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US probes possible moonlighting by FBI agents | |||
2003-10-03 | |||
EFL, this could be very big: The Justice Department is investigating whether FBI agents involved in espionage and terrorism cases may have moonlighted by forming private companies and using informants and subjects of inquiries to benefit their personal business.
"Look how open we were during the investigation of Ruby Ridge and Waco." The investigation is focusing on the same Arizona FBI office that produced the now-famous warning that went unheeded before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that Arab pilots were suspiciously training at US flight schools. The FBI’s Phoenix office was a hotbed of investigations into terrorists and espionage during the 1990s. "Hotbed" may be a poor choice of words. The Justice Department inspector general’s office, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing by federal law enforcers, has interviewed several times a Phoenix businessman named Harry Ellen, who worked undercover for US intelligence and the FBI for three decades in the Middle East, Mexico, and China. "I was interviewed about events concerning various companies and corporations with whom I came in contact and/or had financial dealings with while I was assisting the FBI," Ellen said in an interview. "One or more of the companies were operated by FBI agents." FBI agents generally are prohibited from moonlighting in second jobs without special permission, and they are subjected to regular background checks for irregularities. By other FBI agents, no doubt
Interesting retirement plan. While working on sensitive Chinese and Palestinian cases, Ellen had a falling-out with the FBI in 1999 after he had an affair with a Chinese woman named Joanna Xie. The bureau had asked Ellen to monitor the woman as a possible Chinese intelligence agent. Insert "hotbed" here.
Nobody has ever asked me to seduce a beautiful Chinese woman for my country. I don’t think my wife would buy that line either Ellen said around that time, one agent cited by Xie provided him free T-shirts to be used for his Muslim foundation, which was cooperating with the FBI. More from Guardian story: Ellen testified he also had been working on a foundation project to establish a communications system for the Palestinians, but the FBI asked him to stop. A few years later, he said, he learned his plan was put back in motion by a different company he believes was connected with FBI figures. We’ll have to wait and see if this goes anywhere. | |||
Posted by:Steve |