(Richard) Perle, Ex-Pentagon Aide, May Face SEC Suit Over Hollinger Role

[UpInArms]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aY248MKyPfdM&refer=us

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has warned former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle that it may sue him for his role in the alleged looting of Hollinger International Inc., the Chicago-based media company once controlled by Conrad Black.

Perle, 63, a Hollinger director, said in a telephone interview that he received and responded to a so-called Wells notice, a formal warning that the agency's enforcement staff has determined that evidence of wrongdoing is sufficient to bring a civil lawsuit.

The SEC staff, which has reviewed Perle's response, plans to urge the regulatory body's commissioners to authorize a suit against him, according to people familiar with the matter.

Hollinger International officials, shareholders and the SEC allege that Black and former Hollinger President David Radler wrongfully diverted proceeds from the sale of some of the chain's newspapers for their personal use. Perle was a member of Hollinger International's three-member executive committee, with Black and Radler, from 1996 to 2003.

<snip>

The board at Hollinger International, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper, ousted Black in January 2004. The company later sued Black, saying in a 513-page report issued in August that he and other top executives looted the company of more than $400 million over seven years. The SEC in November sued Black, Radler and Hollinger Inc., the Toronto-based company Black used to control Hollinger International, for fraud.

...more...

related:

Lord Black under investigation for looting Hollinger

http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10001008.shtml

US Federal prosecutors at the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, confirmed Tuesday that Lord Conrad Black (a Canadian who became a member of the UK House of Lords) and his associate David Radler in Hollinger International - owner of the Chicago Sun-Times and former owner of the UK's Daily Telegraph, are the subjects of criminal investigations into looting Hollinger.

<snip>

Last August, a scathing report detailing allegations of 'self-righteous, and aggressive looting' by Lord Conrad Black and his associates who controlled Hollinger International, was presented to the SEC.

Lord Black and his associates were accused of looting the company's money on a grand scale when Black, was chairman of Hollinger International. The company was 'victimised' by its controlling shareholders, who took millions in payments that should have gone to the company, according to the report.

The report said the company was 'systematically manipulated . . . in a manner that violated every fiduciary duty.’ A summary of the report was given the title ‘A Corporate Kleptocracy.’

‘Not once or twice, but on dozens of occasions Hollinger was victimised by its controlling shareholders as they transferred to themselves and their affiliates more than $400 million in the last seven years,’’ according to the report commissioned by a special board committee of the newspaper publisher.

...more...

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1111581073031_30/?hub=World

Black, associates facing U.S. criminal probe

For the first time, U.S. prosecutors are confirming that they are conducting a criminal investigation in Conrad Black's embattled Hollinger International Inc. empire.

The criminal probe includes newspaper tycoon Conrad Black and Hollinger's former president and chief operating officer David Radler, The Globe and Mail reported.

The investigation is seeking to find out whether Black and others "fraudulently diverted corporate assets and opportunities owned by Hollinger International to themselves and to companies that they controlled."

According to media reports, the investigation was revealed in documents filed in a Chicago court by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.

The government is seeking an order to temporarily deny Black and others access to unidentified evidence from a civil suit until Aug. 1, a move some U.S. legal experts say means the investigation is coming to an end.

...more...

[leftchick]

1. would I LOVE to see that criminal frog marched....

Like his mentor Goebbels was.....

[GCP]

2. I'd love to see him do the perp walk with handcuffs behind his back

That would make my year. Bush doing the perp walk with his hands behind his back would make my decade.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. The day this bastard does the frog walk

I promise to get seriously drunk. Anyone else with me?

(I'm not a drinker, so it will only take a couple, Margarita's preferably. Thanks.)

[Cooley Hurd]

4. I'll toast to that!

:toast:

When I think of the terribly fucked up things he's responsible for...:grr::grr::grr:

[leftchick]

5. I have not had a drink in a while either...

but pour me a margarita Rita if that bastard goes down!

