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70
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Abbas Gokal.md
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@ -9,34 +9,78 @@ tags:
- London
- 1980s
- 1990s
summary: "Abbas Gokal was the senior partner of the Gulf Shipping Group, which became BCCI's largest single debtor at $831 million through fictitious trade transactions and circular credit, before fleeing Germany after BCCI's 1991 collapse and being convicted of fraud in German courts."
summary: "Chairman of the Gulf Group shipping empire, BCCI's largest debtor, convicted at the Old Bailey in 1997 of conspiracy to defraud and sentenced to fourteen years."
born: 1936
died: 2016
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Gulf Group]]"
role: "chairman"
fn: 1
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Mustafa Gokal]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Murtaza Gokal]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Serious Fraud Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-09
fn: 2
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Serious Fraud Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 1995-02
end: 1997-05-08
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Abbas Gokal was born in 1936 in Karachi, then British India, into a shipping family. With his brothers Mustafa and Murtaza, he built the Gulf Shipping Group into a substantial international shipping enterprise based in London, with subsidiary companies including Gulf Agency Company and Gulf International Inc. The Gulf Group's central role in the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] lending scandal made it one of the most documented cases of fraudulent banking relationships in the bank's history. Gokal died in 2016.[^1]
Abbas Gokal (born 1936) was a Pakistani shipping magnate and, with his brothers [[Mustafa Gokal|Mustafa]] and [[Murtaza Gokal|Murtaza]], the principal of the [[Gulf Group]], a Geneva-registered shipping and trading concern that was the largest single borrower from the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI). He was arrested at [[Frankfurt]] in July 1994, extradited to Britain, and convicted at the [[Old Bailey]] in April 1997 of conspiracy to account falsely and conspiracy to defraud; on May 8, 1997, he was sentenced to fourteen years, then the heaviest sentence obtained by the [[Serious Fraud Office]].[^1][^2][^3]
### Gulf Group and BCCI
The Gokal brothers established a lending relationship with BCCI that began legitimately and became progressively fraudulent as the Gulf Group's actual commercial performance diverged from the financial facade BCCI helped construct. By the time of BCCI's closure in July 1991, the Gulf Group had accumulated loans from BCCI totaling approximately $831 million - the bank's largest single exposure to any single client - none of which was realistically collectible. This exposure represented approximately 10 percent of BCCI's entire loan portfolio.[^1]
Born in 1936 into a shipping family, Abbas Gokal built the Gulf Group with his brothers into an international shipping enterprise with subsidiaries including Gulf Agency Company and Gulf International Inc.[^1] The Gokal family's relationship with BCCI began at the bank's founding, and the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] described it as a "shipping empire [that] could be characterized as much BCCI affiliate as BCCI customer."[^4]
The mechanism of the fraud involved circular transactions: Gulf Group companies would book fictitious shipping contracts, issue documentation suggesting commercial activity, and use these documents to justify BCCI loans. The proceeds would be cycled back through the system in ways that generated the appearance of commercial revenue while the underlying transactions had no economic reality. BCCI officials cooperated in the fraud both because of their relationships with the Gokal family and because writing off the Gulf Group loans would have required acknowledging insolvency that the bank's management was concealing.[^2]
The Gulf Group's lending relationship with BCCI became progressively fraudulent. Gulf companies booked fictitious shipping and trade transactions, and the documentation was used to justify fresh BCCI loans whose proceeds were cycled back to service old ones, generating the appearance of commercial revenue. BCCI officials cooperated because writing the loans off would have exposed the bank's insolvency.[^4] The size of the exposure grew with each examination. In 1987 [[Price Waterhouse]] put the Gulf Group's borrowings at 318 million dollars, 23 percent of BCCI's capital base, and reported that repayment was "below expectations," that the security was "likely unenforceable," and that the financial information was "inadequate." Three years later the auditors found that for many Gokal loans the information was "not merely 'inadequate' but non-existent," and that "cash allocations to [some Gokal] accounts appear to be arbitrary"; a later report put the brothers' debts at more than 400 million dollars and recorded that BCCI's management told the auditors to rely on "the relationship of trust between the Gokals and BCCI's top officials rather than to any documents."[^5] By the bank's closure in July 1991 the Gulf Group owed about 831 million dollars, roughly 10 percent of BCCI's loan portfolio, and at Gokal's trial prosecutors put the fraudulent loans over the life of the relationship at 1.2 billion dollars (794 million pounds).[^1][^3]
The [[Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] on BCCI (December 1992) documented the Gulf Group relationship in detail, citing it as one of the clearest examples of how BCCI operated as "a criminal enterprise from its very beginning." The Senate investigators found that BCCI had extended credit to the Gokal brothers that bore no relationship to the Gulf Group's actual assets or cash flows, and that the relationship had been used to channel funds for purposes including the financing of clients and operations connected to intelligence services.[^2]
The appendix of the Kerry-Brown report lists the "Gokal group and the Gokal family" among unresolved connections to the financial empire of [[Charles Keating]], a matter the subcommittee recommended for further investigation and never resolved.[^6]
### BCCI's 1975 Chelsea National Bank Attempt
### Chelsea National Bank
In 1975, BCCI used the Gulf Group as a front in an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York City]]. Federal Reserve Board regulations required disclosure of BCCI's interest in any acquisition of an American bank; using Gokal as a nominal acquirer was an attempt to circumvent this requirement. Regulators identified the arrangement and rejected the bid, though they did not prevent BCCI from later acquiring control of [[First American Bankshares]] through a similar nominee structure involving [[Kamal Adham]] and other intermediaries.[^1]
In 1975 BCCI used the Gokal family as nominee purchasers in an attempt to acquire the [[Chelsea National Bank]] in [[New York City]], which would have given the bank an undisclosed American subsidiary. Regulators identified the arrangement and the bid failed.[^1][^7] When [[Ghaith R. Pharaon|Ghaith Pharaon]] later appeared as a purchaser of [[Financial General Bankshares]], the Comptroller of the Currency, [[John Heimann]], directed his enforcement staff to determine "whether Pharaon, like Gokal before him, was a front for BCCI."[^7] BCCI acquired control of [[First American Bank|First American Bankshares]] through a similar nominee structure involving [[Kamal Adham]] and other Gulf investors.[^1]
### Post-Collapse and German Prosecution
### Flight and Arrest
Following BCCI's collapse and liquidation beginning in July 1991, Gulf Group's own financial structure disintegrated. Abbas Gokal fled London and eventually settled in Germany. He was arrested by German authorities in 1994 and tried in Hamburg on fraud charges related to the Gulf Group's collapse and the losses imposed on creditors including German banks that had extended credit to Gulf Group entities. He was convicted in 1997 and sentenced to three years imprisonment - the first criminal conviction of a senior BCCI-connected figure in any jurisdiction. He was released in 1999.[^3]
The Serious Fraud Office opened its inquiry into BCCI's loans to the Gulf Group in September 1992, examining "a conspiracy between members of senior management" at the bank. Its investigators drew on records from BCCI's London liquidators, [[Touche Ross]], and from [[Grand Cayman]], [[Abu Dhabi]] (the files of [[Swaleh Naqvi]]), and two New York banks, Security Pacific and the French American Bank, which were alleged to have been used to disguise the fraud. Gokal, then based in [[Geneva]] with his brothers and an associate, [[Shahveer Byramji]], left for [[Pakistan]], which had no extradition treaty with Britain, before Swiss police raided the Gulf Group's offices.[^2]
The British and American prosecutions of BCCI figures proceeded separately. [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]], BCCI's chief American legal counsel who had overseen First American Bankshares, reached settlements with regulators without criminal conviction. The principal BCCI official prosecuted in the United States was [[Swaleh Naqvi]], the bank's chief operating officer, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 1994 and cooperated with investigators.[^2]
On July 14, 1994, police learned that Gokal planned to fly covertly to New York. On July 18 his flight was intercepted at a refuelling stop in Frankfurt, where Detective Sergeant [[Doug Reeman]] found him "sitting in first class with his wife" and arrested him. He was held in a German prison pending extradition.[^2] In November 1994 his lawyer, [[Ian Burton]], said he was "no longer objecting to returning to this country"; arrest warrants had also been issued for Mustafa and Murtaza Gokal.[^8]
### Trial and Sentence
After extradition Gokal was remanded to [[HM Prison Brixton|Brixton]] prison, and in February 1995 he was charged with conspiracy to account falsely and conspiracy to defraud. His trial, postponed twice from September 1995, opened in September 1996 and ran for 122 days at the Old Bailey; 19 court days were lost to illness, two jurors were discharged, and the remaining ten returned unanimous verdicts of guilty on both counts after four days of deliberation in April 1997. The trial cost about 10 million pounds. [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and Naqvi were named as absent co-conspirators; the prosecution's accountants described a "document factory" at BCCI's London headquarters used to falsify records.[^2][^3]
On May 8, 1997, Mr Justice Buxton sentenced him to fourteen years, calling him "intelligent, sophisticated and unscrupulous" and saying he had "created a serious threat to the integrity of the whole international banking system." "You have been convicted on two separate counts of dishonesty of the most serious and far-reaching kind," the judge told him, and private investors "plainly would not have parted with their money had the truth not been concealed from them." He was also ordered to pay nearly 5 million dollars from his personal assets. A Serious Fraud Office lawyer said the fraud had "brought despair to hundreds of thousands of ordinary people."[^3]
### Other Prosecutions
The Old Bailey conviction was one of several national prosecutions arising from BCCI's collapse. An Abu Dhabi court convicted twelve former BCCI executives in June 1994, among them Abedi in absentia; Naqvi, extradited from Abu Dhabi to the [[United States]] in May 1994, pleaded guilty in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] that July and was sentenced by Judge [[Joyce Hens Green]] in October 1994 to eleven years and ordered to pay 255 million dollars.[^9][^10] In New York, [[Robert Altman]] was acquitted on August 14, 1993, of charges brought by the New York County District Attorney, and on November 30, 1993, the charges against his partner [[Clark Clifford]], who had been too ill to stand trial with him, were dismissed.[^11][^12]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S.C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993, pp. 9, 140.
[^2]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, pp. 43-67.
[^3]: Adams, James Ring, and Douglas Frantz. *A Full Service Bank: How BCCI Stole Billions Around the World.* Pocket Books, 1992.
[^2]: "On the trail of Gokal," *Accountancy Age,* May 23, 1997. https://accountancyage.com/1997/05/23/on-the-trail-of-gokal/
[^3]: "Gokal sentenced to 14 years for BCCI fraud," *The Irish Times,* May 9, 1997. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/gokal-sentenced-to-14-years-for-bcci-fraud-1.70650
[^4]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, pp. 43-67. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/
[^5]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 10, "BCCI and Its Accountants." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/10accounta.htm
[^6]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 24, appendix. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/24appendic.htm
[^7]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^8]: Saadawi, Danah. "BCCI chief debtor agrees to extradition," United Press International, November 2, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/11/02/BCCI-chief-debtor-agrees-to-extradition/2453783752400/
[^9]: Hussain, Thomas. "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, June 14, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/
[^10]: "Ex-BCCI chief faces jail in UAE," United Press International, October 20, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/10/20/Ex-BCCI-chief-faces-jail-in-UAE/7767782625600/
[^11]: "Altman Acquitted on BCCI Counts," *The Washington Post,* August 15, 1993. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/08/15/altman-acquitted-on-bcci-counts/33f3090f-0a02-4934-9c81-37f843aaead7/
[^12]: "Charges dropped against Clark Clifford in BCCI case," United Press International, November 30, 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/11/30/Charges-dropped-against-Clark-Clifford-in-BCCI-case/6641754635600/

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Abdur Sakhia.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Whistleblower
- FirstAmerican
- 1980s
summary: "BCCI's senior officer in the United States, who left the bank in 1990 and testified to the Senate on its secret control of First American and its courting of drug money."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "regional general manager, United States; head of the Miami office"
end: 1990-04
fn: 5
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Agha Hasan Abedi]]"
fn: 5
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Abdur Sakhia was the senior officer of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) in the [[United States]], its regional general manager and the head of its [[Miami]] office, and earlier its officer for [[Latin America]] and the Caribbean. He left the bank in April 1990 and, with [[Masihur Rahman]], was one of the two former BCCI officials who testified before Senator [[John Kerry]]'s subcommittee in 1991.[^1][^2]
### BCCI
Sakhia recalled to Senate staff that when he tried to leave BCCI with two offers from other banks, one from Citicorp, [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] refused to let him go: "He started crying. It was absolutely heartbreaking. We used to sit in 15,000 square feet of open space. Mr. Abedi is at the head of the room and he started crying." He described Abedi's cultivation of Sheikh [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Zayed]]: "Abedi created the UAE. He planted the idea of the UAE as a federation to Sheikh Zayed. These people had no standing anywhere in the world. They were smugglers and tribesmen," and said that the first embassies of the [[United Arab Emirates]], in [[Pakistan]] and London, were staffed by Abedi's appointees. Of the bank's methods he said: "Abedi's philosophy was to appeal to every sector. President Carter's main thing was charity, so he gave Carter charity. [Pakistani President] Zia's brother in law needed a job, he got a job," and that "there was a world wide list of people who were in the payoff of BCCI."[^1][^3]
He testified that it had been obvious within the bank by 1983, when it decided to buy a bank in [[Colombia]], that BCCI was soliciting drug money: "We knew that the money that we would be getting in Colombia would be drug money. We knew that all the dollar deposits we would be getting would be drug money." He said his opposition to the purchase cost him the post of regional manager for all of Latin America. Other BCCI officers who remained at the bank scoffed at his professions of innocence.[^2] He told the subcommittee that in the autumn of 1984 he had met [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] officials in the office of Senator [[Paula Hawkins]] about allegations against BCCI, and was told the bank was not under investigation.[^4]
### First American
Sakhia testified that in BCCI's management discussions BCCI, the National Bank of Georgia and First American were thought of "in the same breath," and that when [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] visited BCCI's offices in New York and Miami from 1982, Abedi met them alone and then briefed the staff. He described BCCI's choice and approval of office space for First American in New York, and served as coordinator of joint marketing meetings among the three banks. He arranged at Abedi's request the meeting in Miami in November 1985 at which Abedi, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], Clifford, Altman and officials of the [[National Bank of Georgia]] met privately, after which Abedi told Sakhia and others that the Georgia bank would be merged with [[First American Bank|First American]]; in February 1986 he wrote to Abedi on "Future Plans in the United States." He recalled that the formal opening of BCCI's Miami office in August 1982 was attended by Governor [[Bob Graham]], [[Jeb Bush]] and the Mayor of Atlanta, [[Andrew Young]].[^5] He also testified that the arms transactions of [[Adnan Khashoggi]] through BCCI's Monte Carlo branch had been approved by Abedi from the beginning.[^6]
### Threats
Describing his departure, Sakhia testified that "when I left the bank in April 1990, we left as a group, about 12 of us," and that each was told: "you go quietly, if you make any noise, they are going to fix you. I got the word from Naqvi's secretary that if I made any noise, Altman's firm will get me involved in a drug case."[^2] He was first interviewed by investigators of the Manhattan District Attorney, [[Robert Morgenthau]], and the Senate report credited him with testimony "in detail about the ties between BCCI and First American, Clifford and Altman's alleged knowledge of these ties, and Clifford and Altman's alleged actions at First American at the direction of BCCI."[^7]
### 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" (citing staff interviews with Sakhia, October 7 and 9, 1991). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
[^2]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4 (citing a staff interview with Sakhia, October 7, 1991). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the US Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
[^5]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Part Two" (citing Sakhia's testimony, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 2). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.htm
[^6]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11, "BCCI, The CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^7]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 9, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: District Attorney of New York." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/09ny.htm

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Abdus Sami.md Normal file
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---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- FirstAmerican
- FinancialGeneral
- 1970s
summary: "Senior BCCI officer from the bank's founding whose January 1978 memo to Abedi set out the nominee scheme for taking over Financial General Bankshares and recorded Clark Clifford's blessing."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "senior officer"
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Agha Hasan Abedi]]"
fn: 1
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Bert Lance]]"
role: "worked with Lance on the Financial General takeover, 1977-78"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Abdus Sami was, in the words of a [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] finding quoted by the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], "a senior BCCI officer from its inception and a close associate of [[Agha Hasan Abedi|Abedi]]." In late 1977 and early 1978 he worked with [[Bert Lance]] on the secret acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], later [[First American Bank|First American]], by the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), and his telex to Abedi of January 30, 1978, known as the Sami memo, became the report's principal documentary evidence of the scheme.[^1][^2]
### Stephens and Lance
According to the Federal Reserve, Sami met [[Jackson Stephens]] at Lance's suggestion to discuss the purchase by a BCCI client of the interest of Lance and others in the [[National Bank of Georgia]]; during the meeting on November 7, 1977, Stephens, "who was dissatisfied with his investment in Financial General, told Sami that Financial General might be a good investment for BCCI clients." The Senate report called these findings "the only account that is consistent with the contemporaneous documentary records," and said they showed that Lance's testimony had omitted Stephens' role and that [[Robert Altman]]'s account had omitted those of Lance and BCCI.[^1] Lance testified to a later meeting at which Abedi, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], Sami and Dildar Rizvi, "the elite of BCCI," discussed the purchase of the Georgia bank and of Financial General; [[Ghaith R. Pharaon|Ghaith Pharaon]], the nominal purchaser of the Georgia bank, was not present.[^3]
### The Sami Memo
The memo, written in [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] and sent to Abedi in [[Karachi]], was later found by the Federal Reserve in BCCI's files in [[Abu Dhabi]], having previously been held in Karachi. It reported that the BCCI group had bought 17.5 percent of Financial General's stock and had commitments or control over 23 to 24 percent, and that a meeting was needed between "our friend," Bert Lance, and the Middendorf group to decide whether the takeover would proceed by consent or by contest. Sami advised Abedi to prepare for litigation in which the Middendorf group would argue against a foreign takeover, and to retain [[Clark Clifford]] as counsel. He continued:[^1]
> To keep individual ownership to below 5 percent we have to distribute the ownership to 4 persons of substance. We have already given the names of Sheikh [[Kamal Adham]] and Mr. Fulaig [sic]. We want two other names immediately.
He added that care was needed so that BCCI's "name does not appear as financier to most of them for this acquisition." The Senate report described the memo as setting out "an intentional strategy by BCCI, Lance, Adham, Fulaij, and other members of the BCCI group to disguise BCCI's underlying interest in the transaction" and so circumvent the rule that anyone buying 5 percent of a public company must file a disclosure with the [[Securities and Exchange Commission]].[^1] Within days BCCI added two further shareholders, Sheikh [[Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan]] of Abu Dhabi and Abdullah Darwaish, the financial adviser to the Abu Dhabi ruling family; in the account of the report's chapter on Georgia politicians, the two names submitted were those of Sheikh Zayed's sons Khalifa and Mohammad.[^1][^3]
Sami also told Abedi that he had "met Clark Clifford and explained to him our strategy and our goal. He was happy to know the details and has blessed the acquisition." The Senate report found that this placed Clifford in the scheme by January 1978, before the SEC litigation of mid-February that Clifford had described as the start of his involvement, and that his law firm's bill of May 24, 1978, dated its services to BCCI from January.[^1][^2] Asked by Senator [[John Kerry]] about the memo, Lance acknowledged that "our friend" referred to him, but testified that "the acquisition of shares were basically handled by Mr. Sami, and he was the man who was responsible. I was not involved in that."[^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. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry" (quoting the Sami memo from S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^2]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 13, "Clark Clifford and Robert Altman" (citing the Sami memo to Abedi, January 30, 1978, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 3, pp. 26-27). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/13clifford.htm
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 16, "BCCI and Georgia Politicians." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/16ga.htm

