KEVIN HALLIGEN - Pleads GUILTY

WASHINGTON—Kevin Richard Halligen, 51, an Irish citizen, pled guilty today to wire fraud, a federal charge stemming from a scheme in which he defrauded $2.1 million from a Netherlands-based commodities trading company, announced United States Attorney Ronald C Machen Jr and Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office. Halligen pled guilty to one count of wire fraud, the first of two counts of an indictment that was returned against him in 2009 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. As part of the plea agreement, the government agreed to dismiss the second count of the indictment, which was a money laundering charge stemming from the same scheme. The charge of wire fraud carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, the parties agreed that Halligen’s likely range would be a prison term of 33 to 41 months and a fine between $7,500 and $75,000. Under the plea agreement, Halligen also must pay $2.1 million in restitution to the company that was the victim of his scheme. The Honorable Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled sentencing for June 27, 2013. The wire fraud charge stems from actions taken by Halligen in 2006 and 2007, when he was the Chief Executive Officer of Red Defence International (RDI), a London-based security consulting and crisis management firm, which was hired by Trafigura Beheer BV (Trafigura), a Netherlands-based international commodities trading company, and its London-based law firm, Waterson Hicks.

Trafigura hired RDI as a consultant in crisis management after two Trafigura executives were captured and imprisoned in the Ivory Coast while visiting there for the purpose of determining the company’s next steps to address an environmental issue caused by the leakage of toxic waste material from Trafigura vessels in an Ivory Coast port. While employed by Trafigura, Halligen claimed to have incurred $2.1 million in expenses related to pursuing a strategy in the United States aimed at convincing the United States to assist in securing the release of the Trafigura executives; in reality, Halligen spent the money on a home in Great Falls, Virginia, which was to be his personal residence, as well as other personal expenses, according to the government’s evidence. “This CEO exploited a company desperate to secure the release of its executives from a foreign prison,” said United States Attorney Machen. “He conned the company out of $2 million he claimed would be used to support his efforts to rescue them, but instead used the money to buy a six-bedroom mansion.

The extradition and imprisonment of this CEO demonstrates the strength of our resolve to prosecute corporate fraud.” “Instead of assisting in the release of two executives imprisoned in the Ivory Coast, Mr Halligen utilized the money paid to him to support his own lavish lifestyle,” said Assistant Director in Charge Parlave. “Together with prosecutors, the FBI will continue to pursue individuals who devise schemes to defraud companies of money for services never provided to them.” According to a statement of offense signed by the defendant as well as the government, at the request of Trafigura, Waterson Hicks hired RDI in October 2006 to help secure the release of two Trafigura executives who were arrested and detained in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The arrests followed an environmental spill off the coast of Abidjan. Under a contract that took effect in October 2006, RDI was to provide security intelligence and public relations services related to Trafigura’s presence in the Ivory Coast and to assist with facilitating the release of the Trafigura executives.

Under the contract with RDI, Waterson Hicks paid RDI and then, in turn, the law firm was reimbursed by Trafigura. During November 2006, after other efforts to secure the executives’ release proved unsuccessful, Halligen suggested that the United States government should be involved with facilitating negotiations with the Ivory Coast. His stated strategy was to utilize his contacts in the United States to encourage Ivory Coast officials to release the executives. Halligen said the “American Strategy” would cost an additional $2.1 million, on top of the money RDI already was receiving.

The $2.1 million supposedly was to be used to pay expenses incurred by Halligen in the United States to hire consultants and lobbyists to influence officials in the United States on Trafigura’s behalf. In December 2006, Halligen was informed that the law firm had received the $2.1 million from Trafigura. Then, in January 2007, Halligen told the law firm to wire $2.1 million from their bank account in London to his personal bank account in the United States. Between November 2006 and January 2007, Halligen traveled to the United States on numerous occasions, claiming to have met with United States officials in Washington, DC ., allegedly in furtherance of the “American Strategy.” While in Washington, DC ., he began dating a woman who resided in the area and subsequently became engaged to her.

