The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Jack Blum.md

tags
Person Investigator Lawyer Government BCCI

Jack Blum is a former Senate investigator and chief counsel to Senator John Kerry's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations. He is widely recognized for his tireless efforts in exposing the Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal.¹

Early Career and Government Service

Blum arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1965, after graduating from Columbia Law School. He began his career as an investigator for Senator Phil Hart's antitrust subcommittee.² His work caught the attention of Senator J. W. Fulbright, who moved him to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By the mid-1970s, Blum had established himself as a permanent fixture in Washington, serving as counsel to Senator Frank Church's subcommittee on multinational corporations.³

His investigations into the Lockheed payoff scandals led to significant political repercussions, including the toppling of a Japanese government, the imprisonment of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, and the abdication of the Queen of the Netherlands.⁴ He was a driving force behind the creation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Blum's questioning of former CIA Director Richard Helms in a closed-door session led to Helms's indictment for perjury.⁵

In 1976, Blum entered private practice, where he remained for ten years. He re-entered the public sector in 1986 as special counsel to Senator John Kerry's subcommittee, where he spearheaded probes into drug trafficking.⁶

Role in the BCCI Investigation

Blum became deeply involved in the BCCI investigation after learning that the bank was at the epicenter of Manuel Noriega's financial dealings.⁷ He pushed for a serious investigation into BCCI, but his efforts were initially brushed aside, leading him to believe there was a high-level cover-up.⁸

He was a crucial source for journalists Jonathan Beaty and S. C. Gwynne, providing them with critical information and insights into BCCI's global criminal empire. Blum revealed that BCCI secretly owned First American Bank and that Clark Clifford and Robert Altman had lied to U.S. banking regulators about this ownership.⁹ He also brought the BCCI case to the attention of Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who then launched his own investigation.¹⁰

Footnotes

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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. ↩︎

2. Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 23. ↩︎

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. 23. ↩︎

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. 23. ↩︎

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. 23. ↩︎

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. 24. ↩︎

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. 25. ↩︎

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. 26. ↩︎

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. 30. ↩︎

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. 32. ↩︎