KROLL
THE CONSPIRATOR
Who investigates the investigator?
Sightings from The Catbird Seat
~ o ~
The Windfalls of War
Kroll Inc.
The Center for Public Integrity
Background
Kroll Associates, which specialized in internal fraud investigation initially, was founded in 1972 by the current executive chairman Jules Kroll. After the acquisitions of firms specializing in data recovery, forensic accounting, and corporate restructuring, the company managed to expand its traditional investigative expertise into a global risk consulting practice.
In 1997, in a $101-million deal, the firm merged with the O'Gara Company, a company that traces its history back to the 1870s. Four years later, after a disagreement over which direction the company should take, Kroll-O'Gara sold its armored vehicle unit and dropped O'Gara from its name.
Kroll Inc. is headquartered in New York, and the company has more than 60 offices in almost 20 countries.
Iraq contracts
According to the Financial Times, Kroll Inc. has a contract with USAID to provide security for the agency in Iraq.
Kroll hired Aldwin Wight, a former commanding officer of the British 22nd Special Air Service Regiment and the Sultan's Special Force in Oman, to oversee company operations in Iraq. The value of the contract with USAID is not known, and it is not mentioned on any lists provided by the agency under a Freedom of Information Act request or on the agency's Web site listing of contracts.
Company spokesperson Jodie Rosenbloom told the Center, "We have been working for the USAID since the end of August, providing security for USAID staff in Iraq. The terms of the contract have not yet been finalized, therefore I cannot comment in any further detail on this matter."
Government ties
James R. Bucknam, Kroll's executive vice president for operations, served as senior adviser to former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh for three years and was an assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York from 1987 to 1993.
President and CEO Michael G. Cherkasky was chief of the Investigations Division for the New York County District Attorney's Office, investigating mafia chieftain John Gotti and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. From 1978 to 1993, he served in the district attorney's office in New York County in various capacities, save for a few months in 1985 when he ran the re-election campaign of Manhattan district attorney Robert Morgenthau.
Founder and chairman Jules Kroll started his career as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan.
Board member Judith C. Areen, who is dean of the Georgetown University Law Center, served as general counsel to President Carter's Reorganization Project and as special counsel for the Task Force on Regulatory Reform in the Carter White House....
March 16, 2008
From:"V.K. Durham" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>
To: "V.K. DURHAM, DURHAM HOLDING TRUST, TIAS 12087" <vkdtdht@pionet.net>
Subject: LEO WANTA HAD ACCESS TO THE RED MERCURY FILE; SO DID "ELLIOT SPITZER"
Ambassador Wanta has sent both Patriotlad and myself very credible, undeniable, irrefutable documentation and evidence.. I really do not think we are objecting to, or 'discrediting' or "denying" Ambassador Wanta.. Of all people.. I know what Ambassador, Queens Knight, Sir Leo Wanta is confronted with.. it's just that MI-6 operative.. associated with Ambassador "Sir" Wanta I personally object to..
Aside from this going as a response to PATRIOTLAD's Articles.. This is also going to those men and women currently investigating this MONEY LAUNDERING all the way back to ROSEBUD and PROJECT HAMMER.
Gentlemen: I believe you will all be interested in this as it corresponds with U.S. Dept. of the Treasury Agent, Marion Aiken (Akien, Akiens, Aikens) ERKAV documents which names many of the same names banks and so forth..
Further, the previous LEO WANTA HAD ACCESS TO GOOD, CLEAN, CLEAR FUNDS IN 1991 contains names of individuals and banks contained in those files hand carried to ELLIOT SPITZER involving the 1991 BANK FAILURES and BRADY BONDS and VINCE FOSTERS & RUSSELL HERMAN'S 'HOMICIDE'S.. and http://www.theantechamber.net/V_K_Durham/More911FinancialTerror.htm .
However there was the tripple "F"s (find 'em, fluck 'em and 'forget 'em', and tripple "D's" of Deny, Discredit and Destroy.. all TOP LEVEL stuff..
"Every single bit of this has been covered up by the Department of Justice since the Clinton Administration.. and ordered Do not investigate per Jamie Gorelick of the DoJ infamous memorandum.
http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/testimony/supplementarymaterial.pdf ..
One must inevitably ask WHY!?
LEO WANTA HAD ACCESS TO THE RED MERCURY FILE
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=120621
HAARETZ: ELIOT SPITZER WAS AIMING TO BE THE FIRST JEWISH AMERICAN PRESIDENT?
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=120634 and
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/963139.html
Are you aware of these Corporations & Individuals:?
