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Secretly John Kerry Traveling to Save the Iran Deal

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Secret Diplomacy - Obama: The Price of Hope Video ... photo

DIPLOMACY WORKS is John Kerry’s operation. In February he spoke at the Munich Security Conference. While declaring he is a great friend of Israel and that Iran does present threats, Kerry declares we did not concede anything with regard to the missile components inside the agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Who are some of the ‘experts’ that collaborate on policy at Diplomacy Works?

Ernest Moniz, Siegfried Hecker, Federica Mogherini, Richard Lugar, and even Theresa May. We can add in Ephrai Halevy, Colin Powell and Mike Breen. On the ADVISORY COUNCIL at Diplomacy Works beyond John Kerry is Antony Blinken, Wendy Sherman, Nicholas Burns, Michele Flournoy, Puneet Talwar, Colin Kahl, Robert Malley, David Wade, Jon Finer, Jen Psaki and Jeff Prescott.

John Kerry and his team are working the channels hard to preserve the Iran nuclear deal and that includes having the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on his side.

It is curious there is no mention of Global Zero or Ploughshares on the Diplomacy Works website, nor is Ben Rhodes or others from the Obama administration mentioned such as Susan Rice or John Brennan.

Iran sanctions lifted after Tehran complies with nuclear deal.

So, what about John’s travels? Given what the Boston Globe provided, it appears John is a commissioned paid sales representative to Iran….

WASHINGTON — John Kerry’s bid to save one of his most significant accomplishments as secretary of state took him to New York on a Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, where, more than a year after he left office, he engaged in some unusual shadow diplomacy with a top-ranking Iranian official.

He sat down at the United Nations with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to discuss ways of preserving the pact limiting Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It was the second time in about two months that the two had met to strategize over salvaging a deal they spent years negotiating during the Obama administration, according to a person briefed on the meetings.

With the Iran deal facing its gravest threat since it was signed in 2015, Kerry has been on an aggressive yet stealthy mission to preserve it, using his deep lists of contacts gleaned during his time as the top US diplomat to try to apply pressure on the Trump administration from the outside. President Trump, who has consistently criticized the pact and campaigned in 2016 on scuttling it, faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to continue abiding by its terms.

Kerry also met last month with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and he’s been on the phone with top European Union official Federica Mogherini, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal the private meetings. Kerry has also met with French President Emmanuel Macron in both Paris and New York, conversing over the details of sanctions and regional nuclear threats in both French and English.

The rare moves by a former secretary of state highlight the stakes for Kerry personally, as well as for other Obama-era diplomats who are dismayed by what they see as Trump’s disruptive approach to diplomacy, and who view the Iran nuclear deal as a factor for stability in the Middle East and for global nuclear nonproliferation. The pact, which came after a marathon negotiating session in Vienna that involved Iran and six world powers, lifted sanctions in return for Iran stopping its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“It is unusual for a former secretary of state to engage in foreign policy like this, as an actual diplomat and quasi-negotiator,” said Michael O’Hanlon, a foreign policy expert at the Brookings Institution. “Of course, former secretaries of state often remain quite engaged with foreign leaders, as they should, but it’s rarely so issue-specific, especially when they have just left office.”

Kerry declined to be interviewed for this story. The quiet lobbying campaign — by him and others — is being conducted below the radar because he and his allies believe a high-profile defense of the deal by prominent Democrats would only backfire and provoke Trump, making it more likely the president would pull the United States out of the deal.

“Part of the equation is if Ernie [Ernest Moniz, the former US energy secretary] or John made a bold statement, [Trump] is . . . crazy, and he might do the opposite just to spite them,” said one source who has worked with Kerry. “You’re liable to spur this guy in a direction you don’t want him to go in, just to be spiteful.”

Moniz was a key part of the negotiating team, meeting with his Iranian counterpart as they determined some of the technical scientific details.

A former Obama White House official said there is little to be gained by aiming the effort directly at Trump.

“At least from our network, you’re not going to find messages aimed at him directly,” said the official. “It would be counterproductive. Anything with our brand attached to it, he’ll run in the opposite direction.”

Democratic lawmakers in Congress also have been relatively quiet, and not all share Kerry’s belief that the deal is essential for preventing a nuclear arms race in the volatile region. Kerry has quietly tried to bolster support in Congress. In recent weeks he’s placed dozens of phone calls and, often with Moniz by his side, has lobbied members of Congress, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. While he is not negotiating as he did as secretary of state, he is attempting through quiet advocacy to preserve what he accomplished.

