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authorised letter, Jardine, Emett & Chandler issued its own brokerage division". Of interest here is the little known fact that "Request for collateral instruments" under its letterhead. This let- Drexel, Burnham, Lambert, New York, was a recipient of gold ter, dated 12 October 1989, bore the reference "Midland Bank bullion from Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos in January Aval Limited for Ecoban Limited". 1984. It is not clear from Mr Demitrieus's available vitae if this To close the circle, Dan Hughes had earlier instructed his attor- was the same time period he was the Senior Vice President of ney, Oswald (Ozzie) Howe, Jr, of the Miami law firm Mershon, Drexel's bullion business, but I am informed this is probably the Sawyer, Johnston, Dunwoody & Cole, to cause to be issued a case. Before that, Demitrieus "held senior-level financial posi- sight draft, dated 6 October 1989, drawn on the Southeast Bank tions with Freeport-McMoRan, ITT and Arthur Andersen" .”! NA, Miami, and payable to Bankers Trust Company, for the sum Significantly, Freeport-McMoRan, back when it was Freeport of US$50,000. A further sight draft was issued in the amount of — Sulphur, positively heaved with CIA and elite heavy-hitters—not US$25,000, at the request of Bankers Trust. Following this to mention persistent whispers of its involvement in the recovery sequence of events, nothing happened and no draws were made of plundered gold stashed in Indonesia, where Freeport had the against the sight drafts issued by Southeast Bank in favour of world's largest copper mining operation. Over the years, the Bankers Trust. But on 18 October 1989, Hughes received a time Freeport senior management has included such luminaries as and sequence confirmation from Joan Johnson, Vice President | Augustus "Gus" Long, Chairman of Texaco, who did "prodigious and Operations Manager of the Security Pacific bank in Los volunteer work for Columbia Presbyterian Hospital" —which has Angeles, which Hughes believes activated his transaction through been described as a "hotbed of CIA activity"? a "back door" arrangement which would cut him out of his com- Another director was Robert Lovett, who has been described as mission."” Thereafter, Peter Seaman point-blank and inexplicably a "Cold War architect" and was once an executive at the old Wall refused to speak with Hughes again. Street bank of Brown Brothers Harriman. He also served as an General Cocke was an experienced banker from a long line of | Under Secretary of State, Assistant Secretary of War an bankers and was a former full-time Secretary of Defense. He was a best US representative at the World Bank. friend of Chase Manhattan Bank Intimately familiar with the opera- Chairman (and Warren Commission tional techniques of trading pro- 1 1 member) John J. McCloy. grammes, he was asked: "Can you To appreciate the subtleties of The Chase Manhattan an explain in a general way how it how the diversion of this Citibank connection to Freeport was [Hammer] functioned, that it was a g " ws Q further enhanced by the boar trade programme, for those of us that particular portal into Project appointment of Godfrey Rockefeller, are not familiar?" Hammer may have occurred, brother of James Stillman The stock way all big banks, all Or, 9 G Rockefeller who was appointe central banks, change within It Is instructive to look at the Chairman of Citibank (then known themselves and curtail their bal- connections and associations of as First National City Bank, or ances, build up their peaks and ie FNCB for short) in 1959. (Note, thon well it the principal players. too, that Chase Manhattan an Citibank are the exact same two He went on to explain that "most banks that were to issue the Project of it is done in a four-week program Hammer documentary letters of to be technically correct" and involved the trading of banking credit.) Godfrey Rockefeller was a one-time trustee of the instruments —usually known as "collateral" —that are heavily dis- Fairfield Foundation that financed a variety of CIA "fronts". counted and then sold off. Meanwhile, Stillman's cousin, David Rockefeller, was Chairman of Chase Manhattan and regarded as the "goliath of American MAPPING THE COVERT CONNECTIONS banking".* To appreciate the subtleties of how the diversion of this particu- By a strange coincidence of fate, it was Robert Lovett and John lar "portal" into Project Hammer may have occurred, it is instruc- J. McCloy who, together with Robert B. Anderson, formed tive to look at the connections and associations of the principal Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson's team of financial experts players.” concerned with tracking WWII gold looted by the Axis powers. ¢Ecoban: In addition to Ecoban Limited in London, there was Indeed, Lovett and McCloy were responsible for negotiating the the affiliated Ecoban Finance Limited that conducted business out —_ secret agreement hidden behind the Bretton Woods Agreement of an address on Third Avenue in New York City. concerning the establishment of the Black Eagle trust that was to A one-time President and CEO of Ecoban Finance Limited in make use of plundered WWII bullion in the postwar years.” New York was Jim Demitrieus, who more recently was the ¢ Midland Bank: When looking at MidAval's parent, Midland President and Chief Operating Officer of Ixnet/IPC, which was Bank Group International Trade Services (MiBGITS), one could acquired by Global Crossing in June 2000. Global Crossing was do worse than read the very informative book by former arms one of the US firms that recently suffered a spectacular collapse company chairman Gerald James, entitled In the Public Interest. together with Worldcom, Enron and the accountancy firm Arthur James recounts numerous chilling accounts of Her Majesty's Andersen. All were subjected to a welter of media attention for _ intelligence service MI6's deep involvement with the MiBGITS what was believed to have been unparalleled insider trading activ- special defence unit. Included are details of Stephan Kock, who ities by senior executives. James claims to have been a former head of the Foreign Office's Earlier in his career, Demitrieus "served as senior vice president so-called assassination squad, Group 13. Another intelligence- and chief operating officer of the Commodity Division of Drexel connected individual named in James's book is Sir John Cuckney, Burnham Lambert, Inc., responsible for the precious metals, ener- who was a non-executive director of Midland Bank from 1978 gy products, foreign exchange trading subsidiary and institutional until 1988 and was responsible for having formed the defence unit To appreciate the subtleties of how the diversion of this particular "portal" into Project Hammer may have occurred, it is instructive to look at the MAPPING THE COVERT CONNECTIONS To appreciate the subtleties of how the diversion of this particu- lar "portal" into Project Hammer may have occurred, it is instruc- tive to look at the connections and associations of the principal players.” ¢ Ecoban: In addition to Ecoban Limited in London, there was the affiliated Ecoban Finance Limited that conducted business out of an address on Third Avenue in New York City. A one-time President and CEO of Ecoban Finance Limited in New York was Jim Demitrieus, who more recently was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Ixnet/IPC, which was acquired by Global Crossing in June 2000. Global Crossing was one of the US firms that recently suffered a spectacular collapse together with Worldcom, Enron and the accountancy firm Arthur Andersen. All were subjected to a welter of media attention for what was believed to have been unparalleled insider trading activ- ities by senior executives. Earlier in his career, Demitrieus "served as senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Commodity Division of Drexel Burnham Lambert, Inc., responsible for the precious metals, ener- gy products, foreign exchange trading subsidiary and institutional NEXUS ¢ 37 connections and associations of the principal players. AUGUST — SEPTEMBER 2003 www.nexusmagazine.com