FTR#438—Christmas Bushes—Business as Unusual—(Two 30-minute segments)
(Sources are noted in parentheses.) (Recorded on 12/15/2003.)
Note: FTR#’s 260-316, 317, 324,
FTR#325 and succeeding programs are streaming
on Real Audio at www.wfmu.org/daveemory.
FTR#’s 01-270, 316-324 are available
for download only, also on Real
Audio, on their Archive Page.)
Note: Users of this web site are emphatically
encouraged to create a word document out of the program descriptions and do a
“search” on individual subjects in order to more completely reference those
items. Note: Users of this web site (as well as
the two WFMU web addresses noted above) are emphatically
encouraged to use the internet to disseminate as much of the audio and printed material as possible. It is all FREE!
Note: It is
recommended that listeners print the program descriptions for optimum
readability. It is emphatically
encouraged that listeners use the printed files on the Spitfire web site and
the audio files on the WFMU web sites to create their own research/teaching
databases. Summary of FTR#438—(Note: The massive
volume of “For The Record” programs about 9/11 and related topics is summarized
and analyzed in the periodically-updated description for FTR#391. It is recommended that listeners use this
description and e-mail it to others. Also: The “meat” of the book “Martin
Bormann: Nazi in Exile” has been digested into an extended description for FTR#305. Listeners can now e-mail this
quintessentially important book to people around the world. In addition, the
professional history of the late Paul Manning, the book’s author, is presented
in the description “About Paul Manning.” This
enables listeners to acquaint others with Mr. Manning’s journalistic
credentials. Understanding the Bormann organization is essential to
comprehending the concept of “the Underground Reich.”) For members of the Bush family, everyday is Christmas. They are the
recipients of enormous largesse, the product of business as unusual. (For more about the Bush family’s remarkable
business relationships, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 284, 332, 347, 368, 370, 431, 435.)
This program details the relationships that characterize this business as
unusual. One of the primary elements of discussion concerns a business milieu
that revolves around Neil Bush, one of George W. Bush’s brothers. Neil Bush, in
turn, is deeply involved with one Jamal Daniel, a well-connected
Syrian-American who functions as a contact point between the Bush family and
the ruling families of many of the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations. The
Neil Bush/Jamal Daniel relationship forms part of a constellation of businesses
comprised of several overlapping commercial concerns—chief among them New
Bridge Strategies. New Bridge Strategies and its related businesses are
centered on Haley Barbour, the newly elected governor of Mississippi. It is
within the context of this structural economic relationships between the GOP,
the Bush administration, American petroleum firms and the Middle Eastern
oil-producing nations that the events of 9/11 grew to fruition.
Program Highlights Include: Former Bush
(Sr.) Secretary of State James Baker’s role in restructuring Iraqi debt;
Baker’s relationship with the Carlyle Group; the Carlyle Group’s overlapping
interests and personnel with the New Bridge Enterprises crew (including Carlyle
co-founder Ed Mathias); Neil Bush’s associate John Howland; former SEC chief Ed
Breeden; Howland’s conflicting business interests; Milestone Merchant Partners
(part of the New Bridge nexus); the FBI’s investigation of the accounts of the
Saudi embassy (held in the Bush-connected Riggs Bank); the relationship between
the Texas/GOP/Bush/Middle Eastern economic connections and the milieu of the
Operation Green Quest raids.
1.
The discussion begins by highlighting the fact that Saudi Arabia has
pledged $1 billion in aid for the rebuilding of Iraq. (This should be
considered in the context of FTR#’s 390,
403, 409. There are indications that the Bush administration and the Saudis
may well have established a quid pro quo—the Saudis support the Bush adventure
into Iraq and the Bush administration covers up the Saudi role in 9/11. Note
that Iraq was a secular, Arab fascist state with a Shiite Muslim majority
dominated by a Sunni minority. View the annotated programs for a more complete
presentation of this hypothesis.) “Well, the numbers are in and the numbers don’t lie. At the
Madrid aid conference, Saudi Arabia pledged $1 billion in new loans and credits
for Iraq—and Germany and France pledged new dollars. . . .” (“The
End of the West” by Thomas Friedman; The
New York Times; 11/2/2003; p. 1; accessed at www.nytimes.com
.)
2.
