Posted on 09/27/2001 9:49:24 AM PDT by Pokey78
Investigators have learned that Osama bin Laden was among those with accounts in a bank shut down in 1991 in one of the world’s biggest banking scandals, Sen. John Kerry said Wednesday. The Bank of Credit and Commerce International was closed after bank regulators around the globe linked it to fraud, theft, secret weapons deals, terrorist financing and drug-money laundering. Investigators didn’t know it at the time, but it turns out bin Laden had accounts at BCCI, said Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who led an investigation into the Third World bank. The BCCI-bin Laden tie was first reported by MSNBC.com's Christopher Byron Tuesday.
“WE HAVE LEARNED SINCE from law enforcement and intelligence that when we shut it down, we dealt him a very serious economic blow because of the size of those accounts and his dependency on that flow,” Kerry said.
Saudi Arabian multimillionaire bin Laden and his al-Qaida network are the prime suspects in the Sept. 11 hijackings of four U.S. commercial jetliners and attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
U.S. officials are trying to trace the money behind bin Laden’s network, leading to a renewed push by Kerry and other lawmakers for tougher money laundering laws.
Kerry commented on BCCI’s link to bin Laden at a Senate Banking Committee hearing on money laundering legislation.
Arab terrorist Abu Nidal and Colombian cocaine cartels also were among the bank’s 1.3 million customers. Depositors lost millions of dollars when authorities seized BCCI’s assets.
Daley had been considered a possible favorite for the Democratic nomination.
Daley told the Chicago Sun-Times he had been overwhelmed by support for a possible bid, but he needed a break from politics. He served last year as campaign manager in former Vice President Al Gore's quest for the White House.
"It's just not the right time," Daley, 53, told the newspaper. "It would be a great honor to serve as governor of Illinois. But at this stage in my life, I have to do what is right for me and my family."
Daley and his wife, Loretta, recently announced their separation. He did not return calls for comment Tuesday.
Although he had not formally announced his intentions in the race to succeed Republican Gov. George Ryan, Daley received strong support from leading Illinois Democrats, including state chairman Michael Madigan and Sen. Richard J. Durbin.
Daley, the brother of Mayor Richard M. Daley and son of former Mayor Richard J. Daley, also said he did not want to make the financial sacrifice to run. He recently became vice chairman and senior managing director of Evercore Partners, a New York investment banking firm. Democrats see next year's race as their strongest chance in decades to reclaim a governor's seat that has belonged to Republicans since 1977. Ryan announced earlier this month that he would not seek a second term.
"Certainly, Daley was going to be a force, a huge factor in the governor's race if he chose to run," said John Gianulis, president of the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen's Association.
The 1998 nominee, Glenn Poshard, announced earlier this month he would not enter the race, and Durbin said he would seek re-election to the Senate.
Gianulis and other Democrats say they're not worried about the lack of a candidate whose name could clear the field.
Those who have announced or expressed interest in running include 1978 nominee Michael Bakalis, Rep. Rod Blagojevich, former state Attorney General Roland Burris, Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine, state Rep. Louis Lang, former state Treasurer Patrick Quinn, Chicago attorney John Schmidt and former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas.
Several top Republicans already have endorsed Attorney General Jim Ryan for governor. State Sen. Patrick O'Malley is the only other announced Republican candidate. Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood is also considering entering the race.
Brad Goodrich, executive director of the Illinois Republican Party, said Daley would have been a "formidable opponent," particularly with his fund-raising ability and the backing of his brother.
"I think they're left with a field of seven or eight dwarves at this point, so they've got a real problem on their hands," Goodrich said.
August 9, 2001 5:22pm
DALLAS, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Source Media, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SRCM), a leading provider of interactive digital cable TV applications and audio and text applications for all digital media platforms, announced today that it has retained Evercore Partners L.P. as financial advisor to assist it as it continues the evaluation of its strategic alternatives and to assist in the implementation of its plans derived from this evaluation process. Evercore replaces UBS Warburg, its previous financial advisor.
"We are working cooperatively with the holders of our 12% Senior Secured Notes to move through this process as expeditiously as possible," said Steve Palley, CEO of Source Media. "The retention of Evercore enables us to advance the best interests of the Company and its stakeholders efficiently. In the meantime we are operating our business as usual."