The True Owners of the Federal Reserve
What this doesn't show is that the true owners of the Federal Reserve are eight so-called Jewish families. These families control the entire FED, and only three reside in American. According to page 609 of Called To Serve, that source stated:
The Eight principal stock holders of the US federal reserve are: Rothschilds of London and Berlin, Lazard Bros-Paris, Israel Moses Schiff-Italy, Kuhn and Loeb-Germany, Warburg-Hamburg, Lehman Bros-NY, Goldman and Sachs-NY and Rockefellers-NY.
Do federal income tax revenues pay for any government services and, if so, which government services are funded by federal income taxes?
Answer: No. The money trail is very difficult to follow, in this instance, because the IRS is technically a trust with a domicile in Puerto Rico.
See 31 U.S.C. 1321(a)(62). As such, their records are protected by laws which guarantee the privacy of trust records within that territorial jurisdiction, provided that the trust is not also violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
They are technically not an "agency" of the federal government, as that term is defined in the Freedom of Information Act and in the Administrative Procedures Act. The governments of the federal territories are expressly excluded from the definition of "agency" in those Acts of Congress. See 5 U.S.C. 551(1)(C). (See also the Answer to Question 5 above.)
All evidence indicates that they are a money laundry, extortion racket, and conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1951 and 1961 et seq.
They appear to be laundering huge sums of money into foreign banks, mostly in Europe, and quite possibly into the Vatican. See the national policy on money laundering at 31 U.S.C. 5341.
The final report of the Grace Commission, convened under President Ronald Reagan, quietly admitted that none of the funds they collect from federal income taxes goes to pay for any federal government services. The Grace Commission found that those funds were being used to pay for interest on the federal debt, and income transfer payments to beneficiaries of entitlement programs like federal pension plans. [source: http://www.supremelaw.org/reading.list.htm ]
But, there is more, thanks to my readers who so graciously provide quality information via email.. such as this:
Spitzer was up to his ears
in the 911 cover up.
Spitzer scandals continue.
This comes out of Henk Russenaars [Foreign News Correspondent] Camp..
In 2004, Eliot Spitzer was asked to investigate 9/11 by 66% of New Yorkers. Those pleas were ignored. 51% of the USA wants Bush and Cheney investigated for 9/11, according to a Zogby poll last week.
On the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attack, Brooklyn activist newspaper the New York Megaphone breaks this exclusive story:
NY Governor Eliot Spitzer filed an amicus brief on 1/15/03 on behalf of the World Trade Center's controversial lease-holder, the real estate magnate Larry Silverstein. This document shows that Spitzer, as Attorney General, helped Silverstein get the whopping $4.5 billion windfall for the 9/11 attacks. The record is clear: Spitzer helped reverse a lower court's decision, by making credible Silverstein's argument that the two different plane crashes on 9/11/01 should be compensated as two different terrorist attacks.
His amicus brief has never been reported before today, in print or online. It was discovered in the court archives on the 17th floor of the 2nd Circuit Court (NYC), and released to the New York Megaphone by attorney Carl Person.
In reporter Sander Hicks's exclusive story, author and lawyer Carl Person says: "I was surprised to see that Spitzer had used his position as attorney general to support one private litigant over another. Normally, this is not done."
Hicks' story also covers Governor Spitzer's recent scandals with police spying on rival Joe Bruno, the Roger Stone voice mail threat, as well as new information and interviews regarding the Spitzer links to Kroll executives Michael Cherkasky and Jerome Hauer. Hicks hands in an original interview with Jerome Hauer, probing his documented links to anthrax suspect Steven Hatfill. Hauer is widely believed to be the source of the White House's foreknowledge about the anthrax attacks on 9/11/01.
In 2004, Eliot Spitzer was asked to investigate 9/11 by 66% of New Yorkers. Those pleas were ignored. 51% of the USA wants Bush and Cheney investigated for 9/11, according to a Zogby poll last week.
This is the 6th issue of the New York Megaphone, a quarterly newspaper published by activist writers and "Citizen Journalists Pursuing the Unreported Story" at the Vox Pop coffeehouse and community center in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. http://voxpopnet.net
"The Real Spitzer Scandal" is currently distributed in a print run of 40,000 for the Fall NY Megaphone, distributed throughout NYC. Circulation is estimated to be over 62,000. "The Real Spitzer Scandal" is also online, free and in full, at http://www.nymegaphone.com/node/24
This issue of the New York Megaphone also includes a wide variety of quality original reporting, small business features, and humor.
