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10 - PEOPLE/(N-S)/Robert Booth Nichols.md
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@ -30,47 +30,56 @@ relations:
with: "[[Samuel Israel III]]"
start: 2004-07-11
role: "Financial and Security Consultancy Agreement; ten-million-dollar fee"
fn: 5
fn: 1
- type: spouse_of
with: "[[Ellen M. Nichols]]"
fn: 5
fn: 1
- type: director_of
with: "[[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]]"
role: "director, senior vice president, chairman of the investment committee (sole source: Seymour)"
fn: 1
fn: 4
created: 2024-04-25
updated: 2026-09-22
updated: 2026-10-08
---
Robert Booth Nichols was born in the [[United States]] on March 3, 1943.[^5] He was a principal source for the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] in the investigation Casolaro called [[The Octopus]], and the subject of a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] organized-crime investigation from 1987.[^2][^3]
Robert Booth Nichols was born in the [[United States]] on March 3, 1943.[^1] He was a principal source for the journalist [[Danny Casolaro]] in the investigation Casolaro called [[The Octopus]], and the subject of a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] organized-crime investigation from 1987.[^2][^3]
### Meridian and the FBI
In September 1987 the FBI's [[Los Angeles]] division opened an investigation of Nichols, who, "acting through Meridian, was suspected of being involved in organized crime"; it was led by Special Agent [[Thomas Gates]], who learned that Nichols "had potential illegal contacts with individuals in both Japan and Australia" and pursued them through the FBI's legal attachés there. On June 16, 1989, Nichols's company, [[Meridian International Logistics]], sued Gates in California state court for eleven million dollars for libel, slander and interference with contracts, alleging that he had told the Australian Federal Police and others that Meridian was involved in organized crime and fraud; the former FBI agent [[Ted Gunderson]] filed a declaration that such foreign contacts "would never, under FBI policies, be initiated by an agent assigned to the Los Angeles field office." The government substituted itself for Gates, and on July 19, 1991, the Ninth Circuit reversed the dismissal of the suit.[^2]
According to [[Cheri Seymour]], the FBI investigated Meridian as "a source of funding for the purchasing of narcotics/controlled substances"; [[Eugene Giaquinto]], president of the home entertainment division of [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]], sat on its board, and FBI wiretaps on MCA recorded his calls with Nichols.[^1] Gates swore in a 72-page affidavit to a federal court on an FBI wiretap of figures in the entertainment industry suspected of organized-crime ties; the [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]], which heard from Gates that the threads of Casolaro's inquiry led to "a single individual, Robert Booth Nichols," took "no position on any of Gates' assertions or suppositions vis-a-vis Nichols, except to note again that they were duly sworn statements."[^3]
According to [[Cheri Seymour]], [[Eugene Giaquinto]], president of the home entertainment division of [[Music Corporation of America|MCA]], sat on Meridian's board.[^4] Gates's 1987 continuation wiretap affidavit named Nichols, with Giaquinto, [[Joseph Garofalo]] and [[Martin Bacow]], under its stock-fraud offenses, and placed "The source of funding for the purchasing of narcotics/controlled substances" among the matters the intercepts of Giaquinto and Garofalo were to establish under its controlled-substance offenses.[^5] Gates swore in a 72-page affidavit to a federal court on an FBI wiretap of figures in the entertainment industry suspected of organized-crime ties; the [[House Committee on the Judiciary|House Judiciary Committee]], which heard from Gates that the threads of Casolaro's inquiry led to "a single individual, Robert Booth Nichols," took "no position on any of Gates' assertions or suppositions vis-a-vis Nichols, except to note again that they were duly sworn statements."[^3]
Gates's sworn affidavits to Judge J. Spencer Letts of the Central District of California (March 27, May 20, June 25, July 15 and August 3, 1987, and a continuation affidavit) listed Nichols among the persons whose calls were to be intercepted. The continuation affidavit gives his employment as Meridian International Logistics, states that California Department of Justice records showed several permits to possess and sell firearms, including machine guns, and states that FBI files showed that in 1978 he "was allegedly an international money launderer for money generated through narcotics trafficking and organized crime (LCN) activities" and "may have been associated with the Gambino LCN family in New York City." It records his 1985 Honolulu arrest for driving under the influence, and FBI surveillance on July 15, 1987 at Le Dome restaurant in which a man Gates compared with Nichols's booking photograph took a box from Giaquinto's trunk.[^5] On July 23, 1987 Gates recorded Giaquinto asking Nichols what to do if Nichols's name came up in connection with [[ZZZZ Best]], and Nichols answering to tell the truth, that he had written a treatment and was looking for a production company; on July 27 Nichols told Giaquinto he was leaving the country and gave a Hawaii number where "Harold (possibly Okimoto)" would have a tape put on the answering machine.[^5]