Undertaking discussion of the structural economic relationships joining
the Bush administration and its most important members with the oil-producing
nations of the Middle East, the broadcast sets forth James Baker’s position as
overseer of Iraqi debt restructuring. In particular, this portion of the
broadcast notes Baker’s connections with Saudi Arabia. Again, consider this
information in the light of FTR#’s 390,
395, 403, 409. “Well ho, ho ho! It’s an early Christmas for James Baker
III. All year the elves at his law firm, Baker Botts of Texas, have been
working day and night to prevent the families of the victims of the September
11 attack from seeking information from Saudi Arabia on the Kingdom’s funding
of Al Qaeda fronts. It’s tough work, but this week came the payoff when
President Bush appointed Baker, the firm’s senior partner, to restructure the
debts of the nation of Iraq. And who will net the big bucks under Jim Baker’s
plan? Answer: his client, Saudi Arabia, which claims $30.7 billion in
reparations from the First Gulf war. . . .” (“Baker Takes the Loaf”
by Greg Palast; GregPalast.com;
12/8/2003; p. 1; accessed at www.GregPalast.com .)
3.
“ . . . This
takes the Bush administration’s Conflicts-R-Us appointments process to a new
low. Or maybe there’s no conflict at all. If you see Jim Baker’s new job as
working not to protect a new Iraqi democracy but to protect the loot of the old
theocracy of Saudi Arabia, the conflict disappears. Iraq’s debt totals
something on the order of $120 billion to $150 billion, depending on who’s
counting. And who’s counting in very important.” (Ibid.; p 2.)
4.
“Much of the
so-called debt to Saudi Arabia was given to Saddam Hussein to fight a proxy war
for the Saudis against their hated foe, the Shi’ia of Iran. And as disclosed by
a former Saudi diplomat, the kingdom’s sheiks handed about $7 billion to Saddam
under the table in the 1980’s to build an ‘Islamic bomb.’” (Idem.)
5.
Further developing the relationship of Baker to the Middle Eastern oil
producing milieu, the broadcast highlights the role of the Baker law firm
(Baker Botts) as the counsel to the Carlyle Group. “ . . . At 73, Baker is at the center of a
wheeling-dealing whirlwind. Baker Botts is tight with Enron, having represented
it in a major pipeline merger during Enron’s halcyon days. And the judge who
decided not to freeze assets of Enron executives had to recuse herself a few days
later from the case because she was, among other things, a former employee of
Baker Botts. Baker himself cautioned prudence when it came to dealing harshly
with Enron: ‘the proper response to Enron,’ he told students at the University
of Michigan in an April 2002 speech, ‘is not ‘do something’ but, like the
doctor, to ‘do no harm.’” (“Settling Some Debts” [“Mondo
Washington”] by James Ridgeway; Village
Voice; 12/10-16/2003; p. 1; accessed at www.villagevoice.com/issues/0350/mondo1.php
.)
6.
Note that Bush’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia is a former employee of
Baker Botts. “Robert
W. Jordan, also from Baker Botts, is Dubya’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, where
the law firm has a powerful, permanent presence—its website boasts nine main
offices: Austin, Dallas, and Houston, of course, plus New York, Washington, and
London, naturally and Moscow. The two others? Baku, capital of oil-rich
Azerbaijan, and Riyadh, in oil-rich Saudi Arabia. . . Baker Botts is slickest
when it comes to oil, but Baker himself has even wider interests. As senior
counsel to the Carlyle Group, the investment firm long associated with Bush
interests, Baker helps to oversee the operations of the nation’s 10th-largest
defense contractor, United Defense. . . . Baker has defended the Saudi
government against a trillion-dollar lawsuit brought by 9-11 families. . . .” (Ibid.; pp. 1-2.)
7.
Much of the rest of the program concerns Neil Bush and his connections
to the Middle Eastern oil milieu. In particular, this portion of the program
focuses on Neil Bush’s connections to Jamal Daniel, whose family helped to
found the Baath Party in both Syria and Iraq. Some of Neil Bush’s business
links with Daniel and other luminaries in the Middle East involve other key
personages in the Republican Party. (For more about Neil Bush, see FTR#’s 244, 249, 346.) “ . . . The trip
had been arranged and paid for by the Paris office of Jamal Daniel, a
Syrian-American businessman who keeps a low profile but who boasts important
connections with leaders and their families throughout the Middle East. Mr.