37
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Agha Hasan Abedi.md
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@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
---
category: "Key Figures"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
@ -9,6 +9,20 @@ summary: "Agha Hasan Abedi was a Pakistani financier who founded the BCCI in 197
born: 1922-05-14
died: 1995-08-05
location: "Lucknow, India"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
start: 1972
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[United Bank Limited]]"
start: 1959
fn: 10
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1991-07-29
fn: 20
---
Agha Hasan Abedi was a Pakistani financier who founded the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] in 1972, with the intention of creating the Third World's first multinational bank. He is described as a diminutive man, the son of petty bureaucrats, who handcrafted BCCI into one of the most powerful private organizations globally by the early 1980s.[^1] Abedi was a visionary and a romantic, a Muslim who drifted into the secretive Sufi sect, which influenced his unique business style. He incorporated Islamic mysticism into the bank's driving force, emphasizing spiritual progress and a democratic theory of management, which eventually devolved into corruption. He was known for his ability to build relationships with ruling elites and for his philanthropic efforts in the Third World.[^2]
@ -29,7 +43,19 @@ Abedi's bank was nationalized by [[Zulfikar Ali Bhutto]] in 1972, leading to Abe
Abedi's influence grew through strategic alliances, including with [[Zia ul-Haq|General Zia ul-Haq]], who became a trusted confidant.[^14] BCCI played a significant role in Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, brokering technology and financing.[^15] Abedi's network extended to high-level officials in various countries, often involving bribes, loans, and charitable contributions to gain influence. He cultivated relationships with figures like [[Jimmy Carter]] and [[James Callaghan]], using their prestige to further BCCI's image as a philanthropic institution.[^16]
BCCI's operations were deeply intertwined with intelligence agencies, including the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and were involved in arms dealing, drug trafficking, and money laundering on a global scale.[^17] Abedi's ability to operate with apparent immunity from law enforcement in the United States was attributed to these high-level connections and a probable cover-up by government officials.[^18]
BCCI's operations were deeply intertwined with intelligence agencies, including the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], and were involved in arms dealing, drug trafficking, and money laundering on a global scale.[^17] Abedi's ability to operate with apparent immunity from law enforcement in the [[United States]] was attributed to these high-level connections and a probable cover-up by government officials.[^18]
### Rahman's Account
[[Masihur Rahman]], BCCI's chief financial officer, who worked with Abedi for nearly two decades, told Senator [[John Kerry]]'s subcommittee that Abedi had explained the bank's purpose to him at its founding: "Up to that stage in the early 1970's there were mostly national banks and savings banks. The few banks which are international are indeed the colonial banks from Britain, France, Germany, and lately from America." Rahman described the early quarters in Abu Dhabi as "mess-type flats," the command structure as "Mr. Abedi at the very top, there was Mr. Naqvi who was like a chief operating officer, who converted... Mr. Abedi's ideas and things into practical shapes. And then there was a big gap," and the bank's compartmentalization as "Chinese walls" that were "getting very, very watertight." Of Abedi himself he said: "I remember looking into his eyes and seeing God and the Devil balanced equally in them."[^19]
### Illness
The accounts of Abedi's collapse differ in form and date. Beaty and Gwynne dated it to a heart attack in February 1988; the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] described "Abedi's stroke in early 1989, which led to Carter arranging an emergency heart transplant for him," and said it "had a substantial impact on BCCI's ability to survive the drug money laundering indictments in Tampa." Associated Press obituaries in 1995 reported two heart attacks that led him to step back from the bank in 1988, a heart transplant the same year, and a stroke that caused brain damage.[^6][^19][^20][^21]
### Prosecutions and Death
Abedi was indicted in New York County by [[Robert Morgenthau]] on July 29, 1991. Pakistan refused extradition requests from the [[United Arab Emirates]] and the United States. An Abu Dhabi court that tried BCCI's former executives from October 1993 to April 1994 convicted him in absentia in June 1994, while he was reported to be "bedridden in his home" in Pakistan; United Press International reported his sentence as six years and the *American Banker* as eight. The court ordered the convicted executives to pay more than 9.13 billion dollars to the Abu Dhabi government and the bank's former majority shareholders.[^20][^22][^23] Abedi died of heart failure at the [[Aga Khan University Hospital|Aga Khan Hospital]] in Karachi on August 5, 1995, aged 74, five days after he was admitted with chest pains; his wife was with him.[^20][^21]
### Footnotes
@ -50,4 +76,9 @@ BCCI's operations were deeply intertwined with intelligence agencies, including
[^15]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 329.
[^16]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 227-228.
[^17]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 16-17.
[^18]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 17.
[^18]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 17.
[^19]: 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" (citing the testimony of Masihur Rahman, S. Hrg. 102-350, pt. 1, pp. 489-491). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
[^20]: "Key Figure In International Bank Scandal Dies At 74," Associated Press, *The Spokesman-Review,* August 6, 1995. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1995/aug/06/key-figure-in-international-bank-scandal-dies-at/
[^21]: "BCCI founder dies after seeing his empire collapse in fraud," Associated Press, *Deseret News,* August 6, 1995. https://www.deseret.com/1995/8/6/19185992/bcci-founder-dies-after-seeing-his-empire-collapse-in-fraud/
[^22]: Hussain, Thomas. "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, June 14, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/
[^23]: "Abu Dhabi gives former BCCI execs prison sentences of up to 14 years," *American Banker,* June 1994. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/abu-dhabi-gives-former-bcci-execs-prison-sentences-of-up-to-14-years

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---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- Publisher
- Pornography
- Obscenity
- RCHorsch
summary: "Brooklyn-born publisher who co-founded Screw magazine in 1968, was arrested 19 times on obscenity charges in its first three years, and hosted the cable show Midnight Blue."
died: 2013-12-19
location: "New York City"
relations:
- type: founded
with: "[[Screw (magazine)]]"
start: 1968
fn: 1
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Jim Buckley]]"
role: "co-founder of Screw"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Al Goldstein (died December 19, 2013) was the publisher of *[[Screw (magazine)|Screw]]*, which he co-founded with [[Jim Buckley]] in 1968, each putting in 175 dollars. He was arrested 19 times on obscenity charges in the magazine's first three years, and in 1974 a federal judge threw out an obscenity case against him, after which, the Associated Press reported, "the willingness of the government to prosecute such cases waned." He died at a hospice in [[Brooklyn]], at 77.[^1]
### Before Screw
Goldstein was born in Brooklyn. Before founding *Screw* he served in the [[United States Army|Army]], sold insurance, drove for the gossip columnist [[Walter Winchell]], was jailed in [[Cuba]] for taking unauthorized photographs of [[Raúl Castro]], and, as a photographer for [[Pakistan International Airlines]], was present in 1962 when [[Jacqueline Kennedy]] visited [[Pakistan]].[^1]
### Screw and Midnight Blue
*Screw* sold 140,000 copies a week at its height. "I really need the attention of being arrested, because that means I'm still bugging the establishment, that I'm still gadfly to the state," he told *[[Playboy]]* in 1974. The magazine was later outdone by [[Larry Flynt]]'s *[[Hustler (magazine)|Hustler]]* and other publications; in 1974 Goldstein launched a cable television show, *Midnight Blue*, which ran for nearly thirty years.[^1] *Screw* reviewed [[R.C. Horsch]]'s *[[The Erotic Memoirs of a Male Chauvinist Pig]]* in 1973; Goldstein wrote that the sex in it was disgusting.[^2]
### Later Cases
In 2002 he was sentenced to 60 days in jail for harassing a former secretary with threatening telephone calls and editorials; an appeals court overturned the conviction, ruling that prosecutors had used overly inflammatory language at trial. In 2003 he pleaded guilty to harassing one of his four former wives with obscene telephone messages. *Screw* folded in late 2003 and Goldstein filed for bankruptcy protection; he at times slept in a car and lived in a homeless shelter in [[Florida]].[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Al Goldstein, Infamous Pornographer, New Yorker, Dead at 77," Associated Press, *NBC New York,* December 19, 2013. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/al-goldstein-dead-obituary-screw-magazine/2124859/
[^2]: "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

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10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Alistair Cooke.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
---
category: "Authors & Journalists"
tags:
- Person
- Broadcaster
- Journalist
- BodyPartsTrade
- BiomedicalTissueServices
summary: "British broadcaster whose bones were cut from his body before his cremation in 2004 and sold by Michael Mastromarino's Biomedical Tissue Services to two tissue processors."
died: 2004-03-30
location: "New York City"
relations:
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Susan Cooke Kittredge]]"
role: "father"
fn: 6
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Alistair Cooke (died March 30, 2004) was a British broadcaster, journalist and actor, host of the PBS series *[[Masterpiece Theatre]]*. He died at 95 of lung cancer that had spread to his bones. Before his body was cremated, bones were removed from it without his family's knowledge by the tissue-recovery company of [[Michael Mastromarino]], [[Biomedical Tissue Services]], and sold for more than 7,000 dollars to [[Regeneration Technologies]] and [[Tutogen Medical]].[^1][^2]
### The Theft
His daughter, Susan Cooke Kittredge, chose a funeral home with a 595 dollar cremation fee, the New York Mortuary Service in [[East Harlem]], according to the writer Kerry Howley; the home promised her a box of ashes, and for a fee gave a [[New Jersey]] tissue-procurement agency access to the body, whose bones were cut out at the hip, and three days later she received the ashes by mail.[^3] The Kings County District Attorney's release of February 2006 identified the funeral homes involved in the scheme as Daniel George & Sons in [[Brooklyn]] and New York Mortuary at 2242 First Avenue in [[Manhattan]], and recorded that "a 95-year-old cancer victim was listed as a healthy 85-year-old who died of heart failure."[^4] According to sources quoted by the *New York Daily News,* Mastromarino changed Cooke's age from 95 to 85 and his cause of death to a heart attack in the paperwork given to the two processors. Cancer that had spread to the bones is an automatic disqualification for tissue donation, the *Daily News* reporter William Sherman said.[^1][^5] "I hope those guys burn in hell for what they did," the family's attorney, David Grossberg, told the *Daily News*.[^1]
Kittredge, a minister in [[East Montpelier, Vermont]], said she learned of the theft from a message left by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office about ten days before Christmas 2005. "I did think that my father had been cremated, and I still don't know that he wasn't," she said. "I just don't know how much of him was cremated."[^6] In October 2006 seven New York funeral directors linked to the scheme pleaded guilty, among them, according to defense attorneys, the director of the funeral home that took parts from Cooke's body.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "TV host Alistair Cooke's bones allegedly stolen," *NBC News* (msnbc.com, from the *New York Daily News*), December 22, 2005. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna10574333
[^2]: Shapiro, Joseph. "Mastermind Of 'Body Stealing' Scheme Dies," *NPR,* July 2013. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/07/09/200481947/mastermind-of-body-stealing-scheme-dies
[^3]: Howley, Kerry. "Who Owns Your Body Parts?" *Reason,* March 2007. https://reason.com/2007/02/07/who-owns-your-body-parts/
[^4]: Office of the District Attorney, Kings County. "Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn Announce Indictment in Tissue Theft," media release, February 23, 2006. https://www.nyc.gov/assets/doi/downloads/pdf/pr_tissueharvesting022306.pdf
[^5]: "Four Named in New York 'Body-Snatcher' Crimes," *Day to Day,* NPR, February 23, 2006 (William Sherman of the *New York Daily News* interviewed by Madeleine Brand). https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5230097
[^6]: "Personal Story of the Brooklyn Tissue Theft Case," *Talk of the Nation,* NPR, March 6, 2006 (Susan Cooke Kittredge interviewed by Neal Conan). https://www.npr.org/transcripts/5247635
[^7]: "7 charged with stealing body parts from corpses," *NBC News,* 2006. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/7-charged-stealing-body-parts-corpses-flna1c9473448

17
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Amjad Awan.md
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@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Amjad Awan was a manager of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] [
### Role in BCCI's Operations
Awan was deeply involved in BCCI's efforts to hide illicit financial transactions and manage accounts for high-net-worth criminal clients.[^3] He facilitated the movement of money for drug cartels and maintained a close relationship with Noriega, who was looting his own country.[^4] Awan also told investigators that BCCI secretly owned and controlled [[First American Bank]] and other United States banks.[^5]
Awan was deeply involved in BCCI's efforts to hide illicit financial transactions and manage accounts for high-net-worth criminal clients.[^3] He facilitated the movement of money for drug cartels and maintained a close relationship with Noriega, who was looting his own country.[^4] Awan also told investigators that BCCI secretly owned and controlled [[First American Bank]] and other [[United States]] banks.[^5]
In October 1988, Awan was arrested by American Customs agents in Tampa, Florida, as part of a sting operation targeting money laundering and narcotics trafficking.[^6] He was convicted of money laundering but never testified at his trial.[^7] Despite his conviction, Awan's testimony and cooperation with investigators were crucial in revealing the extent of BCCI's criminal enterprise.
@ -22,6 +22,16 @@ Awan's connections extended to high-level figures within BCCI and beyond. He was
His case was part of a larger investigation into BCCI's money laundering activities, which eventually led to the bank pleading guilty in Tampa in 1990.[^9]
### Operation C-Chase
Awan and Akbar Bilgrami were officers of BCCI's Latin American and Caribbean regional office on Brickell Avenue in [[Miami]], working in its "External Marketplace" program for clients depositing money outside their home countries. They were introduced to "Robert Musella," the undercover Customs agent [[Robert Mazur]], on January 11, 1988. Told on January 26 that Musella's clients were major Colombian drug dealers, Awan said: "I'm not concerned... it's not my business about who your customers are... we will provide you all security, all sorts of security and anonymity... I don't want to know." On June 30, 1988, the two told Mazur that they planned to leave BCCI for [[Capcom]].[^10] In a recorded meeting at the Grand Bay Hotel in Miami on September 9, 1988, Awan told Mazur that he had been subpoenaed by the [[United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee]] over the Noriega accounts and that Robert Altman had advised the bank to transfer him to [[Paris]]; an [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]] agent on the case, David Burris, recorded in an affidavit that "Awan said that BCCI has bought and controls First American Bank and [[National Bank of Georgia]] through private individuals."[^11]
He was arrested on October 8, 1988, at a staged wedding party for Mazur at the Innisbrook Resort in [[Tarpon Springs, Florida|Tarpon Springs]]. After a trial from January 26 to July 29, 1990, he was convicted of money laundering, and on November 30, 1990, he was sentenced to 144 months, twelve years, with three years of supervised release and a fine of 100,000 dollars. The [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit|Eleventh Circuit]] affirmed his conviction on July 27, 1992; his counsel on appeal was John P. Hume of Washington, and the prosecutors were the Assistant United States Attorneys Mark Jackowski, Michael L. Rubinstein and Karla Spaulding.[^10]
### Noriega
The Senate report put Noriega's money at BCCI at some 23 million dollars, managed from its London branches, and recorded that the bank sent him a 25,000 dollar Persian carpet "hand delivered with Abedi's regards" by Alauddin Sheikh. Awan told the Senate investigator [[Jack Blum]] that he would be killed if the details of the limited information he had given the Senate were revealed.[^12]
### 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, p. 8.
@ -32,4 +42,7 @@ His case was part of a larger investigation into BCCI's money laundering activit
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 13.
[^7]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 32.
[^8]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 41.
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 13.
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 13.
[^10]: United States v. Awan, 966 F.2d 1415 (11th Cir. 1992), opinion of Circuit Judge Fay, July 27, 1992. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/966/966.F2d.1415.90-4114.html
[^11]: 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." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm
[^12]: 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

14
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Arif Durrani.md
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@ -11,14 +11,20 @@ Arif Durrani was a [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] arms dealer convicted of illegally pro
### Arms Dealing and BCCI Connections
Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxury.[^3] He admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]] to release American hostages in the [[Middle East]].[^4] He met with a U.S. official named [[Oliver North]] to obtain HAWK parts.[^5] His arrest on October 3, 1986, occurred one month before the U.S. government's secret arms-for-hostages deal with Tehran was revealed.[^6]
Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxury.[^3] He admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the [[United States]] and [[Israel]] to release American hostages in the [[Middle East]].[^4] He met with a U.S. official named [[Oliver North]] to obtain HAWK parts.[^5] His arrest on October 3, 1986, occurred one month before the [[U.S. government]]'s secret arms-for-hostages deal with Tehran was revealed.[^6]
Durrani had close connections to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], knowing [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [[Karachi]] with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of [[Pakistan]], including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9]
Durrani had close connections to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], knowing [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [[Karachi]] with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of Pakistan, including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9]
He outlined BCCI's and [[Asaf Ali]]'s weapons deals across the globe, from [[Bulgaria]] to [[Nigeria]].[^10] Durrani also stated that BCCI steered some of his business to [[First American Bank]] in [[New York City]], considering BCCI and First American Bank interchangeable for financial transactions.[^11]
Until his arrest, Durrani was the managing director of Merex, a California arms firm that supplied the Israelis.[^12]
### Sentence and Appeal
In May 1987 Chief Judge [[T.F. Gilroy Daly]] of the federal court in [[Connecticut]] sentenced Durrani to ten years in prison and a fine of 2 million dollars for illegally exporting HAWK missile parts to Iran in 1986, with a concurrent ten years and 1 million dollars for selling arms without registering with the [[United States Department of State|State Department]]. The judge told him his testimony was riddled with "greed, lies, money, perjury, avarice and conniving" and that "your behavior was bordering on treason."[^13] In December 1987 the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit|Second Circuit]] rejected his defense that he had acted on the orders of Oliver North and [[John Poindexter]], the first use of what became known as the "Oliver North defense," and upheld the conviction (United States v. Durrani, 835 F.2d 410). A petition he filed in 2003, his fourth post-conviction attack on the sentence, was denied (Durrani v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 2d 204, D. Conn.).[^14][^15]
From prison he told *[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* in 1991 that "Asaf is B.C.C.I.'s man in the weapons business," referring to Asaf Ali.[^16]
### 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, p. 9.
@ -33,3 +39,7 @@ Until his arrest, Durrani was the managing director of Merex, a California arms
[^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 306.
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 306.
[^12]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305.
[^13]: "Arms dealer sentenced to 10 years," United Press International, May 13, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/13/Arms-dealer-sentenced-to-10-years/6753547876800/
[^14]: "Court rejects arms merchant's use of 'Oliver North defense,'" United Press International, December 4, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/04/Court-rejects-arms-merchants-use-of-Oliver-North-defense/3615565592400
[^15]: Durrani v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 2d 204 (D. Conn. 2003).
[^16]: "Scandals: Not Just a Bank," *Time,* September 2, 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718475/scandals-not-just-a-bank/