### Allegations
Seymour's book, largely on the word of [[Michael Riconosciuto]], describes Nichols as a director, senior vice president and chairman of the investment committee of the [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]], a company alleged to have served the [[National Security Council]] in Lebanon; as chief executive of R.B.N. Companies, International; as a contract operative for the NSC; as the man who helped [[Ignacio Paz]] of the Philippine government move money through Swiss accounts; and as a participant in a heroin operation run through Euramae Trading in Nicosia, [[Cyprus]]. In the same account he laundered money and gold for [[Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela|Gilberto Rodríguez]] and [[Jose Santacruz Londono|José Santacruz Londoño]] of the [[Cali Drug Cartel]], was linked to the [[Gambino Crime Family]], the [[Bufalino Crime Family]] and the [[Yakuza]], was called the "godson" of [[Harold Okimoto]] of Hawaii, and was the subject of investigations that the [[Department of Justice]] shut down.[^1] Neither the House report nor the special counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]] mentions the First Intercontinental Development Corporation.[^3][^4]
Seymour's book, largely on the word of [[Michael Riconosciuto]], describes Nichols as a director, senior vice president and chairman of the investment committee of the [[First Intercontinental Development Corporation]], a company alleged to have served the [[National Security Council]] in Lebanon; as chief executive of R.B.N. Companies, International; as a contract operative for the NSC; as the man who helped [[Ignacio Paz]] of the Philippine government move money through Swiss accounts; and as a participant in a heroin operation run through Euramae Trading in Nicosia, [[Cyprus]]. In the same account he laundered money and gold for [[Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela|Gilberto Rodríguez]] and [[Jose Santacruz Londono|José Santacruz Londoño]] of the [[Cali Drug Cartel]], was linked to the [[Gambino Crime Family]], the [[Bufalino Crime Family]] and the [[Yakuza]], was called the "godson" of [[Harold Okimoto]] of Hawaii, and was the subject of investigations that the [[Department of Justice]] shut down.[^4] Nevada charter C417-1961, amended under the name First Intercontinental Development Corporation on August 7, 1984, is recorded under the name Meridian International Logistics, Inc.[^6] The employment address the 1987 affidavit gives for Nichols, 834 Rose Blossom Drive in Cupertino, is the registered address of Meridian Arms Corporation.[^5][^7]
Riconosciuto swore to the House committee that [[Earl Brian]] and [[Peter Videnieks]] had delivered [[PROMIS]] to the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]] for "refitting," and Seymour describes Nichols's company Meridian Arms as a partner of Riconosciuto in the proposed weapons work of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] joint venture there. The committee called the material linking Nichols, Meridian Arms and Riconosciuto to the Cabazon-Wackenhut venture "speculative reports and fragmentary records," and the "continuing intersection" of those names "certainly intriguing and curious associations but without the requisite degree of causation and factual convergence necessary to draw conclusions."[^1][^3] Bua found Riconosciuto "totally unreliable."[^4]
Riconosciuto swore to the House committee that [[Earl Brian]] and [[Peter Videnieks]] had delivered [[PROMIS]] to the [[Cabazon Indian Reservation]] for "refitting," and Seymour describes Nichols's company Meridian Arms as a partner of Riconosciuto in the proposed weapons work of the [[Wackenhut Corporation]] joint venture there. The committee called the material linking Nichols, Meridian Arms and Riconosciuto to the Cabazon-Wackenhut venture "speculative reports and fragmentary records," and the "continuing intersection" of those names "certainly intriguing and curious associations but without the requisite degree of causation and factual convergence necessary to draw conclusions."[^3][^4] The special counsel [[Nicholas J. Bua]] found Riconosciuto "totally unreliable."[^8]
Nichols testified in 1993, in his suit against the Los Angeles Police Department, that he had been a member of the American intelligence community for many years. The Justice Department's review of 1994 reported that "No evidence supports that claim. In fact, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] informed us that it does not have, nor has it ever had, any employment relationship, contractual relationship or any other association with Mr. Booth Nichols," and that documents showed Howard Hughes's Summa Corporation had rejected the bid for its assets that Nichols testified he had been "instructed" to make in the late 1970s.[^4]
Nichols testified in 1993, in his suit against the Los Angeles Police Department, that he had been a member of the American intelligence community for many years. Bua's report of March 1993 stated: "No evidence supports that claim. In fact, the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] informed us that it does not have, nor has it ever had, any employment relationship, contractual relationship or any other association with Mr. Booth Nichols," and that documents showed Howard Hughes's Summa Corporation had rejected the bid for its assets that Nichols testified he had been "instructed" to make in the late 1970s.[^8]