Daniel’s name surfaced this month when court papers from Neil Bush’s
acrimonious divorce proceedings found their way into the press.” (“Web
of Connections: the Personal and Business Ties Between Texas, Washington and
the Middle East” by Stephen Fidler and Thomas Catan; Financial Times; 12/12/2003; accessed at www.NYTimes.com
.)
8.
Among the business ventures joining Jamal Daniel with Neil Bush is the
Houston-based Crest Investment Corporation. “While many newspapers focused on the lurid
revelations of ‘sex romps’ on his trips in Asia, Mr. Bush’s deposition also
gave important insights into his business dealings. Among other things, Mr. Bush
said he was co-chairman of the Houston-based Crest Investment Corporation and
was paid $15,000 every three months for providing ‘miscellaneous consulting
services . . . such as answering phone calls when Jamail [sic] Daniel, the
other co-chairman, called and asked for advice.’ Mr. Daniel started cultivating
his relationship with the Bush family at about the time that Neil was caught up
in the Silverado scandal and facing a lawsuit, according to a US businessman
who knows him. . . .” (Ibid.; p. 2.)
9.
Another of the players in this scenario is John Howland—a Houston
businessman.“ .
. . Working closely with Mr. Bush and Mr. Daniel has been a third man: John
Howland, a Houston businessman whose companies have suffered bankruptcy and
who, on one occasion, was alleged by the owner of a company he ran of
self-dealing and of misusing company funds—an allegation he denies. The three
have worked together at Crest, where Mr. Howland acted as executive
vice-president. Mr. Bush, Mr. Howland and Mr. Daniel have also been directors
of a Swiss company called Silvermat, a financially troubled subsidiary of Crest
that was set up in 2000 to supply the hospitality industry. Mr. Howland is
listed as the chairman of Silvermat and Mr. Bush and Mr. Daniel as having
retired from the board.” (Idem.)
10.
Another of the players in Crest (along with Howland, Daniel and Neil
Bush) is Joseph Peacock, an original investor in Bush’s “Ignite!” educational
software company. (For more about Neil Bush’s recruitment of Saudi investors
for that company—in the immediate aftermath of 9/11—see FTR#346.) “There is evidence that Mr. Bush has received financing and
contacts for his personal business ventures from Mr. Daniel. Crest’s company
secretary, Joseph Peacock—a man involved in many of Mr. Daniel’s other
companies—was listed as one of the original investors in ‘Ignite!’ and has
lobbied potential investors on Neil Bush’s behalf. Mr. Bush went on a Middle
East trip in early 2002 to seek contributions for his company. He has
successfully secured funds from people connected to at least three ruling
families in the Middle East. . . .” (Ibid.; p. 3.)
11.
A major focus of the program is New Bridge Strategies—overlapping the
Carlyle Group and featuring some of the same individuals. Some see the Carlyle
Group as the institutional and structural model for New Bridge Strategies. (For
more about New Bridge Strategies and its role in Iraq, see FTR#433. For more about the Carlyle Group, see—among other
programs—FTR#’s 284, 347.) “ . . . Today,
Neil Bush’s business partners have a new venture, in keeping with the times.
New Bridge Strategies was set up this year to help companies secure contracts
in Iraq following the war. Mr. Howland is chairman and chief executive of the
company, while Mr. Daniel is a member of the advisory board. The company
briefly hit the headlines this autumn because of the impressive roster of
Republican heavyweights on its board, most of whom are linked to one or other
of the Bush administrations or to the family itself. The company’s website has
not been shy about advertising its contacts in both the Middle East and
Washington.” (Idem.)
12.
A former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, New Birdge
Strategies chairman Joe Allbaugh has a long history of political and
professional association with George Bush. “ ‘The opportunities evolving in Iraq today are of such an
unprecedented nature and scope that no other existing firm has the necessary
skills and experience to be effective both in Washington DC, and on the ground
in Iraq,’ it said. That phrasing has since been changed. The list of directors
and advisory board members is indeed impressive. Joe Allbaugh, the chairman of
the company, was head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) until
March 2003 and before that, chief of staff for George W. Bush while he ws Texas
governor. As national manager for the Bush-Cheney election campaign in 2000, he
was one side of the ‘Iron Triangle’ of aides credited with propelling him into
the presidency.” (Idem.)
