---
category: "Business & Finance"
tags:
  - Person
  - PROMIS
  - CIA
summary: "Co-founder of Nugan Hand Bank in Australia, linked to CIA-connected Air America officials and international money laundering."
born: 1942-12-30
died: 1980-01-27
location: "Griffith, New South Wales, Australia"
relations:
  - type: founded
    with: "[[Nugan Hand Bank]]"
    start: 1973
    fn: 3
  - type: partner_of
    with: "[[Michael Hand]]"
    start: 1970
    fn: 3
---
[[Frank Nugan]] was a co-founder of [[Nugan Hand Bank]] in [[Australia]], along with [[Michael Hand]] and four shareholders who gave [[Air America]] as their business address.[^1] Seymour wrote that the founders included officials of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]-owned Air America.[^2]

### Early career

Francis John Nugan was born on December 30, 1942, at Griffith, New South Wales, the son of a fruit packer. He took an LL.B. at the University of Sydney in 1964 and an LL.M. at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965. He was admitted as a solicitor in Sydney in 1968. He was a director of Meekatharra Minerals N.L. from 1970 to 1972. The Australian Dictionary of Biography says that "with a New Yorker named Michael Hand, Nugan engaged in land-deals and share-trading," and that the two set up the merchant bank Nugan Hand Ltd in 1973 with a nominal paid-up capital of $1 million.[^3]

### Death

Nugan was found dead in his car on January 27, 1980, with a bullet wound and a rifle beside him. The New York Times gave his age as 37.[^4] The Wall Street Journal's report of May 1, 1980 gave it as 35. An inquest ruled the death a suicide, and a lawyer for the insurers of his life told the inquest that the position of the body indicated he could not have shot himself. A business card for [[William Colby]] was among the items found on the body.[^5]

### Corporate Affairs Commission

The Australian Dictionary of Biography reports that the New South Wales [[Corporate Affairs Commission]] concluded in 1983 that Nugan had been involved in "massive international and local fraud" and had deliberately falsified the bank's accounts to conceal debt.[^3]

### Footnotes

[^1]: "Failed Bank Linked to CIA Ripoffs." New York Daily News, February 13, 1981, Washington News Bureau report. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820040-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820040-5
[^2]: Seymour, Cheri. *The Last Circle: Danny Casolaro’s Investigation into the Octopus and the PROMIS Software Scandal*. First Edition. TrineDay, 2010.
[^3]: Farrell, Frank. "Nugan, Francis John (1942-1980)." Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 15, 2000. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nugan-francis-john-11266
[^4]: Schneider, Keith. "North's Aides Linked to Australia Study." New York Times, March 8, 1987. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00965R000605740024-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00965r000605740024-7
[^5]: "An Australian Bank Faces Many Charges in Fiction-Like Case" (subhead "Nugan Hand Chairman Found Dead, Accused of Stealing; CIA Link Is Alleged"). Wall Street Journal, May 1, 1980. CIA CREST, CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820048-7. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000200820048-7