Halligen gave his fianceé a $2 million budget to find a suitable house in which they would live after their marriage. Shortly thereafter, she found a six-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bathroom residence in Great Falls, Virginia. On January 11, 2007—the day after $2.1 million was wired to Halligen’s personal bank account for the American strategy—Halligen wired nearly $1.7 million from his account to complete the purchase of the Great Falls residence. None of the proceeds from the $2.1 million payment from Waterson Hicks to RDI were ever directed toward reimbursement of expenses related to the “American Strategy.” In addition to spending nearly $1.7 million on the purchase of the Great Falls residence, the rest of the money was spent on other personal expenses.

The Trafigura executives ultimately were released in February 2007. At the time of his indictment in November 2009, Halligen was no longer residing in the United States. On November 25, 2009, he was arrested at a hotel in Oxford, the United Kingdom, so that he could be extradited to the United States. At the time of his arrest, Halligen was using an alias.

Subsequent to his arrest in the United Kingdom, Halligen litigated issues surrounding his extradition to the United States. He ultimately was extradited in December 2012. Halligen was incarcerated in the United Kingdom from the date of his arrest in November 2009 until his extradition in December 2012. When he was presented for his initial appearance in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, in December 2012, he was ordered to be held without bond and he has been incarcerated since that time.

Halligen will continue to be incarcerated while he awaits his sentencing date. In announcing the plea, United States Attorney Machen and Assistant Director in Charge Parlave commended the work of the special agents from the FBI’s Washington Field Office who handled the case. They also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case for the United States Attorney’s Office, including paralegals Donna Galindo, Tasha Harris, and Krishawn Graham. Finally, they commended the efforts of Assistant United States Attorneys Maia L Miller and Matt Graves, who are prosecuting the case, and former Assistant United States Attorney Vasu Muthyala who investigated the matter.

Oopsy! Will Clarence Mitchell comment?

No mention of the McCanns and their £300,000 (?) which went missing with him, I wonder why?

From the 'big boys of international investigation', 2008...

...to Belmarsh prison in 2009...

...to an American jail in 2012...

...and then...

Halligen’s likely range would be a prison term of 33 to 41 months

Does that include the time he's already spent inside? If so, he'll soon be out. Or does it mean 33 additional months?

PeterMac wrote: [...]
Kevin, if you haven't worked out what your employers do, look up the Trafigura case.
In your own time, of course.

***
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

PeterMac wrote:Ah, yes. Trafigura.
Does that ring a bell with you KEVIN ?


hello, hello testing testing,
Tony Bennett,Tony Bennett

Kevin, if you haven't worked out what your employers do, look up the Trafigura case.
In your own time, of course.

Aww, do you think if we all put Tony Bennett in each post we make, Kevin will get all confused and stressed.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I haven't always be able to follow everything about this case. So maybe this is common knowledge:

Was Kevin Halligen recommended by Carter-Ruck to the McCanns? The coincidence to be involved in the Trafigura and the McCanns' case is a bit too fortuitous, isn't it?

It's a case of dodgy people stick together with dodgy people - birds of the same feather.

It would be a (little) bit more understandable why CR is doing all this work for the McCanns if indeed Halligen was recommended by CR. That's a major blunder.

On the other side it is clear CR work according to the idea that "there is no such thing as bad publicity".

PeterMac wrote:McCanns ace Private detective to be sentenced.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Kevin Richard Halligen, who made millions by fraudulently claiming to be a British spy, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday morning in D.C. federal court.

From 2005 to 2008, Halligen [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] in Washington, where he offered high-priced services as a security consultant by falsely claiming a background in intelligence. His life of luxury and boasts of involvement in international intrigue crumbled when many of the prominent Washington personalities who had trusted him started charging him with misusing their money. 
He [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] to a fraud charge in May.
Halligen, 51, has spent 43 months behind bars in England and the U.S. — while awaiting extradition and then again while awaiting sentencing — longer than the 33 to 41 months that federal sentencing guidelines recommend for his crime. Already, public defender David Bos wrote for the defendant, “Mr. Halligen has been punished far beyond what is just.”
Halligen fled to the United Kingdom but eventually was apprehended and extradited. 