13.
Another of the principals in the New Bridge business configuration is
Haley Barbour, just elected Republican governor of Mississippi. (For more about
Barbour, see FTR#433.) “Ed Rogers, the
company’s vice-chairman and director, was a top aide to George H.W. Bush while
he was in the White House. Lanny Griffith, another director, also worked in Mr.
Bush senior’s government and on his election campaigns. Haley Barbour, a former
chairman of the Republican National Committee who was elected last month as
governor of Mississippi, was on the board of Milestone Merchant Partners, a
Washington-based private equity fund affiliated with New Bridge, according to
the New Bridge website. A spokesman for Mr. Barbour, who is also close to the
Bush family, said he resigned from that position in February.” (Ibid.;
pp. 3-4.)
14.
Yet another of the intersecting corporate entities in the New Bridge
nexus is Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, a Republican lobbying firm. Still
another of the corporate stars in this constellation is Milestone Merchant
Partners, which features former SEC chief Richard Breeden, as well as Carlyle
Group co-founder Ed Mathias. “All three are partners at Barbour, Griffith & Rogers, a
Republican lobbying firm in Washington, D.C. The firm shares an office with New
Bridge at 1275 Pennsylvania Avenue, on the 10th floor. Milestone,
meanwhile, is hardly bereft of political contacts itself. Richard Breeden,
former chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the man
appointed to sort out the mess at WorldCom, is one the company’s advisory
board. So is Ed Mathias, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, the world’s best
connected private equity firm, which some people have seen as a forerunner of
New Bridge.” (Ibid.; p. 4.)
15.
More about John Howland, one of the lesser-known of the group: “Next to those
names, John Howland and Jamal Daniel are relatively unknown. Together in many
business transactions connecting Texas with the Middle East, they have been
linked to contentious deals, some of which have ended up in court. Mr. Howland
is a former US Air Force officer. He failed to become a pilot because of a
slight eyesight problem and ended his military career as a launch control
officer in nuclear missile bunkers. He said he had met Mr. Daniel in about
1989.” (Idem.)
16.
Highlighting the background of Jamal Daniel, the broadcast underscores
the role of Daniel’s family in the founding of the Ba’ath party in both Syria
and Iraq. (The Ba’ath party was the political party of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
For more about the Ba’ath party, see—among other programs—FTR#’s 287, 380.) “Mr. Daniel’s family, Christians originating from northern
Syria, is said to have been involved in the founding of the Ba’ath Party and
sustained links with it in both Syria and Iraq even after being expelled from
Syria in about 1966 after Hafez al-Assad came to power. Mr. Daniel has told
friends that when he was young Tariq Aziz, later foreign minister of Iraq, was
a visitor to the family home. . . .” (Idem.)
17.
No phrase describes Jamal Daniel better than that of “well-connected.”
More about his relationships of the ruling families of the Middle Eastern
oil-producing countries. “According to businessmen who know him, Mr. Daniel boasts
connections with the families of the rulers of at least five Middle East
countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon. At a conference in
Washington in April 2000, Mr. Daniel was introduced as a person ‘proud to call
[Yemeni] President Saleh a friend.’ Before he became president and chief
executive officer of new Bridge this year, Mr. Howland’s business career had met
controversy.” (Ibid.; pp. 4-5.)
18.
John Howland’s business integrity would appear to be HIGHLY unusual. As
noted by Greg Palast in the second article presented in this program, conflicts
of interest are anything but commonplace in the Bush family’s business milieu.
For the Bush family and their associates, business is routinely unusual. “In 1997, he was
embroiled in a bitter dispute with his then employer, Mohammed Bin Issa
Al-Jabar, a Saudi businessman, over allegations that more than $12m went
missing from his company while Mr. Howland was in charge. In a lawsuit filed in
Houston, Mr. Jaber said he had originally been approached with a business
proposal by Mr. Howland while the latter was president of the Texas-based
company, American Rice Inc.” (Ibid.; p. 5.)
19.
