The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and other, unnamed agencies, are actively investigating Chief Executive Officer of Frontier Services Group, Erik Prince, all over again for money laundering and selling war services, according to the Intercept. Better known as the well-connected former Navy SEAL-turned-mercenary-for-hire and founder of the scandal-ridden private “security” firm Blackwater, the DOJ alleges Prince “brokered military services to foreign governments” restricted by the United Nations, and for money laundering.
It seems as if Prince wanted to play Prince of War by recreating Blackwater’s lucrative profits. Even though he tried to deal with Libya and China, he didn’t get nearly as far as he did with Blackwater before U.S. spies caught up to him, according to the report.
Profiting From Self-Defense In Restricted Countries
Instead of making money killing Iraqi civilians and Blackwater employees as he did in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. spies found Prince attempting to strike a military defense deal with Libya and a money laundering deal with China – while they were already investigating one of Prince’s illegal weapons dealings in Nigeria.
“Leading a double life” while working at FSG, Prince allegedly used the company’s resources and trade secrets to give him the credibility he needed to do business with foreign governments in what now looks like a desperate attempt to strike a deal with Libya by any means.
Prince peddled “self-defense” and “border security to Libya as a “means to stop migration,” but a source said Prince tried to turn his proposed “border security program” into a backdoor deal for a “kinetic operation.” To put it bluntly, the lethal operations are the mercenary equivalent of an up-sell, and money laundering just comes with the territory. Another source said these “re-invented” operations were,
“A form of mercenary mission-creep. ‘During the day, you do interdiction of migrants — not kinetic … But those routes are used by weapons smugglers and drug traffickers at night. Insurgents too. Erik’s guys can then be offered to the Libyans to help with their other problems. That’s how you get kinetic.'”
Former U.S. Naval officer Malcolm Nance called Prince’s Libyan plans “fantasy baseball” because Prince was using the European refugee crisis to put “Western mercenaries on the ground,” who were fully equipped with heavy high-tech weaponry and weaponized vehicles. Prince’s move exploits Libya instead of helping them.
From War Services To Money Laundering
Getting paid is another matter. Prince brokered the defense deal without the proper International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) licensing, which requires that anyone or any company doing business with a country on the United Nations Security Council’s Arms Embargo Direct Commercial Sales restricted country list must first obtain an ITAR authorization to do so.
Because Libya is on the restricted list, Prince did not have authorization and, as a result, Libya couldn’t pay him legally. Sources said he used Chinese intelligence to grease the wheels of the Bank of China, which must be true since he successfully opened an account at it’s Macau branch afterwards.
According to two U.S. intelligence officials read in to the investigation,
“It was not a personal account … He was doing it for the purpose of what is considered now — in the investigation — money laundering on behalf of the Libyans.”
Simply put, selling military services to Libya without ITAR authorization is illegal, but using a Chinese bank outside to stash his profits of U.S. reach is what made the U.S. spies look at him. What he did is the literal definition of war profiteering and money laundering – the straw that broke the DOJ’s back.
Libya, The New ‘Iraq For Sale’
The Intercept’s sources paint a lucrative picture of his Libyan dealings. Prince knows the picture well from his time at Blackwater, which was even more lucrative and plagued by scandal. The 2006 documentary Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers by Robert Greenwald covers both extensively. Released by Brave New Films, it’s heralded as “the” eye-opening blockbuster on the war.
Iraq for Sale details Prince’s war profiteering off the backs of U.S. soldiers, Iraqi civilians, its own employees, and the U.S. government that took place between 2000 and 2006, the same years during which Blackwater received six no-bid contracts from President George W. Bush’s administration, totaling just over $504 million while operating alongside CACI, KBR Halliburton, and Titan, without oversight.
Known for pinching pennies instead of supporting its soldiers adequately, Prince eventually left Blackwater, but not before dozens of civil, criminal, and congressional investigations opened. Iraq for Sale quickly received a rare 100 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and keeps it to this day.
War Profiteering Pattern Catches Up
Prince’s dealings has the FSG corporate board beyond worried. In response to a October 2015 BuzFeed story about Prince’s Nigerian dealings that echoed what he did in Iraq, and is now doing in Libya, the FSG corporate board terminated two of Prince’s associates’ contracts.
Around the same time, the FSG board passed resolutions to not only strip Prince of most of his chairman’s responsibilities, but also to confirm that FSG does not, “engage in activities that require ITAR licenses.” According to a source via the Intercept,
“Prince was operating a ‘secret skunkworks program’ while parading around war and crisis zones as FSG’s founder and chairman. ‘Erik wants to be a real, no-shit mercenary,’ said the source. ‘He’s off the rails exposing many U.S. citizens to criminal liabilities. Erik hides in the shadows … and uses [FSG] for legitimacy.'”
Deny, Deny, Deny
As is standard operating procedure for true criminals (and politicians), Prince denies knowledge of any current investigations, according to his lawyer Victoria Toensing. Interestingly, though, Toensing acknowledged the investigation when she vehemently denied the money laundering allegations. She actually said they were “total bullshit.”
The FSG also denied knowledge of Prince’s dealings, noting its strict protocols for dealing with a “126.1 country,” which is a reference to the UN restricted country list requiring ITAR authorizations because,
“‘Many of these services and articles are designed to kill people or defend against killing people,’ said John Barker, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for export controls.”
The official FSG statement in response to the Intercept story notes FSG did not authorize and was not aware of any of the alleged illegal conduct Prince may have been involved in or used the FSG name for, noting that FSG is “strictly a Transportation & Third Party Logistics business,” headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and doesn’t provide the services Prince allegedly offered to Libya anywhere, let alone to a country like Libya.
The DOJ still hasn’t uncovered the exact nature of the relationship between China and Prince, according to the Intercept, but they realize that violating the ITAR regulations is probably just one of a number of illegal acts he’s committed. If further investigations pan out, Prince’s selling war services and money laundering could lead to a lengthy laundry list of crimes not yet anticipated.
For instance, treason isn’t mentioned, but Prince’s ties to Chinese intelligence have the distinct possibility of leading DOJ investigators to uncover act more sinister that warrant treason charges. This is just speculation, though.
Was Prince’s attempt to sell his private military “self-defense” services to Libya an attempt to recreate his Blackwater billions, making Libya for sale just like Iraq was? It certainly seems like it, but we’ll have to wait for formal charges against him to know for sure – if there are any.
Featured Image Screenshots Via The Intercept And Iraq For Sale
