Brokers of Death arms case
The 'Brokers of Death' arms case (officially United States v. Samuel Evans et al
Overview
In December 1985, the case began when Iranian banker
In April 1986, 17 suspects were indicted in the case, accused of planning to use false end-user certificates to bypass the US arms embargo against Iran. Three suspects were named as retired Israeli general Avraham Bar-Am, William Northrop, and Samuel Evans. The deal was said to involve over 100 aircraft, as well as tanks and missiles.[5] Tanks were promised by Bar-Am, who said they were Soviet tanks captured from the Syrian Army in 1973.[4] Indictments were issued on 5 May 1986.[6] According to Victor Ostrovsky's The Other Side of Deception, a contact at Mossad asked Ostrovsky to call Bar-Am on 8 April 1986 and tell him that the deal had been approved. Ostrovsky said he made the call, knowing that Bar-Am was walking into a trap - his contact had told him that Bar-Am's contact had been "turned" by the FBI.[7]
Evans' lawyer later told the court that Evans had first been introduced to Hashemi by
In November 1986 Iran-Contra affair revelations forced the Justice Department to launch a review of the case.[12] After a Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case narrowed mail and wire fraud prosecutions, 46 of the 55 charges were dropped in mid-1988.[13][14] The case against the 12 defendants was finally dropped in January 1989, with prosecutor Rudy Giuliani conceding that the prosecution was unable to prove that the defendants did not believe the planned deals "were officially sanctioned or that approval of the United States for such sales could be obtained".[6] The planned deals were being arranged at the same time as the White House was secretly seeking to arrange arms sales to Iran (including suspending enforcement of the Arms Export Control Act in January 1986[15]), in what became known as the Iran-Contra affair; some evidence indicated that defendants were aware of these efforts. Some defendants were close associates of Adnan Khashoggi, who became a middle-man in arms sales to Iran which were officially approved and carried out.[3]
Books
- Hermann Moll and Michael Leapman (1988), Broker of Death: An Insider's Story of the Iran Arms Deals Macmillan, ISBN 978-0333459423
References
- ^ James Traub, New York, 8 February 1987, The Katzenjammer Falcon
- ^ a b c d Los Angeles Times, 4 August 1988, Iran Arms Dealers May Use Secret CIA Links as Defense
- ^ a b William C. Rempel, Los Angeles Times, 5 January 1989, 12 Freed of Charges in 'Brokers of Death' Arms Case
- ^ a b c d Douglas Frantz, Chicago Tribune, 3 August 1986, Tapes Implicate Israel In Arms Deal
- ^ Arnold H. Lubasch, The New York Times, 23 April 1985, 17 ARE CHARGED IN A PLOT TO SELL WEAPONS TO IRAN
- ^ a b Arnold H. Lubasch, The New York Times, 5 January 1989, U.S. DROPS CHARGES IN IRAN ARMS CASE
- ^ Victor Ostrovsky, The Other Side of Deception, Chapter 12
- ^ a b Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 29 January 1987, Some Defendants in the Arms to Iran Case Allowed to Return to Their Home Countries, but Israelis Den
- ^ Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times, 17 December 1986, Warned Casey 3 Times on Iran Funds, Furmark Says : Businessman Claims He Got Middlemen Together
- ^ Stuart Diamond, The New York Times, 29 November 1986, U.S. EMPLOYED A 'STING' SETUP FOR ARMS TO IRAN
- ^ John J. Goldman and Gaylord Shaw, Los Angeles Times, 14 November 1986, Defendant in Iran Arms Smuggling Seeks to Subpoena Bush, 2 White House Aides
- ^ William C. Rempel, Los Angeles Times, 7 November 1996, U.S. to Reassess Charges Against Iran Arms Sellers
- ^ Stuart Diamond, The New York Times, 17 July 1988, Big Arms Smuggling Case Stalls, Tangled in Legal and Political Troubles
- ^ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, 31 July 1987, Judge Orders Dismissal of 46 out of 50 Counts of Indictment Against Four Israeli Arms Merchants Char
- ^ William C. Rempel, Los Angeles Times, 30 November 1986, Behind the Scenes of Secret Iran Deal : Arms Trade: A Shadowy, Sinister World