Prosecutors agreed in their own sentencing memo that Halligen should not be sentenced to additional time above the guidelines. The prosecution and the defense asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in their sentencing memos to order Halligen to be deported immediately rather than sentencing him to additional prison time.

The case stems from Halligen’s contract with Trafigura, a company based in the Netherlands that paid him nearly $12 million in less than a year to help free two of its executives who had been arrested in Ivory Coast. Rather than use the money to influence American power players to help Trafigura’s cause as promised, prosecutors said, Halligen took a $2.1 million payment and bought a $1.6 million house in cash the next day.

The rest of the money went to buy two purebred dogs and help pay for an over-the-top wedding that was perhaps the most outrageous chapter of Halligen’s tale.

After wooing an American attorney, Halligen invited about 100 guests to their wedding at the Evermay estate in Georgetown, where the happy couple treated their guests to lamb, lobster and a fireworks show.

But the minister was actually an actor — and Halligen already had a wife in England. He told his would-be bride a few days before the ceremony that he could not sign public documents because of his role as a spy; all of the guests were left in the dark.

In addition to the Trafigura case in criminal court, several former associates have sued Halligen for similar alleged frauds in civil courts in the United States and the United Kingdom.
“The defendant’s theft was an act of unmitigated greed,” prosecutors wrote. “This theft was committed by a man who had earned more in a year’s time than most will earn in a lifetime. Despite this windfall, the defendant decided to steal. There is no excuse or context for his decision: Defendant saw a criminal opportunity, and greed, not need, drove him to take advantage of the opportunity.”

Ah, yes.  Trafigura !
Now who else was involved in that disgusting scandal, Kevin ?


But not a mention "Shh, you know McWho"

Thursday morning is American for later this afternoon !  27/6/13

I do love a full gloating of hypocrisy !! What a naughty boy Kevin Halogen is....not such a bright light....to have got caught and to have owned up instead of 'lying'. FFS has the man no lying morals or lying back-bone?
The big boy bankers on the other hand who have plundered the human population for their own self-serving corrupt banking activities don't get caught, because someone like CR puts a clamp on their discovery and even if they are caught, red-handed, they just lie with as many teeth etc. and give themselves an enormous bonus at the end of it.
So what was it that CRUCK and Trafigura were trying to cover up and had to go prostituting themselves in the dodgy depths of the market to get some murky individual prepared to do the dirty dealing for them.
Oh yes, once the question had been finally put in parliament, the only recourse for the truth that was available, it was all about thousands of unwitting locals who got horrendously sick on the toxic waste being dumped on their doorstep, without so much as a 'Would you mind awfully if we just.... on behalf of a client.... in a rich country... who doesn't mind where it's dumped as long as it's out of sight and not on his territory, or of course at his expense...
Poor old Kevin H (not Kevin CRUCK) (TOny BenNet) . He has had to take all the punishment and now he might be more impuned when the McCann thing

Let's see if Mr. & Mrs. have made a complaint about him to the cops, if they have would he be arrested when he arrives in UK?

But, they are very forgiving of the abductor so why not conman?

Very true Aiyoyo, very true.   Forgive the crims but want to put fear into a cop who genuinely wants to find Maddie and threaten a pensioner with prison if he doesn't shut up - even though he spoke out because he wants Maddie found.

Very true Aiyoyo.

candyfloss wrote:

PeterMac wrote:Ah, yes. Trafigura.
Does that ring a bell with you KEVIN ?


hello, hello testing testing,
Tony Bennett,Tony Bennett

Kevin, if you haven't worked out what your employers do, look up the Trafigura case.
In your own time, of course.