“The idea had
been to set up a company in Saudi Arabia that would import rice from American
Rice and then package it at a plant to be built in Jeddah, enabling the owners
to sell it more cheaply than rival companies. In 1992, Mr. Jaber set up Rice
Milling Trading Investments (RMTI) and hired Mr. Howland and another Houston
associate, George Prchal, giving them full authority to run it. . . . Mr.
Howland drew up a contract with American Rice to be the company’s exclusive
supplier. What Mr. Jaber did not know was that his top two executives were
still working for American Rice, meaning that they were on both sides of the
negotiating table. Mr. Jaber stated that Mr. Howland was receiving $250,000 a
year for running RMTI and a further $100,000 from its supplier, American Rice.
The result, industry experts told the court, was a highly unusual 50-year
contract heavily biased in American Rice’s favour.” (Idem.)
20.
Triangulating Howland’s conflict of interest between American Rice and
RMTI is Howland’s employment by a third firm that competed with the other two. “At the same
time, Mr. Howland had a third role working for another company that RMTI saw as
a potential competitor and which Mr. Daniel represented in the US. RMTI’s
investigators found business cards showing Mr. Howland and Mr. Prchal as
representing this company, Levant Grain, which was constructing a rice mill in
a free zone at the Syrian port of Tartous. Mr. Howland said on Thursday he had
been an officer of Levant, and that Levant was wholly owned by Crest, Mr.
Daniel’s company. . . .” (Idem.)
21.
“ . . . When the
Jeddah plant was nearing completion, Mr. Howland set up a $12m credit facility,
on behalf of RMTI, with the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia, to
finance American Rice’s sales. In 1996, a banker working for NCB informed Mr.
Jaber, to his surprise, that the $12m letter of credit had been exhausted. . .
. RMTI subsequently found more than a dozen offshore bank accounts linked to
these companies, in the Queensgate Bank in the Cayman Islands, in Panama and
elsewhere. Mr. Jaber estimated his losses in these ventures had run into a
further several million dollars. . . .American Rice is now under new management
following its emergence from bankruptcy.” (Ibid.; pp. 5-6)
22.
It appears that the aforementioned Haley Barbour was the primary
catalyst precipitating the joining many of these figures together. The presence
within the Reagan administration of many of these people also appears to have
been central to the formation of these relationships. “So how did some of the best-connected
Republican figures in Washington end up in business with this controversial
pair of Texas businessmen? The answer seems to be: Haley Barbour. Like many
agricultural firms, rice companies benefit from political connections. Mr. Howland
met Mr. Barbour while the latter was at the Reagan White House. When Mr.
Barbour left the administration, one of his first jobs as a consultant was for
American Rice. He was hired by Mr. Howland. It was through him that Mr. Barbour
got to know Mr. Daniel. Through a spokesperson, Mr. Barbour declined requests
for an interview.” (Ibid.; pp. 6-7.)
23.
Yet another star in the commercial constellation is Diligence, a
security firm established by former American and British intelligence
specialists. [Henry] Kissinger protégé and former US ambassador to Germany
Richard Burt is the chairman of Diligence, which has an overlapping directorate
with New Bridge and Milestone. “What is clear is that he [Barbour] helped make the
connection between Mr. Howland and Mr. Daniel and the Washington heavyweights
that give New Bridge its political heft. His firm was also instrumental in
bringing other companies into New Bridge’s fold, including Diligence, a
security firm set up by former US and British intelligence officers that is
affiliated to the company. Barbour, Griffith & Rogers provided initial
funding for Diligence, said Nick Day, a former UK intelligence officer and
co-founder of the company. Like New Bridge, Diligence was given also space at
BGR’s office in Washington DC. BGR also provided the company with its
well-connected chairman, Richard Burt, former US ambassador to Berlin, as well
as its impressive advisory board. Many of the names on that advisory
board—including Carlyle’s Ed Mathias—overlap with those of New Bridge and
Milestone.” (Ibid.; p. 7.)
24.
Like New Bridge, Diligence has benefited from the adventure in Iraq. “The
relationship between the companies became even closer after New Bridge found
the investor for Diligence’s new business in Iraq. In return for finding the
investor—the Kuwaiti businessman and member of parliament, Mohammed
Al-Saqer—New Bridge got a minority shareholding in the new Iraqi security firm.
Diligence Iraq had already escorted some of New Bridge’s clients into Iraq, he
said.” (Idem.)