[[Peter Zokosky]] told Seymour and [[Kelly O'Meara]] on February 14, 2001 that it was his understanding that Nichols worked for the NSC ("everything revolves around the NSC"), doing contract work for the NSA and NSC and occasionally other agencies, and showed them a three-page FBI Los Angeles report dated December 2, 1982 that, in Seymour's summary, recorded a confidential source's March 16, 1978 allegation that Nichols was "an international money launderer," a reference to a G-77 submachine-gun permit, and the conclusion that he "should be considered armed and dangerous."[^9] John Connolly reported in [[Spy (magazine)|Spy]] in January 1993 that Nichols obtained his California machine-gun permits with a recommendation from a CIA official named Larry Curran and listed Okimoto as a former employer on his concealed-weapon application; [[Jack Valenti]] told Spy, of a proposal by Giaquinto that the [[Motion Picture Association of America]] hire Nichols for Asian anti-piracy work, "I didn't feel comfortable with Nichols."[^10]
### Casolaro
Telephone records show that Casolaro and Nichols "spoke regularly and at length" in the last months of Casolaro's life, and the two had dinner at a restaurant in Virginia in the early summer of 1991. Nichols told committee investigators he had been "a sounding board" for Casolaro and would not give a sworn statement.[^3] On September 30, 1991, he told Detective Sergeant Swartwood of the Martinsburg police that he thought Casolaro had been murdered and that Riconosciuto "was probably involved in some way." The review noted a January 1993 *[[Spy (magazine)|Spy]]* article suggesting that Nichols had Casolaro killed for fear of being exposed as a would-be FBI informant against the Mafia, and found "no evidence that he had anything to do with Mr. Casolaro's death. Furthermore, he was in London on the day that Mr. Casolaro died."[^4] According to Seymour, Nichols had warned Casolaro to drop the investigation and went to Martinsburg to press him in person, Casolaro had confronted him shortly before his death about [[Michael Abbell]] and the Cali cartel, and Nichols later wrote a manuscript, "Danny Casolaro's Octopus."[^1]
Telephone records show that Casolaro and Nichols "spoke regularly and at length" in the last months of Casolaro's life, and the two had dinner at a restaurant in Virginia in the early summer of 1991. Nichols told committee investigators he had been "a sounding board" for Casolaro and would not give a sworn statement.[^3] On September 30, 1991, he told Detective Sergeant Swartwood of the Martinsburg police that he thought Casolaro had been murdered and that Riconosciuto "was probably involved in some way." Bua's report noted a January 1993 *Spy* article suggesting that Nichols had Casolaro killed for fear of being exposed as a would-be FBI informant against the Mafia, and found "no evidence that he had anything to do with Mr. Casolaro's death. Furthermore, he was in London on the day that Mr. Casolaro died."[^8] According to Seymour, Nichols had warned Casolaro to drop the investigation and went to Martinsburg to press him in person, Casolaro had confronted him shortly before his death about [[Michael Abbell]] and the Cali cartel, and Nichols later wrote a manuscript, "Danny Casolaro's Octopus."[^4]
### The Bayou Fee
In the spring of 2004 Nichols offered [[Samuel Israel III]], manager of the Bayou hedge funds, access to what British investigators later described as programs with "all of the hallmarks of fraudulent prime bank note programs." After more than 150 million dollars of Bayou money passed through a London account of the "Humanitarian Coalition Aid Foundation" and back in April 2004, Nichols and Israel signed a "Financial and Security Consultancy Agreement" on July 11, 2004, and on July 19 Israel wired ten million dollars to accounts in Germany, Liechtenstein, Singapore and the [[United Kingdom]] in the name of or controlled by Nichols, about eight million of which ended in a London account in the names of Nichols and his wife, Ellen. The Bayou funds' liquidating entity sued the couple in 2008 to recover the fee as a fraudulent transfer; they answered that he had received it "for value, in good faith and without knowledge of the alleged voidability of the transfer." Nichols was deposed on video at the [[U.S. Attorney's office]] in Manhattan on December 16, 2008, and the case was closed on April 28, 2010.[^5][^6] At the time his address was in Honolulu.[^5]
In the spring of 2004 Nichols offered [[Samuel Israel III]], manager of the Bayou hedge funds, access to what British investigators later described as programs with "all of the hallmarks of fraudulent prime bank note programs." After more than 150 million dollars of Bayou money passed through a London account of the "Humanitarian Coalition Aid Foundation" and back in April 2004, Nichols and Israel signed a "Financial and Security Consultancy Agreement" on July 11, 2004, and on July 19 Israel wired ten million dollars to accounts in Germany, Liechtenstein, Singapore and the [[United Kingdom]] in the name of or controlled by Nichols, about eight million of which ended in a London account in the names of Nichols and his wife, Ellen. The Bayou funds' liquidating entity sued the couple in 2008 to recover the fee as a fraudulent transfer; they answered that he had received it "for value, in good faith and without knowledge of the alleged voidability of the transfer." Nichols was deposed on video at the [[U.S. Attorney's office]] in Manhattan on December 16, 2008, and the case was closed on April 28, 2010.[^1][^11] At the time his address was in Honolulu.[^1]
### Footnotes
[^1]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. Sole source for the claims so attributed, many of them from Michael Riconosciuto.
