UTAH LT. GOV. MONSON TOOK OUT $5,000 LOAN FOR SPYING SUSPECT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606240031-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 27, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: May 17, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606240031-1
ASSOCIATED PRESS
17 May 1984
UTAH LT. GOV. MONSON TOOK OUT $5,000 LOAN FOR SPYING SUSPECT
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
The lieutenant governor of Utah says he once took out a $5,000 loan for a
former Utah man awaiting trial in Virginia on charges of selling classified
information to the Soviet Union.
Lt. Gov. David Monson said Wednesday the loan, which he is paying off, was to
fund a consulting firm that he and Richard Craig Smith co-founded. However,.
Monson said the firm "never did any business" and folded.
Monson has since resigned from the company, Business Consultants
International Inc. He said the venture is technically no longer a legal
corporation because it failed to file an updated list of officers.
Smith, a former Army counterintelligence specialist who surrendered to
the
FBI April 4, is free on bond awaiting trial July 9 on cha
rges of sell
ing
secrets
to the Soviet Union. He is accused of disclosing the iden
tity of six
U.S.
double
agents to a Soviet KGB officer stationed in Tokyo for $11,000.
Smith was quoted recently as claiming he passed military secrets because he
was working for the Central Intelligence Agency as part of a plan to
infiltrate the Soviet intelligence service.
It was Smith's interest in promoting Far East trade relations, such as Utah
ski travel packages for the Japanese and a longtime association with a family
member that led Monson to get involved in Business Consultants, he said.
Monson said he had expected to be repaid the full amount that he had loaned
Smith, but "there was to be no profit."
He said he regretted having made the loan for Smith, but he saw no problems
with potential conflict of interest in what he considered a private venture.
Monson said he understood that Smith had spent the money lent to him for
trips to the Far East. They never produced any tangible results, though Monson
said he was aware that Smith had attempted to set up tour packages of Japanese
skiers to Utah resorts.
Monson said he first met Smith three years ago after the man approached Gov.
Scott Matheson about his possible involvement in trade missions and trade
promotion for the state. The governor passed Smith on to the lieutenant
governor's office, Monson said.
Because Monson's uncle had known the Smith family for years, he allowed a
"bond" to form that led him to eventually extend to Smith the loan, the
lieutenant governor said.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/27: CIA-RDP90-00552R000606240031-1