Hunting LeRoux
Page 36
CHAPTER 4: BLACK CLOUD
Exactly how this stroke of genius: LeRoux appears to have given different people different stories about what inspired him go into the e-commerce pharmaceutical black market. In 2012 and 2013, when negotiating for a plea bargain, he claimed to DEA agents and prosecutors that Hafner, his old boss and mentor, was already in the illegal online pill business and led him into a life of crime in 2004. Hafner denies this accusation, saying he was a respected and trusted figure in the legal digital electronics, telecommunications, and cybersecurity businesses and, by 2004, wasn’t talking to LeRoux. Details of LeRoux’s story seem unlikely: he claimed he did web design for Hafner’s pill websites. Hafner says LeRoux, while an excellent cryptographer, did not have web design skills and relied on others to build the SecurStar website. Hafner’s version of events is supported by LeRoux’s own message to TrueCrypt Team chat room in February 2004, in which LeRoux said he “hadn’t been involved with SecurStar since 2002.” That assertion squares with Hafner’s version of events. The author concludes that LeRoux leveled a false charge against Hafner as revenge for firing LeRoux for stealing proprietary code in 2002.
Pills that looked like Willy Wonka: U.S. pharmaceutical sales in 2003 were $216.4 billion, up 12 percent over the previous year and 44 percent of global pharmaceutical sales of $492 billion, according to a paper by Health Strategies Consultancy LLC. “Follow the Pill: Understanding the U.S. Commercial Pharmaceutical Supply Chain,” Kaiser Family Foundation, March 2005.
In 2004, according to an annual U.S. government survey: Trends in drug abuse were reported in the 2004 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Later trends were reported by the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, also published by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, https://www.samhsa.gov/data/.
The black market: Global pharmaceutical sales figures come from an article by John Laporte, “Topic: Global Pharmaceutical Industry,” Statista, https://www.statista.com/topics/1764/global-pharmaceutical-industry/.
One estimate put Big Pharma: Pharmaceutical industry advertising is discussed in “Big Pharma Spends More on Advertising than Research and Development, Study Finds,” Science Daily, January 7, 2008, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080105140107.htm.
RX Limited usually had about five: LeRoux’s admissions for his plea bargain are contained in the Proposed Cooperation Agreement for Paul Calder LeRoux, drafted by attorneys in the office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, including Andrew Dember, deputy chief, Criminal Division; Michael Farbiarz and Jocelyn Strauber, Co-chiefs, Terrorism and International Narcotics; Michael D. Lockard; and Rachel P. Kovner. It was signed February 4, 2013. It was not made part of the public court record but was obtained by the author.
They were generally unwilling: The epidemic of opioid abuse is documented in these government reports: “Vital Signs: Overdoses of Prescription Opioid Pain Relievers—United States, 1999—2008,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 4, 2011, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6043a4.htm; “Opioid Overdose,” CDC, August 1, 2017, https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/overdose.html.
CHAPTER 5: MAGIC!
LeRoux had hired Smith: The source for LeRoux’s description of his relationship with Dave Smith, and his murder of Smith, is the Proposed Cooperation Agreement.
Dave Smith said: Paul LeRoux testified about his relationship with Dave Smith during the trial of Joseph Manuel Hunter in the U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, April 4, 2018, 13 Cr 521 (RA).
CHAPTER 6: INVISIBLE CITY
It was the best-selling opioid: Figures for the expansion of prescription opioid sales can be found at a DEA website, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Aggregate Production Quota History For Selected Substances, https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/quotas/quota_history.pdf; U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Prescription Drugs, OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem,” December 2001.
CHAPTER 7: PAC-MAN AND IRONMAN
Cindric went online: In 1990 Ari Ben-Menashe was tried in federal court in New York for attempting to sell three U.S.-made Lockheed C-130 Hercules cargo planes to Iran, in violation of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act. Ben-Menashe claimed that the sale had been sanctioned by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. A jury acquitted him. He moved to Canada.
CHAPTER 9: DAZZLE HIM
By contrast, $1 million in $100 bills: Weight and volume of U.S. currency was described in testimony by Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Financial Markets) Gary Gensler, House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, October 8, 1998.