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---
category: "Media & Entertainment"
tags:
- Person
- Cinema
- Philadelphia
- Germantown
- RCHorsch
summary: "Germantown bookseller and art-house exhibitor who ran the Bandbox Theater from 1966 to 1975 and gave R.C. Horsch's condemned film Black Mass a midnight screening in 1975."
died: 2009-12-04
location: "Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Bandbox Theater]]"
start: 1966
end: 1975
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Art Carduner (about 1919 to December 4, 2009) was a [[Philadelphia]] bookseller, book reviewer and exhibitor of foreign and art films who owned the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]] from 1966 to 1975. In February 1975, after the [[Arcadia Theatre (Philadelphia)|Arcadia]] cancelled a midnight showing of *[[Black Mass (1975 film)|Black Mass]]* by Ray Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]], following what the *Inquirer* called reported pressure from the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia|Philadelphia Archdiocese]], Carduner gave the film a midnight screening at the Bandbox.[^1][^2]
### Theaters and Books
Carduner grew up in [[New York City]] and came to Philadelphia in 1941. Before the Second World War he worked as a civilian cryptographer at the [[United States Army Signal Corps|Signal Corps]] depot on Wissahickon Avenue, and then served in the Signal Corps; he claimed to have deciphered, three days before the attack on [[Pearl Harbor]], a message from Clark Field in the [[Philippines]] ending "Attack imminent, please rush," and said that his superiors ignored it. After the war he bought a bookstore in New York for 2,000 dollars, moved to [[New Hope, Pennsylvania|New Hope]], started a mail-order book business in [[Lambertville, New Jersey|Lambertville]], and bought and restored the New Strand Theater there. He also ran the Hill in [[Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia|Chestnut Hill]], a book-search business, and a shop on Germantown Avenue, Germantown Bikes & Books, and reviewed books for *[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]*, *The Distant Drummer* and the *Chestnut Hill Local*. His programs favored esoteric foreign films and often played to nearly empty houses; he kept no popcorn machine and would run after patrons who walked out to refund their money. His political hero was [[Al Smith]]. A friend, Dave Miller, said: "He was phenomenally bighearted. He looked like Orson Welles, and had a nasal way of speaking." He died at 90 and was survived by two daughters, a son, a brother and three grandchildren.[^1]
### Hoersch
The Bandbox's connection with Hoersch predates *Black Mass*. When the city's [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections|Department of Licenses and Inspections]] closed Hoersch's [[Underground Cinema 16]] in late 1969, the Bandbox ran the Vietnam documentary *[[In the Year of the Pig]]*, which Cinema 16 had under contract.[^3] On February 28, 1975, the *Inquirer* reported that *Black Mass* "will be shown at the Germantown Bandbox Theater this Saturday at midnight," according to "the Bandbox's Art Carduner, who gave the film a new home," as a benefit for the Friends of the Bandbox, with Hoersch attending.[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Morrison, John F. "Art Carduner, a pioneer in exhibiting foreign films in Phila.," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* December 9, 2009. https://www.inquirer.com/philly/obituaries/20091209_Art_Carduner__a_pioneer_in_exhibiting_foreign_films_in_Phila_.html
[^2]: [Society and nightlife column], *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* February 28, 1975, p. 21. https://www.newspapers.com/image/173366667/
[^3]: "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
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Asaf Ali.md
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@ -23,6 +23,10 @@ Ali's connections were extensive, reaching high-level officials and intelligence
He was also involved in meetings with [[William J. Casey]], the former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Director, and accompanied [[Zia ul-Haq|General Zia]] on a trip to Washington where they met with Casey.[^10]
### Durrani's Account
*[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* reported in September 1991 that the imprisoned arms dealer [[Arif Durrani]] had told it: "Just as Ghaith Pharaon fronts for B.C.C.I. to purchase banks and businesses, Asaf is B.C.C.I.'s man in the weapons business"; the magazine noted that the [[Department of Justice|Justice Department]] disputed some of Durrani's other claims, but said "another well-placed source confirmed that Asaf Ali is backed financially by B.C.C.I." An unnamed French businessman told it: "Asaf Ali has been an important Dassault agent for years, and everyone knows that." A spokesman for Dassault, Francois Prigent, said: "We don't know that man," and of BCCI, "Banks are chosen by clients, not by us." Investigators told the magazine that Ali had rerouted nearly two dozen Mirages, not yet paid for and originally brokered through BCCI, to [[Peru]], an affair that became a political scandal there; Prigent said, "The shipment to Peru is the business of Peru; what happens to planes after we make a delivery is up to them." The magazine also reported that Ali had met William J. Casey in Washington and in Pakistan, and on one occasion attended a meeting in Washington with Casey, Agha Hasan Abedi and President Zia ul-Haq.[^11]
### 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, p. 8.
@ -35,3 +39,4 @@ He was also involved in meetings with [[William J. Casey]], the former [[Central
[^8]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 296.
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 355.
[^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 347.
[^11]: "Scandals: Not Just a Bank," *Time,* September 2, 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718475/scandals-not-just-a-bank/

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@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Politician
- Energy
- ThinkBig
- RCHorsch
alias:
- William Francis Birch
- Sir William Birch
summary: "New Zealand National Party minister of energy from 1978 to 1984, the minister behind the Think Big projects, and later finance minister; he co-announced the 1981 Temuka distillery licence."
born: 1934
died: 2026-07
location: "Pukekohe, New Zealand"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]"
role: "Minister of Energy and Minister of National Development"
start: 1978-12-13
end: 1984-07-26
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
William Francis "Bill" Birch (1934 to July 2026) was a [[New Zealand]] National Party politician who served 27 years in Parliament and held, by one count, 15 portfolios in 12 years of government, earning the nickname "Minister for Everything."[^1]
### Early Career
Born in Hastings in 1934 and educated at Hamilton Technical College, Birch qualified as a surveyor in 1957, practised in [[Pukekohe]], and was twice the town's deputy mayor before winning the Franklin seat for the National Party in the 1972 election. He became a party whip in 1974 and senior whip in 1975.[^1]
### Energy and Think Big
On December 13, 1978, in the ministry of [[Robert Muldoon]] formed after that year's election, he was appointed "Minister of Energy, Minister of National Development and Minister of Science and Technology."[^2] At the reshuffle of February 12, 1981, he resigned Science and Technology to [[Ian Shearer]] and was appointed Minister of Regional Development in addition.[^3] As Minister of National Development he was at the centre of the government's [[Think Big]] programme of state-led industrialization and energy self-sufficiency, "sometimes against Treasury advice," in the words of Radio New Zealand's obituary.[^1] On July 14, 1981, he and the Minister of Customs, [[Hugh Templeton]], announced a licence for the ethanol distillery of [[Chemical Technology Limited]] at [[Temuka]]; Birch said it would save 250,000 dollars a year in overseas funds.[^4] He resigned the offices of Minister of Energy, Minister of National Development and Minister of Regional Development on July 26, 1984, after National's defeat.[^5]
### Later Career
In opposition Birch was third-ranked in the party and an adviser to its leaders Muldoon, [[Jim McLay]] and [[Jim Bolger]]. After National's return to office he became Minister of Finance in 1993, replacing [[Ruth Richardson]]. He died in July 2026, aged 92; Prime Minister [[Christopher Luxon]] called him a "giant" of the National Party.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Former finance minister Sir Bill Birch dies," *RNZ,* July 17, 2026. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/734057/former-finance-minister-sir-bill-birch-dies
[^2]: *New Zealand Gazette,* December 13, 1978, Extraordinary, No. 107, p. 3406 ("The Honourable William Francis Birch, to be Minister of Energy, Minister of National Development and Minister of Science and Technology"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1978/issue/107/page/3406
[^3]: *New Zealand Gazette,* February 12, 1981, Extraordinary, No. 14, p. 323 ("The Honourable William Francis Birch, of the office of Minister of Science and Technology"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/14/page/323
[^4]: "Ethanol plant at Temuka," *The Press* (Christchurch), July 15, 1981. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19810715.2.31
[^5]: *New Zealand Gazette,* July 26-27, 1984, Supplement, No. 130, p. 2911 ("The Honourable William Francis Birch, of the Offices of Minister of Energy, Minister of National Development and Minister Regional Development"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/130/page/2911

54
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/C. Joseph Giroir.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- Lawyer
- Arkansas
- Lippo
- CampaignFinance
alias:
- Joseph Giroir
- C. Joseph Giroir Jr.
- Joe Giroir
summary: "Rose Law Firm lawyer and Worthen Banking Corporation partner whose deposition described the Lippo Group's Arkansas partnership with the Stephens family; Lippo later paid him through a company he incorporated in 1993."
location: "Little Rock, Arkansas"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Rose Law Firm]]"
role: "partner"
fn: 1
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Worthen Banking Corporation]]"
role: "partner in the Worthen Banking Corporation"
fn: 1
- type: founded
with: "[[Arkansas International Development Corporation]]"
start: 1993-04
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Lippo Group]]"
reverse: true
role: "capitalized AIDC and paid Giroir's salary"
fn: 1
- type: funded
with: "[[Democratic National Committee]]"
start: 1996
role: "about 200,000 dollars in contributions"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
C. Joseph Giroir Jr. was an [[Arkansas]] lawyer, a partner at the [[Rose Law Firm]] and a former law partner of [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]], described by the [[United States House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight|House Government Reform and Oversight Committee]] in 1998 as "a partner in the Worthen Banking Corporation, attorney at the Rose Law Firm, and friend of the President and First Lady." His deposition to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee's special investigation of April 30, 1997, is the committee's main source for the Arkansas partnership between the [[Lippo Group]] of the [[James Riady|Riady]] family and the [[Jackson Stephens|Stephens]] family.[^1]
### Worthen and Lippo
The House report, citing Giroir's deposition and that of James Riady, recorded that [[Mochtar Riady]] first met Jackson and [[Witt Stephens]] in 1976, while "looking into buying [[Bert Lance]]'s share of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]." That purchase fell through, and in 1978 the Riadys and the Stephens brothers established [[Stephens Finance Ltd.]] in [[Hong Kong]]. James Riady interned at Stephens' investment bank in [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]], and by 1983 Lippo and Stephens had both invested in the [[Worthen Bank]]. According to Giroir's testimony, Lippo's strategy in Worthen "was to expand into the international arena"; it established "Edge Act" offices in New York and [[Los Angeles]], authorized to conduct international transactions but not to take deposits. James Riady set up Worthen's international trade division, and [[John Huang]], formerly executive vice president under James Riady at Stephens Finance, became Worthen's vice president for the Far East.[^1] After what the committee called "a major defalcation by [[Bevill, Bresler & Schulman|Bevil Bressler]] in 1986" at Worthen, the Stephens family bought the Riadys out of the bank, and the Riadys traded their interest in Worthen for the Stephens' interest in the [[Hong Kong Chinese Bank]].[^1]
### AIDC
In April 1993, shortly after the 1992 presidential election, Giroir incorporated the [[Arkansas International Development Corporation]] (AIDC) to develop projects and joint ventures for the Lippo Group. He testified that Lippo advanced him 50,000 dollars as its initial capital, that he was first paid "roughly a couple hundred thousands dollars [sic] a year in fees" and from 1995, through a second company of the same name formed with Lippo, "roughly $500,000" a year, in each case by a Lippo subsidiary; the committee put his salary at between 350,000 and 600,000 dollars with bonuses. In 1996 he contributed close to 200,000 dollars to the [[Democratic National Committee]] in connection with fundraisers organized by Huang.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. *Investigation of Political Fundraising Improprieties and Possible Violations of Law: Interim Report.* House Report 105-829, 105th Congress, 2nd Session, 1998, vol. 2 (citing the Deposition of C. Joseph Giroir, Jr., Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, April 30, 1997; the Deposition of James T. Riady, *Stephens Group, Inc. v. United States,* Cl. Ct. No. 91-1458T, March 5, 1993; and the Deposition of Arthur Vernon Weaver, August 11, 1997). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt829/html/CRPT-105hrpt829-vol2.htm