Hicks' original interview with "bio-terror expert" Jerome Hauer is at http://www.voxpopnet.net/podcasts/hauer.mp3
The Spitzer/Silverstein Amicus Brief is at: http://voxpopnet.net/Documents/spitzerbrief.pdf
The story was reported and written by Sander Hicks, with reporting help from Igor Kossov and Kempshall McAndrew.
Contact: Sander Hicks, Publisher, NY Megaphone
718 940 2084 sander@voxpopnet.net
TO CONTACT GOVERNOR SPITZER'S NYC PR OFFICE:
Jennifer Givner
jennifer.givner@chamber.state.ny.us
212 681 4640
[Ed.: See also, The Nation's Top Ten Worst State Attorneys General]
______________________________
"The Real Spitzer Scandal"
"Eliot Spitzer is like the good-looking bouncer in a bar, who is secretly dealing drugs," explained forensic microbiologist Mike Copass. We were in a San Diego bar this July, down near the water in Ocean Beach. Copass had acted as a facilitator of San Diego's 9/11 Citizen's Grand Jury, an extra-legal group which mounted a mock trial in April. Copass has degrees from Stanford and Harvard, and an eager glint in his eye. Despite his preppy appearance, Copass makes some pretty radical allegations:
That Eliot Spitzer acted as a firewall, preventing public disclosure of his friends' roles in the anthrax attacks that occurred shortly after 9/11, in addition to facilitating his associates' windfall from the bloated insurance pay-outs at the World Trade Center. He even accuses Spitzer of covering up the real perpetrators of the 9/11 attack itself.
Last fall, Eliot Spitzer was swept into the governor's mansion with 70 per cent of the vote. His public reputation was that of a heroic fighter of white collar crime. Earlier he bragged about being "very close" to Hillary Clinton. He hinted he wouldn't refuse an invitation to run for vice president, if his friend Hillary got the nomination.
But this summer in Albany, the Spitzer façade cracked. Instead of creating consensus, Spitzer's team spent its time plotting to unseat Republican rivals in the Legislature sometimes at the ballot box, sometimes using the police. His own attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, is now investigating the governor's office's misuse of state troopers to monitor political rival Joe Bruno. To minority leader James Tedisco, Spitzer recently snapped, "I'm a fucking steamroller, and I'll roll over you."
No major media outlet has paid attention to the San Diego Citizens Grand Jury's indictments of Rudy Giuliani, or his former "terror-expert" Jerome Hauer. The Megaphone received documents recently that indicate Eliot Spitzer's social connections may be preventing him from investigating 9/11.
There's a scandal in Albany, but police spying on Bruno is just the tip of the iceberg.
Spitzer & Silverstein: The Amicus Brief
Prescient New York real estate baron Larry Silverstein became primary lease-holder on the World Trade Center a mere six weeks before 9/11. It had never changed hands before. For a down payment, Silverstein put up only $14 million of his own money, and his friends at the powerful investment bank Blackstone Group kicked in another $111 million.
After 9/11, Silverstein demanded a whopping $7 billion insurance payout, in the form of two $3.5 billion payments. He argued the two different plane crashes were two separate "occurrences" of two separate attacks.The Megaphone has now learned that as attorney general, Spitzer got involved behind the scenes, and in the courts, filing an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief on Silverstein's behalf on Jan. 15, 2003.
For years, this brief languished in the files of the public records room on the 17th floor of the Second Circuit Court in Manhattan, until it was discovered and brought to The New York Megaphone by NYC attorney and author Carl Person. The court ended up agreeing with Spitzer and Silverstein, over-turning the decision of a lower court. Spitzer helped midwife a fat compromise and an eventual $4.5 billion payout for Silverstein. The Megaphone's multiple requests for comment from Governor Spitzer were ignored.
Attorney Carl Person told The Megaphone, "I was surprised to see that Spitzer had used his position as attorney general to support one private litigant over another. Normally, this is not done…Silverstein could well have been someone who destroyed evidence concerning the 9/11 events by apparently ordering or consenting to the tearing (pulling) down of 7 WTC and the removal of the debris from his multiple ground leased premises thereafter."
Silverstein's World Trade Center Building 7 collapsed at 5:20 p.m. on 9/11 without being hit by an airplane. Thirty-seven eyewitnesses working on the ground as firefighters, EMTs, and reporters, recalled being warned in advance the tower was coming down. The official story however, claims a fire ignited a fuel tank in the building, hastening its sudden collapse.
WTC 7 was the NY headquarters of CIA and the SEC office investigating Enron. 9/11 skeptics believe the building was taken down by controlled demolition.
Larry Silverstein himself said in a 2002 episode of PBS's Frontline that on 9/11 he recalled remarking, "Maybe the smartest thing to do is pull it…they made that decision to pull and we watched the building collapse."