Meth was much in demand: Methamphetamine use in Asia is tracked in “The Challenge of Synthetic Drugs in East and South-East Asia and Oceania Global SMART Programme 2015 Trends and Patterns of Amphetamine-type Stimulants and New Psychoactive Substance,” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, May 2015, https://www.unodc.org/documents/scientific/The_Challenge_of_Synthetic_Drugs_in_East_and_South-East_Asia_and_Oceania-2015.pdf.
CHAPTER 10: “I JUST DON’T WANT TO GET ON THE PLANE”
In 2014, the U.S. government: U.S. sanctions against the Chinese firm Poly Technologies are listed on a web page, “Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act: Imposed Sanctions,” U.S. Department of State, May 2015, https://www.state.gov/t/isn/inksna/c2883.htm and in a Federal Register notice at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/06/26/2014-14935/addition-of-certain-persons-to-the-entity-list-and-removal-of-person-from-the-entity-list-based-on.
Couldn’t compete with Afghanistan: Estimates of heroin production and use come from the report “The Global Heroin Market, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime,” https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.2_The_global _heroin_market.pdf.
CHAPTER 11: QUEEN FOR A DAY
Iran’s progress was hobbled: Iran’s Defense Industries Organization had been cited by numerous sanctions regimes. In 2004, the International Atomic Energy Agency declared that the DIO was involved in producing components for centrifuges meant to enrich uranium to for Iran’s nuclear program. In 2007, the UN Security Council sanctioned several Iranian entities, including the DIO, for advancing Iran’s nuclear and missile programs. The United States followed suit, sanctioning the DIO for activities relating to the development of weapons of mass destruction and missiles, in violation of the U.S. Iran and Syria Nonproliferation Act, the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, and the U.S. Export Administration Act.
LeRoux understood why: Iran’s efforts to obtain high-tech precision weapons were highlighted in the Annual Threat Assessment of the Intelligence Community, February 12, 2009, testimony of Dennis C. Blair, director of national intelligence, before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
The DIO was working on a land-attack cruise missile: Iran’s missile development plans are discussed in a series of reports, Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat, by the U.S. Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center in collaboration with the Defense Intelligence Ballistic Missile Analysis Committee published in 2009, 2013, and 2017.
The ITAR rules at the time required: The rules applied to unclassified commercial GPS systems. They would be amended in 2014 to drop the 60,000 feet/1,000 knot language and instead bar sales of GPS equipment “specially designed for military application” and also airborne systems that could deliver a 500-kilogram payload 300 kilometers.
Kobi Alexander, CEO of Comverse Technology: The charges against Alexander are outlined in a Securities and Exchange Commission press release, “SEC Charges Former Comverse Technology, Inc. CEO, CFO, and General Counsel in Stock Option Backdating Scheme”; and a Justice Department press release, “Jacob ‘Kobi’ Alexander Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Securities Fraud,” dated February 23, 2017, https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/jacob-kobi-alexander-sentenced-30-months-prison-securitie
s-fraud.
CHAPTER 12: ALL THE PIECES ON THE CHESSBOARD
Hunter’s first kill team:
On Oct. 15, 2018, during post-trial proceedings in the murder case of Joseph Hunter, Adam Samia, and Carl David Stillwell, U.S. District Court judge Ronnie Abrams issued a ruling that summarized the evidence against Hunter and others, including DeMeyere, who had been named as an unindicted coconspirator. Abrams wrote:
Indeed, it [*13] was well-established that beginning in early 2011, Hunter became the sole person responsible for managing the murderers-for-hire, which included hiring, overseeing, and otherwise acting as an intermediary between them and LeRoux. Tr. 409:17-410:19; 431:5-8; 432:14-433:7. There was thus a basis for the jury to conclude that Hunter was a member of the conspiracy during these three later trips, particularly the last two, at which point Hunter, as head of the operation, was actively recruiting members to the conspiracy, as well as managing the day-to-day operations of LeRoux’s “kill team.”