78
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Clark Clifford.md
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@ -1,22 +1,51 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-01
updated: 2026-09-23
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Banking
- Lawyer
summary: "Clark Clifford (1906-1997) was a Washington attorney who served as Special Counsel to President Truman, co-authored the National Security Act of 1947, served as Secretary of Defense under Lyndon Johnson, and became the central American figure in the BCCI scandal after he and his partner Robert Altman personally vouched to banking regulators that BCCI would not secretly own First American Bank -- a representation that proved false."
summary: "Truman aide and Defense Secretary who, as chairman of BCCI's secretly owned First American Bankshares, assured regulators BCCI had no role in it; indicted in 1992, his charges were dismissed for ill health."
born: 1906-12-25
died: 1997-10-10
location: "Fort Scott, Kansas"
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
start: 1978
role: "American counsel"
fn: 10
- type: director_of
with: "[[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]]"
fn: 8
- type: head_of
with: "[[First American Bank]]"
role: "chairman"
fn: 10
- type: partner_of
with: "[[Robert Altman]]"
role: "law partner"
fn: 10
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-07-29
end: 1993-11-30
fn: 4
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Reserve Board]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-07-29
end: 1998-02
fn: 8
---
Clark McAdams Clifford was born December 25, 1906, in Fort Scott, Kansas. He earned a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1927 and an LL.B. from Washington University School of Law in 1928, after which he practiced law in St. Louis through World War II. He served in the Navy during the war, rising to captain, and arrived at the [[White House]] in 1946 as naval aide to President Harry S. Truman. He died October 10, 1997, in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 90.[^1]
Clark McAdams Clifford was born December 25, 1906, in Fort Scott, Kansas. He earned a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1927 and an LL.B. from Washington University School of Law in 1928, after which he practiced law in St. Louis through [[World War II]]. He served in the Navy during the war, rising to captain, and arrived at the [[White House]] in 1946 as naval aide to President Harry S. Truman. He died October 10, 1997, in Bethesda, Maryland, at age 90.[^1]
### Truman Administration
Clifford served as Special Counsel to President [[Harry S. Truman]] from 1946 to 1950, becoming one of the most influential aides in the Truman White House. In September 1946, he co-authored (with George Elsey) a classified report on Soviet foreign policy -- the "Clifford-Elsey Report" -- assessing that the Soviet Union intended to expand its influence through military force and subversion and recommending a policy of strategic containment. The document anticipated the Truman Doctrine.
Clifford served as Special Counsel to President [[Harry S. Truman]] from 1946 to 1950, becoming one of the most influential aides in the Truman White House. In September 1946, he co-authored (with George Elsey) a classified report on Soviet foreign policy, the "Clifford-Elsey Report," assessing that the [[Soviet Union]] intended to expand its influence through military force and subversion and recommending a policy of strategic containment. The document anticipated the Truman Doctrine.
Clifford was a principal drafter of the [[National Security Act of 1947]], which established the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], the [[National Security Council]], the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], and unified the military services under a new [[Department of Defense]]. He remained Truman's closest domestic political advisor through the 1948 election, playing a central role in the campaign strategy that produced Truman's upset victory.[^1]
@ -24,15 +53,15 @@ In 1950, Clifford left government and founded the Washington law firm Clifford &
### Later Government Service
Clifford served as an informal advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy]] following the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs]] failure in April 1961. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him Secretary of Defense in January 1968, replacing Robert McNamara. In what became his most consequential decision in public life, Clifford convened a private reassessment of Vietnam strategy and concluded the war was unwinnable at any politically acceptable cost. His recommendations shaped Johnson's March 1968 decision to seek negotiations and decline to seek re-election. Clifford later served President [[Jimmy Carter]] as a diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the Panama Canal Treaties and serving as special envoy to Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, and India.[^1]
Clifford served as an informal advisor to President [[John F. Kennedy]] following the [[Bay of Pigs Invasion|Bay of Pigs]] failure in April 1961. President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him Secretary of Defense in January 1968, replacing [[Robert S. McNamara|Robert McNamara]]. In what became his most consequential decision in public life, Clifford convened a private reassessment of Vietnam strategy and concluded the war was unwinnable at any politically acceptable cost. His recommendations shaped Johnson's March 1968 decision to seek negotiations and decline to seek re-election. Clifford later served President [[Jimmy Carter]] as a diplomatic troubleshooter, negotiating the [[Panama Canal]] Treaties and serving as special envoy to Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, and India.[^1]
### BCCI and First American Bank
In 1977, [[Bert Lance]] -- former director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]] under Carter -- introduced Clifford to [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], the Pakistani founder of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]]. Abedi sought American legal representation for a planned acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], a Washington, D.C.-based bank holding company.
In 1977, [[Bert Lance]], former director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]] under Carter, introduced Clifford to [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], the Pakistani founder of [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]]. Abedi sought American legal representation for a planned acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], a Washington, D.C.-based bank holding company.
In 1978, BCCI orchestrated a hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares using a group of Middle Eastern investors as nominal purchasers. The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] filed suit against the participants, alleging undisclosed concert of action. Clifford and his partner [[Robert Altman]] -- the son of a friend, then in his early thirties -- served as counsel to the investor group. Clifford personally assured banking regulators that BCCI would play no ownership or management role in Financial General; he represented the purchase as a straightforward investment by independent Arab shareholders. Regulators approved the sale in 1981 based on these representations.[^2]
In 1978, BCCI orchestrated a hostile bid for Financial General Bankshares using a group of Middle Eastern investors as nominal purchasers. The [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] filed suit against the participants, alleging undisclosed concert of action. Clifford and his partner [[Robert Altman]], the son of a friend, then in his early thirties, served as counsel to the investor group. Clifford personally assured banking regulators that BCCI would play no ownership or management role in Financial General; he represented the purchase as a straightforward investment by independent Arab shareholders. Regulators approved the sale in 1981 based on these representations.[^2]
The bank was subsequently renamed [[First American Bankshares]], Inc. Clifford became chairman of the board; Altman became president. Both men received substantial legal fees for their continued representation of BCCI's interests. In 1986, the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] issued an internal report stating that BCCI had in fact owned First American since 1982 -- a report that was not acted on.[^2]
The bank was subsequently renamed [[First American Bank|First American Bankshares]], Inc. Clifford became chairman of the board; Altman became president. Both men received substantial legal fees for their continued representation of BCCI's interests. In 1986, the Central Intelligence Agency issued an internal report stating that BCCI had in fact owned First American since 1982, a report that was not acted on.[^2]
In February 1988, Clifford and Altman sold a large portion of their First American stock to [[Mohammed Hammoud]], a BCCI front man, for substantial profits.[^3]
@ -42,13 +71,40 @@ In 1989, Senate investigator [[Jack Blum]] brought evidence of BCCI's operations
In July 1992, a New York state grand jury convened by Morgenthau indicted Clifford and Altman on charges of bribery, fraud, and receiving benefits from BCCI in exchange for allowing BCCI to secretly own and control First American while representing to regulators that it did not. The Federal Reserve Board simultaneously brought civil charges.
Clifford, then 85 and suffering from serious heart disease, asserted that he had been deceived by Abedi and the other BCCI principals and had no knowledge of BCCI's actual ownership of First American. New York courts severed his case from Altman's on health grounds; Clifford was never tried. Altman was acquitted by a Manhattan jury in September 1993. In 1992, BCCI's liquidators had pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit $550 million to settle criminal charges; the BCCI settlement fund ultimately recovered approximately $880 million, including the $225 million settlement by [[Khalid bin Mahfouz]] in December 1993.[^4]
Clifford, then 85 and suffering from serious heart disease, asserted that he had been deceived by Abedi and the other BCCI principals and had no knowledge of BCCI's actual ownership of First American. New York courts severed his case from Altman's on health grounds; Clifford was never tried. Altman was acquitted by a Manhattan jury on August 14, 1993, and the charges against Clifford were dismissed on November 30, 1993.[^4][^5] In 1992, BCCI's liquidators had pleaded guilty and agreed to forfeit $550 million to settle criminal charges; the BCCI settlement fund ultimately recovered approximately $880 million, including the $225 million settlement by [[Khalid bin Mahfouz]] in December 1993.[^6][^7]
Clifford died October 10, 1997, before any final legal resolution of the charges against him. He maintained his innocence to the end.
Clifford died October 10, 1997. He maintained his innocence to the end. The Federal Reserve's civil proceeding against him and Altman was settled by a consent order dated February 1998.[^8]
### The Sami Memo and the Legal Bills
Clifford told the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] in 1981, and the Senate on October 24, 1991, that [[Kamal Adham]]'s interest in Financial General had come "from a friend who was associated with the Saudi Arabian embassy," a man who, he testified, "looked into [FGB] in more detail and concluded that it might be an attractive acquisition. Apparently, that was one of his functions in the Saudi Arabian Embassy, to pass information of that kind back to [[Saudi Arabia]]." He and Altman told the Senate that they had not advised BCCI or its investors until the litigation with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Middendorf group began in mid-February 1978.[^9][^10] The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] found this account contradicted by the memo of the BCCI officer [[Abdus Sami]] to Agha Hasan Abedi of January 30, 1978, found by the Federal Reserve in BCCI's files in [[Abu Dhabi]], which reported that Bert Lance had suggested retaining Clifford as chief counsel "in view of the possibility of this [takeover] contest and also for presentation of the holding company application to Fed[eral Reserve]," and that Sami had "met Clark Clifford and explained to him our strategy and goal. He was happy to know the details and has blessed the acquisition." A bill from Clifford's firm to BCCI dated May 24, 1978, dated its services from January 1978.[^9][^10]
At the Federal Reserve hearing of April 23, 1981, on the application of [[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]] (CCAH), Clifford described BCCI's role as: "None. There is no function of any kind on the part of BCCI . . . I know of no present relationship. I know of no planned future relationship that exists." The Federal Reserve approved the application on August 25, 1981.[^9][^10]
### Fees and Stock
Clifford testified that his firm received "maybe $1 million a year" from First American. The Senate report found that Clifford & Warnke had billed First American and related entities about 11 million dollars over about eight years and BCCI about 6 million dollars over twelve years, 17 million dollars in all; the firm also led the defense of the BCCI officers indicted in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]] in 1988. As chairman of First American, Clifford said, he was paid 50,000 dollars a year.[^10] In a rights offering, the BCCI nominee Masriq waived its rights so that Clifford and Altman could buy CCAH shares at book value, 2,216 dollars a share, one day after Masriq had bought other shares at 4,044.20 dollars. In 1988 the two men sold their CCAH stock to the BCCI nominee Mohammed Hammoud at 6,800 dollars a share, "the highest price ever paid for CCAH stock," for a combined gross profit of 9.5 million dollars; the Senate report found that the price "was set not by Hammoud, and not even by BCCI, but by Clifford and Altman, who told Naqvi the amount of net profit they wanted on the sale, after all taxes had been paid."[^10]
### Indictment and Dismissal
On July 29, 1992, a federal grand jury in Washington and a New York State grand jury indicted Clifford and Altman simultaneously, one year after Morgenthau opened his BCCI investigation. "We said then that BCCI was the largest bank fraud in world history," Morgenthau said. "Now we know it is also one of the biggest criminal enterprises in world history." The state indictment, which also named Abedi, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], [[Ghaith R. Pharaon]] and [[Faisal Saud al-Fulaij]], charged Clifford and Altman with receiving millions of dollars in bribes through their affiliation with BCCI, including about 10 million dollars in profits on stock they had not paid for and about 17 million dollars in legal fees; Clifford faced a maximum of eight years. The three-count federal indictment charged them with conspiring to defraud the Federal Reserve and concealing facts from investigators. Clifford's lawyer, Carl Rauh, had met Morgenthau the day before to argue that Clifford "would not be able to survive a prosecution" and that "it would kill him," according to the *New York Post* as quoted by United Press International. At his arraignment Clifford stood and said, "I plead not guilty, your honor," and Justice John Bradley released both men without bail.[^11]
Clifford was too ill to stand trial with Altman, who was acquitted in Manhattan on August 14, 1993. On November 30, 1993, on a motion made jointly by Morgenthau and Clifford's lawyer, Charles Stillman, Justice Bradley dismissed the indictment against Clifford, finding that "Clifford's age and ill health prevent his being brought to trial on this indictment and will likely always do so." "In a sense, today's dismissal is the ultimate anti-climax," Stillman said.[^4][^5]
### Federal Reserve Consent Order
The Federal Reserve's civil proceeding, opened on July 29, 1992, continued after the criminal cases ended. Its Second Amended Notice of Intent to Prohibit of January 14, 1997, charged that Clifford and Altman, as directors of CCAH and First American, had caused CCAH to borrow from BCCI beyond the acquisition debt allowed by the 1981 order, and had breached their fiduciary duties by accepting preferential loans and stock profits from BCCI and by failing to disclose BCCI's role in the purchase of the [[National Bank of Georgia]]. The settlement recited that "Clifford has submitted medical opinions to the Board of Governors indicating that because of his advanced age and ill health, there is no reasonable prospect that he will ever participate in any manner in the conduct of the affairs of a bank holding company or insured depository institution," and the two men relinquished 1,802 (Clifford) and 895 (Altman) CCAH shares to the court-appointed trustee of First American or the fiduciaries of BCCI; the payments, the order stated, "are not fines or civil money penalties." The order is dated effective February 1998, four months after Clifford's death, and carries a signature block in his name; the document does not state when he signed it.[^8][^11]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Clifford, Clark, with Richard Holbrooke. *Counsel to the President: A Memoir.* Random House, 1991.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S.C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S.C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993, p. 215.
[^4]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations.* 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, December 1992. (Kerry-Brown Report.)
[^4]: "Charges dropped against Clark Clifford in BCCI case," United Press International, November 30, 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/11/30/Charges-dropped-against-Clark-Clifford-in-BCCI-case/6641754635600/
[^5]: "Altman Acquitted on BCCI Counts," *The Washington Post,* August 15, 1993. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/08/15/altman-acquitted-on-bcci-counts/33f3090f-0a02-4934-9c81-37f843aaead7/
[^6]: U.S. Senate, Committee on Foreign Relations. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations.* 102nd Congress, 2nd Session, December 1992. (Kerry-Brown Report.)
[^7]: "Saudi to Pay $225 Million in BCCI Settlement," *The Washington Post,* December 24, 1993.
[^8]: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, *In the Matter of Clark M. Clifford and Robert A. Altman, Institution-Affiliated Parties of Credit and Commerce American Holdings, N.V.,* Docket Nos. 92-080-E-I1, 92-080-B-I1, 92-080-CMP-I1, 92-080-E-I2, 92-080-B-I2, 92-080-CMP-I2, consent order, "effective this [day, illegible in the scan] day of February, 1998," with the Second Amended Notice of Intent to Prohibit of January 14, 1997 (Federal Reserve press release of February 3, 1998). https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/enforcement/1998/19980203/Attachment.pdf
[^9]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^10]: 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
[^11]: "Clifford, Altman indicted in BCCI bank fraud," United Press International, July 29, 1992. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/07/29/Clifford-Altman-indicted-in-BCCI-bank-fraud/5122712382400/

10
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Eddie George.md
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@ -7,6 +7,11 @@ summary: "Eddie George was the Deputy Governor of the Bank of England."
born: 1938-09-16
died: 2009-04-18
location: "Carshalton, Surrey, England"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of England]]"
role: "deputy governor"
fn: 1
---
Eddie George was the Deputy Governor of the [[Bank of England]].[^1]
@ -17,6 +22,10 @@ George, along with Governor [[Robin Leigh-Pemberton]], was aware of the disastro
On June 28, 1991, George and Leigh-Pemberton decided to act, informing the [[Federal Reserve Bank]] of the impending seizure of BCCI in the [[United Kingdom]].[^5] This decision was influenced by the revelations in the Price Waterhouse audit and the certainty that [[Robert Morgenthau]] and the Fed would take action.[^6]
### The Kerry-Brown Findings
The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] treated the Bank of England's conduct institutionally. It found that in April 1990 the Bank agreed with BCCI, Abu Dhabi and [[Price Waterhouse]] to keep BCCI from collapsing, withheld information from the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] that delayed its investigation by about eight months, tentatively agreed in late 1990 and early 1991 to let BCCI restructure as three separate banks, and reversed course in late June 1991.[^7]
### 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, p. 9.
@ -25,3 +34,4 @@ On June 28, 1991, George and Leigh-Pemberton decided to act, informing the [[Fed
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 135.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 146.
[^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 136.
[^7]: 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." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/12reg.htm

39
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Elizabeth F. Abrams.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Prosecutor
- Philadelphia
- RCHorsch
alias:
- Elizabeth Abrams
summary: "Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania who prosecuted R.C. Horsch's 2009-2012 marijuana and firearms case."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Executive Office for United States Attorneys|United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]]"
role: "assistant United States attorney"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[R.C. Horsch]]"
start: 2009-12-15
end: 2012-07-03
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Elizabeth F. Abrams has served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. She prosecuted *United States v. Horsch*, No. 2:09-cr-00794, the case against [[R.C. Horsch]] for growing marijuana and possessing firearms at his house in [[New Britain Township, Pennsylvania|New Britain Township]].[^1]
### United States v. Horsch
The indictment was filed on December 15, 2009, before Judge [[Richard Barclay Surrick]], with [[Jerome Brown]] appearing for the defense. Abrams filed an information under 21 U.S.C. section 851 on December 23, 2010, giving notice of Horsch's prior drug convictions so as to enhance his sentence. He pleaded guilty on January 10, 2011, to possessing 100 or more marijuana plants with intent to distribute, possessing a short-barreled shotgun in furtherance of drug trafficking, and possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, and was sentenced in 2012 to 54 months; his house on Airy Avenue was forfeited.[^1]
### Other Cases
In December 2014, under United States Attorney [[Zane David Memeger]], she was named as the prosecutor of a Philadelphia man charged with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, in a case investigated by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and the [[Philadelphia Police Department]].[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: *United States v. Horsch,* No. 2:09-cr-00794-RBS (E.D. Pa.), filed December 15, 2009; superseding indictment of January 26, 2010, information under 21 U.S.C. sec. 851 of December 23, 2010, change of plea of January 10, 2011, judgments of June 28 and July 3, 2012, and final order of forfeiture of October 22, 2012, docket via CourtListener RECAP. https://www.courtlistener.com/?q=Horsch&type=r&court=paed
[^2]: 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 ("is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Abrams"), archived. https://web.archive.org/web/20260524074237/https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/man-charged-possession-firearm-convicted-felon

62
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Faisal Saud al-Fulaij.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Kuwait
- Nominee
- FirstAmerican
alias:
- Faisal al-Fulaij
- Faisal Fulaij
- Faisal al Fulaij
summary: "Kuwaiti businessman who served as a BCCI nominee shareholder in the Financial General and First American takeover and was indicted in New York with Clifford, Altman and Abedi in 1992."
location: "Kuwait"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]]"
role: "nominee shareholder for BCCI"
fn: 1
- type: owned
with: "[[Kuwait International Finance Company]]"
role: "nominee owner for BCCI"
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Clark Clifford]]"
reverse: true
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-07-29
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Faisal Saud al-Fulaij was a Kuwaiti businessman who acted as a nominee for the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) in its secret acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], later [[First American Bank|First American]], through the holding company [[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]] (CCAH). He was one of the four "persons of substance" named in the January 1978 memorandum of the BCCI officer [[Abdus Sami]], testified before the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] in April 1981, and in July 1992 was indicted in New York with [[Clark Clifford]], [[Robert Altman]], [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], [[Swaleh Naqvi]] and [[Ghaith R. Pharaon]].[^1][^2]
### Nominee
In his memo to Abedi of January 30, 1978, Sami wrote: "We have already given the names of Sheikh Kamal Adham and Mr. Fulaig [sic]. We want two other names immediately." Part of the money for Fulaij's share purchases was borrowed from the [[Kuwait International Finance Company]] (KIFCO), which, according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], BCCI "purportedly had a 49 percent interest in, but actually owned and controlled through its nominee, Faisal al-Fulaij." Clifford's firm represented him, with [[Bert Lance]], Abedi, BCCI and members of the [[Abu Dhabi]] ruling family, in the litigation brought by Financial General in 1978.[^1] A [[Price Waterhouse]] report to the [[Bank of England]] of June 1991 listed him among "the four investors" used "to keep individual ownership below 5% and to ensure that BCCI's name did not appear."[^3]
### The 1981 Hearing
At the Federal Reserve hearing of April 23, 1981, Fulaij followed [[Kamal Adham]] in assuring the regulators that future relations with BCCI would be for the new management to decide. According to Robert Altman, Fulaij had asked his representatives to find investments in the [[United States]] and BCCI had brought Financial General to their attention. When the Federal Reserve's counsel, Robert Mannion, asked whether it was a coincidence that BCCI had first analysed Financial General for Adham and then advised "several of their investment clients" to invest in it, the transcript records "MR. FULAIJ: (Nods in the affirmative.)" and Adham's reply, "That is very possible. Such things happen in our parts of the world." Adham told the Federal Reserve that he had not met Fulaij for ten years; the Senate report called this false and said the two had acted together as BCCI nominees in dealings in the shares of BCCI's oil company, [[Attock Oil]].[^1]
The Federal Reserve found in 1991 that Adham, Fulaij, [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil|Khalil]] and the other Middle Eastern nominees "had secretly done precisely what the Federal Reserve had sought to assure they would not do." After the acquisition BCCI added capital to First American partly through loans to its nominees Fulaij, Khalil and Shorafa, and in later planning for the purchase of the Eagle Bank in Florida, Naqvi and BCCI's New York manager [[Abdur Sakhia]] discussed using Fulaij as the nominee in place of Pharaon, in Altman's presence.[^1][^4][^5]
The Senate report also recorded that the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] did not tell the Federal Reserve that Adham and Fulaij had been the subjects of a [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] inquiry under the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]] into arms sales to [[Saudi Arabia]] by [[Boeing]] and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]].[^6]
### Indictment
On July 29, 1992, the New York County District Attorney, [[Robert Morgenthau]], announced a state indictment of Clifford, Altman, Abedi, Naqvi, Pharaon and Fulaij.[^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. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^2]: "Clifford, Altman indicted in BCCI bank fraud," United Press International, July 29, 1992. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/07/29/Clifford-Altman-indicted-in-BCCI-bank-fraud/5122712382400/
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Later Acquisitions." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.htm
[^5]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 13, "Clark Clifford and Robert Altman." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/13clifford.htm
[^6]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11, "BCCI, the CIA and Foreign Intelligence." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm

42
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gerald Garzone.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- BodyPartsTrade
- GarzoneFuneralHome
- Philadelphia
- Kensington
- RCHorsch
summary: "Philadelphia funeral director and co-owner of Liberty Crematorium who sold bodies to Michael Mastromarino's tissue company and whose appeal of a prosecution-cost order reached the Pennsylvania Supreme Court."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Garzone Funeral Home]]"
role: "co-owner of Liberty Crematorium"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]]"
reverse: true
end: 2008-10-22
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Gerald Garzone is a [[Philadelphia]] funeral director who, with his brother [[Louis Garzone]] and James McCafferty, owned the Liberty Crematorium in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]] and supplied at least 244 bodies to [[Michael Mastromarino]]'s [[Biomedical Tissue Services]] between early 2004 and September 2005 for more than 245,000 dollars. He pleaded guilty on September 2, 2008, and was sentenced to 8 to 20 years; his appeal of an order to pay the salaries of his prosecutors produced the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Garzone (2012).[^1][^2] The history of the business is set out under [[Garzone Funeral Home]].
### Plea and Sentence
Gerald Garzone pleaded guilty to corrupt organizations, criminal conspiracy, theft by unlawful taking for the theft of body parts, abuse of corpse, recklessly endangering another person, and fraudulently obtaining public assistance, the last for false claims to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare for funerals of the indigent already paid for by families, on which he received 51,750 dollars. Under his agreement the Commonwealth dropped the remaining charges; his share of the restitution was 144,000 dollars, and there was no agreement as to sentence. "Yes, sir," he answered at the colloquy.[^1] At the sentencing hearing in October 2008 the court imposed 8 to 20 years on each brother and joint restitution of over 300,000 dollars.[^2]
### Costs Appeal
On a post-sentence motion by the Commonwealth, the trial judge, who remarked, "I had been doing this for 27 years. I never saw anybody ask for cost of prosecution on guilty plea," ordered Gerald Garzone to pay 90,028 dollars, comprising 84,723 dollars for the salaries of the assistant district attorneys and county detectives assigned to the case and 5,305 dollars in grand jury costs. On April 13, 2010, the [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania|Superior Court]] vacated the salary portion 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."[^1][^2] The [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania Supreme Court]], in an opinion by Chief Justice [[Ronald Castille]], affirmed on January 19, 2012, holding that the Philadelphia costs-of-prosecution statute did not authorize the assessment.[^2]
In 2026 Gerald Garzone told *The Philadelphia Inquirer* that he had never heard of [[R.C. Horsch]], who was reported to have paid a crematorium employee for access to the dead.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: 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
[^2]: 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
[^3]: 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

34
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui.md
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@ -1,13 +1,30 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
alias:
- Ghanim Fan's al-Mazrui
- Ghanim Faris Al Mazrui
- Ghanim al-Mazrui
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- CIA
summary: "Ghanim Fan's al-Mazrui was the Head of Sheikh Zayed's Private Department and a BCCI board member."
- AbuDhabi
summary: "Secretary general of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and head of Sheikh Zayed's Private Department who sat on BCCI's board from 1981 and became its chairman."
relations:
- type: director_of
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "director from 1981, later chairman"
start: 1981
end: 1991
fn: 6
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan]]"
role: "financial adviser; chairman of the Private Department"
start: 1982
fn: 6
---
Ghanim Fan's al-Mazrui was the Head of [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]]'s Private Department and a [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] board member.[^1] He was also the director general of His Highness's Private Department and a longtime director of BCCI, effectively running [[Abu Dhabi]] alongside Sheikh Zayed.[^2]
Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui (given in some sources as Ghanim Fan's al-Mazrui) was the head of [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]]'s Private Department and a [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] board member.[^1] He was also the director general of His Highness's Private Department and a longtime director of BCCI, effectively running [[Abu Dhabi]] alongside Sheikh Zayed.[^2]
### Role in BCCI Operations
@ -17,6 +34,18 @@ He was also connected to [[William J. Casey]], the former [[Central Intelligence
Al-Mazrui's involvement in the BCCI scandal was a matter of public knowledge, and his actions were closely scrutinized during the investigations into the bank's illicit activities.[^5]
### Offices
The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] gives his name as Ghanim Faris Al Mazrui, rendered in [[Price Waterhouse]]'s reports as "H.E.G.F. Mazrui." It records that he had served Sheikh Zayed as financial adviser and manager "for more than fifteen years": as secretary general of the [[Abu Dhabi Investment Authority]] (ADIA) from 1976, as chairman or acting chairman of Sheikh Zayed's Private Department from 1982, and from July 1991 as chairman of a "Shareholders Working Group," described by Abu Dhabi as "an informal committee appointed to oversee and coordinate the Majority Shareholders' response to the closure of BCCI." From 1981 he sat on BCCI's board as ADIA's representative, ADIA then holding 10 percent of BCCI's shares, and he ultimately became its chairman. He replaced Abdullah Darweish as head of the ruling family's investments after Darweish's arrest on December 8, 1981. At the same time he joined the boards of two [[Hong Kong]] institutions, the Hong Kong Deposit and Guaranty Bank and Tetra Finance, together with Yassin Hassan, [[Kamal Adham]]'s original contact for the [[Financial General Bankshares]] takeover; both collapsed about two years later with losses to depositors of several hundred million dollars.[^6]
### What He Knew
Abu Dhabi's witness, Ahmed Al Sayegh, told Senator [[John Kerry]] that al-Mazrui "first learned of BCCI's problems, and its involvement in false or deceitful accounting practices, in April, 1990, from Price Waterhouse, along with other members of BCCI's board of directors." Price Waterhouse's report under section 41 of the [[Banking Act 1987]] stated:[^6]
> The extent to which the major shareholders and in particular their board representative H.E.G.F. Mazrui was aware of the matters discussed in this report cannot be established. We are, however, informed that H.E.G.F. Mazrui and the government were briefed fully on all the problems in April, 1990, notwithstanding that they allowed the 1989 accounts to be finalised in discussions with ourselves and the Regulators without disclosing this information.
The auditors added that until October 1990 he had contended that loans later "proven to be totally fictitious" were recoverable. Price Waterhouse told the [[Bank of England]] that his own accounts at [[ICIC]] showed that he had received funds in 1986 and earlier from no-risk transactions in BCCI shares guaranteed against loss, which he confirmed in April 1990, and that he had confirmed a fictitious BCCI loan to the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, [[Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan|Sheikh Khalifa]]; he told the auditors that "his signature must have been forged," a contention they rejected. The Senate report concluded that "Al Mazrui has neither been fired, nor resigned," and remained in charge of Abu Dhabi's working group on BCCI.[^6]
### 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, p. 10.
@ -24,3 +53,4 @@ Al-Mazrui's involvement in the BCCI scandal was a matter of public knowledge, an
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 128.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 351.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 394.
[^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. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm

18
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Gokal brothers.md
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@ -5,6 +5,15 @@ tags:
- BCCI
- CIA
summary: "The Gokal brothers, Abbas Gokal, Murtaza Gokal, and Mustafa Gokal, were Pakistani businessmen who ran the Gulf Group, a London-based shipping company."
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Gulf Group]]"
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Serious Fraud Office]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-09
fn: 5
---
The Gokal brothers, [[Abbas Gokal]], [[Murtaza Gokal]], and [[Mustafa Gokal]], were [[Pakistan|Pakistani]] businessmen who ran the [[Gulf Group]], a [[London]]-based shipping company.[^1] They were closely associated with [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] and the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], and, according to the journalists Jonathan Beaty and S. C. Gwynne, were BCCI's largest debtor.[^1]
@ -13,7 +22,11 @@ The Gokal brothers, [[Abbas Gokal]], [[Murtaza Gokal]], and [[Mustafa Gokal]], w
The Gokal brothers used BCCI money to build their shipping empire, chartering more ships in one year than [[China]] and [[India]] combined during their heyday.[^2] Their loans from BCCI topped out at $831 million in 1990 and were never repaid, contributing significantly to BCCI's financial problems.[^2]
[[Mustafa Gokal]] was named Pakistan's minister for shipping, a position facilitated by Abedi, highlighting the intertwined relationship between BCCI and the Pakistani government.[^3] The Gokal brothers were also used by BCCI as a front for various transactions, including an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York City]] in 1975.[^4]
Mustafa Gokal was named Pakistan's minister for shipping, a position facilitated by Abedi, highlighting the intertwined relationship between BCCI and the Pakistani government.[^3] The Gokal brothers were also used by BCCI as a front for various transactions, including an attempt to acquire Chelsea National Bank in [[New York City]] in 1975.[^4]
### Prosecution
The [[Serious Fraud Office]] opened its inquiry into BCCI's loans to the Gulf Group in September 1992. The brothers, then based in [[Geneva]], left for Pakistan, which had no extradition treaty with Britain, before Swiss police raided the group's offices. Abbas Gokal was arrested at a refuelling stop in [[Frankfurt]] on July 18, 1994, while flying to New York, and in November 1994 he agreed to extradition; British arrest warrants had also been issued for Mustafa and Murtaza.[^5][^6] After a 122-day trial at the [[Old Bailey]], Abbas was convicted in April 1997 of conspiracy to account falsely and conspiracy to defraud, and on May 8, 1997, he was sentenced to fourteen years; prosecutors put the fraudulent loans at 1.2 billion dollars.[^5][^7]
### Footnotes
@ -21,3 +34,6 @@ The Gokal brothers used BCCI money to build their shipping empire, chartering mo
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 139-140.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 315.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 11.
[^5]: "On the trail of Gokal," *Accountancy Age,* May 23, 1997. https://accountancyage.com/1997/05/23/on-the-trail-of-gokal/
[^6]: Saadawi, Danah. "BCCI chief debtor agrees to extradition," United Press International, November 2, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/11/02/BCCI-chief-debtor-agrees-to-extradition/2453783752400/
[^7]: "Gokal sentenced to 14 years for BCCI fraud," *The Irish Times,* May 9, 1997. https://www.irishtimes.com/business/gokal-sentenced-to-14-years-for-bcci-fraud-1.70650

43
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Hank Brown.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
---
category: "Political Figure"
alias:
- George Hanks Brown
- Hank Brown
tags:
- Person
- Congress
- BCCI
- Colorado
summary: "Republican representative and senator from Colorado, ranking member of the Kerry subcommittee's BCCI inquiry and co-author of its December 1992 report."
born: 1940-02-12
location: "Denver, Colorado"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Kerry Committee]]"
role: "ranking member"
fn: 2
- type: head_of
with: "[[University of Colorado]]"
role: "president"
start: 2005
end: 2008
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
George Hanks "Hank" Brown (born February 12, 1940) represented [[Colorado]] as a Republican in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1981 to 1991 and in the [[United States Senate]] from 1991 to 1997. As the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics and international operations, the [[Kerry Committee]], he joined Senator [[John Kerry]] in the investigation of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI) and co-signed its report of December 1992.[^1][^2]
### Career
Brown was born in [[Denver]], graduated from Menlo-Atherton High School in 1957 and the [[University of Colorado]] in 1961, and served as a lieutenant in the [[United States Navy]] from 1962 to 1966. He took a law degree at the University of Colorado in 1969 and a master's in tax law at [[George Washington University]] in 1986, and became a certified public accountant in 1988. He was a vice president of the meatpacker Monfort of Colorado from 1969 to 1980 and a member of the Colorado state senate from 1972 to 1976. After six years in the Senate he did not seek reelection in 1996. He was later co-director of the Center for Public Policy and Contemporary Issues at the [[University of Denver]], president of the [[University of Northern Colorado]] from 1998 to 2002, president of the [[Daniels Fund]] from 2002 to 2005, and president of the University of Colorado from 2005 to 2008.[^1]
### BCCI
Brown joined the BCCI investigation as ranking member after the Foreign Relations Committee formally authorized it on May 23, 1991.[^2] The report, *[[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|The BCCI Affair]],* Senate Print 102-140, bears the names of both senators. The archivist [[Steven Aftergood]] of the [[Federation of American Scientists]] wrote in a note to the committee's electronic text that after the report's release "Sen. Hank Brown, reportedly acting at the behest of [[Henry A. Kissinger|Henry Kissinger]], pressed for the deletion of a few passages, particularly in Chapter 20 on 'BCCI and Kissinger Associates,'" with the result that the version printed by the Government Printing Office "differs slightly from the Committee's softcopy version." The chapter concerned [[Kissinger Associates]] and its dealings with BCCI.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "BROWN, George Hanks (Hank)," *Biographical Directory of the United States Congress,* via U.S. House of Representatives, History, Art and Archives. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/9967
[^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. 2, "Introduction and Summary of Investigation." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/02intro.htm
[^3]: Aftergood, Steven. Editorial note, "The BCCI Affair," Federation of American Scientists. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/

11
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Henry B. Gonzalez.md
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@ -12,12 +12,12 @@ alias:
- Henry Gonzalez
- Henry B. González
- Henry Barbosa Gonzalez
summary: "House Banking Committee chairman from San Antonio who read classified documents on American aid to Iraq into the Congressional Record in 1992 after the Justice Department asked him to stop his inquiry on national security grounds."
summary: "House Banking Committee chairman who read classified documents on American aid to Iraq into the Congressional Record in 1992 after the Justice Department asked him to stop his inquiry on national security grounds."
born: 1916-05-03
died: 2000-11-28
location: "San Antonio, Texas"
created: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-21
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Henry B. Gonzalez (May 3, 1916 to November 28, 2000) represented [[San Antonio]] in the [[United States House of Representatives]] from 1961 to 1999 and was chairman of the [[House Banking Committee|Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs]] from 1989 to 1995. In 1977 he was briefly chairman of the [[House Select Committee on Assassinations]]. From 1990 to 1993 he investigated the loans of the [[Atlanta]] branch of [[Banca Nazionale del Lavoro]] to [[Iraq]], and published much of what his committee obtained by reading it on the House floor.[^1][^2]
@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ In 1963 he shoved Representative [[Ed Foreman]], who had called him a "pinko," a
### The Assassinations Committee
Gonzalez became chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations in 1977 and entered a public dispute with its chief counsel, [[Richard A. Sprague]], over Sprague's independence of the committee. The other members sided with Sprague, and Gonzalez resigned on March 2, 1977, within a month of taking the chair.[^1]
Gonzalez became chairman of the [[HSCA|House Select Committee on Assassinations]] in 1977 and entered a public dispute with its chief counsel, [[Richard A. Sprague]], over Sprague's independence of the committee. The other members sided with Sprague, and Gonzalez resigned on March 2, 1977, within a month of taking the chair.[^1]
### The Banking Committee
@ -52,6 +52,10 @@ His statement of July 7, 1992, drew on a [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] doc
The Kennedy Library gave him its Profile in Courage Award on September 11, 1994, for investigating, "regardless of the attempts to strip him of his committee chairmanship, the involvement of high-level officials in the Reagan and Bush Administrations in the sale of U.S. arms to Iraq." Of the war of 1991 he had said: "Not only did our own service men and women face military material that had been exported from the U.S., the U.S. military itself relied on these Iraqi front companies for some of the military goods they used." He lost the chairmanship to [[Jim Leach|James Leach]] in 1995 and did not run in 1998. His son Charles succeeded him.[^1][^2]
### BCCI
On September 11, 1991, Gonzalez opened the banking committee's hearings on the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]], with [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] as the first witnesses. He described BCCI as "tantamount to a racketeering bank" and the hearings as an inquiry into how it "gained a foothold in the United States and how regulators and bank officials failed to detect or understand or report the invasion." Recalling his inquiry into Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, which "became Bagdad's banker in the United States before our regulatory companies at the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] could locate Iraq on the map," he said that "in the case of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International, the Federal Reserve would have us believe that BCCI was a stealth banking operation, undetected on the regulators' radar screens," and asked: "What other foreign entities or criminal elements are secretly in control of U.S. banks at this very moment? That is a question I have been raising for 2 years."[^8]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Kohout, Martin Donell. "González, Henry Barbosa," *Handbook of Texas,* Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/gonzalez-henry-barbosa
@ -61,3 +65,4 @@ The Kennedy Library gave him its Profile in Courage Award on September 11, 1994,
[^5]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Brass Factory in Iraq," *Congressional Record,* House, September 25, 1992, p. H9502.
[^6]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq*. Bantam, 1993, pp. 206, 216, 221.
[^7]: "Resolution Calling for an Ethics Probe of Chairman Gonzalez," *Congressional Record,* House, August 4, 1992, p. H7366. https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_cr/h920804-gonzales.htm
[^8]: House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs. *Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) Investigation, Part 1.* 102nd Cong., 1st Sess., September 11, 1991, Serial No. 102-69, pp. 1-2. https://archive.org/details/BCCIHearingsBeforeTheCommitteeOnBankingFinanceAndUrbanAffairs

20
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jack Blum.md
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@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: Jack Blum
aliases:
- Jack Blum
created: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-05-17
updated: 2026-09-23
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
@ -12,6 +12,11 @@ tags:
- ContraWar
- Lawyer
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."
relations:
- type: investigated
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
start: 1988
fn: 4
---
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]
@ -27,18 +32,27 @@ After a decade in private practice starting in 1976, Blum re-entered the public
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]
When [[Gary Webb]] called Blum years later while researching the [[Dark Alliance|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. 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]
He left the [[Kerry Committee|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 1989 (Beaty and Gwynne date it to March; the Senate report dates his Tampa approach to March and his New York meeting to the late spring), 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]
### The Justice Department and New York
According to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], the subcommittee authorized subpoenas to BCCI in March 1988, and Blum deferred serving them until late July 1988 at the request of the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] and the [[United States Customs Service|Customs Service]], which were concerned for the [[Operation C-Chase|C-Chase]] sting in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]]. In the spring of 1989, as he was leaving the subcommittee, Senator [[John Kerry]] authorized him to give his information to the Justice Department. In March 1989 he took two BCCI witnesses to the United States Attorney in Tampa and arranged for a debriefing to be taped. After his informants told him that officials in Florida were not following up, he took the same information "in the late spring of 1989" to prosecutors working for Robert Morgenthau in New York.[^4][^5][^6]
The Tampa prosecutor Mark Jackowski testified that he had discounted Blum's information because Blum had made "wild accusations" about the subcommittee and asked for money, and characterized Blum as a "wacko." The report noted that Jackowski made no contemporaneous record of the alleged remarks, never investigated them, and first raised them some thirty months later. The New York District Attorney's office told the subcommittee in a letter of November 21, 1991: "At no time did Mr. Blum ever seek or request money form this office for his assistance to us in the investigation of BCCI." The report concluded that while the Justice Department prosecutors "regarded Blum as a 'wacko,' and his information as worth little, the New York District Attorney's office took it seriously, investigated it, and proved it out."[^5][^6]
### 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.
[^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."
[^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. 2, "Introduction and Summary of Investigation." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/02intro.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. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the U.S. Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.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. 9, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: District Attorney of New York." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/09ny.htm