Silverstein later claimed that by "pull," he meant removing firefighters, not pulling the building down. However, all firefighters had been "pulled" from the building three hours earlier.
The Kroll Connection
This past August, another scandal radiated from the Spitzer circle. This time it was Nixon's arch-strategist Roger Stone leaving a threatening voice mail for Spitzer's dad, Bernard. Stone allegedly claimed he would subpoena the elder Spitzer for the $5 million in illegal loans Spitzer senior made to his son during his 1998 Attorney General campaign. Stone denied he had made the call. To prove he did, the Spitzer family hired Kroll Associates to trace the call. Why Kroll? Spitzer has a long relationship with this powerful, cryptic security company.
Kroll's CEO on 9/11 was one of Spitzer's old mentors from the Manhattan DA's office, Michael Cherkasky. Cherkasky investigated bank BCCI (which had links to both Islamic terror and the CIA), and the mysterious 1993 World Trade Center (WTC) bombing. Cherkasky's 2002 book Forewarned: Why the Government is Failing to Protect Us, and What We Must Do to Protect Ourselves is a confused mix of fear-mongering and insider's analysis. He sheepishly admits that the CIA was in part culpable for the 1993 WTC bombing, since they helped pull known terrorist "Blind Sheikh" Abdel bin-Rahman into the country. Cherkasky admits the FBI had a mole inside Rahman's 1993 WTC bombing cell, and lays blame for the bombing on the FBI.
After observing the 1993 WTC bombing as an operation penetrated by CIA and FBI, Cherkasky became head of Kroll, the "the CIA of Wall Street."
Kroll took on the management of WTC after the 1993 bombing. Blackstone Group, the same financiers who backed the Larry Silverstein, have also been involved with Kroll, owning big chunks of Kroll stock on occasion, according to SEC reports.
Cherkasky has donated $14,500 to Eliot Spitzer's political campaigns.
The Anthrax Connection
Eliot Spitzer's connection to key 9/11 players extends to fellow life-long Democrat, Jerome Hauer, managing director of Kroll on 9/11. Only Jerome Hauer and his former boss, Rudolph Giuliani, were also indicted by the San Diego Citizens Grand Jury.
According to Bay Area News (a San Francisco-bay based publication) and Wikipedia, Jerome Hauer warned the Bush White House to go on Cipro, the anti-anthrax drug, on 9/11/01. Hauer denied this allegation to The Megaphone. The White House did go on Cipro. Six days later, the anthrax attacks started, and sent the country back into paroxysms of terror.
Government watchdog group Judicial Watch demanded to know who warned the Bush White House, but not the public, about anthrax. The White House stonewalled their Freedom of Information Act requests.
"I read that the White House did know, and they went on the antibiotics," says Judicial Watch founder Larry Klayman. He got involved because, "African American employees at Brentwood [US Postal Facility] were basically left out there to twist in the wind when the white guys up on Capitol Hill got immediate treatment."
Post-9/11, Jerome Hauer went on to be Coordinator of the National Institute of Health's investigation of anthrax deaths. His report blamed Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. That assertion has been widely discredited, since the five deaths in 2001 were from a fine, "weaponized" form of anthrax, the "Ames Strain" that only the U.S. military and U.S. federal government possessed.
On 9/11, Jerome Hauer appeared on television with Dan Rather. Rather posited that the 9/11 attacks must have had state sponsorship. Hauer urged Rather to blame Bin Laden only. When Rather voiced suspicions about the way the buildings fell, Hauer offered that they simply came down because they were hit by a plane. Without an investigation, Hauer somehow knew two major parts of 9/11's official story before it emerged.
Hauer is a biological terrorism expert whose resume includes time at Science Applications International Corp (SAIC), a military contractor doing work in nuclear issues and psy-ops, and Bioport, manufacturer of the controversial anthrax vaccine.
Jerry Hauer and anthrax go way back. In May of 1998, he spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations on the topic of "Building a 'Biobomb': Terrorist Challenge." That evening Hauer co-presented on the topic Steven Hatfill. Yes, that Steven Hatfill, the one who later became the FBI's prime suspect in the anthrax mailings.
A year after their CFR presentations, Hatfill and Hauer would become coworkers at SAIC's Center for Counterterrorism Technology and Analysis.
Hatfill had worked at Ft. Detrick, the U.S. Army's bio-weapons lab in Maryland. Hatfill was never convicted, nor even prosecuted, for anything. Today he's suing reporters for defamation. On Aug. 15, a judge ruled that five top national reporters would have to reveal confidential government sources who fingered Hatfill.
