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---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-01
tags:
- Person
- Investigator
- Lawyer
- Government
- BCCI
- Senate
- Intelligence
- USA
- Dark_Alliance_Investigation
summary: "Former Senate investigator and chief counsel to Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, widely recognized for exposing the BCCI scandal and investigating Contra-connected drug trafficking."
---
Jack Blum is a former Senate investigator and chief counsel to [[Senator John Kerry]]'s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, widely recognized for his pivotal role in exposing the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] scandal. Described as a crusader and a moralist, Blum was known for his unwavering pursuit of truth, even when it meant challenging powerful institutions and individuals.[^1]
@ -15,26 +14,26 @@ Jack Blum is a former Senate investigator and chief counsel to [[Senator John Ke
Blum began his career in Washington in 1965 after graduating from Columbia Law School, working as an investigator for Senator [[Phil Hart]]'s antitrust subcommittee. His work gained the attention of Senator [[J. W. Fulbright]], who moved him to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By the mid-1970s, Blum had established himself as a counsel to Senator [[Frank Church]]'s subcommittee on multinational corporations.[^1]
His investigations during this period were far-reaching, contributing to the downfall of a Japanese government and the imprisonment of Japanese Prime Minister [[Kakuei Tanaka]] due to the [[Lockheed payoff scandals]]. He also played a key role in exposing [[ITT]]'s improper activities in [[Chile]], identifying [[Robert Vesco]] and the $3-billion global [[IOS (Investors' Overseas Services)|Ponzi scheme]] as central figures, and was a driving force behind the creation of the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]]. Notably, his questioning led to the indictment of former [[CIA]] Director [[Richard Helms]] for perjury.[^1]
His investigations during this period were far-reaching, contributing to the downfall of a Japanese government and the imprisonment of Japanese Prime Minister [[Kakuei Tanaka]] due to the [[Lockheed payoff scandals]]. He also played a key role in exposing [[ITT]]'s improper activities in [[Chile]], identifying [[Robert Vesco]] and the $3-billion global [[IOS (Investors' Overseas Services)|Ponzi scheme]] as central figures, and was a driving force behind the creation of the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]]. Notably, his questioning led to the indictment of former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Director [[Richard Helms]] for perjury.[^1]
After a decade in private practice starting in 1976, Blum re-entered the public sector in 1986 as special counsel to Senator John Kerry's subcommittee. Here, he spearheaded probes into drug trafficking and produced a report accusing the [[Reagan administration]] of interfering with the "war on drugs" to protect clandestine support for the [[Contras]].[^1]
### Kerry Committee and Contra Drug Trafficking
After a decade in private practice starting in 1976, Blum re-entered the public sector in 1986 as special counsel to Senator John Kerry's subcommittee, spearheading probes into drug trafficking and producing a report accusing the [[Reagan administration]] of interfering with the "war on drugs" to protect clandestine support for the [[Contras]].[^1] Blum testified before the committee that "the narcotics are coming into the [[United States]] not by the pound, not by the bag, but by the ton, by the cargo planeload."[^2]
After seeing early news stories about [[Norwin Meneses]], Blum asked the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] to turn over its files on Meneses and the long-closed Frogman case. He ran into a buzzsaw. Blum later described the resistance: "We had a terrible, terrible time getting information about Meneses from the fellow who was the U.S. attorney out there at the time, [[Joseph Russoniello|Russoniello]], who was as rabid a right-wing true believer as ever came down the road." The Justice Department's obstruction prevented the Kerry committee from fully investigating the Meneses connection.[^2]
When [[Gary Webb]] called Blum years later while researching the Dark Alliance series, Blum confirmed that Meneses had been an early target of the Kerry investigation and that the Justice Department had stonewalled the committee's requests for information.[^3]
### Uncovering the BCCI Scandal
Blum's interest in BCCI intensified in spring 1988 during Kerry's hearings on drug trafficking, which veered into [[Manuel Noriega]]. He discovered that BCCI was at the epicenter of Noriega's financial operations. Despite a Miami BCCI branch being busted for money laundering, Blum believed the plea bargain was a "very big fix" and that BCCI was a "global criminal empire" on the verge of collapse.[^1]
He left the Kerry subcommittee after his proposal for a serious investigation into BCCI was dismissed, and his contract was not renewed. Blum believed a high-level cover-up was in place after Customs stumbled upon BCCI's money-laundering operations. He learned from a BCCI executive, "Witness A," that the bank was designed to hide illicit financial transactions for high-net-worth criminal clients, including drug cartels, and that BCCI secretly owned [[First American Bank]] and other U.S. banks.[^1]
Frustrated by federal inaction, Blum approached Manhattan District Attorney [[Robert Morgenthau]] in March 1989, presenting the BCCI scandal as "the biggest bank fraud in the history of the world." He provided information from a tape-recorded debriefing of a former BCCI officer, [[Ali Mirza]], who detailed efforts to influence the Senate subcommittee, bribery of the Georgia legislature, and BCCI's secret ownership of American banks. Blum also brought "Witness A" for a similar taping.[^1]
He left the Kerry subcommittee after his proposal for a serious investigation into BCCI was dismissed, and his contract was not renewed. Frustrated by federal inaction, Blum approached Manhattan District Attorney [[Robert Morgenthau]] in March 1989, presenting the BCCI scandal as "the biggest bank fraud in the history of the world." He provided information from a tape-recorded debriefing of a former BCCI officer, [[Ali Mirza]], who detailed efforts to influence the Senate subcommittee, bribery of the Georgia legislature, and BCCI's secret ownership of American banks.[^1]
Blum's persistence helped prompt the [[Federal Reserve Board]] to investigate BCCI, leading to the bank's global seizure in July 1991. He consistently argued that BCCI was not merely a bank but a "global criminal empire" with deep ties to intelligence agencies and illicit activities.[^1]
### Key Beliefs and Contributions
Blum's office wall famously bore the aphorism: "Never wrestle a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it." He believed that BCCI was using figures like [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] as "ultra-respectable-looking front men" for its American operations.[^1] He also highlighted the involvement of [[Bert Lance]] and [[Jimmy Carter]] with BCCI, noting Abedi's financial contributions to Carter's charitable foundation and presidential library.[^1]
Blum's efforts to expose the truth about BCCI were met with resistance and attempts to discredit him, with some "top people" calling him a "loose cannon."[^1] Despite these challenges, his work was instrumental in bringing the BCCI scandal to public attention and pushing for investigations into its far-reaching criminal enterprise.
### Footnotes
[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. _The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI_. New York: Random House, 1993.
[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 17.
[^3]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 2: "We were the first."