40
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/James D'Amelio.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- SecretService
- Counterfeiting
- RCHorsch
summary: "United States Secret Service agent who announced the December 1974 counterfeiting arrests of Raymond Hoersch, later R.C. Horsch, and Charles Griffith in Bucks County."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[United States Secret Service]]"
role: "agent"
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[R.C. Horsch]]"
start: 1974-12-10
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Charles Griffith]]"
start: 1974-12-10
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
James D'Amelio was the [[United States Secret Service]] agent who announced the arrests in December 1974 of Raymond Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]], and [[Charles Griffith]] on counterfeiting charges, and the seizure of 180,000 dollars in counterfeit ten-dollar notes.[^1][^2]
### The 1974 Case
"U.S. Secret Service Agent James D'Amelio identified the suspects as Raymond Hoersch, 31, of Chalfont and Charles Griffith, 39, of Wallingford," the Associated Press reported. D'Amelio said that [[Hatboro, Pennsylvania|Hatboro]] police had detained Hoersch on December 10, 1974, after the Hatboro Card Shop on Old York Road reported that he had passed a suspicious ten-dollar bill, and that Secret Service agents with a search warrant found 630 dollars in counterfeit notes in Hoersch's car. The agents seized printing equipment in a building on Taylor Street in [[Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown]], where they arrested Griffith. Accounts of the face value of the notes seized ranged from 180,000 dollars to more than one million dollars.[^1][^2]
### Identity
A tribute published by the [[National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund]] describes a James R. D'Amelio, born in 1933 in [[Malden, Massachusetts]], who joined the Secret Service in 1959, served among other posts as special agent in charge of its Pittsburgh and Philadelphia field offices, received the service's Valor Award in 1973, and retired in September 1985 to work on card security for [[MasterCard]]. The tribute does not give the dates of his Philadelphia posting.[^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Phony Bill Suspects Held," Associated Press, *Gloucester County Times* (Woodbury, N.J.), December 11, 1974, p. 2. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1105967385/
[^2]: [Counterfeiting arrests], *The Morning Call* (Allentown), December 11, 1974, p. 5. https://www.newspapers.com/image/275702319/
[^3]: "37 Years of Fighting Crime in America," National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, Stand With Honor series. https://nleomf.org/swh-story/37-years-of-fighting-crime-in-america/

33
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Joanne Epps.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Prosecutor
- Philadelphia
- RCHorsch
summary: "Philadelphia prosecutor quoted in April 1985 on the guilty pleas and four-year sentence of Raymond Charles Hoersch, the fugitive known in New Zealand as Dr Stanley Stokowski."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[R.C. Horsch]]"
end: 1985-04-25
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Joanne Epps was the Philadelphia prosecutor quoted in April 1985 on the sentencing of Raymond Charles Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]], who had lived in [[New Zealand]] from 1980 to 1984 as "Dr Stanley Stokowski." A Press Association report carried by *[[The Press]]* of [[Christchurch]] described her as "the Philadelphia assistant District Attorney."[^1]
### The Hoersch Sentence
According to the report, Epps said that Hoersch had pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing methamphetamine for supply and running a methamphetamine laboratory, offences committed in 1977, and that he had been sentenced to three years on the drug charges and a consecutive year and a day for jumping bail, with five years' probation to follow.[^1] The case was heard in federal court, before Judges [[Joseph L. McGlynn Jr.]] and [[Donald W. Van Artsdalen]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania]].[^2]
### Identity
The Press Association's title for her is that of a county prosecutor in the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]], while the case was federal. JoAnne A. Epps (1951 to 2023), later dean of the Beasley School of Law at [[Temple University]] and the university's president, was an assistant United States attorney in Philadelphia before joining the Temple law faculty in 1985, according to the university's biography of her. No source located names her in connection with the Hoersch case.[^1][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Ethanol 'scientist' jailed for drug offences," *The Press* (Christchurch), April 27, 1985 (Press Association). https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19850427.2.26
[^2]: 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/
[^3]: Temple University, Office of the President, "President JoAnne A. Epps" ("an assistant U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and deputy city attorney in Los Angeles"). https://president.temple.edu/university-leadership/past-presidents/president-joanne-epps

42
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/K.N. Curnow.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Accountant
- Receivership
- RCHorsch
alias:
- Kevin Nicholas Curnow
summary: "Christchurch chartered accountant of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, appointed by Westpac in May 1984 as joint receiver of Chemical Technology Limited after its American director fled."
location: "Christchurch, New Zealand"
relations:
- type: appointed
with: "[[Westpac]]"
reverse: true
role: "joint receiver and manager of Chemical Technology Ltd"
start: 1984-05-22
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Deloitte Haskins & Sells]]"
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Kevin Nicholas Curnow was a [[Christchurch]] chartered accountant who, with James Bruce Alfred McAlister, acted as receiver and liquidator for numerous Canterbury companies in the early 1980s. On May 22, 1984, [[Westpac]] Banking Corporation appointed the two men joint and several receivers and managers of [[Chemical Technology Limited]], the Clandeboye ethanol company whose American director, known as Dr Stanley Stokowski, had left [[New Zealand]] in March on a stolen passport.[^1][^2]
### Receivership
The appointment was made under a debenture dated August 3, 1981, given by Chemical Technology to Westpac, and covered "all assets of the company." The receivers' office was care of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, chartered accountants, Phoenix House, 76 Hereford Street, Christchurch.[^1] *[[The Press]]* reported that [[John Rutherford (New Zealand lawyer)|John Rutherford]], the company's founder, had arranged to pay the bank about 170,000 dollars and that preferential tax debts remained.[^2] A following Gazette notice, signed by the company's solicitor, stated that all money owing to Westpac had been repaid and that the receiver would cease to act; the companies register records the receivership as ending on December 17, 1984.[^1][^3]
### Other Appointments
The Gazette's name index records Curnow and McAlister as joint receivers or liquidators of other Christchurch companies in 1982 and 1983, among them T. H. Alexander Building Co., E. G. South Ltd., Rolleston Truck and Implement Services, House of Sewing (N.Z.), Akaroa Export (1981), Merivale Hardware, Terrace Industries, Regent Furnishers (1979), Sunveil Products and the New Albion Hotel.[^4] The director of Chemical Technology was the fugitive [[R.C. Horsch]].
### Footnotes
[^1]: *New Zealand Gazette,* May 31, 1984, No. 91, p. 1832 ("Westpac Banking Corporation appointed James Bruce Alfred McAlister and Kevin Nicholas Curnow both of Christchurch, chartered accountants, as joint and several receivers and managers ... All assets of the company"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/91/page/1832
[^2]: "Where has 'Dr Stokowski' gone?," *The Press* (Christchurch), June 9, 1984. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19840609.2.9
[^3]: New Zealand Companies Office, Companies Register, "Chemical Technology Ltd," company number 141090, accessed September 23, 2026. https://app.companiesoffice.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/141090
[^4]: NZ Gazette name index, "K N Curnow," 1970-2000, accessed September 23, 2026. https://gazette.howison.co.nz/search?name=K+N+Curnow&start_year=1970&end_year=2000

42
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kamal Adham.md
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@ -8,6 +8,23 @@ summary: "Kamal Adham was the former head of Saudi Arabian intelligence and brot
born: 1929
died: 1999-10-29
location: "Istanbul, Turkey"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]]"
role: "nominee shareholder for BCCI"
fn: 12
- type: head_of
with: "[[Saudi Arabian intelligence]]"
fn: 10
- type: represented
with: "[[Clark Clifford]]"
reverse: true
fn: 12
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[United States Department of Justice]]"
reverse: true
end: 1992-07-29
fn: 16
---
Kamal Adham was the former head of [[Saudi Arabian intelligence]] and brother-in-law of the late [[King Faisal]]. He was a significant shareholder in [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] and [[First American Bank]]. Adham was a shrewd and jovial figure who straddled the worlds of Middle Eastern business and politics for decades. He was considered one of the true inside power players of the [[Middle East]].[^1]
@ -15,7 +32,7 @@ Adham's influence stemmed from his royal connections, which he leveraged to faci
He played a crucial role as a front man for [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] in BCCI's secret acquisitions, including the [[National Bank of Georgia]] and [[Financial General Bankshares]].[^4] Adham was instrumental in funneling money from [[Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan|Sheikh Zayed]] and the CIA to [[Anwar Sadat]] and is credited with pressuring Sadat to engage in the [[Camp David summit|Camp David Accords]].[^5]
Adham was indicted in the United States for his involvement in BCCI's frauds and bribery, eventually pleading guilty in New York and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. He paid a $105 million fine.[^6]
Adham was indicted in the [[United States]] for his involvement in BCCI's frauds and bribery, eventually pleading guilty in New York and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. He paid a $105 million fine.[^6]
### Early Life and Career
@ -25,12 +42,26 @@ Adham launched his business career in 1951, at the age of twenty-two, by control
### Relationship with Abedi and BCCI
Abedi met Adham in the early 1970s through [[Sheikh Zayed]]. Adham became a key figure in Abedi's strategy to expand BCCI's influence in the United States. He was a nominal lead shareholder in [[First American Bank]] and was responsible for hiring [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] to lead the bank.[^10] Adham's role was to provide a veneer of legitimacy and access for BCCI's clandestine operations.
Abedi met Adham in the early 1970s through [[Sheikh Zayed]]. Adham became a key figure in Abedi's strategy to expand BCCI's influence in the United States. He was a nominal lead shareholder in First American Bank and was responsible for hiring [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] to lead the bank.[^10] Adham's role was to provide a veneer of legitimacy and access for BCCI's clandestine operations.
### Involvement in Nuclear Programs
Adham publicly asserted that [[Pakistan]] possessed an atomic bomb and that Abedi and BCCI had financially supported its development. He viewed this as an achievement for the Third World, challenging Western powers' control over nuclear technology.[^11]
### The Federal Reserve Hearing
Adham was one of four original investors, with [[Faisal Saud al-Fulaij]], Sheikh [[Sultan bin Zayed Al Nahyan]] and Abdullah Darwaish, named as holders of Financial General shares in 1978; the memo of the BCCI officer [[Abdus Sami]] to Agha Hasan Abedi of January 30, 1978, reported: "We have already given the names of Sheikh Kamal Adham and Mr. Fulaig [sic]. We want two other names immediately."[^12][^13] At the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]] hearing of April 23, 1981, he testified that "whatever relationships are developed between Financial General and BCCI in the future, if any, are matters to be decided by the new management of Financial General based upon that institution's best interests." Asked whether it was a coincidence that BCCI had analyzed Financial General for him and then advised other clients to invest, he said: "That is very possible. Such things happen in our parts of the world." He told the regulators, falsely according to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], that he had not met Fulaij for ten years; the two had acted together as BCCI nominees in dealings in the shares of BCCI's [[Attock Oil]]. "I would like to assure you," he said, "that each one on his own rights will not accept in any way to be a cover for somebody else."[^12] Clark Clifford described him to the regulators not as the former head of Saudi intelligence or the late king's brother-in-law, "but merely as a prominent Saudi businessman," and said he had the "deepest respect for his [Adham's] character, for his reputation, for his honor and for his integrity."[^12] In early drafts of the arrangement by which Clifford and Robert Altman acquired CCAH shares, Adham, with BCCI as back-up, was to be bound to repurchase their shares at any time at their discretion; the requirement was never discussed with him, which the Senate report took as showing that Clifford, Altman and BCCI regarded him "as no more than a nominee for BCCI."[^14]
In a letter to the Federal Reserve of April 10, 1991, Adham gave another account of the investment's origin: a friend, Hasan Yassin, had told him Financial General would be a good investment, and he had brought it to BCCI "as his business agent." The Senate report called this "completely inconsistent" with the accounts of [[Bert Lance]], the *[[The Washington Post|Washington Post]]* and Robert Altman, and noted that Lance had never heard of Yassin.[^12]
### Intelligence Background
The Senate report recorded that the CIA, asked about the CCAH shareholders, told the Federal Reserve it had no derogatory information on them, without telling it that Adham and [[A. R. (Abdul Raouf) Khalil|Abdul Raouf Khalil]] were "the past and then-current Saudi intelligence liaisons to the United States," or that Adham and Fulaij had been the subject of a [[Securities and Exchange Commission]] inquiry under the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]] into arms sales to Saudi Arabia by [[Boeing]] and [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]]. Paul Volcker, who as chairman of the Federal Reserve signed the 1981 approval, testified in 1991 that he "wasn't aware" of Adham's intelligence background and that it "might send an eyebrow or two up." The Virginia bank regulator Sidney Bailey asked the [[State Department]] and the CIA for information on the shareholders and received none; "at the time," the report found, "the CIA knew precisely who Adham was."[^12][^15]
### Plea
On July 29, 1992, the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] announced that Adham and his accountant, Sayed Jawhary, had pleaded guilty to charges arising from the BCCI case, and that Adham had agreed to cooperate with investigators and to pay 105 million dollars in reparations and fines.[^16]
### 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, p. 197.
@ -43,4 +74,9 @@ Adham publicly asserted that [[Pakistan]] possessed an atomic bomb and that Abed
[^8]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 203.
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 198.
[^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 197.
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 310.
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 310.
[^12]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^13]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm
[^14]: 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
[^15]: 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." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^16]: "Clifford, Altman indicted in BCCI bank fraud," United Press International, July 29, 1992. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/07/29/Clifford-Altman-indicted-in-BCCI-bank-fraud/5122712382400/

33
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kerry Burke.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
---
category: "Political Figure"
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Politician
- Immigration
- RCHorsch
alias:
- Thomas Kerry Burke
- Sir Kerry Burke
summary: "New Zealand Labour minister of immigration from July 1984 who announced in October 1984 that the impostor Raymond Hoersch had entered the country in 1980 and cleared the department of blame."
location: "Christchurch, New Zealand"
relations:
- type: member_of
with: "[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]"
role: "Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment, Minister of Immigration"
start: 1984-07-26
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Thomas Kerry Burke is a [[New Zealand]] politician who was appointed Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment and Minister of Immigration on July 26, 1984, in the first ministry formed after the [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour Party]]'s election victory of that month; the same day the outgoing National minister, Anthony George Malcolm, resigned the offices of Minister of Health and Minister of Immigration.[^1]
### The Stokowski Affair
In October 1984 Burke reported on the admission to New Zealand of the man who had lived near [[Timaru]] as Dr Stanley Stokowski. He said that the case "involved an American-born man, now known to be Raymond Charles Hoersch, who entered New Zealand in 1980 and worked for a South Canterbury firm as an alternative fuels expert," and that police and customs inquiries had begun in March 1984 "after the impostor had been detained when reentering New Zealand in possession of a number of documents giving different identities." Burke said the immigration procedures had been correct: the university transcript submitted had been confirmed as genuine by the real Stokowski, but "all supporting documentation appeared to have been altered to the identity of the applicant," there had been "some pressure from the man's proposed employer to make an early decision," checks had not been made with the [[New Zealand Ministry of Energy|Ministry of Energy]] "because of representations from the proposed employer," and the applicant had not been interviewed by the New Zealand Consulate-General in [[San Francisco]]. He also disclosed that two regional development suspensory loans totalling 120,235 dollars had been approved for the company, [[Chemical Technology Limited]], in 1981 on the recommendation of the South Canterbury Regional Development Council, and that the [[Development Finance Corporation]] had reported favourably on the project's viability.[^2] The impostor was [[R.C. Horsch]].
### Footnotes
[^1]: *New Zealand Gazette,* July 26, 1984, No. 130, p. 2912 ("The Honourable Thomas Kerry Burke, to be Minister of Regional Development, Minister of Employment, and Minister of Immigration"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/130/page/2912
[^2]: "Impostor: immigration cleared of blame," *The Press* (Christchurch), October 3, 1984. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19841003.2.23

52
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Kevin Bethel.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Police
- Philadelphia
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
alias:
- Kevin J. Bethel
summary: "Philadelphia police commissioner from January 2024, a 1986 recruit and former school-district safety chief, who led the September 2026 briefing on the Olney House Investigation."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: head_of
with: "[[Philadelphia Police Department]]"
role: "police commissioner"
start: 2024-01-02
fn: 1
- type: appointed
with: "[[Cherelle Parker]]"
reverse: true
start: 2023-11
fn: 1
- type: employed_by
with: "[[School District of Philadelphia]]"
role: "chief of school safety"
start: 2019
end: 2023
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Olney House Investigation]]"
start: 2026
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Kevin J. Bethel is the police commissioner of [[Philadelphia]], sworn in on January 2, 2024. On September 16, 2026, with Deputy Commissioner [[Frank Vanore]] and the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s special agent in charge in Philadelphia, [[Wayne Jacobs]], he gave the briefing at which police said that 58 people had been identified in the material recovered in the [[Olney House Investigation]] and that five women shown in it were believed to be dead.[^1][^2]
### Career
Bethel was raised in Southwest Philadelphia and joined the [[Philadelphia Police Department]] in 1986. He served in Special Investigations, the Narcotics Strike Force, the Intelligence Unit and Internal Affairs, commanded the 17th District, and in 2009, as a captain aged 44, was promoted by Commissioner [[Charles H. Ramsey]] to deputy commissioner for patrol operations. He retired in 2016 and from 2019 to 2023 was chief of school safety for the [[School District of Philadelphia]], overseeing about 300 school safety officers. He holds degrees from [[Chestnut Hill College]] and [[Saint Joseph's University]] and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.[^1]
In November 2023 Mayor-elect [[Cherelle Parker]] named him to succeed [[Danielle Outlaw]], and he was sworn in on the day of Parker's inauguration at a middle school in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]], where he pledged to concentrate enforcement on the neighborhood's open-air drug markets: "enforcement means restoring law and order humanely and with dignity."[^1]
### The Olney House
At the briefing of September 16, 2026, Bethel said of the pace of the investigation: "We're going to dictate the pace."[^2]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "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
[^2]: Sharber, Cory. "Police, FBI provide updates on Horsch missing women case," *WHYY,* September 16, 2026. https://whyy.org/articles/olney-home-investigation-abuse/

35
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Leo Goldstein.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Philadelphia
- Censorship
- RCHorsch
summary: "Deputy commissioner of Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections who closed Ray Hoersch's Underground Cinema 16 in October 1969 amid a wider closing of small theaters."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]]"
role: "deputy commissioner"
start: 1969
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Underground Cinema 16]]"
start: 1969-10-29
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Leo Goldstein was a deputy commissioner of the [[Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspections]] who on October 29, 1969, closed [[Underground Cinema 16]], the 16-millimeter theater opened that month at 2021 Sansom Street by Ray Hoersch, later [[R.C. Horsch]].[^1]
### Underground Cinema 16
The *Inquirer* reported that "Philadelphia's first commercial venture into noncommercial underground theater was threatened Wednesday by the Department of Licenses and Inspections, which ordered CINEMA 16 closed because it lacked requisite licenses. Leo Goldstein, deputy commissioner of L&I posted the theater, at 2021 Sansom st., and police were instructed to keep it empty." Hoersch, then 26, called the matter a "simple confusion" over the city's requirements and said the only question was whether the theater could open that week for a preview of the Vietnam documentary *[[In the Year of the Pig]]*; the city would send inspectors, but Goldstein said the process might take two weeks.[^1]
The alternative weekly *The Distant Drummer*, in an article on the administration of Mayor [[James H. J. Tate]], reported in December 1969 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, *In the Year of the Pig* was shown at the [[Bandbox Theater]] in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]].[^2]
### 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