25.
Noting the structural symmetry between Washingon D.C. and the Middle
East, the program underscores the fundamental role of personal and political
networking in the business relationships of both. “The idea behind the founding of New Bridge
shows an odd symmetry between Washington and the Middle East: that in both
places what matters is the ability to exploit connections to well-placed
individuals. According to Middle East specialists, the disclosures about New
Bridge will not help US efforts in the region. ‘In the Middle East, it will be
received as confirming the weary cynicism prevailing in the area about US
intentions in launching the attack on Iraq in the first place,’ said Richard
Murphy, senior fellow on the Middle East at the Council of Foreign Relations in
New York.” (Idem.)
26.
It is within the structural economic relationships between the power
elite of the Middle Eastern oil producing nations and the Bush/petroleum milieu
that the machinations of 9/11 took place. Recently the FBI began to subpoena
records of bank accounts belonging to the Saudi embassy. As discussed in FTR#431, the Riggs Bank (of which
Bush’s uncle Jonathan Bush is a director) handles the Saudi embassy’s account. “The FBI, in an
unprecedented move that has strained relations with a close ally on the war on
terrorism, has subpoenaed records for dozens of bank accounts belonging to the
Saudi Embassy, as part of an investigation into whether any of the hundreds of
millions of dollars Riyadh spends in the United States each year end up in the
hands of Muslim extremists, U.S. and Saudi officials said. . . .” (“FBI
Demands Saudi Embassy Divulge Bank Records” by Douglas Farah [Washington Post]; San Francisco Chronicle; 11/23/2003; p. A14.)
27.
“ . . . U.S. and
foreign intelligence agencies have documented the flow of money to terrorist
groups from organizations affiliated with charities that received funds from
wealthy Saudis and the Saudi government. Money for such charities often flows
through the embassy’s Islamic and cultural affairs bureau. The subpoenas were
issued several weeks after the May deportation of Fahad al Thumairy, who had
worked for the Islamic and cultural affairs section of the Saudi Consulate in
Los Angeles since 1996. Thumairy’s visa was revoked, and he was deported
because of suspected ties to terrorists, according to officials from the
Department of Homeland Security. . . .” (Idem.)
28.
Looking ahead to FTR#439,
the program discusses further developments in the investigation known as
Operation Green Quest. (For more about Operation Green Quest, see—among other
programs—FTR#’s 356, 357, 382, 387, 390,
406, 423, 425, 432, 433, 435.) Once again, the machinations in and around
9/11 took place within the structural economic relationships that exist between
the Bush/GOP petroleum milieu and the oil producing nations of the Middle East,
chiefly Saudi Arabia. “A secretive group of tightly connected Muslim charities,
think tanks and businesses based in Northern Virginia were used to funnel
millions of dollars to terrorists and launder millions more, according to court
records unsealed yesterday. An affidavit from Homeland Security agent David
Kane said that the Safa Group, also known as the SAAR network, in Herndon had
sent more than $26 million in untraceable money overseas and that leaders of
the organization ‘have committed and conspired to . . . provide material
support to foreign terrorist organizations.’” (“Terror Probe Points
to Va. Muslims: Local Network Provided Millions in Financing, Agency Charges”
by Douglas Farah; The Washington Post;
10/18/2003; P. A06.)
29.
“The probe of the
Herndon groups is the largest federal investigation of terrorism financing in
the world, authorities have said. And the unsealing of Kane’s report marks the
first time the government has alleged the main purpose of the Virginia
organizations, set up primarily with donations from a wealthy Saudi family, was
to fund terrorism and hide millions of dollars.” (Idem.)
30.
“In a five-year
period, four groups in the network sent more than $$26 million to the Isle of
Man. The initial money to set up the Safa Group was 304 million hand-carried in
1980 from Saudi Arabia by Ibrahim Hassaballa, Kane said. The heart of the
network in the early years was the SAAR Foundation, named for Sulaiman Abdul
Aziz Rajhi. While the SAAR Foundation legally dissolved in December 2000, Kane
said the company maintained a bank account that continued to receive hundreds
of thousands of dollars in wire transfers and deposits over the next year,
making it a ‘way-station for money being routed around the world by the Safa
Group.” (Idem.)