Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Is Blackwater’s Erik Prince Moving to the United Arab Emirates?

by Jeremy Scahill, The Nation, June 15, 2010

With Blackwater’s top deputies indicted on federal charges and the company up for sale, rumors are swirling that Prince is preparing to bolt to a country with no extradition treaty with the US.

Sources close to Blackwater and its secretive owner Erik Prince claim that the embattled head of the world’s most infamous mercenary firm is planning to move to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Middle Eastern nation, a major hub for the US war industry, has no extradition treaty with the United States. In April, five of Prince’s top deputies were hit with a 15-count indictment by a federal Grand Jury on conspiracy, weapons and obstruction of justice charges. Among those indicted were Prince’s longtime number two man, former Blackwater president Gary Jackson, former vice presidents William Matthews and Ana Bundy, and Prince’s former legal counsel Andrew Howell.

The Blackwater/Erik Prince saga took yet another dramatic turn last week, when Prince abruptly announced that he was putting his company up for sale.

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