Evercore Partners, based in New York and Los Angeles, CA, provides strategic, financial and restructuring advisory services to major corporations. Evercore has advised on over $100 billion of announced or closed merger and acquisition transactions. Recent advisory work includes advising
Accenture Ltd. in its recent IPO,
ACNielsen on its merger with VNU NV,
General Mills on its pending acquisition of Pillsbury from Diageo plc,
CBS Corporation on its merger with Viacom and
Dow Jones & Company on its interactive joint venture with Reuters.
Evercore also makes private equity investments through its Evercore Capital Partners affiliate and venture investments through its Evercore Ventures affiliate.
Evercore Capital Partners' investments include American Media,
Encoda Systems,
Vertis,
Resources Connection,
Energy Partners,
Continental Energy Services,
Callahan Associates International LLC and
Telenet Holding, NV.
Venture investments include
Atheros Communications,
Go2 Systems and
USBX.
...
August 9, 2001 11:42am
BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 9, 2001--American Media, Inc. (NYSE:ENQ) today announced results for the first quarter ended June 25, 2001.
...
Net loss was $4,585,000 for the June 2001 fiscal quarter compared to a net loss of $5,002,000 in the prior year fiscal quarter.
David J. Pecker, American Media's Chairman, President and CEO said, "We are extremely pleased with our results of $97.7 million of revenues and $31.9 million of EBITDA for the three months ended June 25, 2001. These results were achieved despite a challenging environment for the publishing industry in terms of both advertising and distribution."
American Media's Senior Subordinated Notes trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ENQ with a coupon of 10 1/4% due May 2009.
American Media Operations, Inc. owns and publishes the
National Enquirer,
Star,
Weekly World News,
Globe,
National Examiner,
Sun,
Country Weekly,
Country Music Magazine,
MIRA! and
Auto World Magazine.
AMI also owns Distribution Services, Inc. (DSI), the leading in-store supermarket and drugstore newspaper and magazine distribution company.
...
The Standard [www.thestandard.com] Evercore, eCompanies Join Forces
By Jim Evans
Oct 02 2000 07:03 AM PDT
The partners have formed an investment firm to manage both companies' Web-related investments.
The Southern California incubator eCompanies has joined with New York-based Evercore Partners to form a new investment firm - eCompanies/Evercore Venture Partners - to manage both entities' new-economy venture investments.
Evercore founding partner Austin Beutner will manage the new firm. He will also become the third partner of the eCompanies incubator, joining Sky Dayton and .
The partners are also raising a new fund, according to observers close to the combined company.
The principals say the partnership formalizes the two firms' commitment to combining the offline world with the online world. Evercore represents the offline world. Founded by Beutner and former Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, the boutique investment firm Evercore makes equity and venture investments and offers strategic corporate advice. In September 1999 it made waves by serving as principal adviser to CBS (dossier) in its $37.3 billion merger with Viacom (VIA). Former Disney Internet executive Winebaum and EarthLink founder Dayton founded eCompanies in July 1999. In August of that year it closed a $130 million venture fund and subsequently backed a host of companies in both the consumer and the business-to-business categories, none of which has hit the public markets yet.
"We wouldn't have brought a third partner in unless it was someone we were very comfortable with, like Austin," Winebaum says. "And the more we talked about where things were heading, the more we realized there was an opportunity to work together."
The idea of combining online and offline expertise in an investment firm is nothing new, of course. This year, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts [KKR] hooked up with the VC firm Accel Partners to form AccelKKR Internet. Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partnered with consulting firm Bain & Co. and managing partners from buyout firm Texas Pacific Group to form eVolution.
However, while those firms have made it their mission to carve Web businesses out of Fortune 500-type companies, Evercore/eCompanies plans to work more with startups, some of which would come from eCompanies' incubator.
It hasn't all been rosy so far for the incubator. Its very first company, eParties, went belly-up in June, firing its employees and selling pieces of the business to eToys (ETYS). But Beutner says he thinks the incubator is on the right track.
"We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't have confidence in the investments made by the individuals involved," Beutner says.
Evercore seems to be coming on board at the right time. Dayton and Winebaum brought virtually no venture or private equity experience to the company when they founded it last year, and
Among the company's limited partners are
Accel Partners,
CS First Boston,
Disney,
EarthLink,
Goldman Sachs,
KKR,
Soros Fund Management,
Sprint (FON),
Sun America and
Times Mirror (TMC).
"The reason we picked the LPs we did is because we wanted them to be engaged." Winebaum says. "We did as good as any fund does, but we knew we'd be under more scrutiny because of who our investors are."