The testimony at trial was that in early 2011, after LeRoux helped kill Smith, Hunter was promoted to Smith’s position as head of the mercenaries and was instructed to form a two-person team, the sole responsibility of which would be murders-for-hire. Tr. 407:25-408:4, 409:17-410:19.14 The jury could have reasonably concluded, therefore, that during the February 2011 visit Hunter was actively recruiting the members of this newly founded kill team. Tr. 409:17-410:19; 1182:14-1183:1. Indeed, Hunter immediately went about recruiting Chris DeMeer and “Daddy Mack.” Tr. 413:5-13.15 When Samia wrote Hunter in April [*14] 2011 expressing interest in work, Hunter indicated that he “[a]lready ha[d] eight guys working for me on various things,” seemingly confirming he had already recruited the new kill team, in compliance with LeRoux’s instructions. Tr. 412:8-13; GX 436. DeMeer and Daddy Mack would commit one murder for LeRoux in May or June of 2011 before promptly exiting the organization, leaving Hunter to recruit the new kill team that would eventually consist of Sarnia and Stillwell. Tr. 428:16-22, 1196:21-1197:15, 1199:5-11; GX 406-3
It was signed by Morteza Farasatpour: Morteza Farasatpour identified himself on the letter faxed to LeRoux on January 29, 2013, as “deputy managing director (commerce)”for the Defense Industries Organization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. U.S. and Western intelligence considered him a significant figure in supplying chemical weapons to the regime of Bashar Hafez al-Assad, the authoritarian leader of Syria. In March 2017, acting on information from the intelligence community and open sources, the U.S. Treasury Department would sanction Faratsapour for “coordinating the sale and delivery of explosives and other material for Syria’s Scientific Studies and Research Center (SSRC), an entity that controls Syria’s missile production and unconventional weapons facilities; oversaw DIO’s credit line valued at tens of millions of dollars with SSRC.” The term “unconventional weapons” referred to chemical weapons the Assad regime deployed against civilian populations during the country’s long-running civil war.
The yacht’s first mate: During the investigation of LeRoux, the DEA agents contacted law enforcement agencies in the Pacific region and saw to it that a tracking device was placed on his smuggling boat, the JeReVe. It stopped emitting in October 2012. Cindric and Stouch had LeRoux call the captain of the vessel. He made a muffled comment and hung up. LeRoux then called the captain’s wife, who said she had spoken briefly with him and he said he was with “the fish people.” She took that to mean he was being held by pirates. Since the captain was not on the wrecked boat, there has been speculation he was murdered by pirates but the truth of the matter has never been established.
“He’s at minimum a sociopath and probably a psychopath”: LeRoux has never been formally diagnosed with a psychological disorder by a mental health professional. But a strong consensus developed among agents and prosecutors who met LeRoux that he displayed many of the characteristics of a psychopath, as defined by Robert D. Hare, Ph.D., a researcher in criminal psychology who developed a widely used diagnostic tool called the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised. Hare regularly consults with the FBI. In his book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us, Hare wrote, “Unlike psychotic individuals, psychopaths are rational and aware of what they are doing and why. . . . Psychopaths feel that their abilities will enable them to become anything they want to be. Given the right circumstances—opportunity, luck, willing victims—their grandiosity can pay off spectacularly. . . . [They] have a narcissistic and grossly inflated view of their self-worth and importance, a truly astounding egocentricity and sense of entitlement, and see themselves as the center of the universe, as superior beings who are justified in living according to their own rules.” The seminal 1941 book The Mask of Sanity, by pioneering American psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley, described the typical psychopath as profoundly narcissistic, selfish, and ruthless individual, often brilliantly successful because he had no feelings of shame or empathy or desire to help others. LeRoux’s grandiose behavior fit that description.
CHAPTER 14: NINJA STUFF
he grew up on a farm: Details of Adam Samia’s history are taken from his testimony, given April 16, 2018, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, during his trial for murder, in the case, USA v. Hunter et al., 13 CR 521 (RA). More details of Samia’s activities can be found in document 524, filed March 16, 2018, in USA v. Hunter et al.