48
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Louis Garzone.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
---
category: "Crime & Abuse Networks"
tags:
- Person
- BodyPartsTrade
- GarzoneFuneralHome
- Philadelphia
- Kensington
- RCHorsch
summary: "Philadelphia funeral director and co-owner of Liberty Crematorium who supplied at least 244 bodies to Michael Mastromarino's tissue company and was sentenced in 2008 to 8 to 20 years."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Garzone Funeral Home]]"
role: "co-owner of Liberty Crematorium"
fn: 2
- type: relative_of
with: "[[Gerald Garzone]]"
role: "brother"
fn: 3
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office]]"
reverse: true
end: 2008-10-22
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Louis Garzone was a licensed [[Philadelphia]] funeral director who, with his brother [[Gerald Garzone]] and James McCafferty, owned the Liberty Crematorium at 2778 Ruth Street in [[Kensington, Philadelphia|Kensington]]. From early 2004 to September 2005 the three supplied at least 244 bodies to [[Michael Mastromarino]] of [[Biomedical Tissue Services]], without the knowledge or consent of the families, and received more than 245,000 dollars. He pleaded guilty on September 2, 2008, and was sentenced on October 22, 2008, to 8 to 20 years.[^1][^2][^3] The history of the business is set out under [[Garzone Funeral Home]].
### The Crematorium
As owners of a crematorium, the brothers and McCafferty had access to bodies destined for cremation, which, the court record states, could be provided "without concern for their post-harvesting condition." Mastromarino's cutters removed arms, legs, bones, ligaments, tendons and skin, "often leaving only a head and a bloody torso behind in a bag for cremation," and bodies awaiting them sat unrefrigerated in an alley for days. Mastromarino had told the brothers that donors had to be under seventy-five and free of disease; they supplied the bodies of people over eighty who had died with cancer, HIV and hepatitis. In September 2005, told by Mastromarino to burn their funeral homes, they instead incinerated their records in the crematory oven days before FDA investigators arrived, and told the investigators that the records had been destroyed in a flood.[^2][^3]
### Welfare and Disability Fraud
The brothers also filed false claims with the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare for funerals of the indigent that families had already paid for, each claim for the maximum of 750 dollars; Louis received 25,250 dollars. Louis alone was also charged with disability fraud, having claimed from March 2006 that he could not work because of depression and received 18,300 dollars on eight claims through September 2007.[^1][^2]
### Plea and Sentence
On September 2, 2008, the day their trial was to begin, Louis Garzone pleaded guilty to corrupt organizations, conspiracy, theft of body parts, abuse of corpse, reckless endangerment and welfare fraud, and forfeited two properties, 1830 East Somerset Street and 2778 Ruth Street, "the location of the crematorium." His share of the brothers' joint restitution was 144,000 dollars, with a further 18,000 dollars on the disability count; the [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania Supreme Court]] described the joint restitution as "over $300,000 to be paid to the affected former clients of appellees' funeral homes." On a post-sentence motion by the Commonwealth, the court ordered him to pay 90,101 dollars in costs, of which 84,796 dollars was for the salaries of the prosecutors and county detectives and 5,305 dollars for grand jury costs. The [[Superior Court of Pennsylvania|Superior Court]] vacated the salary portion on April 14, 2010, and the Supreme Court affirmed on January 19, 2012, holding that the legislature had not authorized such costs.[^1][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Commonwealth v. Garzone (Louis Garzone), 993 A.2d 1245 (Pa. Super. Ct., filed April 14, 2010), No. 780 EDA 2009.
[^2]: 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
[^3]: 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

14
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Munther Ismael Bilheisi.md
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@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags:
summary: "Munther Ismael Bilheisi was an expatriate Jordanian involved in coffee smuggling, arms dealing, customs violations, money laundering, and paying bribes and kickbacks."
---
Munther Ismael Bilheisi was an expatriate [[Jordan|Jordanian]] involved in coffee smuggling, arms dealing, customs violations, money laundering, and paying bribes and kickbacks.[^1] He maintained lavishly appointed residences in England, Spain, Jordan, and the United States.[^2] Bilheisi's activities were closely tied to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], which facilitated his illicit operations.
Munther Ismael Bilheisi was an expatriate [[Jordan|Jordanian]] involved in coffee smuggling, arms dealing, customs violations, money laundering, and paying bribes and kickbacks.[^1] He maintained lavishly appointed residences in England, Spain, Jordan, and the [[United States]].[^2] Bilheisi's activities were closely tied to the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]], which facilitated his illicit operations.
### Business Operations
@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ Bilheisi ran a formidable smuggling operation out of Boca Raton from 1982 to 198
He was involved in coffee smuggling, buying non-agreement coffee at cheap prices and selling it illegally to agreement countries like the United States, thereby pocketing a huge profit.[^6] BCCI provided services such as financing shipments and doctoring shipping documents for these operations.[^7]
Bilbeisi also engaged in illegal arms dealing. In 1974, he brokered British-made Centurion tanks and Tigercat missiles from Jordan to South Africa, defying British national policy.[^8] Other deals included retrofitting Jordanian tanks, selling small arms to Honduras and El Salvador, and selling U.S.-built F-86Safra jet fighters from Yugoslavia to Honduras.[^9]
Bilbeisi also engaged in illegal arms dealing. In 1974, he brokered British-made Centurion tanks and Tigercat missiles from Jordan to [[South Africa]], defying British national policy.[^8] Other deals included retrofitting Jordanian tanks, selling small arms to Honduras and [[El Salvador]], and selling U.S.-built F-86Safra jet fighters from Yugoslavia to Honduras.[^9]
### Financial Manipulations and Legal Issues
@ -25,6 +25,12 @@ He made two false claims against [[Lloyd's of London]], one for alleged art thef
In August 1991, Bilheisi was indicted in the United States for failure to pay $840,000 in taxes, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.[^13] He was also charged with corruption in Guatemala, with a warrant issued for his extradition and arrest.[^14]
### Coffee and Commissions
*[[Time (magazine)|Time]]* reported in 1991 that Bilbeisi, who owned a 1.8 million dollar house with a Mercedes, a Porsche and a Rolls-Royce and claimed friendship with King [[Hussein of Jordan]], had sold about 35 million dollars' worth of Central American coffee to American buyers during the 1980s, documented as bound for non-tariff countries such as Jordan and [[Syria]] and rerouted through [[Miami]] or [[New Orleans]]; shipping agents told the magazine they had taken 4.5 million dollars in bribes from him to supply false cargo manifests. Company ledgers showed payments of 160,000 dollars to Arthur Berman, president of Chase & Sanborn from 1981 to 1984 and of [[Chock Full o'Nuts]] from 1984 to 1985, for pushing sales of the smuggled coffee; in a 1988 deposition Berman denied wrongdoing, describing the payments as loans. Bilbeisi also brokered a sale of Jordanian helicopters and fighter aircraft to [[Guatemala]] at inflated prices, with kickbacks to Guatemalan officers and to the brother of President [[Vinicio Cerezo]]; BCCI financed the deal for a commission of 400,000 dollars. The Lloyd's of London civil racketeering suit of December 1990 followed his claims of 6 million dollars for an allegedly stolen Song dynasty vase and a coffee shipment.[^15]
According to the *Journal of Commerce*, he was indicted on tax charges in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida|Fort Lauderdale]] in May 1991 and went to [[Amman]]; Guatemala's extradition request was addressed to Jordan.[^15][^16]
### 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, p. 8.
@ -40,4 +46,6 @@ In August 1991, Bilheisi was indicted in the United States for failure to pay $8
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 247.
[^12]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 240.
[^13]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 242.
[^14]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 242.
[^14]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 242.
[^15]: "Banking: A Trail of Coffee and Cash," *Time,* 1991. https://time.com/archive/6717978/banking-a-trail-of-coffee-and-cash/
[^16]: "Jordanian Denies Smuggling Charge," *The Journal of Commerce,* August 13, 1991. https://www.joc.com/jordanian-denies-smuggling-charge_19910813.html

53
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Nazir Chinoy.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Paris
- IranContra
- OperationCChase
- 1980s
summary: "BCCI's general manager in Paris and earlier Pakistan branch chief, a defendant in the Tampa money laundering case, whose testimony described Khashoggi's Iran arms financing and BCCI's protocol department."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "regional general manager, Paris; earlier branch chief in Pakistan"
fn: 2
- type: investigated
with: "[[Operation C-Chase]]"
reverse: true
end: 1988-10
fn: 1
- type: represented
with: "[[Adnan Khashoggi]]"
role: "banker for Iran arms bridging credit, 1986"
fn: 3
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Nazir Chinoy was the regional general manager in [[Paris]] of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), and earlier a branch chief of BCCI in [[Pakistan]] from 1978 to 1982. He was among the BCCI officers drawn into [[Operation C-Chase]] and a defendant in the resulting case in [[Tampa, Florida|Tampa]], and in interviews with Senate staff from March 9 to 16, 1992, and testimony on March 18, 1992, he became a principal source for the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]].[^1][^2][^3]
### Pakistan
Chinoy gave the Senate its most detailed account of BCCI's protocol department, run by [[Sani Ahmed]]. On his arrival at BCCI Pakistan in 1978, he said, it employed about 120 people, whose job was "to establish and further the rapport with the sheiks of and ruling families of Dubai and [[Abu Dhabi]]," from a separate building in [[Karachi]] opposite [[Agha Hasan Abedi]]'s house. "Sani would tell me that I need one million rupees today and we would give him the moneys and the branch would pay the money. What it was paid for we would have no idea," he said, and: "Sani was the trusted man for things no one else was supposed to know. We were the technocrats. Sani Ahmed would handle the things we wouldn't, like get girls." He also described the relationship between Abedi and President [[Zia ul-Haq]].[^2]
### Paris
Of BCCI's business in France, Chinoy told investigators: "All the money we got [at BCCI-France] in some way we were breaking the law... The law breaking was pretty systematic." Of Africa he said: "Commission means kick-back... It is known as a commission but it is actually a kickback. It is the only way to do business."[^4] In early 1986 he met [[Adnan Khashoggi]] in BCCI's Paris office after noticing a sudden rise in business at the bank's Monte Carlo branch, which answered to Paris, and learned that its manager, Manir Karim, had been giving Khashoggi short-term credit for the sale of American arms to [[Iran]] through [[Israel]]: "I met Khashoggi in a small room at the bank. He told me he had a deal, he was to be a supplier, buy American arms through Israel and supply them to the Iranians." Khashoggi, he said, told him he was working directly for the [[United States]] government and the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. Chinoy described the fees as "juicy," but ordered the business stopped because it had not been approved in writing by BCCI London; he later learned that two or three more transactions totaling 15 to 17 million dollars had been completed, and documents indicated that London had gone around him. He said that [[Manucher Ghorbanifar]] also banked at Monte Carlo, and that in 1988 a London office asked him about an account in the name "Devon Island."[^3]
Chinoy learned of BCCI's hidden role in the sale of the [[National Bank of Georgia]] when Abedi, visiting Paris with [[Swaleh Naqvi]] in December 1986 or January 1987, left a briefcase in a taxi; recovering it, "I saw written National Bank of Georgia written on the briefcase." In 1988 he was instructed by London to lend [[Ghaith R. Pharaon]] about 25 million dollars to buy debentures of [[CenTrust Savings Bank]]; no credit report was prepared, and "we did a CYA letter instead to cover ourselves." He later saw a document requesting credit committee approval for the loan, ostensibly from Paris, which he believed Naqvi had fabricated after the fact. He said [[Mohammed Hammoud]] had "a very special relationship" with the bank, and that when he asked Hammoud to repay a loan of about 100,000 dollars he was rebuked by his superiors in London.[^5][^6]
### C-Chase
On May 20, 1988, the undercover Customs agent [[Robert Mazur]] opened accounts at BCCI Paris and told Chinoy privately that his clients were "drug dealers in Colombia"; Chinoy assigned the accounts to officers including Sibte Hassan. [[Amjad Awan]] had referred Mazur to "Chinoy and Howard in Paris and Baakza in London."[^1] The Senate report found that Awan, Akbar Bilgrami, Chinoy "and likely several other of the Tampa defendants" could have given information leading to a far broader indictment of BCCI.[^7]
### Footnotes
[^1]: United States v. Awan, 966 F.2d 1415 (11th Cir. 1992), opinion of Circuit Judge Fay, July 27, 1992. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/966/966.F2d.1415.90-4114.html
[^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" (citing staff interviews with Chinoy, March 9-16, 1992). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/03hist.htm
[^3]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 11, "BCCI, The CIA and Foreign Intelligence" (citing Chinoy's testimony of March 18, 1992). https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/11intel.htm
[^4]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 4, "BCCI's Criminality." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.htm
[^5]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Part Two." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.htm
[^6]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 15, "Mohammed Hammoud: BCCI's Flexible Front-Man." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/15hammoud.htm
[^7]: Kerry and Brown, *The BCCI Affair,* ch. 8, "BCCI and Law Enforcement: The Justice Department and the US Customs Service." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/08just.htm

37
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Raymond Evers.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
---
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
tags:
- Person
- Police
- Philadelphia
- OlneyHouseInvestigation
summary: "Philadelphia police inspector, formerly head of the Narcotics Bureau and the subject of a 2018 Internal Affairs finding, who in August 2026 named two women believed killed in the Olney house."
location: "Philadelphia, Pennsylvania"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Philadelphia Police Department]]"
role: "inspector"
fn: 1
- type: investigated
with: "[[Olney House Investigation]]"
start: 2026
fn: 2
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Raymond Evers is an inspector of the [[Philadelphia Police Department]]. On August 12, 2026, in the [[Olney House Investigation]], he identified [[Gabrielle Amarando]] and [[Maribel Fresses]] as two women shown alive and then apparently dead in the material recovered from the house of [[R.C. Horsch]]. He had earlier headed the department's Narcotics Bureau, where an Internal Affairs investigation found in 2018 that he had abused his authority.[^1][^2]
### Narcotics Bureau
In May 2017 Evers, then an inspector in charge of the Narcotics Bureau, and Chief Inspector Anthony Boyle called the bureau's staff to a mandatory meeting in a police conference room in [[Germantown, Philadelphia|Germantown]]. Evers later described it as a "pep talk" to "get better-quality investigations." An Internal Affairs report of August 2018 found that what he had outlined amounted to a practice of turning low-level arrestees into informants off the books, which developed into the falsification of paperwork and the withholding of information from the [[Philadelphia District Attorney's Office|District Attorney's Office]]. The report "sustained allegations Evers abused his authority, failed to supervise subordinates, and then lied during the course of the investigation about it," and sustained charges against Boyle for failure to supervise and against two officers for false paperwork. *The Philadelphia Inquirer* reported that hundreds of cases might be challenged as a result.[^1]
### The Olney House
At the police briefing of August 12, 2026, Evers said that two of the women connected to the Chew Avenue house, Amarando and Fresses, were shown in recovered images alive and then apparently dead. Police said in September that five women shown in the material appeared to be dead.[^2][^3]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "Report: Philly narcotics cops faked paperwork to hide informants. Hundreds of cases may be challenged," *The Philadelphia Inquirer,* January 13, 2019. https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-police-narcotics-drugs-informants-practices-raymond-evers-anthony-boyle-20190113.html
[^2]: 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
[^3]: Sharber, Cory. "Police, FBI provide updates on Horsch missing women case," *WHYY,* September 16, 2026. https://whyy.org/articles/olney-home-investigation-abuse/

