How a Bar Owner in Kyrgyzstan Ended up with $7 Billion in U.S. Defense Contracts
Story by Charles P. Pierce • 12h
Seems like every day we hear about another corrupt civil servant. Corrupt banker, businessman, athlete. Seems that behind every success story of the last ten years, a scandal is exploding. We’re facing a rising sea of corruption and we wonder, who will be the next to be drowned? Who will be saved?
—Jack McCoy
Every now and then, we check in with the latest from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the dogged investigators into the world’s oligarchs and the many ways they hide their money. On Wednesday, we learned about this jamoke, who was recently convicted of massive financial crimes, and his case is a doozy.
For nearly two decades, the California-born businessman sat atop a near-invisible corporate empire that received more than $7 billion in defense contracts to supply fuel and services to the U.S. military. [Douglas] Edelman used his newfound wealth to fund investments across the globe—from Hollywood movies to an Iraqi newspaper to an MTV franchise in eastern Europe. He also maintained a veil of secrecy over his personal stake in two defense contracting firms and in his subsequent investments, saying at one point in a recorded conversation that he spent “all of my time trying to make sure my name isn’t [on] anything,” according to court documents.
In court on Wednesday, Edelman, 73, pleaded guilty to creating a fake paper trail and making false statements that his 50% stake in the defense firms instead belonged to his French wife, Delphine le Dain. Because le Dain is not a U.S. citizen and does not live in the U.S., she was not liable to pay U.S. taxes on what the indictment stated was over $350 million in income from the business. Edelman pleaded guilty to 10 counts of the 30-count indictment, and could still face prosecution on charges related to tax evasion from 2013 to 2020. The court will determine later this year the amount of income on which Edelman evaded taxes, which will play a key role in determining his prison sentence.
Tell me again that the Pentagon doesn’t need to be audited up to its eyeballs.
Described by a friend as a “happy bohemian”—someone who liked jazz, parties, and the occasional puff of marijuana—Edelman went from a small-time fuel trader and bar owner in Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek to a fabulously wealthy defense contractor, profiting off the windfall that accompanied the U.S. military response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. After the U.S. Air Force transformed Bishkek’s international airport into a critical hub for that year’s invasion of Afghanistan, Edelman and his Kyrgyz partner found themselves delivering 500,000 gallons per day of jet fuel to the U.S. military.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/how-a-bar-owner-in-kyrgyzstan-ended-up-with-7-billion-in-u-s-defense-contracts/ar-AA1FFpOt?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=dc10e68b2a8b497fb3328feae653ac5c&ei=62