Last month the eCompanies-incubated Business.com drew a $61 million round of financing co-led by Pearson's Financial Times Group and Reed Elsevier (dossier)'s Cahners Business Information. In August, eCompanies and Sprint founded a wireless incubator. The incubator will be hosted at eCompanies, (dossier)and Sprint invested $15 million in the venture.
The Standard IS NOT part of the new partnership of Evercore and eCompanies.
From the website(s) of AQUA INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, L.P.
Aqua International Partners, L.P., a $232 million investment fund, was established in 1997 to make private equity investments in companies providing water and water-related products or services to emerging market economies.
To capitalize on the rapid transformation of the water industry, Aqua International Partners, L.P. ("Aqua" or "Fund") was created by William K. Reilly (former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Bush) and David Bonderman, Jim Coulter and Bill Price (founding partners of the private equity firm, Texas Pacific Group.) The Aqua Fund, based in San Francisco, invests in operating and special purpose companies that are engaged in providing products or services to the water sector.
Aqua was founded with support from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation ("OPIC"), a self-sustaining, independent federal agency that mobilizes American private capital for investment in developing countries in transition to democracy and a market economy.
Aqua is a member of Texas Pacific Group, a network of private equity investment funds with more than $7 billion under management. Following the proven formula of the Texas Pacific Group funds, Aqua’s investment philosophy incorporates rigorous analysis of unique investment situations, combined with management collaboration and involvement with a portfolio company’s board to produce superior investment returns. It is the Fund’s principle to engage in transactions only in cooperation with a company’s board of directors or executive management team.
Aqua and Texas Pacific Group management has extensive experience in international private equity investment, project finance, corporate mergers and acquisitions and corporate management. This, combined with a broad international network of relationships for sourcing investment opportunities and for partnering in specific transactions, provides a foundation for success through cooperation with the management of portfolio companies and value added beyond the provision of capital.
© 2001
AQUA INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS, L.P.
345 California Street, Suite 3300 San Francisco, CA 94104
Would this Mahfouz be the same Mahfouz that is an owner of HYBRIDON?
HYBRIDON the biological products company in Cambridge(Boston),that I alledge is being used by Mahfouz and its other owner,Yehia Bin Laden as part of their Biological weapons machine?
President Bush will have a difficult time in closing up all those states, nations,and people that fund Bin Laden!
Has he added HYBRIDON to the list ?
I dont think so!
"provides a foundation for success through cooperation with the management of portfolio companies and value added beyond the provision of capital"
That's corporate speak for Return on Investment.
I posted the Texas Pacific Group as a matter of interest --- the former President Bush E.P.A. director and O.P.I.C. may ring some bells.
My post of the Boston Herald article "Bin Ladens Own Stake In Biomedical Firm " of 9-25-01 is active on the board.
As we head into this war,I think every piece of information we can read is important!
There is no way we can yak about Bin Laden without running into the Bushs and Bin Laden and Mahfouz!
Does this make Bush an Arab terrorist funder?
No, but it is an item to be dealt with!
"Aqua was founded with support from the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation ("OPIC"), a self-sustaining, independent federal agency that mobilizes American private capital for investment in developing countries in transition to democracy and a market economy."
One may wonder how the mobilizing is coming along, in the face of what opportunities may be expected with the developments of new beach front properties in Afghanistan?
I think that trying to pin BCCI on one party or the other is to fundamentally misunderstand it.
I was curious to know more about Mr. Clifford. But instead of finding obvious, or in the public eye, links between them (Jackson and Clifford), it was easy to stumble upon the banking links between Mr. Clifford and the B.C.C.I. and the Washington liberal elite.
Indeed, the "higher-ups" of "the left" do "rub elbows" with "the right."
But I did not really look in the direction of B.C.C.I., any further, because what stood out, was the plentitude of left-wing organizations and their officers.
Now that was interesting, because of the image the Democrats like to portray themselves as, a party of the poor. But in spite of that image, to find out how not poor, but actually very well connected and endowed, is the Democrat Party.
And, how incredibly well-engineered, are its many sub-divisions of political action agencies.
I was interested in that, because there was what the "liberal media" have been keeping from the public for decades.
Well, then, after all that look around in the 1980's, along comes Bill Clinton and members of his administration, who started to ring bells.
So I take another look, reviewing where I left off, back in the '80's, and promptly, I found connected to the "health care crisis," various prominent Clintonistas.
My 2 cents for you and all, is to pay careful attention to the organization, People for the American Way. That organization is not, never was, for America's great foundations.
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