In his interview with The Megaphone, Hauer repeatedly referred to the Grand Jury as "a bunch of nutjobs" and he defended Steven Hatfill. But when asked directly if Hatfill was innocent, Hauer was less than clear:
"I think that the FBI should not have said anything about Hatfill until they knew more. I do not believe Hatfill is a murderer. And I think Steve Hatfill is very passionate, but I don't think he's a murderer, and I don't believe he did it."
Hauer was not willing to conclusively say that Hatfill was uninvolved in the anthrax attacks, stating, "I'm not going to get into those details."
Of the five people who died from anthrax exposure, one was a New Yorker. Kathy Nguyen, a hospital worker in the Bronx, was a victim of inhalation anthrax. She died alone in a hospital on October 31, 2001.
A 2004 petition gathered 100,000 signatures begging then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to investigate the real source of the 2001 attacks. A Zogby poll that year likewise found that 66 per cent of voters wanted Eliot Spitzer, to tackle these tough questions. What those poll respondents didn't know is that Spitzer can't investigate 9/11 or anthrax. He would have to indict his friends from Kroll, Jerry Hauer and Michael Cherkasky.
That's the real scandal.
To listen to Sander Hicks's interview with Jerry Hauer, or see the Spitzer/Silverstein Amicus Brief in full, log onto the new http://www.nymegaphone.com
Your comments are welcome.
More info on Vox Pop:
The place for "Books, Coffee, Democracy," Vox Pop is a vibrant, fair-trade, community-empowering, consciousness-raising space, on Cortelyou Road, in Flatbush, Brooklyn. In three years, Vox Pop has spawned new activist groups, redefined "community development", and published a muck-raking tabloid, The New York Megaphone.
More info on Sander Hicks:
Sander Hicks is one of the most provocative media activists of his generation. He runs the Drench Kiss Media Corporation's retail dynamo, "Vox Pop." In 1996, he founded Soft Skull Press, Inc. (acquired in 2007 by Winton & Shoemaker). In 2003, Hicks was star of "Horns and Halos" (HBO/Cinemax) the independent publishing documentary that recorded Hicks's attempts to get unpopular truths out about G.W.Bush, through the biography Fortunate Son (Soft Skull, 1999). His own book, The Big Wedding (Vox Pop, 2005) breaks new ground on the working-class intelligence assets and whistle-blowers who tried to stop 9/11 from happening. Hicks has reported for Alternet, GNN, Long Island Press, New York Press, and INN World Report Television (FSTV, Dish Network).
http://www.911truth.org/article.php?story=20070911220531634
December 7, 2006 < < < (Note the date)
Kroll Announces Sale of International
Contract Security Division
Kroll security business to focus on consulting,
training, homeland security solutions
Press Release
NEW YORK — Kroll, the global risk consulting company, today announced the sale of its international high-risk asset and personnel protection division, Kroll Security International (“KSI”), which is predominantly active in Iraq and Afghanistan, to Garda World Security Corporation (TSX:GW) (“Garda”). Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“The sale of our international contract security division is consistent with our strategy to focus on higher-margin segments of the security business,” said Simon Freakley, CEO of Kroll.
Kroll will continue to provide value-added security services to governments, corporations and high net worth individuals, with a focus on training, consulting, architecture and engineering, crisis preparedness, business continuity, and emergency management.
“Kroll is committed to helping clients prevent, prepare for and respond to the many threats they face at home and abroad,” said Kelly McCann, President of Kroll’s Security Group. “We will continue to support our clients anywhere in the world.”
Kroll and Garda are working closely together to provide a seamless transition for KSI’s existing clients.
Enterprise Research Group, LLC served as advisor to Kroll in this transaction.
Board member Raymond E. Mabus served as U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 until 1996. He was governor of Mississippi from 1988 until 1992.
—André Verlöy
November 1, 2006 < < < (Note the date)
Kroll Pulls Security Team Out of Iraq
By EILEEN ALT POWELL, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP)— Security company Kroll has withdrawn its bodyguard teams from Iraq and Afghanistan after it lost four workers in Iraq, its parent company said Wednesday.
Michael G. Cherkasky, president and chief executive of Kroll owner Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc., told The Associated Press that the business in the two countries wasn't worth risking the lives of their employees.
In its third-quarter earnings statement issued Wednesday, Marsh & McLennan said that "results for the security group reflected the orderly exit from high-risk international assignments that had limited profitability and no longer fit Kroll's business strategy."
Cherkasky said Kroll "will continue to advise our clients anywhere in the world" about security measures.
Marsh & McLennan, whose main business is insurance brokerage, did not disclose how many workers had been withdrawn from the two countries.