Kerry supporters see in this campaign some of his trademark traits, especially his unflagging energy even in the face of potential failure. Critics see something else, a former office holder working with foreign officials to potentially undermine the policy aims of a current administration.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Under terms of the deal, the United States is supposed to waive sanctions, which come up for review every three or four months, as long as Iran remains in compliance. Trump is threatening to reimpose sanctions on Iran when the next deadline comes on May 12, which would essentially mean the United States is pulling out of the deal. Trump has ridiculed Kerry for a deal that he says is not harsh enough on Iran, saying that inspectors should have broader access, portions of the deal should never expire, and that Iran’s ballistic missile program should also be curtailed.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu provided further ammunition for critics of the deal, unveiling documents that showed Iranian efforts to build its nuclear program before the 2015 deal was reached.

Kerry and others said the documents were nothing new, and illustrated the need for an inspections regime to make sure Iran is complying with the current agreement.

“Every detail PM Netanyahu presented yesterday was every reason the world came together to apply years of sanctions and negotiate the Iran nuclear agreement — because the threat was real and had to be stopped,” Kerry wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “It’s working!”

Kerry is coordinating his push with a group of officials who were his top advisers at the State Department, and who helped craft and negotiate the Iran deal in the first place. The group, called Diplomacy Works, has an advisory council that includes lead Iran-deal negotiator Wendy Sherman, former State Department chief of staff Jon Finer, and former spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The group claims to be responsible for 100 news articles, 34 television and radio hits, and 37 opinion pieces on the Iran question. They do fact checks of criticisms of the agreement and blast them out to an e-mail list of nearly 4,000 policy makers and foreign policy experts.

But the group determined that the most influential voices would not be Democrats, and instead would focus on Europeans, Israelis, and nonpartisan experts to try and salvage the deal, according to a person involved in the effort. As a sign of the their success, Kerry has pointed to an April 25 letter signed by 26 former top-ranking Israeli military and security officials urging the United States to stay in the agreement.

“Our effort is self-aware,” said David Wade, a longtime Kerry adviser who was chief of staff at the State Department and is helping advise Diplomacy Works. “We are in uncharted waters. The bipartisan, traditional foreign policy community remains on the president’s enemies list from 2016. The president delights in dismissing anything accomplished under his predecessor, so we know traditional validators wouldn’t be compelling to him.”

“This isn’t President Obama’s agreement. It’s the world’s agreement,” he added. “Maybe Macron, Merkel, and Great Britain can persuade the administration, but if they can’t they’ll be even more essential to protecting the deal absent the United States. We know these voices are powerful. They have an audience with the president and our allies are popular at home.”

They are not ignoring the domestic audience.

Kerry and Moniz met in February with Ryan, who has been outspoken in his opposition to the Iran deal. Kerry also held a breakfast briefing last week with members of the House and Senate, which was designed to answer questions as well as underscore how, if Trump pulls out, Europe could hold the deal together.

Kerry’s activities could raise questions if they are perceived as a direct effort to counter current administration foreign policy.

The Trump administration got entangled with controversy when Michael Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, tried to undermine Obama policies in the administration’s last few weeks. His actions appeared to some legal experts to violate the Logan Act, an obscure 18th century law meant to crack down on private citizens acting on behalf of the United States during a dispute with foreign governments.

The Logan Act prohibits US citizens from having private correspondence with a foreign government “with intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government . . . in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States, or to defeat the measures of the United States.”

Stephen Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas, said the law is a red herring — since it’s never been used to prosecute anyone — and almost certainly would not apply to anything Kerry is doing.

“The act only applies to conduct that is designed to ‘defeat the measures of the United States’ or influence the conduct of foreign governments,” Vladeck said. “If all Kerry is doing is working to keep in place something that’s still technically a ‘measure of the United States,’ I don’t see how the statute would apply even if someone was crazy enough to try it.”

Most Democrats have remained fairly quiet about the Iran deal. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer opposed the deal from the start, even though he’s not in favor of ripping it up now. Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has been consumed with his own troubles, having spent last year in a federal corruption trial that ended without a conviction. He was admonished last month by the Senate Ethics Committee for bringing “discredit upon the Senate.”