[^1]: Annis, Stephen Robert, Assets Recovery Agency. Witness statement in support of an application for a restraint order, *In the Matter of Robert Booth Nichols,* Crown Court at Blackfriars, PCA 2007/0003; Financial and Security Consultancy Agreement, July 11, 2004; Answer of Robert B. Nichols and Ellen M. Nichols, June 12, 2008; all filed in *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols,* No. 08-cv-06036 (S.D.N.Y.). https://archive.org/details/SamIsraelIII-BayouManagement-RobertBoothNicholsCourtFilings
[^2]: *Meridian International Logistics, Inc. v. United States,* 939 F.2d 740 (9th Cir. 1991). https://openjurist.org/939/f2d/740
[^3]: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary. *The INSLAW Affair,* H. Rept. 102-857, September 10, 1992, section on Earl Brian, Michael Riconosciuto, Robert Booth Nichols and the Cabazon Indian Reservation, and memorandum of interview with Nichols, January 21, 1992. https://archive.org/details/InslawAffairInvestigativeReport
[^4]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua,* March 1993 (Riconosciuto's credibility), and *Report on the Review of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua's Report,* September 27, 1994, section on the death of Danny Casolaro, citing *Booth Nichols v. City of Los Angeles,* No. NCC 31322B, trial transcript, March 11, 1993. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^5]: Annis, Stephen Robert, Assets Recovery Agency. Witness statement in support of an application for a restraint order, *In the Matter of Robert Booth Nichols,* Crown Court at Blackfriars, PCA 2007/0003; Financial and Security Consultancy Agreement, July 11, 2004; Answer of Robert B. Nichols and Ellen M. Nichols, June 12, 2008; all filed in *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols,* No. 08-cv-06036 (S.D.N.Y.). https://archive.org/details/SamIsraelIII-BayouManagement-RobertBoothNicholsCourtFilings
[^6]: Nichols, Robert Booth. Videotaped deposition, December 16, 2008, *United States v. Samuel Israel III,* 05 Cr. 1039 (S.D.N.Y.), and *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols.* https://archive.org/details/robert-booth-nichols ; docket, *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols,* 1:08-cv-06036 (S.D.N.Y.), filed July 2, 2008, terminated April 28, 2010, CourtListener.
[^4]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010. Sole source for the claims so attributed, many of them from Michael Riconosciuto.
[^5]: Affidavit of Special Agent Thomas G. Gates in support of an application to continue interception of wire communications of Martin Bacow, Eugene Giaquinto, Joseph Garofalo, Robert Nichols and others, before Judge J. Spencer Letts, C.D. Cal. (continuation affidavit citing intercepts through September 1, 1987), Danny Casolaro papers, folder "Gates." https://archive.org/details/casolaro-notebooks (file Gates.pdf), paragraphs 3, 5, 9-13, 46, 79 and 84. Seymour, *The Last Circle,* p. 356, paraphrases the narcotics-funding wording as describing Meridian International Logistics; the affidavit places it under the controlled-substance offenses of Giaquinto and Garofalo.
[^6]: OpenCorporates, record and filing list for Meridian International Logistics, Inc., Nevada company C417-1961 (retrieved October 8, 2026). https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_nv/C417-1961/filings
[^7]: OpenCorporates, record for Meridian Arms Corporation, California company 0853005 (retrieved October 8, 2026). https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0853005
[^8]: U.S. Department of Justice. *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua,* March 1993 (Riconosciuto's credibility), and section "Involvement of Robert Booth Nichols," pp. 157-159 and note 58 (p. 159), citing *Booth Nichols v. City of Los Angeles,* No. NCC 31322B, trial transcript, March 11, 1993. https://archive.org/details/doj-oip-inslaw-1993
[^9]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro's Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal.* TrineDay, 2010, chapter 22. Sole source for the passages so cited.
[^10]: Connolly, John. "The Story That Killed Danny Casolaro." *Spy,* January 1993. https://archive.org/details/SpyMagazine
[^11]: Nichols, Robert Booth. Videotaped deposition, December 16, 2008, *United States v. Samuel Israel III,* 05 Cr. 1039 (S.D.N.Y.), and *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols.* https://archive.org/details/robert-booth-nichols ; docket, *Bayou Management, LLC v. Nichols,* 1:08-cv-06036 (S.D.N.Y.), filed July 2, 2008, terminated April 28, 2010, CourtListener.