Index
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Abbas, Abu, 7, 40–44
Abrams, Ronnie, 340n
Achille Lauro, terrorist attack on, 7, 40
AdWords (Google), 90
Afghanistan
heroin/opium of, 2, 7, 205, 339n
Soviet occupation of, 13–14
USA Patriot Act on terrorist-related arrests, 44
African National Congress, 68–69
Alexander, Kobi, 238–239, 340n
Ali, Mohamed Warsame (“Kiimiko”), 106–107
Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), 151
al-Shabaab, 105, 109–115, 124–125, 130–132, 166, 180
American Express, 90
Anya (Jack’s girlfriend), 134–136, 166
Aramay, Maricel, 133
Archer, John, 41–44
arms trading. See also Iran; North Korea; Somalia
Ben-Menashe and, 80, 154, 338n
Captain Ufuk scandal, 120–122, 131–133, 138–141, 152–153, 225, 246, 308
erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) for bombs, 226
GPS-based navigation weapons system, 222, 339–340n
Kassar arrest and, 42–43
LeRoux’s personal use of weapons, 103–104
LeRoux’s plans for end-user certificates, 120, 168–174, 188, 208
LeRoux’s private army, 60
Red, White and Blue Arms, 119, 152, 218, 228, 247, 252, 308, 311
rocket fuel chemicals, 229–230
RX Limited and role in, 94–95
SAMs (weapons), 22, 43–46, 180–182, 205, 217
Syria chemical weapons program, 252, 341n
weapons of mass destruction, 61–62, 218–221, 227
“Asbestos Mining and Occupational Disease in Southern Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, 1915-98” (McCulloch), 335n
Assad, Bashar al-, 221, 341n
Atallah, Rudy, 142–144, 155
Australia
Federal Police of, 152–153, 225
LeRoux’s move to, 70–71, 266
Bank of Utah, 93
bare metal code, 72
Barrera, Daniel “El Loco,” 256
Bee (Thai translator), 52, 277
BEI International, 70
Benedetto, Anthony, 158–159
Ben-Menashe, Ari, 80, 154, 338n
Bergdahl, Bowe, 15
Bharara, Preet, 57, 178, 268–269. See also Southern District of New York
Bin Laden, Osama, 15
Black September,
41–42
Blake, Robert, 67
Botswana, DEA meeting in, 155–157
Bout, Viktor, 7, 45–46, 122–124, 152, 161, 173, 216, 217
Bowlins, Bernard John (LeRoux), 105, 143
Braun, Mike, 183
Brazil
LeRoux investigation in, 186–187
LeRoux’s relocation to, 169–170
Samia’s travel to, 305–306
U.S. diplomatic relations with, 169–170
Brendon, Piers, 65–66, 81
Brown, Wim. See also LeRoux’s arrest; LeRoux’s interrogation and plea agreement
Bout’s arrest and, 46
early LeRoux investigation by DEA, 142, 144, 155, 158–162
Gögel and Vamvakias’s arrests and, 16, 27, 55–58
Jack’s information to DEA and, 162–172
Kassar’s arrest and, 41–44
LeRoux’s arrest and, 209–215
LeRoux sting planned by, 6–8, 174, 178–179, 194
role in LeRoux’s confession and plea agreement, 216, 232, 234, 240, 253, 257, 263
in Togo, 199–200
Buckley, William F., 38
Bush, George W., 45, 49
Bush War (War of Liberation, Rhodesia), 65
Cap d’Atibes (Cote d’Azur), lifestyle in, 74–75
Captain Ufuk scandal, 120–122, 131–133, 138–141, 152–153, 225, 246, 308
Carlos (DEA informant), 42–43
Casey, Steve, 47–51, 321, 334n
Casich, Joseph “Joey.” see Milione, Lou
Casino de Monte Carlo, 75
Cayanan, Cindy (“Dragon Lady”), 64, 103, 187, 200–204, 209–210, 212, 241–242, 325
cheaprxmeds.com, 84
China
DEA investigation of LeRoux and, 153
Hong Kong Organized Crime-Triad Bureau, 192
NORINCO, 153
Poly Technologies, 205, 339n
pseudoephedrine obtained from, 188, 190
Rhodesian civil war and, 65–66
Triad organized crime group, 4–5, 54, 62, 190–192, 205–208, 230–231, 237, 255–256, 266, 292