“No one has really led the charge. You could argue that’s what needs to be done by Obama, Kerry, Susan Rice, and the others who were involved,” said Daniel Kurtzer, who served as Bill Clinton’s ambassador to Egypt and George W. Bush’s ambassador to Israel. “But nobody knows how to deal with [Trump].”

The president doesn’t listen much to the voices of the foreign policy establishment. And they don’t really know how to reach him through conservative media.

“It’s a legitimate question to ask why is Obama not out front with the cognoscenti. But those aren’t the ones Trump cares about anyway,” Kurtzer said. “My guess is the phone has been ringing off the hook between European leaders and Obama. The Europeans are trying. They’re giving it their best shot.”

A spokeswoman for Obama declined to comment on whether the former president is doing anything to preserve the Iran deal.

Kurtzer said the most articulate public advocate for the pact right now is Moniz, although he said that the former energy secretary may not have the name recognition required to drive a national debate (Kurtzer himself initially could not correctly recall his name).

“He really knows his stuff,” he said. “He’s very calm . . . . The problem is, who knows who he is?”

Moniz declined several requests for an interview this week about his efforts.

Public support for the deal was initially low, with nearly 60 percent of those surveyed in August 2015 saying they were opposed, according to a survey from Morning Consult. Those numbers are now reversed, with 56 percent supporting it; the number opposed, 26 percent, is the lowest level since the group began polling on the Iran deal.

Democrats are strongly in favor, while Republicans are evenly split, according to the survey conducted from April 26 to May 1. Some on the left believe Trump has kept it alive for political reasons, to provide a convenient foil.

“It’s something that has been in Trump’s cross-hairs even before he was inaugurated,” said the former Obama administration official. “That we’re in May 2018 and still in ‘will-they-or-won’t-they’ speaks to the utility the administration has found in the Iran deal. Otherwise they would have been out of it on day one.

“A lot of us are somewhat skeptical,” the official added. “But we’ve been skeptical for the past 18 or 19 months now.”

Adding Another 25 Cents to the Price of Gas at the Pump

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Sigh….would that revenue be applied to pay off U.S. debt? Nah…

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who called raising gas taxes a ‘horrible idea,’ says Trump is considering a hike

  • Raising the federal gas tax is one of several options President Donald Trump is considering to pay for infrastructure spending, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
  • The president proposed an increase of 25 cents per gallon last week, according to several sources.
  • Ross, who once called raising the federal fuel levy a “horrible idea,” on Thursday said it’s logical to charge drivers for road improvements.

States With the Highest and Lowest Gas Taxes - 24/7 Wall St. photo

Enter the U.S Chamber of Commerce:

The U.S. Chamber has long believed that implementing a modest increase in the motor vehicle fuel user fee (also known as the gas tax) is the simplest, fairest, and most effective way to raise the money that America needs to fund critical upgrades to our roads, bridges, and transit systems.

Earlier this year, and for the first time, we threw out a number: 25 cents. By raising the federal gas tax by 25 cents—five cents per year over five years—we could raise $394 billion over the next decade, and it would only cost the average motorist about $9 a month.

That’s the kind of money we need to be investing in our nation’s infrastructure system. It’s that important, and we won’t be able to build what we need to build if we do it on the cheap.

So far, we’ve seen strong support for our proposal from across the U.S. business community, and a few weeks ago, President Trump indicated his openness to backing a 25-cent increase as part of his administration’s infrastructure modernization efforts.

Despite the momentum that exists to come up with a long-term and sustainable funding solution for America’s infrastructure woes, our concrete and common-sense proposal has met resistance from some corners of Washington, most of it based on incomplete information about the gas tax and the impact of an increase.

To help fill that gap, we’ve compiled five assertions we’ve heard about the gas tax over the last few weeks, and we’ve filled in parts of the story that have so far been missing from the debate.

1. Assertion: An increase in the gas tax is regressive.

Reality: Any user fee, toll, fare, or sales tax is by definition regressive. The fixed fee or tax is larger as a share of income the less the payer makes. A bus fare, for example, costs a larger share of income for someone who makes $30,000 a year than it does for someone who makes $300,000 a year.

The only way to avoid a regressive system of financing our highways and transit systems is to abandon the user fee model altogether and instead fund infrastructure out of general income taxes. Do opponents of adjusting the gas tax really believe a better alternative is raising income taxes and making the current code more progressive?

It is worth remembering that the costs associated with crumbling and substandard infrastructure are also regressive; inaction is expensive.