Aww, do you think if we all put Tony Bennett in each post we make, Kevin will get all confused and stressed.[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I think we should make it a condition of commenting - that we all add TB`s name to every post ! That`s as long as TB doesn`t mind.

plebgate wrote:Let's see if Mr. & Mrs. have made a complaint about him to the cops, if they have would he be arrested when he arrives in UK?

Any normal person would be chasing up their money - surely SY have cottoned on to this. 
In any case, SY may want to question him as soon as he lands as part of the current investigation.

PeterMac wrote:
The other Directors have a fiduciary responsibility to try to recover the wasted and de-frauded monies, and must in law take some steps to examine the issue.

Technically you're right of course but try getting a prosecuting authority to take an interest in it.

Edited to add: What fraud?

AndyB wrote:

PeterMac wrote:
The other Directors have a fiduciary responsibility to try to recover the wasted and de-frauded monies, and must in law take some steps to examine the issue.

Technically you're right of course but try getting a prosecuting authority to take an interest in it.

Edited to add: What fraud?

What prosecuting authority? In the first place a formal complaint must be lodged first.

Meaning the decision makers on the Board of Trustees involved in the decision to hire him would now have to vote to recover the money or not.

I read it was BK who hired him, not the Board of Trustees.

It would mean dragging the directors into mud, having their active or non active roles scrutinized and examined to the hilt as to the why, how, so on and so forth. The investigating authority would have to delve into how he was hired, who recommended him, vetted by who, sanctioned by who, financed by whom, how much was paid, scope, and so on and so forth. It would mean dragging accessory person/s into the frame for scrutiny; and the whole outfit of the PIs operation risks coming under scrutiny. Nah, I can't see that happening ever.

PeterMac wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

By Julie Zauzmer, Updated: Thursday, June 27, 5:04 PM 

Kevin Richard Halligen, who made millions by fraudulently claiming to be a British spy, was ordered to leave the U.S. “expeditiously” by a federal judge Thursday morning.


U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Halligen to 41 months of prison time, but because he will get credit for the 43 months he has already spent behind bars, he is likely to be deported immediately.

rest of the article is a repeat

My eyes tricked me.  I read it as "ordered to leave US "expeditiously" by a "FedEx" judge!

He's had it easy,  sentence deemed served while in custody awaiting trial.  
He's free man again by a stroke of good luck (ass law) after all the resistance to the extradition and all.
One wonders who's coming in a limousine to collect him from the airport for a debriefing - his ex, current, or one of his enablers?

"One wonders who's coming in a limousine to collect him from the airport for a debriefing - his ex, current, or one of his enablers?"

Nope, my guess is two or three of the other members of his team who went unpaid, ex undercover cops, ex SAS operatives, all professional tough guys  and all, hopping F'ing Mad[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Grande Finale wrote:"One wonders who's coming in a limousine to collect him from the airport for a debriefing - his ex, current, or one of his enablers?"

Nope, my guess is two or three of the other members of his team who went unpaid, ex undercover cops, ex SAS operatives, all professional tough guys  and all, hopping F'ing Mad[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

He might even be praying at the moment, that 'due to a technical fault' his Fedex airplane will have to make a diversion to Ecuador.

Certain quarters will be happy if that happens because that would be him out of reach of the Met Police and the UK Press.

This guy is not above selling a few stories to earn a few quids, or maybe a book in the pipeline.

PeterMac wrote:
There is that moment when the victim realises that part of the crime involves their own negligence....

Aiyoyo wrote:My eyes tricked me.  I read it as "ordered to leave US "expeditiously" by a "FedEx" judge!

bobbin wrote:He might even be praying at the moment, that 'due to a technical fault' his Fedex airplane will have to make a diversion to Ecuador.

As some of you are aware, I am not (voluntarily) a morning person and my pre-coffee posts  ...let's just say that they aren't always completely accurate *blushes*

But, I think I'm right in saying that Kevin Halligen has Fed-Exed himself to Ecuador wearing one of Kate's negligees