[Spazito]

8. LOL, let's make that international!

I, too, commit to having more than a few drinks in celebration if that piece of horse puckey does the frog walk! Hollinger and all his buddies, especially Perle, are despised here.

[acmavm]

6. Oh brother, this is funny. They're all sticky fingered crooks. And bush**

just appointed the another evil neo to be head of the World Bank.

The irony is astounding.

[seemslikeadream]

7. Richard Perle

The principals have also assisted each other down through the years. Frequently. In 1973 Richard Perle used his (and Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson's) influence as a senior staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee to help Wolfowitz obtain a job with the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. In 1982, Perle hired Feith in ISP as his Special Counsel, and then as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Negotiations Policy. In 2001, DOD Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz helped Feith obtain his appointment as Undersecretary for Policy. Feith then appointed Perle as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board. In some cases, this mutual assistance carries risks, as for instance when Perle's hiring of Bryen as his Deputy in ISP became an extremely contentious issue in Perle's own Senate appointment hearings as Assistant Secretary.

Every appointment/hiring listed above involved classified work for which high-level security clearances and associated background checks by the FBI were required. When the level of the clearance is not above generic Top Secret, however, the results of that background check are only seen by the hiring authority. And in the event, if the appointee were Bryen or Ledeen and the hiring authority were Perle, Wolfowitz or Feith, the appointee(s) need not have worried about the findings of the background check. In the case of Perle hiring Bryen as his deputy in 1981, for instance, documents released in 1983 under the Freedom of Information Act indicate that the Department provided extraordinarily high clearances for Bryen without having reviewed more than a small portion of his 1978-79 FBI investigation file.



RICHARD PERLE: A HABIT OF LEAKING

Perle came to Washington for the first time in early 1969, at the age of 28, to work for a neo-con think tank called the "Committee to Maintain a Prudent Defense Policy." Within months, Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson offered Perle a position on his staff, working with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. And within months after that--less than a year--Perle was embroiled in an affair involving the leaking of a classified CIA report on alleged past Soviet treaty violations.

The leaker (and author of the report) was CIA analyst David Sullivan, and the leakee was Richard Perle. CIA Director Stansfield Turner was incensed at the unauthorized disclosure, but before he could fire Sullivan, the latter quit. Turner urged Sen. Jackson to fire Perle, but he was let off with a reprimand. Jackson then added insult to injury by immediately hiring Sullivan to his staff. Sullivan and Perle became close friends and co-conspirators, and together established an informal right-wing network which they called "the Madison Group," after their usual meeting place in--you might have guessed--the Madison Hotel Coffee Shop.

more
http://www.counterpunch.org/green02282004.html


Should Perle be Prosecuted for Spying for Israel and Sabotaging President Clinton's Foreign Policy?
12-Mar-03
Richard Perle
When Richard Perle called investigative reporter Sy Hersh a terrorist, he opened the door to a thorough investigation of his own background. Perle was caught spying for Israel in 1970 while working in Congress. And in 1983 he was caught taking payments from an Israeli weapons manufacturer while working in the Reagan Pentagon. In 1996, Perle sought to undermine President Clinton's Middle East peace efforts by urging Benjamin Netanyahu to attack Iraq and other countries, to occupy Palestinian territories, and to end the peace process. In 2000, Perle was caught trying to undermine the Clinton-Barak-Arafat negotiations at Camp David. So why was Perle never arrested and charged? We demand a Special Prosecutor!




Richard Perle Sabotaged Mideast Peace Talks in July 2000
11-Mar-03
Richard Perle
In July 2000, Richard Perle contacted the Israeli government and deliberately tried to sabotage President Clinton's Mideast Peace talks at Camp David, when Clinton worked around the clock with Ehud Barak and Yassir Arafat to find a formula for peace. Barak's people reported the matter to Clinton, and Bush was forced to publicly disavow the efforts on his behalf to sabotage negotiations. Bush said he 'disagreed' with what Perle did, as if his campaign had not directed and/or approved of it. At the time, there were demands that Perle be prosecuted for illegally interfering with American foreign policy. Naturally, Bush's new AG John Ashcroft scrubbed the case.
http://archive.democrats.com/preview.cfm?term=Richard%20Perle

Anger at peace talks 'meddling'

Political scandal in US as Bush advisers tell Israelis to be ready to walk out of Camp David negotiations
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,342854,00.html

[HereSince1628]

9. I thought Perles was still a member of the defense advisory board

I know he stepped down from the lead role but I though he was still involved...what did I miss, when?

