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a fraudulent federal identification document. [[United States]] v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296, is assigned to Judge [[John Milton Younge]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]. The government moved for pretrial detention on June 30, and the defense has obtained three extensions of the motions deadline, the latest filed September 18. He has not been accused of any offense against the missing women. NBC10 reported that, according to court documents, detectives learned during the investigation that he "allegedly made a statement suggesting Tonzelli would 'never be seen again.'" Law enforcement sources told NBC10 that investigators had found what appeared to be fake blood but no human remains in the initial search and had excavated pipes at the property in August without finding anything substantial.[^27] His lawyer, [[Jerome Brown]], called the search "much ado about nothing" and said: "We categorically deny that Eugene Horsch is a serial killer."[^2][^19][^20][^21][^28] In September 2026 the trial was postponed at the defense's request to begin no earlier than March 22.[^29]
|
||||
At a preliminary hearing on August 6, 2026, Assistant District Attorney [[Alyssa Amoroso]] of the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]] withdrew all five state counts of illegal gun and drug possession against Eugene Horsch, telling a city judge that the [[United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|United States Attorney's Office]] would handle the case; neither Horsch nor Brown attended the hearing.[^28] A federal grand jury had indicted him on July 9 on two counts, possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a fraudulent federal identification document. [[United States]] v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296, is assigned to Judge [[John Milton Younge]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania|Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]. The government moved for pretrial detention on June 30, and the defense has obtained three extensions of the motions deadline, the latest filed September 18. He has not been accused of any offense against the missing women. NBC10 reported that, according to court documents, detectives learned during the investigation that he "allegedly made a statement suggesting Tonzelli would 'never be seen again.'" Law enforcement sources told NBC10 that investigators had found what appeared to be fake blood but no human remains in the initial search and had excavated pipes at the property in August without finding anything substantial.[^29] His lawyer, Jerome Brown, called the search "much ado about nothing" and said: "We categorically deny that Eugene Horsch is a serial killer."[^2][^20][^21][^22][^30] In September 2026 the trial was postponed at the defense's request to begin no earlier than March 22.[^31]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
|
|
@ -71,18 +71,20 @@ State prosecutors withdrew all five state counts against Eugene Horsch at a prel
|
|||
[^12]: "Five takeaways from Philly missing women mystery connected to Raymond and Eugene Horsch," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 4, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-missing-women-20260804.html
|
||||
[^13]: Cuffe, Davis. "Philadelphia's 'house of horrors' investigation: All that we know," *Billy Penn,* September 18, 2026. https://billypenn.com/2026/09/18/philadelphia-house-of-horrors-police-investigation-olney-update/
|
||||
[^14]: "Who is Eugene Horsch? Man at Center of Philadelphia 'House of Horrors,'" *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/who-is-eugene-horsch-man-at-center-of-philadelphia-house-of-horrors-12459693
|
||||
[^15]: Gallagher, Bryanna. "Ex-police chief recalls 2009 arrest of man linked to Philadelphia so-called house of horrors investigation." WPVI/6abc, syndicated by ABC11, September 17, 2026. https://abc11.com/story/west-chew-avenue-crime-news-ex-police-chief-recalls-2009-arrest-rc-horsch-linked-olney-philadelphia-pennsylvania-called-house-horrors-investigation/19843864/
|
||||
[^16]: Briggs, Ryan W., Max Marin, Barbara Laker, and Ellie Rushing. "Raymond Horsch had access to a Kensington crematorium linked to illegal body parts sales, years before missing persons investigation," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-missing-women-kensington-bodies-crematorium-20260921.html
|
||||
[^17]: "A troubling photo of a missing woman appeared on Raymond Horsch's erotic website, years before police investigated," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-missing-women-olney-blair-tonzelli-20260821.html
|
||||
[^18]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 1: Youth," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 171, September 13, 2026, audio at 00:15 to 01:37. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/13/ray-horsch-2/
|
||||
[^19]: Kramer, Jillian. "Eugene Horsch indicted in federal court on firearms, fake credentials charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 9, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-olney-house-federal-indictment-20260709.html
|
||||
[^20]: United States v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296 (E.D. Pa.), criminal complaint and affidavit, June 26, 2026; motion for pretrial detention, June 30, 2026; third motion for extension, September 18, 2026. Docket via CourtListener / RECAP.