September 1, 2006
The World's Most Powerful Women
Angels and Demons
By Claire Miller, Forbes
Our annual listing of the World's Most Powerful Women has seen a growing number of women with big career successes. A total of 48 women on the list now run businesses either as chief executives or chairmen, up from 35 last year.
And in a sign that women have arrived, they're increasingly being called on to clean up corporate scandals. Women who've mopped up, and who remain high on our list, are Patricia Russo at Lucent Technologies and Anne Mulcahy at Xerox. Both pulled their companies back from the brink of bankruptcy.
But women can be troublemakers, too. They can collapse in scandal as disastrously as men. And because women are still a rarity at the top of the corporate ladder, they often get a lot more attention than their male counterparts on the way up--and on the way down.
The latest power woman to be kicked off our list in a high-profile scandal is Carla Cico, the former chief executive of Brasil Telecom, who was indicted last year on charges of criminal conspiracy after she allegedly hired a risk-consulting firm, a unit of Marsh & McLennan, to spy on competitor Telecom Italia...
April 8, 2005
Brazil accuses U.S. firm of spying
By Martin Arostegui
RIO DE JANEIRO -- A leading American consulting company is under investigation in Brazil on suspicion that it intercepted e-mails and used wiretaps and other illegal methods to monitor people who now hold Cabinet positions in the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Kroll Associates Inc. also bribed government and police officials to obtain confidential information, according to authorities investigating an industrial espionage scandal, which also involves U.S. and Italian multinational companies.
Kroll's offices in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were raided in October by Federal Police searching for evidence that the world's biggest private intelligence firm had used illegal monitoring methods.
The purported victims include Cassio Casseb, a former president of Banco do Brasil, and Luiz Gushiken, who serves as minister of government communications.
Kroll, founded in New York in 1972, describes itself on its Web site as 'the world's leading risk consulting company,' with offices in more than 60 cities in the United States and abroad.
It boasts that it can 'scrutinize accounting practices and financial documents; gather and filter electronic evidence for attorneys; recover lost or damaged data from computers and servers; conduct in-depth investigations; screen domestic and foreign-born job candidates; protect individuals and enhance security systems and procedures.'
It is standard practice in some large corporations to have Kroll conduct background checks on candidates for top positions. The company also is reported to have been hired by governments to track down public funds stolen by the likes of Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos, Haitian dictator Jean-Claude 'Baby Doc' Duvalier and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, all of whom have been ousted.
According to the Federal Police, confiscated Kroll documents contain records of payments to officers of state-run Brazilian savings and loan institutions and the Sao Paulo city police that are thought to represent bribes, usually $100 to $200.
Government prosecutors also cite witnesses who say they acted as intermediaries for Kroll's undercover efforts to obtain account numbers, banking codes and other secret information.
Spokesmen for Kroll complain that the government is violating judicial procedure by disclosing evidence prior to a trial and that much of the information the company is accused of stealing is publicly available on the Internet.
Kroll was hired by owners of Brazil's telecommunications firm, Brazil Telecom, to investigate suspected insider trading by business executives and government officials during a takeover bid by the Italian communications giant, Telecom Italia.
It was clearly a major operation involving top-level officers of Kroll's London and New York headquarters. The head of Kroll's Milan, Italy, office also came to Rio de Janeiro to supervise the investigation, according to journalists who say they met with him.
www.washtimes.com/world/20050407-105131-7115r.htm
April 5, 2006
Scott Peters Plays Dumb About Marsh & McLennan
Now let me see.
At the national level Martha Stewart went to jail because of a stock transaction and locally Valerie Stallings had to leave her city council office. They are both women.
Nationally, former Enron chairman Lay plays dumb to the internal audit that illegally inflated Enron's stock and locally Council president Scott Peters plays dumb about Marsh & McLennan being the parent company to Kroll which his wife bought stock in the same day he voted on the initial hiring of Kroll company by the city.
It's O.K. though, they are both men. What else is new ladies?
— Jarvis Ross, Point Loma Watchdog .
~ ~ ~
Peters' Stock Ownership Poses Problems
By ANDREW DONOHUE, Voice Staff Writer, April 5, 2006
Council President Scott Peters has owned more than $100,000 in stock in the parent company of the private firm investigating City Hall at the same time the firm, Kroll Inc., has charged the city at least $16.2 million.
Peters voted at least five times since the beginning of 2005 to grant contracts or authorize increased payments to Kroll Inc. whose contentious tenure as the city's audit committee has been marked by multiple delays, cost overruns and concerns surrounding its independence.
