U.S. and British intelligence agencies are reportedly investigating links between alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden and various stock trades in the United States and Europe around the time of the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which sent foreign markets into tailspins over worries about the U.S. economy.
At least that’s the story as reported in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper in Japan – a report conspicuously absent from most U.S. news budgets. (The story was linked at WorldNetDaily last weekend.)
Among other things, under a practice known as short-selling, a person with prior information can score large profits when a stock sinks in value on certain news – such as corporate problems or, in this case, the broader news of an attack that has crippled the United States.
Did bin Laden tip off his billionaire family or other rich allies in his terrorist cause? Did bin Laden, who is worth about $300 million, use his foreknowledge of the attack to profit personally?
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission declined to “confirm or deny” any such investigations by U.S. financial authorities, but a spokesman added that the agency has received a variety of investor e-mail “suggesting that the SEC check records” on stock transactions around the time of the attacks to establish any possible linkage to profiteering by persons related to the terrorists.
We keep hearing that Osama bin Laden is a black sheep in the family – practically disowned.
Yet, at least once before, his family profited handsomely because of Osama bin Laden’s terrorist actions. The bin Laden family was hired to rebuild a U.S. Air Force base in Saudi Arabia after the Khobar Towers were destroyed in 1996. Osama bin Laden was the chief suspect in that bombing.
Can things get any stranger?
Well, try this on for size: A report in the Houston Chronicle June 4, 1992, said federal officials were investigating the activities of a Houston businessman accused of illegally representing Saudi interests in the U.S. The U.S. businessman was James R. Bath. Among the Saudi interests were those of Saudi Sheik Salem M. bin Laden.
Who is Bath? A past investor in companies controlled by (are you sitting down?) … George W. Bush.
Back in 1992, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network – known as FinCEN – and the FBI were reviewing accusations that entrepreneur Bath guided money to Houston from Saudi investors who wanted to influence U.S. policy under the Reagan and Bush administrations – that’s the first Bush administration, of course.
The federal review reportedly stemmed in part from court documents obtained through litigation by Bill White, a former real estate business associate of Bath. White contends the documents indicate that the Saudis were using Bath and their huge financial resources to influence U.S. policy. Such representation by Bath would require that he be registered as a foreign agent with the U.S. Department of Justice. In general, people required by law to be registered are those who represent a foreign entity seeking to influence governmental action or policy. An Annapolis graduate and former Navy fighter pilot, White, 46, claimed that Bath and the judicial system, under the veil of national security, have blackballed him professionally and financially because he has refused to keep quiet about what he regards as a conspiracy to secretly funnel Saudi dollars to the United States.
In sworn depositions, according to the Chronicle story, Bath said he represented four prominent Saudis as a trustee (one of whom was Saudi Sheik Salem M. bin Laden) and that he would use his name on their investments. In return, he said, he would receive a 5 percent interest in their deals. Tax documents and personal financial records show that Bath personally had a 5 percent interest in Arbusto ’79 Ltd., and Arbusto ’80 Ltd., limited partnerships controlled by George W. Bush, who now finds himself directing a war against terrorism and the No. 1 enemy of Osama bin Laden, of the same Saudi family.
Arbusto actually means “bush” in Spanish. Bath invested $50,000 in the limited partnerships, according to the documents. There is no available evidence to show whether the money came from Saudi interests.
But the financial links between the bin Laden family and Bush family get even more curious.
According to a 1976 trust agreement, drawn shortly after George Bush senior was appointed director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Saudi Sheik bin Laden appointed Bath as his business representative in Houston. Bin Laden, along with his brothers, owns Bin Laden Brothers Construction, one of the largest construction companies in the Middle East. According to White, Bath told him that he had assisted the CIA in a liaison role with Saudi Arabia since 1976.
Do these “coincidences” bother you as much as they bother me?
What does all this mean? I don’t know. But I thought the information should be laid out on the table.
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