|
||||
[^21]: "How a pornographer's violent fantasies blurred fact and fiction as cops searched Olney house for missing women," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 2, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-philadelphia-missing-women-history-20260802.html
|
||||
[^22]: "Police believe a new video shows violent pornographer Raymond 'R.C.' Horsch killing a woman on camera, sources say," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 28, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/raymond-horsch-woman-killed-snuff-film-olney-20260828.html
|
||||
[^23]: Laker, Barbara, and Ellie Rushing. "Cousin of a Raymond Horsch victim criticizes police for sharing graphic details at news conference before telling family," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 17, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/nicole-fusaro-family-complaint-horsch-olney-house-investigation-20260917.html
|
||||
[^24]: Rushing, Ellie, Barbara Laker, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs. "'I knew she was gone': Police say at least two missing women likely killed inside Olney home linked to violent pornography," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 12, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-horsch-murder-missing-women-20260812.html
|
||||
[^25]: "Cousin of a Raymond Horsch victim criticizes police for sharing graphic details at news conference before telling family," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 17, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/nicole-fusaro-family-complaint-horsch-olney-house-investigation-20260917.html
|
||||
[^26]: Rushing, Ellie, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs. *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 16, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-philadelphia-missing-women-dead-20260916.html
|
||||
[^27]: Charns, David, and Ali Ingersoll. "Murder or art? Women linked to Philly 'House of Horrors' describe R.C. Horsch," *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 21, 2026, updated September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/investigations/murder-or-art-women-linked-to-philadelphia-mystery-house-describe-r-c-horsch/4466682/
|
||||
[^28]: "Eugene Horsch Denies He's a Serial Killer as Philadelphia Cops Hunt for Missing Women," *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/philadelphia-obviously-serial-killer-former-fbi-agent-12457175
|
||||
[^29]: Charns, David. "Eugene Horsch trial delayed amid missing women investigations." *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/eugene-horsch-trial-delayed-amid-philadelphia-missing-women-investigations/4467226/
|
||||
[^15]: Marin, Max, Ryan W. Briggs, Ellie Rushing, and Barbara Laker. "Police searched Olney home last summer, but drugs, not missing women, were the focus," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 1, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-raymond-horsch-olney-home-search-guns-drugs-20260701.html
|
||||
[^16]: Gallagher, Bryanna. "Ex-police chief recalls 2009 arrest of man linked to Philadelphia so-called house of horrors investigation." WPVI/6abc, syndicated by ABC11, September 17, 2026. https://abc11.com/story/west-chew-avenue-crime-news-ex-police-chief-recalls-2009-arrest-rc-horsch-linked-olney-philadelphia-pennsylvania-called-house-horrors-investigation/19843864/
|
||||
[^17]: Briggs, Ryan W., Max Marin, Barbara Laker, and Ellie Rushing. "Raymond Horsch had access to a Kensington crematorium linked to illegal body parts sales, years before missing persons investigation," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-missing-women-kensington-bodies-crematorium-20260921.html
|
||||
[^18]: "A troubling photo of a missing woman appeared on Raymond Horsch's erotic website, years before police investigated," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 21, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-eugene-horsch-missing-women-olney-blair-tonzelli-20260821.html
|
||||
[^19]: West, Ashley. "Unknowing Ray Horsch, Episode 1: Youth," *The Rialto Report,* Podcast 171, September 13, 2026, audio at 00:15 to 01:37. https://www.therialtoreport.com/2026/09/13/ray-horsch-2/
|
||||
[^20]: Kramer, Jillian. "Eugene Horsch indicted in federal court on firearms, fake credentials charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* July 9, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-olney-house-federal-indictment-20260709.html
|
||||
[^21]: United States v. Horsch, No. 2:26-cr-00296 (E.D. Pa.), criminal complaint and affidavit, June 26, 2026; motion for pretrial detention, June 30, 2026; third motion for extension, September 18, 2026. Docket via CourtListener / RECAP.