The councilman said he was unaware that Marsh & McLennan Cos. was the parent company of consulting firm Kroll Inc. until he was questioned on the matter this week by a www.voiceofsandiego.org reporter.
City Attorney Mike Aguirre has referred the issue to his Public Integrity
Unit for investigation but refused to comment further on the implications of
Peters' stock ownership.
The potential conflict could invalidate the City Council's approval of the
original Kroll contract and five subsequent amendments that allocated $16.2
million to the consulting firm. Such a scenario could force the council to
revote on the contracts and, if so, reignite the discussion of whether to
continue with the audit committee.
A great deal of Peters' wealth is drawn from the extensive investment portfolio controlled by his wife, as well as the holding corporation she heads. He has removed himself from council decisions in the past on items in which he had a potential conflict. Peters has recently sat out on council business involving Bank of America, Citibank and Lehman Bros. because of his holdings in the firms, he said."We're really careful about it," Peters said.
The City Council was forced to revote on a financing deal with the Bank of America last November after Peters discovered that he owned stock in the bank.
The discovery of Peters' stock ownership in Marsh & McLennan came after the City Clerk's Office released Monday the annual statements of economic interest for city officials and elected officials. The statements record the official's outside income, investment holdings and gifts received for a calendar year.
Peters and his wife, Lynn Gorguze, control an extensive stock portfolio, with broad investments in international retail, petroleum, pharmaceutical, software, medical device and other outfits. Peters listed his stock ownership in Marsh & McLennan on his economic statement, listing the investment's value at between $100,001 and $1 million. It is listed as his wife's property.
In an interview, the councilman said the value of his stock ranged between $68,000 and $116,000 in 2005 as his wife bought and sold the insurance firm's stock regularly. He valued the investment at $78,000 currently, but said his wife controls the stock and the two typically don't discuss the investments.
Additionally, the investment firm in Peters' wife she is president also owned Marsh & McLennan stock for a brief period in 2005. The corporation, Cameron Holdings Corporation, bought the stock on February 14 -- the day in which Kroll was originally hired by the city. The corporation purchased 700 shares of Marsh & McLennan stock that day, when the high trading price was $32.48. It sold the stock less than a month later on March 10, when the high sales price was $31.10. Exact figures on the purchase and sales price of the stock weren't available from Peters' office as of press time.
City staff prepared a memo weekly for City Council members listing the companies that will have business before the council in the coming week in order to prepare the politicians for possible conflicts. Documents provided by Peters' office for the weeks in which audit committee expenditures were approved do not list Kroll or Marsh & McLennan. A spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders declined to comment, only saying that the mayor will await an opinion from the City Attorney's Office on whether the stock ownership invalidates the council's earlier votes.
Peters said he didn't believe the council would need to vote again on the audit committee's contract and expenditures. As council president, Peters controls what items the City Council votes on. California Government Code 1090 forbids public officials from voting on issues in which they have a personal economic interest. Peters said he isn't affected by the conflict-of-interest statute because doesn't own at least 3 percent of the firm in question. The council president said the next time the audit committee comes before the council for more money, he will either have sold the stock, recused himself or sought an outside legal opinion regarding his eligibility to vote.
The audit committee, led by former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt, was hired in February 2005 to conduct an independent investigation into allegations of wrongdoing and illegal activity that had dogged City Hall.
The costs of the Kroll investigation have become a sensitive topic in a city that has been forced to curtail its basic services to pay its ballooning pension bills and the legal and consultant fees associated with federal investigations into City Hall and a suspended credit rating.
Council members are nearly unanimous in their belief that the Kroll investigation is mandatory to the city regaining its financial credibility, although relations with new Mayor Jerry Sanders have been cold since he took office in December.
Another major setback in its investigation could fissure the tenuous relationship even further. The city cannot bond in the public finance markets for vital infrastructure projects until outside auditors bless the outstanding 2003, 2004 and 2005 financial statements, which have been delayed by errors and omissions found in the 2003 statement.
Outside auditors will not release the audits until the Kroll investigation is complete.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department and District
Attorney's Office are all investigating City Hall and the latter two
agencies have filed criminal charges against a total of eight officials tied
to the pension system.
The city first hired law firm Vinson & Elkins in February 2004 to complete an independent investigation. However, the firm produced two reports, both of which were rejected by outside auditors and the SEC for their lack of independence.
Kroll was hired last February to reconcile differences between conclusions reached in the Vinson & Elkins reports and a number of investigative reports released by Aguirre. Officials from Kroll quickly deemed that neither party's investigation would be sufficient and has undertaken its own.
