Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Update on Falcone, Chichakli

In a wonderfully-titled article, ("Former Miss Bolivia on Drugs Charges, Second Beauty Queen in Trouble"), the Associated Press reports that Sonia Falcone, cosmetics enterpreneur, Bush-Cheney'00 donor, and wife of Elf-Aquitaine/Arms to Africa fugitive Pierre Falcone, copped a plea to charges of illegally employing some immigrants (they were legal immigrants, but not allowed to work, so in British terminology it was a case of facilitation and working-in-breach).

She is going to have to leave the US as a result. It'll be fascinating to see where she and Pierre head for, although his Angolan diplomatic passport means he will have little trouble travelling.

Meanwhile, Richard Chichakli gave an interview I hadn't spotted. It's the usual stuff - a string of notable non-denials. Interestingly, his lawyer claims that the evidence against him is "secret", although (as so often with Chichakli defenders) he admits he hasn't read the brief. The evidence of Chichakli's association with Liberia and Sergei Bout, for his information, rests on the bank transfers from the Liberian shipping register to San Air General Trading's account at Standard Chartered Bank that Alex Vines of Global Witness produced at the House Armed Services Committee.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Sonia Falcone, cosmetics enterpreneur, Bush-Cheney'00 donor, and wife of Elf-Aquitaine/Arms to Africa fugitive Pierre Falcone"

Hm. I wonder if they were the inspiration for the antagonist in Charles Stross' novel 'Jennifer Morgue'.

Anonymous said...

It is also interesting that the US failed to raid the Falcone residence for a full month after the indictment. This gave Pierre, who was quietly in the US, a chance to get his things together and leave. Sonia masquarades as a philothropist and a person who cares about children while she and her husband see to it the are armed. The US should keep her and imprison her.

Anonymous said...

Ironically, as Mrs. Falcone was finalizing her plea bargain, a judge in Paris, France was ordering her husband back to jail for an endless number of felony charges. They came to the US hoping to impress everyone with their ill gained money and hoping we would be so stupid as to never recognize them as the gansters they are. Did you know that Mr. Falcone's sister was indicted in France for selling stolen paintings ....there was even a murder in the middle of the story. Mr. Falcone now hides himself behind an Israeli by the name of Rosenbaum and functions with impunity hiring referrals from his "comrade in arms" Gaydamark(also under arrest in Paris) a fugitive living in Israel. No wonder most of his employees are Israelis and certainly "paying their US taxes"

Anonymous said...

Dear Annonymous with interesting info on Sonia and Pierre...anychance you can get in contact with me at ayearsley@globalwitness.org see www.globalwitness.org and you will know why....thanks for the info..

Anonymous said...

ALEX:

GO TO YOUR MAIL AND YOUR WILL FIND REPLY FROM ANONYMOUS

Anonymous said...

Sonia Falcone has decided to "settle down" in Beiijing as she found it impossible to travel to EU country where her husband is under an arrest warrant.....

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