|
||||
[^22]: "How a pornographer's violent fantasies blurred fact and fiction as cops searched Olney house for missing women," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 2, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/a/raymond-eugene-horsch-olney-philadelphia-missing-women-history-20260802.html
|
||||
[^23]: "Police believe a new video shows violent pornographer Raymond 'R.C.' Horsch killing a woman on camera, sources say," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 28, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/raymond-horsch-woman-killed-snuff-film-olney-20260828.html
|
||||
[^24]: Laker, Barbara, and Ellie Rushing. "Cousin of a Raymond Horsch victim criticizes police for sharing graphic details at news conference before telling family," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 17, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/nicole-fusaro-family-complaint-horsch-olney-house-investigation-20260917.html
|
||||
[^25]: Rushing, Ellie, Barbara Laker, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs. "'I knew she was gone': Police say at least two missing women likely killed inside Olney home linked to violent pornography," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 12, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/eugene-horsch-murder-missing-women-20260812.html
|
||||
[^26]: "Cousin of a Raymond Horsch victim criticizes police for sharing graphic details at news conference before telling family," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 17, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/nicole-fusaro-family-complaint-horsch-olney-house-investigation-20260917.html
|
||||
[^27]: Rushing, Ellie, Max Marin, and Ryan W. Briggs. *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* September 16, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/news/raymond-horsch-philadelphia-missing-women-dead-20260916.html
|
||||
[^28]: Rushing, Ellie. "Feds will take over gun case of Olney man at center of missing women investigation, as Philly DA withdraws charges," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* August 6, 2026. https://www.inquirer.com/crime/eugene-horsch-federal-charges-olney-missing-women-20260806.html
|
||||
[^29]: Charns, David, and Ali Ingersoll. "Murder or art? Women linked to Philly 'House of Horrors' describe R.C. Horsch," *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 21, 2026, updated September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/investigations/murder-or-art-women-linked-to-philadelphia-mystery-house-describe-r-c-horsch/4466682/
|
||||
[^30]: "Eugene Horsch Denies He's a Serial Killer as Philadelphia Cops Hunt for Missing Women," *Newsweek,* 2026. https://www.newsweek.com/philadelphia-obviously-serial-killer-former-fbi-agent-12457175
|
||||
[^31]: Charns, David. "Eugene Horsch trial delayed amid missing women investigations." *NBC10 Philadelphia,* September 22, 2026. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/eugene-horsch-trial-delayed-amid-philadelphia-missing-women-investigations/4467226/
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
56
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Grand Cayman.md
Normal file
56
60 - PLACES/REGIONS/Grand Cayman.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Region"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Place
|
||||
- Island
|
||||
- CaymanIslands
|
||||
- BCCI
|
||||
- OffshoreFinance
|
||||
- BankSecrecy
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- Grand Caymans
|
||||
- the Grand Caymans
|
||||
summary: "Island of the Cayman Islands where BCCI Overseas and the ICIC group had their head offices and where Deloitte Ross Tohmatsu liquidated ICIC from 1991."
|
||||
location: "Cayman Islands"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
Grand Cayman is an island of the [[Cayman Islands]] in the [[Caribbean]]. It was the chartered home of BCCI Overseas, one of the two banks under the holding company of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), and of the [[ICIC]] group, which BCCI used as its "bank within a bank."[^1][^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### BCCI's Two Charters
|
||||
|
||||
[[Agha Hasan Abedi]] needed, according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate report]], "a bank secrecy and confidentiality haven," which he found first in [[Luxembourg]] and then in Grand Cayman. BCCI was at first incorporated only in Luxembourg. "Two years later, a holding company was created, BCCI Holdings, with the bank underneath it BCC S.A., split into two parts, BCCI S.A., with head offices in Luxembourg, and BCCI Overseas, with head offices in Grand Cayman. Luxembourg was used mostly for BCCI's European and Middle East locations, and the Grand Caymans mostly for Third World Countries." The structure was further complicated by "parallel banks," among them the [[Kuwait International Finance Company]], the [[Banque de Commerce et de Placements]] in [[Geneva]], the [[National Bank of Oman]], and "the series of entities based in the Grand Caymans and collectively known as 'ICIC,' which became the principal 'bank within a bank' at BCCI."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The bank licensed in [[Florida]], whose license the state comptroller [[Gerald Lewis]] was reviewing after BCCI's guilty plea in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] in 1990, was the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (Overseas) Limited.[^3]
|
||||
|
||||
### Audit and Regulation
|
||||
|
||||
Abedi divided BCCI's annual audits between Ernst & Whinney and [[Price Waterhouse]], "with Ernst & Whinney taking responsibility over only the holding company and BCCI Luxembourg, and Price Waterhouse taking responsibility over only BCCI Overseas in the Grand Cayman," an arrangement that ended with Ernst & Whinney's withdrawal in 1986; Price Waterhouse took over the consolidated audit in 1987. Even then ICIC, KIFCO and BCP were excluded from its work, and "as late as 1990, key documents involving guarantees against loss by BCCI to principal shareholders, held in the Grand Caymans and in Abu Dhabi, do not appear to have been made available to auditors."[^1]
|
||||
|
||||