The Kroll investigation has run into problems of its own, as glitches in its electronic documents database caused the group to miss its December deadline. The consultants now believe their report will be released sometime in May.
www.sdcoastal.org/politics.html
December 8, 2004
Kroll Telecom Espionage in Brazil
By Arik Johnson, Competitive Intelligence
In a statement, Kroll accused police of "installing a climate of panic and total intimidation" when they entered the office and arrested five people, seizing records, listening equipment and computers.
Kroll is owned by the U.S. insurance firm Marsh & McLennan, which is currently defending itself against Eliot Spitzer in a rate fixing scandal. Brazilian newspapers in July reported allegations Kroll was spying on members of the Brazilian government, including high-ranking ministers.
The company was originally reported to have been hired by the Brazilian investment firm Opportunity to investigate Telecom Italia. Opportunity has been battling with Telecom Italia to gain control of Brasil Telecom, one of the nation's largest telephone companies.
Minister of Communications Luiz Gushiken - one of the subjects of Kroll's investigation - called the alleged spying "flagrant disrespect for (Brazil's) constitution." Kroll reportedly obtained copies of emails written by Gushiken in connection with the Telecom Italia efforts to take over Brasil Telecom. Authorities also raided the Rio de Janeiro offices of Opportunity, which controls Brasil Telecom.
Marsh & McLennan Cos.' Kroll Inc. took out ads in Brazil's largest newspapers Thursday to defend five employees arrested amid allegations the international security consultant illegally spied in its probe of a bitter corporate dispute.
Kroll, whose offices were raided by police a day earlier, insisted it broke no Brazilian laws and expressed confidence the arrested employees, including two who head the company's Brazil operations, would soon be cleared....
Five Brazilian Kroll workers were arrested on conspiracy charges. Kroll is owned by Marsh & McLennan, the largest U.S. insurance brokerage company, which is engulfed in a bid rigging and price fixing scandal. Earlier this week, Marsh & McLennan named former Kroll chief executive Michael Cherkasky as its new chief executive, replacing Jeffrey W. Greenberg, who was forced out by the company's board....
In trading Thursday morning, Marsh & McLennan shares were up 28 cents, or 1 percent, at $28.97 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares are off more than 35 percent since the scandal broke earlier this month...
Kroll was hired by Brasil Telecom to come up with proof that it forced by Telecom Italia to pay too much money for the purchase of Brazilian fixed line Companhia Riograndense de Telecomunicacoes, SA, or CRT, in 2000. Telecom Italia has been fighting for years for control of Brasil Telecom.
"The allegations and the police investigation stem from an acrimonious corporate dispute between our client and another corporation," Kroll said.
So, what do you think - do corporate ethics standards run in the family? MMC's new CEO better hope you don't.
- Arik
www.aurorawdc.com/ci/000225.html
June 13, 2003
Federal Monitor:
Kroll is a global watchdog
by Tamara Audi, Detroit Free Press
It is called Kroll.
Sounds like a villain, acts like a superhero – swooping down on all manner of major and minor disasters around the world.
The government of Kuwait hired Kroll in 1990 to find Saddam Hussein’s hidden treasures. CNN hired it to examine accusations of false reporting. Kroll has built a security system for the Sears Tower in Chicago, proved that Italian banker Robert Calvi’s alleged suicide was a murder and now temporarily heads Enron.
It’s next assignment: Monitor the Detroit police for the federal government.
In more business-like terms, Kroll Inc. is a New York-based global risk-assessment company whose employees include former law enforcement officials, prosecutors, financial auditors and reporters.
The Detroit Police Department is the second department to come under Kroll’s watch as a federal monitor.
The Los Angeles Police Department was the first. Kroll began monitoring the LAPD in 2001, under a five-year, $11 million contract.
Detroit will pay the cost of having Kroll act as monitor. City officials said Thursday they are still working out terms with the company. The city has two contracts with Kroll. One is a two-year contract to monitor the police department’s detention practices. The other is a five-year contract to monitor arrest procedures.
Michael Cherkasky, president and chief executive of Kroll, said Thursday he did not think Detroit’s cost would be as high as Los Angeles’.
The face of Kroll in Detroit is a young and pleasant one. Her name is Sheryl Robinson, and she will head a team that will monitor Detroit’s progress in revamping practices that led to widespread civil-rights abuses of prisoners, suspects and witnesses.
Robinson, a 37-year-old lawyer, is armed with a resume that includes working fraud cases as an assistant district attorney in Manhattan, N.Y....
Robinson will remain based in Kroll’s Washington office, which she directs. But she will make frequent trips to Detroit and begin assembling a team of specialists to monitor everything from the department’s computer system to its arrests and detentions....