| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
23 Nov 2007 08:03:15 AM |
| Object: |
Ghouliani, North Korea, and Organized Crime. Connect the Dots |
From The Chicago Tribune, 11/21/07:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-rudy_singaporenov21,1,6418389.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
By Andrew Zajac and Evan Osnos, Tribune correspondents
WASHINGTON -
Nine days after registering his presidential exploratory committee
last November, Rudolph Giuliani appeared in Singapore to help a Las
Vegas developer make a pitch for a $3.5 billion casino resort.
Though the bid ultimately failed, and there was nothing illegal about
the involvement, it drew Giuliani into a complex partnership with the
family of a controversial Hong Kong billionaire who has ties to the
regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to
international organized crime by the U.S. government.
Giuliani's participation as a security consultant in the Singapore
gambling venture illustrates the challenge he faces while attempting
to win the Republican presidential nomination with a law-and-order
message while maintaining a far-flung, international business
portfolio, an unknown portion of which remains in the shadows.
As a candidate, Giuliani is banking on his reputation as a hard-nosed
prosecutor and a crime-fighting mayor, along with his performance
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to trump doubts about his
turbulent personal life, his tolerant stands on gambling, abortion and
other social issues and perhaps some of the decisions he has made as a
businessman.
So far, the strategy seems to be working, as Giuliani leads most polls
of GOP presidential contenders.
But as the primary campaign nears its first electoral tests in Iowa,
New Hampshire and other states in the coming weeks, new details of
Giuliani's extensive business dealings since leaving office continue
to emerge piecemeal.
Each revelation raises new questions for the first major presidential
candidate in memory to build a multimillion-dollar business on the
foundation of his time in elected office, and not the other way
around.
Confidential candidate
Even today, more than a year after the former New York mayor signaled
his intention to run for the presidency, it remains impossible to
fully evaluate Giuliani's business dealings because he has declined to
list all of the clients in Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm he
founded and heads.
Questioned during a campaign appearance Tuesday in Chicago, Giuliani
said that, "all of Giuliani Partners' clients, maybe with one or two
exceptions, I'm not even sure that's right, are public. ... At least
the ones that I was familiar with."
Confidentiality agreements prohibit disclosure of an unspecified
number of clients, Giuliani said, "but somehow I think you -- you
meaning the press in general -- have been successful in discovering.
I'd have to check if it's every client. But just about every single
client of Giuliani Partners. You'll have to check with them."
A spokeswoman for Giuliani Partners said that "a number of client
relationships ... must remain confidential, as per the specific
request of those clients."
She did not respond to questions about whether Giuliani was asking
those clients to waive privacy in light of his presidential bid.
Giuliani's public involvement in the gaming bid began at a September
2006 news conference in Singapore hosted by Mark Advent, CEO of Eighth
Wonder LLC, a Las Vegas development company heading one of three
consortia competing to build the Sentosa Integrated Resort.
Giuliani Security & Safety LLC, a division of Giuliani Partners, was
to provide security on a celebrity-studded, multibillion-dollar
project featuring participation by soccer legend Pele, chef Alain
Ducasse, New Age guru Deepak Chopra and designer Vera Wang, according
to Advent.
Advent estimated that he spent more than $30 million to assemble and
present his plans to Singaporean authorities.
He declined to disclose the fees paid to Giuliani, but described them
as "fair and priceless."
Advent said he sought Giuliani's services because he was impressed by
the way Giuliani ran New York, before and especially after the Sept.
11 attacks.
"In my personal opinion, the mayor is the best crisis manager,
post-traumatic event, of anyone I've ever seen," Advent said in a
recent telephone interview.
'Tremendous due diligence'
Behind the scenes, Giuliani had been involved in the project for three
months before his involvement was made public, and he had a 10-year
agreement to provide "security management on all levels," including
employee background checks, security features and disaster response,
said Advent, who previously developed Las Vegas' New York, New York
casino.
______________________________________________________
Harry
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| User: "Einstein" |
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| Title: Re: Ghouliani, North Korea, and Organized Crime. Connect the Dots |
23 Nov 2007 08:20:46 AM |
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you know what... Even the Mafia contracts security sometimes.
As someone who works in the security industry this is a given, that
eventually you might have a contract that you did not know was from a
criminal source, for a non-criminal activity.
My questions are:
1) if this person is known to associate, why is he/she not in jail?
2) If there is not enough evidence to associate entirely, then why is
the insinuation that Giullani is then tied to the Mafia as well?... a
friend of a friend does not equal everyone is friends (Just ask my ex-
wifes family.. they liked me well enough, but that is not reforming my
marriage)
3) Why are you bashing on him anyways?
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