The Senate report stated: "BCCI's other home, the Grand Caymans, did not regulate any bank licensed there. The Caymans lack of regulation was precisely the inducement for banks to charter themselves there," citing hearing testimony on "the popularity of the Cayman Islands for banks because of lax licensing requirements, absence of reserve requirements, income taxes, or lending limitations." The [[Bank of England]] regarded BCCI as a foreign bank based in Luxembourg and the Grand Caymans and treated their authorities as its "lead regulators," although BCCI's real headquarters was in [[London]]. "This neat arrangement by BCCI, together with its division of its auditing functions between two auditors, one for 'Luxembourg' and the other for 'Grand Caymans,' ensured that BCCI's activities could not be adequately monitored by anyone."[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
At the end of 1985 a Bank of England official wrote in an internal memorandum, after a week inside BCCI: "I am absolutely certain that the real head office is located on six floors of 100 Leadenhall Street. . . . It is clear that Luxembourg is an historic chapter in the BCCI story and that Grand Cayman is a tax haven used as a booking centre." Among its recommendations the Senate report noted that the new U.S. law on foreign bank supervision did not prohibit banks "regulated in bank regulatory havens, such as Grand Caymans, Luxembourg," from operating in the [[United States]].[^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### ICIC
|
||||
|
||||
ICIC Holdings and ICIC (Overseas) Limited were both incorporated on April 6, 1976, the latter "as an offshore bank to facilitate the purchase and sale of BCCI shares and to provide private banking services for BCCI shareholders and customers"; ICIC Apex Holding Limited, incorporated on October 2, 1987, became the group's ultimate holding company, "equivalent to a charitable trust, with the beneficiaries designated as 'mankind at large.'" In April 1978 the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] asked [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] whether ICIC, "BCCI's Grand Caymans affiliate," was acting as a vehicle for the acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]]; Altman replied that BCCI had moved funds for the Middle Eastern investors into the United States but had not financed the purchases. [[First American Bank|First American]], which BCCI secretly acquired, later placed deposits with ICIC.[^2][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
Price Waterhouse reported in April 1986 that "in most instances none of the officers of the Grand Cayman office were able to correctly identify either the name of the borrower or the credit officer responsible for monitoring the account at other locations." When BCCI failed to improve its handling of these numbered accounts, the auditors took no further action beyond marking the note with an asterisk in later reports. In 1990 Price Waterhouse found no evidence that the BCCI front man [[Mohammed Hammoud]] owned any of the companies to which BCCI and "its Grand Caymans affiliate ICIC had lent some $110 million."[^2][^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Liquidation
|
||||
|
||||
After BCCI was closed in 1991, liquidators from Deloitte Ross Tohmatsu reported to the court in Grand Cayman on August 30, 1991, on International Credit and Investment Company (Overseas) Ltd. According to the Senate report, the liquidators found that "ICIC was not really a bank at all, but a post-office box location to 'book' transactions that were initiated, organized, and approved in other parts of BCCI. In essence, ICIC was a 'conduit' or mechanism for BCCI's fraud." The report listed "the refusal of authorities in the United Kingdom and in the Grand Caymans to share information with Congress and other U.S. investigators as a consequence of their interpretation of local bank confidentiality and privacy laws" among the obstacles to its investigation.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### George Town Bank
|
||||
|
||||
[[Fernando Olivera]], a member of the Peruvian House of Deputies who headed a commission investigating the placement of Peru's international reserves with BCCI, told the Senate subcommittee on August 2, 1991: "we have a document of the Swiss Bank Corp. in Panama providing that BCCI oversees George Town Bank Corp Grand Cayman. From there, transfers were made to the Security Bank to the Swiss Bank in New York and transferred from there to an account in Panama of the Swiss Bank. These were the bribes for these officers," naming Lionel Figueroa and Hector Neyra of the central bank of [[Peru]].[^6]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 3, "The Origin and Early Years of BCCI," sections "Critical Elements of BCCI's Creation" and "Obstacles In the United Kingdom" (citing testimony of Masihur Rahman, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 1, p. 491). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
|
||||
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality" (citing Report of Grand Caymans Liquidators to Grand Caymans Court, August 30, 1991, Deloitte Ross Tohmatsu, International Credit and Investment Company (Overseas) Ltd.). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
|
||||
[^3]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service" (quoting letter from Gerald Lewis to Charles Saphos, February 1990). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
|
||||
[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 12, "The Regulators" (citing S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 4, p. 80). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/12reg.htm
|
||||
[^5]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 10, "BCCI and Its Accountants." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/10accounta.htm
|
||||
[^6]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 5, "BCCI's Relationship with Foreign Governments, Central Banks, and International Organizations," section "Peru." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/05foreign.htm
|
||||
41
90 - MISC/In the Year of the Pig.md
Normal file
41
90 - MISC/In the Year of the Pig.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
|
|||
---
|
||||
category: "Media & Entertainment"
|
||||
tags:
|
||||
- Film
|
||||
- Documentary
|
||||
- VietnamWar
|
||||
- Philadelphia
|
||||
- Censorship
|
||||
- RCHorsch
|
||||
alias:
|
||||
- In the Year of the Pig (1968 film)
|
||||
summary: "Emile de Antonio's 1968 Vietnam War documentary, nominated for an Academy Award, whose Philadelphia run moved to the Bandbox Theater after city inspectors closed R.C. Horsch's Cinema 16 in 1969."
