A BONANZA FOR BROKERS - CANADIAN LINK PROBED IN WEAPONS-FOR-$ SWAP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040014-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: December 12, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040014-5
pQT?~! r 77EARED
ON PA'!: NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
C,--- 12 December 1986
A bonanza for brokers
Canadian link probed in weapons-for-$ swap
A
tee members said Casey sur-
prised the panel with his
disclosure that Canadian
middlemen were furious last
October because they had ex-
pected to get as much as $20
million for their role in the
arms deal and still were
owed $10 million.
Canadian complaint
Casey said he received a
call about the Canadian com-
plaint in October from a for-
mer legal client, Roy Fur-
mark, who also told him that
some of the Iranian profits
might have been diverted to
Central America.
Casey, however, insisted
that the CIA had been
"meticulous" in Its
bookkeeping on the original
cost of the U.S. weapons-
$12.2 million-with repay-
ment totaling that amount
being received in a secret
CIA bank account in Geneva.
the members said.
What remains unclear is
why the Canadians, who re-
T'`e Assoc atea a'ees
WASHINGTON-Brokers
and middlemen apparently
amassed substantial profits
from the Iranian arms sales,
complicating congressional
investigations into how
much money ultimately went
to support Nicaraguan re-
bels, according to U.S. gov-
ernment sources.
The money trail became
more complicated following
closed-door testimony by
CIA Director William-Cam.
Foreign Affairs Commit-
portedly were not the
middlemen for all four direct
U.S. weapons shipments,
would have expected as
much as $20 million for their
role.
Brokers' role
Government sources said
the complex arms deal in-
volved brokers who ar-
ranged the deals and invest.
ors, like the Canadians, who
put up money so the U.S.
government would be reim-
bursed almost Immediately
for the cost of the weapons.
In exchange for covering
the cost of the weapons up
front, the investors expected
a large profit for their risk,
the sources said. A hand.
some profit also could be
made by those involved in
transporting the weapons to
Iran, the sources said.
"There's money to be
made every time you turn
around," said one investiga-
tor, who added that the
layers of arms merchants
and brokers have made it
difficult to estimate a total
cost of the shipments to Iran.
Secord middleman
Retired Air Force Maj.
Gen. Richard Secord, presi.
dent of Stanford Technology
Trading Co. and a principal
in other firms that have been
tied to the arms deal, has
been identified as a key
middleman in the deals. Jus-
tice Department and Swiss
officials have said Secord is
under criminal investigation
in connection with two Swiss
bank accounts that may have
been used in diverting those
profits to aid the Contras.
Government sources have
said Secord assisted then-
National Security Council
aide Lt. Col. Oliver North in
setting up the Iranian arms
deals as well as diverting
those profits into a resupply
operation for Contras fight.
ing Nicaragua's leftist
government.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/04: CIA-RDP90-00965R000605040014-5