53
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Robert Altman.md
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@ -1,16 +1,42 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-09-23
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Lawyer
- Banking
summary: "Robert Altman was a Washington attorney and partner to Clark Clifford who served as president of First American Bankshares and was indicted by Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau in July 1992 on charges of bribery and fraud related to BCCI's secret ownership of the bank; he was acquitted by a Manhattan jury in September 1993."
summary: "Washington lawyer, Clark Clifford's partner and president of First American Bankshares, indicted in July 1992 over BCCI's secret ownership of the bank and acquitted by a Manhattan jury in August 1993."
born: 1947-02-23
died: 2021-02-03
location: "Washington, D.C."
relations:
- type: represented
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
start: 1978
end: 1990
role: "American counsel"
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[First American Bank]]"
role: "president"
fn: 13
- type: director_of
with: "[[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]]"
fn: 18
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Robert Morgenthau]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-07-29
end: 1993-08-14
fn: 16
- type: investigated
with: "[[Federal Reserve Board]]"
reverse: true
start: 1992-07-29
end: 1998-02
fn: 18
---
Robert Altman was a prominent American lawyer and banker, known for his close association with [[Clark Clifford]] and his involvement in the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] scandal. He served as the former president of [[First American Bank]] and was Clifford's law partner and protégé. Altman, along with Clifford, acted as BCCI's chief American counsel from 1978 to 1990.[^1]
@ -30,6 +56,22 @@ In February 1988, Altman and Clifford sold a large portion of their stock in Fir
Altman was indicted by a New York grand jury in July 1992, along with Clark Clifford, on charges related to bribery and fraud for their role in helping BCCI influence First American Bank's affairs.[^11]
### The Federal Reserve Application
On June 2, 1981, Altman asked the [[Federal Reserve Board|Federal Reserve]], on behalf of the Middle Eastern investors and [[Credit and Commerce American Holdings]] (CCAH), to seal portions of the transcript of its April 23, 1981 hearing; the request was granted, "preventing anyone outside the Federal Reserve from learning the identities of several of the shareholders." At the hearing he told the Federal Reserve's counsel that it was "not correct" that [[Kamal Adham]] and [[Faisal Saud al-Fulaij]] had first been interested in the investment by BCCI, and that Adham had learned of it from "a friend who worked in the Saudi Arabian Embassy, Mr Yassin." In a letter to the Federal Reserve of May 9, 1978, he had given a different account, in which [[Jackson Stephens]] first proposed Financial General to a BCCI representative during the sale of the National Bank of Georgia in November 1977.[^12]
### National Bank of Georgia
On May 8, 1986, Altman wrote to [[Swaleh Naqvi]] enclosing a valuation of the National Bank of Georgia by First American's treasurer, A. Vincent Scoffone, and hoping for a price of 160 to 175 million dollars, as "we are nearing the point at which this purchase is too expensive."[^13] He later told journalists that the purchase "was clearly an arms-length business deal," and told the Senate that "First American, not BCCI, initiated the NBG transaction." Altman denied to the Senate subcommittee that he had attended a meeting in [[Miami]] with Abedi, Naqvi and Clifford at which the merger was arranged; [[Roy P. M. Carlson]], the bank's former president, told the subcommittee's staff that he, Clifford and Altman had met at the Grand Bay Hotel in Miami in February 1986 to discuss the price.[^13][^14] According to BCCI's former New York manager, [[Abdur Sakhia]], Altman was present when Sakhia and Naqvi discussed using Faisal al-Fulaij as the nominee for a planned BCCI purchase of the Eagle Bank in Florida.[^13]
### Stock and Testimony
Hammoud granted Altman a power of attorney allowing him to conduct any transaction in CCAH shares on Hammoud's behalf; Altman testified that he had never met Hammoud. The Federal Reserve found that "On February 12, 1991, in sworn testimony to the Board of Governors, Altman falsely stated that he did not know how the purchase price of $6800 per share was fixed, and that he did not discuss the matter with Imam."[^13] According to the [[House Banking Committee]], BCCI paid some 45 million dollars in legal fees disbursed by Altman; he told the Senate that the amount was "approximately $20 million."[^13]
### Trial and Settlement
On July 29, 1992, Altman was indicted by a New York State grand jury and a federal grand jury in Washington; the state charges carried a maximum of 32 years in prison and about 80 million dollars in fines.[^15] His trial in the Manhattan Supreme Court before Justice John Bradley began in March 1993, and on August 14, 1993, the jury acquitted him of the remaining counts, the others having been dismissed during the trial.[^16][^17] Under a Federal Reserve consent order dated effective February 1998 he relinquished 895 CCAH shares and agreed not to serve as an officer or director of a bank holding company or insured depository institution without the Board's consent, a restriction that did not apply to work "solely in the capacity of an attorney"; the order recorded that he had not served in such a post since 1991.[^18]
### 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, p. 8.
@ -43,3 +85,10 @@ Altman was indicted by a New York grand jury in July 1992, along with Clark Clif
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 215.
[^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 215.
[^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 14.
[^12]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 6, "BCCI in the United States: Initial Entry." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/06early.htm
[^13]: 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
[^14]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Later Acquisitions." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.htm
[^15]: "Clifford, Altman indicted in BCCI bank fraud," United Press International, July 29, 1992. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/07/29/Clifford-Altman-indicted-in-BCCI-bank-fraud/5122712382400/
[^16]: "Altman Acquitted on BCCI Counts," *The Washington Post,* August 15, 1993. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1993/08/15/altman-acquitted-on-bcci-counts/33f3090f-0a02-4934-9c81-37f843aaead7/
[^17]: "Charges dropped against Clark Clifford in BCCI case," United Press International, November 30, 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/11/30/Charges-dropped-against-Clark-Clifford-in-BCCI-case/6641754635600/
[^18]: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, *In the Matter of Clark M. Clifford and Robert A. Altman, Institution-Affiliated Parties of Credit and Commerce American Holdings, N.V.,* Docket Nos. 92-080-E-I1, 92-080-B-I1, 92-080-CMP-I1, 92-080-E-I2, 92-080-B-I2, 92-080-CMP-I2, consent order, "effective this [day, illegible in the scan] day of February, 1998," with the Second Amended Notice of Intent to Prohibit of January 14, 1997 (Federal Reserve press release of February 3, 1998). https://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/press/enforcement/1998/19980203/Attachment.pdf

25
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Roy P. M. Carlson.md
View file

@ -4,22 +4,39 @@ tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- CIA
summary: "Carlson was a key figure in the early relationship between Bank of America and BCCI."
summary: "Bank of America executive who arranged its 1972 stake in BCCI, then ran the National Bank of Georgia for Ghaith Pharaon and BCCI until its sale to First American."
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of America]]"
end: 1975
fn: 1
- type: head_of
with: "[[National Bank of Georgia]]"
role: "president"
fn: 3
---
Roy P. M. Carlson was a [[Bank of America]] executive who orchestrated Bank of America's original investment in [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]].[^1] He later became the head of [[National Bank of Georgia]] at the request of [[Ghaith R. Pharaon]].[^1]
### Early Career and BCCI Involvement
Carlson was a key figure in the early relationship between Bank of America and BCCI. He had entertained [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] when Abedi came to the United States to negotiate Bank of America's 30-percent share in the new bank in 1972, and the two became friends.[^2] Carlson later left Bank of America in 1975 to become president of [[Rahim Irvani]]'s Melli Group in [[Iran]].[^2] He was also a partner in former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Director [[Richard Helms]]'s consulting firm, Safeer.[^2]
Carlson was a key figure in the early relationship between Bank of America and BCCI. He had entertained [[Agha Hasan Abedi]] when Abedi came to the [[United States]] to negotiate Bank of America's 30-percent share in the new bank in 1972, and the two became friends.[^2] Carlson later left Bank of America in 1975 to become president of [[Rahim Irvani]]'s Melli Group in [[Iran]].[^2] He was also a partner in former [[Central Intelligence Agency]] Director [[Richard Helms]]'s consulting firm, Safeer.[^2]
### Role at National Bank of Georgia
Carlson was appointed head of the [[National Bank of Georgia]] by Abedi and Pharaon, who sought to reconfigure the bank along BCCI's lines.[^2] Under Carlson's guidance, the bank's assets quadrupled from $400 million to $1.6 billion. The National Bank of Georgia became a clearinghouse for BCCI funds in the United States, a destination for BCCI letters of credit, and a provider of loans and services to BCCI's international clientele.[^2]
Carlson was appointed head of the National Bank of Georgia by Abedi and Pharaon, who sought to reconfigure the bank along BCCI's lines.[^2] Under Carlson's guidance, the bank's assets quadrupled from $400 million to $1.6 billion. The National Bank of Georgia became a clearinghouse for BCCI funds in the United States, a destination for BCCI letters of credit, and a provider of loans and services to BCCI's international clientele.[^2]
Carlson played a role in the acquisition of [[Financial General Bankshares]], negotiating the purchase for First American Bank.[^2]
### National Bank of Georgia and BCCI
According to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], Carlson, hired as president soon after Pharaon's purchase of the bank was approved, began making trips to London to visit BCCI and entertained Abedi and his wife in Atlanta; he made two BCCI-related trips abroad in 1983, to London and Athens, three in 1984, and three in 1985, together with trips to Miami and Chicago to meet BCCI officials. BCCI's New York manager [[Abdur Sakhia]] recalled a meeting in [[Miami]] in November 1985, attended by Abedi, [[Swaleh Naqvi]], [[Clark Clifford]], [[Robert Altman]], Carlson and Tariq Jamil, after which Abedi said the bank would be merged with [[First American Bank|First American]]. When BCCI acquired the [[Independence Bank of Encino]], it abandoned an original plan to place Carlson on that bank's board of directors as well.[^3]
Carlson told the subcommittee's staff that he, Clifford and Altman met at the Grand Bay Hotel in Miami in February 1986 to discuss the price for the bank. The report found that the statements of Clifford and Altman on the transaction "cannot be reconciled with the documentary and testimonial accounts of the other parties."[^4]
### 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, p. 9.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 210-14.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, pp. 210-14.
[^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. 7, "BCCI in the United States: Later Acquisitions." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/07later.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. 13, "Clark Clifford and Robert Altman." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/13clifford.htm

59
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar.md Normal file
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@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
- Fraud
- London
- 1980s
- 1990s
alias:
- Ziauddin Ali Akbar
- S.Z.A. Akbar
summary: "Head of BCCI's London treasury division, whose September 1993 guilty plea to false accounting was the first criminal conviction arising from the bank's collapse."
location: "London, United Kingdom"
relations:
- type: employed_by
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "head of the treasury division, London"
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Agha Hasan Abedi]]"
fn: 1
- type: reported_to
with: "[[Swaleh Naqvi]]"
fn: 1
- type: prosecuted
with: "[[Serious Fraud Office]]"
reverse: true
end: 1993-09-28
fn: 1
created: 2026-09-23
updated: 2026-09-23
---
Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar (born about 1944) headed the treasury division at the London headquarters of the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]] (BCCI), reporting directly to its founder, [[Agha Hasan Abedi]], and its chief executive, [[Swaleh Naqvi]]. On September 27, 1993, he pleaded guilty at the [[Old Bailey]] to sixteen counts of false accounting, and the next day he was sentenced to six years on each count, to run concurrently. His was the first criminal conviction anywhere arising from BCCI's collapse.[^1]
### Treasury Division
Prosecutors said Akbar, then 49 and one level below the bank's top rank, had been "at the heart of the deception and dishonesty," falsely inflating BCCI's profits and assets to keep an insolvent bank afloat, in a fraud put at 750 million dollars (500 million pounds). "If the collapse of BCCI could be described as catastrophic, then the scale of the fraud designed to conceal the true state of the bank's affairs was of epic proportions," the prosecutor, [[Timothy Langdale]], told the court. "If the treasury division could be described as the engine room of the bank, then Akbar, without doubt, was the chief engineer." Prosecutors also said he had misused or appropriated 61 million dollars from BCCI to set up a company of which he was a director.[^1]
### Sentence
The court credited him with the year and eight months he had already spent in prison, and prosecutors said the sentence had been reduced from a possible ten or eleven years on each count because he had pleaded guilty and was giving evidence to BCCI's investigators. An official of the [[Serious Fraud Office]] said no further criminal prosecution was planned, but that the bank's liquidators might try to recover the money he was alleged to have taken. At the time Abedi was reported to be seriously ill in [[Pakistan]], beyond the reach of British courts, and Naqvi was facing charges in [[Abu Dhabi]]. Three further BCCI trials were then scheduled in Britain, including that of a former account officer, [[Imran Iman]].[^1] When an Abu Dhabi court sentenced BCCI's former executives in June 1994, Akbar was described as already serving his British term.[^2]
### Treasury and Capcom
According to the [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]], Akbar was recruited from the [[National Bank of Oman]] in 1981 by Swaleh Naqvi, described as his mentor, to run BCCI's treasury from [[London]], and by 1984 was managing more than 5.5 billion dollars despite "no apparent experience in the commodities, foreign exchange or securities markets." [[Masihur Rahman]], BCCI's chief financial officer, testified that Akbar "was taking positions on silver and 20 year bonds" at a premium. He concealed mounting losses in off-book "Number Two" accounts which, in the words of the [[Price Waterhouse]] report of June 22, 1991, were "outside the scope of external audit... in the name of private clients but for [BCCI]," funded in part from "a pool of funds in the private named accounts of A. R. Khalil which were used freely by Z. Akbar to fund adjustments." By 1985 the treasury losses were approaching one billion dollars.[^3][^4]
On April 26, 1984, Akbar registered a company, Hourcharm Ltd., at his home address in London; it was renamed Capital Commodity Dealers Ltd. in May and Capcom Financial Services in July, and began trading on September 17, 1984, with capital raised in stages to 25 million pounds and a credit line from BCCI. Its American arm, Capcom Futures of [[Chicago]], was fronted by four Americans without commodities experience, among them its chairman, [[Larry Romrell]]. When Price Waterhouse found the treasury losses in 1986 it attributed them to "incompetence"; its 1991 report found that "with the benefit of hindsight, it appears more sinister in that it now seems to have been a deliberate way to fictitiously inflate income." Akbar was removed from the treasury, and in 1988 told two BCCI officials that he had been a "scapegoat" used by management to deceive the auditors, and that BCCI had been inflating its assets "from the mid-1970's."[^3][^4]
On September 19, 1988, as president of [[Capcom]], Akbar met in London with "Robert Musella," the undercover [[United States Customs Service|Customs]] agent [[Robert Mazur]] of [[Operation C-Chase]], and told him he did not want to know the nature of his clients' business; Mazur testified that Akbar described "mirror-image trading," buying contracts for one account while selling the same number from another controlled by the same person, and said such transactions "would take forever for anyone to ever find."[^4][^5]
### Footnotes
[^1]: "BCCI official gets six years for fraud charges," United Press International, September 28, 1993. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/09/28/BCCI-official-gets-six-years-for-fraud-charges/3315749188800/
[^2]: Hussain, Thomas. "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, June 14, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/
[^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." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/04crime.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. 21, "Capcom: A Case Study of Money Laundering." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/21capcom.htm
[^5]: United States v. Awan, 966 F.2d 1415 (11th Cir. 1992), opinion of Circuit Judge Fay, July 27, 1992. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/966/966.F2d.1415.90-4114.html

1
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/William J. Casey.md
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@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ aliases:
- William J. Casey
- William Joseph Casey
- Bill Casey
- "William Casey"
category: "Key Figures"
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-05-17

31
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan.md
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@ -1,12 +1,22 @@
---
category: "BCCI Scandal"
alias:
- "Sheikh Zayed"
- "Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan"
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
summary: "Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan was the Head of Abu Dhabi's ruling family and president of the United Arab Emirates."
summary: "Ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates, whose family and government owned 77 percent of BCCI at its 1991 closure and whom the Senate found not credible as its victim."
born: 1918-05-06
died: 2004-11-02
location: "Abu Dhabi"
relations:
- type: owned
with: "[[Bank of Credit and Commerce International]]"
role: "principal shareholder with the Abu Dhabi government and ruling family"
start: 1972
end: 1991
fn: 11
---
Zayed bin Sultan AL-Nahayan was the Head of [[Abu Dhabi]]'s ruling family and president of the [[United Arab Emirates]].[^1]
@ -23,10 +33,22 @@ BCCI effectively merged with Zayed's Private Department, which handled and inves
### Role in BCCI Scandal
Zayed and his chief lieutenant, [[Ghanim Fan's al-Mazrui]], were infuriated by the global seizure of BCCI, as it occurred just ten days before a deal to restructure the bank was to be signed.[^7] Zayed's various state agencies, along with Zayed himself, lost as much as $8 billion in the shutdown of BCCI.[^8]
Zayed and his chief lieutenant, [[Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui]], were infuriated by the global seizure of BCCI, as it occurred just ten days before a deal to restructure the bank was to be signed.[^7] Zayed's various state agencies, along with Zayed himself, lost as much as $8 billion in the shutdown of BCCI.[^8]
He ordered audits of BCCI, which revealed billions of dollars missing.[^9] The [[Bank of England]] tried to persuade Zayed to inject more money into BCCI to cover losses.[^10]
### The Kerry-Brown Findings
The [[BCCI Kerry-Brown Senate Report|Kerry-Brown Senate Report]] of December 1992 stated that "there was no relationship more central to BCCI's existence from its inception than that between BCCI and Sheikh Zayed and the ruling family of Abu Dhabi." Abu Dhabi shareholders bought 20 percent of BCCI at its creation in 1972 for 500,000 dollars and let that interest fall to just over one percent within three years. In January 1978, when BCCI needed two more names for its purchase of [[Financial General Bankshares]], the ruling family supplied them, and in 1980 and 1981, when BCCI needed a buyer for the shares held by the [[Bank of America]], Abu Dhabi again increased its interest.[^11]
After the fall in 1980 of his financial adviser Abdullah Darweish, who was arrested on December 8, 1981, and charged with defrauding the ruling family, Zayed directed that all of his personal oil revenues be placed in BCCI, had the [[Abu Dhabi Investment Authority]] acquire a 10 percent stake in BCCI from its Cayman affiliate [[ICIC]], and placed the chairman of his Private Department, Ghanim Faris al-Mazrui, on BCCI's board, where he became chairman. Abu Dhabi's witness before the subcommittee, Ahmed Al Sayegh, testified that "in excess of $2 billion was entrusted to Abedi and Naqvi for investment by Their Highnesses Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Khalifa under a power of attorney between 1980 and 1990."[^11]
Abu Dhabi's position was that it had been BCCI's victim. "We didn't know anything about the bank because of our passive role in the past," Al Sayegh testified. The report found instead that BCCI's records and insiders "outline a picture of the relationship which suggests that Abu Dhabi officials were indeed knowing participants in substantial wrongdoing," that members of the ruling family had taken risk-free investments in BCCI, and that Abu Dhabi officials had engaged "in a cover-up of fraudulent activity involving BCCI, which continues, in substantial part, to this day." Members of the ruling family appeared to have contributed no more than 500,000 dollars to BCCI's capital before April 1990 while recorded as owners of almost a quarter of its shares, with a book value of more than 750 million dollars. By the closure of July 5, 1991, Abu Dhabi owned 77 percent of BCCI; because the rest was held by nominees and ICIC, the report concluded that "Abu Dhabi was in fact BCCI's sole owner."[^11]
### Settlement
Under an agreement of January 12, 1994, by which Abu Dhabi handed [[Swaleh Naqvi]] to the [[United States]] and gave American prosecutors access to BCCI witnesses and documents, the United States dropped a civil suit of 1.5 billion dollars against Zayed, brought no criminal charges against him, and received 400 million dollars' worth of Abu Dhabi's shares in [[First American Bank]].[^12][^13] In June 1994 an Abu Dhabi court convicted twelve former BCCI executives and awarded Zayed's Private Department 6.56 billion dollars of the 9.13 billion dollars in damages.[^12] Abu Dhabi's shareholders agreed in November 1994 to a 1.8 billion dollar compensation package for BCCI's creditors, which received its last legal clearances in December 1995; an agreement with the liquidators in May 1996 cleared a first payment of 1.55 billion dollars.[^14] The liquidators later reported that the Abu Dhabi government had contributed 2.2 billion dollars to the liquidation funds.[^15]
### 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, p. 11.
@ -39,3 +61,8 @@ He ordered audits of BCCI, which revealed billions of dollars missing.[^9] The [
[^8]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 129.
[^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 55.
[^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 136.
[^11]: Kerry, Senator John, and Senator Hank Brown. *The BCCI Affair: A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate.* December 1992, ch. 14, "Abu Dhabi: BCCI's Founding and Majority Stockholders." https://irp.fas.org/congress/1992_rpt/bcci/14abudhabi.htm
[^12]: Hussain, Thomas. "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, June 14, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/
[^13]: "Ex-BCCI chief faces jail in UAE," United Press International, October 20, 1994. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/10/20/Ex-BCCI-chief-faces-jail-in-UAE/7767782625600/
[^14]: "BCCI small depositors paid in UAE," United Press International, October 11, 1997. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/10/11/BCCI-small-depositors-paid-in-UAE/2814876542400/
[^15]: Hunter, Gregor Stuart. "After 22 years, UAE branches of defunct BCCI finally liquidated," *The National,* July 5, 2013. https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/after-22-years-uae-branches-of-defunct-bcci-finally-liquidated-1.606808