[UpInArms]

10. Hawkish Bush Advisor Perle Quits Defense Policy Board

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0226-04.htm

WASHINGTON - Richard Perle, one of the most outspoken advocates for invading Iraq, has quietly resigned from the Defense Policy Board, an influential bipartisan Pentagon advisory group.

Perle informed Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld that he was quitting the board in a letter dated Feb. 18, although a week later a Pentagon list of board members still included him. A copy of the letter was obtained by Knight Ridder.


KNOWN AS THE 'PRINCE OF DARKNESS'
Right-wing US politician Richard Perle
(AFP/File/Stephen Jaffe)

Perle's resignation comes as President Bush, who had hoped to ride popular support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to a second term, finds his administration facing a growing number of congressional, legal and internal investigations into dubious prewar intelligence on Iraq and lucrative contracts for Iraqi reconstruction.

In his letter, Perle said he was resigning after 17 years on the board so that the Bush administration and the Department of Defense would no longer be associated with his outspoken views on Iraq and other matters.

...more...

probably got his palm greased under the table to leave before the smell got too bad :shrug:

[HereSince1628]

11. Thanks,

[PunkPop]

12. Please oh please let it be so

But with today's lax scrutiny and insufficient prosecution of some of the most egregious corporate criminals I am not optimistic.

[Toots]

13. Since this is a Civil suit Bush* can't even use a Pardon.

Sue the Bastard for all he has and then some.........and he would still be getting off light..

[swag]

14. A year from now,

I'd be surprised if there's not some grand square in Hell that is named after Richard Perle.

[leveymg]

15. Is Patrick Fitzgerald closing in on the OSP gang?

"According to media reports, the investigation was revealed in documents filed in a Chicago court by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois."

That's Fitzgerald's office, I believe. His Grand Jury is investigating the Valerie Plame case and the AIPAC-OSP espionage matter. Looks like they're going after Perle on other charges. My guess is that this is not unrelated.

[elaineb]

16. Oh Please God, Please God, Please God, Please God, PLEEEAASE

I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[Judi Lynn]

18. Make that a double.

Young Perle.

[chlamor]

17. Perle, Ex-Pentagon Aide May Face SEC Suit Over Hollinger Role

Perle, Ex-Pentagon Aide, May Face SEC Suit Over Hollinger Role

March 23 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has warned former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle that it may sue him for his role in the alleged looting of Hollinger International Inc., the Chicago-based media company once controlled by Conrad Black.

Perle, 63, a Hollinger director, said in a telephone interview that he received and responded to a so-called Wells notice, a formal warning that the agency's enforcement staff has determined that evidence of wrongdoing is sufficient to bring a civil lawsuit.
The SEC staff, which has reviewed Perle's response, plans to urge the regulatory body's commissioners to authorize a suit against him, according to people familiar with the matter.

<snip>

Perle received $3.1 million in undisclosed bonuses at Hollinger for running an Internet investment arm called Hollinger Digital, according to the company report.The report said that Perle and Gerald Hillman, a friend of Perle, convinced Black to put $2.5 million of company cash in Trireme Partners LP, a venture-capital fund that Perle and Hillman had set up to invest in homeland-security technology after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

<snip>

At Hollinger, Perle was the only non-management member of the executive committee, which had wide authority to approve transactions. Perle approved deals that let Black and Radler buy Hollinger newspapers for themselves at below-market prices and loan money to companies they controlled, causing at least $10 million in losses, according to the report by Breeden.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aY248MKyPfdM&refer=us