|
||||
date: 1968
|
||||
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
|
||||
created: 2026-09-23
|
||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
||||
relations:
|
||||
- type: participant_in
|
||||
with: "[[Emile de Antonio]]"
|
||||
reverse: true
|
||||
role: "director and producer"
|
||||
fn: 1
|
||||
---
|
||||
|
||||
*In the Year of the Pig* is a documentary film of 1968 on the [[Vietnam War]], directed and produced by [[Emile de Antonio]]. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Documentary Feature at the 42nd [[Academy Awards]] in 1970. In October 1969 the [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]] closed [[Underground Cinema 16]], the theater of Ray Hoersch, later known as [[R.C. Horsch]], in the week it planned to preview the film, and it was shown instead at the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]].[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
||||
|
||||
### The Nomination
|
||||
|
||||
The award for Documentary Feature went to *Arthur Rubinstein: The Love of Life*, produced by Bernard Chevry. The other nominees were *Before the Mountain Was Moved*, produced by Robert K. Sharpe; *The Olympics in Mexico*, by the organizing committee of the XIX Olympiad; and *The Wolf Men*, produced by Irwin Rosten.[^2]
|
||||
|
||||
### Cinema 16
|
||||
|
||||
Hoersch, then 26, opened Cinema 16 at 2021 Sansom Street in October 1969. On October 29 the department's deputy commissioner, [[Leo Goldstein]], ordered it closed for lack of the requisite licenses and posted the building, and "police were instructed to keep it empty." Hoersch called the matter a "simple confusion" and said that the only question was whether the theater could open that week for a preview of the film.[^3] The alternative weekly *[[The Distant Drummer]]*, in an article on the administration of Mayor [[James H. J. Tate]], reported that the theater had been closed for want of a statement of occupancy and five minor code violations, corrected within a day, and quoted Goldstein: "I first heard about the theatre (Cinema 16) when I read in the BULLETIN that they were going to play that Vietnam film (In the Year of the Pig)." In the same period the department closed the "Space" annex of the [[Theatre of the Living Arts]] and the Manning Street Theater. The film opened at the Bandbox while Cinema 16 was shut.[^4] In 1975 the Bandbox, run by [[Art Carduner]], screened Hoersch's *[[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]]* after its cancellation at the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]].[^5]
|
||||
|
||||
### Footnotes
|
||||
|
||||
[^1]: *In the Year of the Pig* (Emile de Antonio, 1968), full film, Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/InTheYearOfThePig1968
|
||||
[^2]: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, "The 42nd Academy Awards, 1970," Documentary (Feature). https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1970
|
||||
[^3]: "Police to Inspect Building: Cinema 16 Shut Down In License Dispute; Owner Is 'Confused'," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* October 30, 1969, p. 19. https://www.newspapers.com/image/169186622/
|
||||
[^4]: "Mayor Tate's War On [title cut off in the scan]," *The Distant Drummer,* no. 65, December 25, 1969, p. 8, Temple University Libraries, Special Collections Research Center. https://digital.library.temple.edu/digital/collection/p16002coll34/id/473
|
||||
[^5]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
|
||||
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