Forty-four percent of America’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition. Driving on those bad roads costs U.S. motorists $120 billion a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs—$553 per motorist, in fact. Those bills are a bigger burden for low-income drivers than high-income drivers.

Congestion is also stealing time from American families. The average commute time to work has increased by 35 minutes a week between 1990 and 2015. Higher congestion means longer commutes and higher costs.

2. Assertion:  An increase in the gas tax would wipe out the benefits of tax reform.

Reality: The Ways and Means Committee has estimated that the typical family of four earning the median family income of $73,000 will receive a tax cut of $2,059. Based on average household consumption of gasoline, if a 25-cent increase in the motor fuel tax was implemented all at once (and it is more likely to be phased in) the additional fee would only be $285, a very small portion of the average family’s total tax relief.

Let’s not forget that thanks to common-sense energy policies and increased fuel efficiency, families today are paying less for gasoline. In 2008, the average household expenditure for gasoline was $2,715.  In 2017, it is estimated to have been $1,197, a difference of $738. That savings is more than two times greater than the cost of increasing the motor fuel user fee.

3. Assertion: We don’t need to raise the gas tax. Congress should instead cut spending on bike paths and other wasteful items.

Reality: There is no question that Congress should repurpose any wasteful or low-priority infrastructure spending, but funding for so-called “transportation alternatives” is less than 2% of overall federal highway spending. And of that less than 2%, states are already authorized to transfer half of the funds from alternative projects to more traditional projects.

If you eliminated all funding for transportation alternatives, you would reduce the current $138 billion shortfall in the highway and transit trust fund by only approximately 6%. Furthermore, during the last two federal highway authorization laws (MAP-21 and FAST Act), Congress has substantially reduced the number of federally required programs from 112 to 12, therefore focusing limited dollars on programs with the greatest economic return.

Occasionally, critics will claim that “wasteful,” non-highway funding is much higher—say 20% or more of total spending. However, these critics only get to this larger number by lumping in funding for transit programs. The most recent highway bill provided approximately $10 billion a year in funding for transit programs. Since 1983, when President Reagan signed legislation dedicating a portion of the motor vehicle fuel user fee to transit programs, there has been no serious consideration of divorcing transit funding from highway funding. If Congress, were to do so, it would likely only mean that general fund spending would need to be increased to cover transit program spending, meaning no additional money for highways.

4. Assertion: States have already raised their own gas taxes, so there is no need for Congress to do so.

Reality: Support for our highway infrastructure has historically been a partnership between the federal government and state governments, with state government devoting more dollars to building and maintaining our highway system than the federal government. Adjusted for inflation, spending at all levels of government has been on the decline since 2000. State governments are raising their user fees in many cases in order to just maintain their level of support for highway modernization.  If the federal government fails to do likewise, the historic partnership will break down along with our infrastructure.

5. Assertion: Raising the gas tax is politically impossible.

Reality: Thirty-nine states have raised gas taxes since 1993, and some have done it several times.

We haven’t found a single lawmaker who has lost his or her seat solely because of a vote in favor of raising the gas tax. It may be a tougher vote in some regions of the country or for some elected leaders than others, but it’s a vote worth taking. Each and every day, American voters interact with our nation’s roads, bridges, airports, and more, and we believe voters will reward leaders who acknowledge that infrastructure investments can mean more economic growth and more prosperity.

From the APP Store, Notifica ICE Raids

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Ah yes those pesky apps found on iTunes and Google Play, funded by George Soros. This app helps illegal immigrants avoid federal immigration authorities. The group behind this scheme is United We Dream and guess what? That organization receives taxpayer funding. Uh huh…

Notifica is a project of United We Dream

United We Dream is the largest immigrant youth-led network in the country. With over half a million members, we advocate for the justice and dignity for all immigrants. Notifica was made thanks to the knowledge of immigrant youth organizing, and a generous partnership with Huge and Matter Supply, full service design/digital agencies.

***

In Case of an ICE Raid, Undocumented Immigrants Can Use ...

Notifica, is a new app that will act as a panic button for undocumented immigrants who are detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Wired reports.

To help immigrants who have been detained, the organization United We Dream, which is led by young immigrants, and digital agency Huge developed the Notifica app. When immigrants are detained by ICE their families and loved ones might not even know what happened, but Notifica aims to change that.

“You have the right to be prepared,” says the app’s site. “Be prepared with Notifica, an app that sends out secure messages to your support network when you need it most.”

How The Notifica App Works

With Notifica, users can select contacts they want to notify in case they are taken by ICE. The app allows users to set up a personalized notification to each recipient, for example, a message to your mom or sibling would be different than the one you send to your attorney. After you write the preloaded messages, others will not have access to them and will not be able to read them. There is also a pin that seals off the messages in case your device is lost or stolen.

If the user is taken by ICE, a single click will send all messages via text in less than two seconds. Huge has also launched a phone hotline for those who don’t have a phone in reach but may be able to make a call afterwards. More here.

***

A division of the Justice Department awarded at least $206,453 to the National Immigration Law Center, which advises illegal immigrants on their rights, according to records obtained by Judicial Watch.

The Office of Justice Programs awarded the grants between fiscal years 2008 and 2010, the records cited by the conservative government watchdog group show. That would overlap the administrations of both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

One of the projects of the National Immigration Law Center is United We Dream, which describes itself as a youth program for “undocumented” immigrants.

The Laredo Morning Times quoted Adrian Reyna, director of membership and technology strategies for United We Dream, as saying that “when something actually happens, most people don’t know what to do at that moment.”

The Texas newspaper also reported that United We Dream is working on a second version of Notifica that will include the ability to use more languages besides Spanish and English.

The second version, set to be released this summer, would include Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese. The updated app also will be able to determine where an illegal immigrant is being detained, the newspaper reported.

United We Dream pushes to give legal status to so-called Dreamers, illegal immigrants brought to the United States when they were children. The organization, which has a hotline, advises illegal immigrants against cooperating with agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In a press release, the group says: “United We Dream calls on our communities to defend their rights, not open the door to ICE, and to report ICE activities to the United We Dream MigraWatch hotline.”

The April release adds: “United We Dream has also developed the mobile app, Notifica, which immediately alerts your loved ones and legal advocates to the user’s location in cases of detention. Text ‘Notifica’ to 877-877 for a link for download.”

The Soros-backed Open Societies Foundations don’t have a direct role in the app, but doesn’t find it objectionable, said Angela Kelley, the senior strategic adviser on immigration at the Open Society Foundations.

The Monies and Deals that Flowed into Iran, People Swap

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  1. Why does France want to keep the Iran nuclear deal? Rohani et Macron au téléphone: promotion des relations ...“French exports to Iran for the first 11 months of 2017 rose 120% to €1.29 billion ($1.6 billion) and imports grew 80 % to €2.16 billion,” Celestin-Urbain said.

    “The short-term priority was to keep trade simple and complete a scheme this year to offer euro-denominated credits to Iranian buyers of French goods,” he said, a move that would keep bilateral trade outside the reach of US sanctions.

    The head of state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, which is putting the plan together, said he was confident the scheme, which had a pipeline of deals worth €1.5 billion, could start operating by end-May or early-June. However, he warned that talks were ongoing on how to protect French firms if the US snapped back sanctions.

  2. The U.S. government wired $848,000 to Iran in July 2015 to settle a dispute over fossils and architectural drawings now in Iran’s possession.
  3. The U.S. also wired $9 million to Iran in exchange for 32 tons of heavy water.
  4. There is some chatter also about $400 million relating to the freedom of a U.S . spy. (likely part of #2) also came from the New York Federal Reserve and was converted to Swiss Francs.
  5. The $1.7 billion that went to Iran traveled through a network of the New York Federal Reserve and several European banks. This money was then transferred to the Swiss bank, converted to Swiss banknotes and moved to the Swiss National Bank. The U.S, government then transported them to Geneva via a flight bound for Iran. The transactions out of the U.S reserves were three separate transactions. At the same time there was a large hostage exchange. Iran released 4 American hostages. The Dutch Central Bank was also instrumental in facilitating the $1.3 billion into Euros. These monies appear to all be spent on the export of terror, supporting Bashir al Assad of Syria and keeping the Houthi rebels armed in Yemen.
  6. People:

    Khosrow Afghahi

    Afghahi, 72, was arrested in California in April and faced charges for allegedly violating the Iranian embargo and money laundering.
    He was the managing director and part owner of Tehran-based Faratel Corporation and the minority owner of Houston-based Smart Power Systems, according to a grand jury indictment filed in federal court in Texas in April.
    He was accused of participating in a scheme to illegally export high-tech microelectronics as part of an “Iranian procurement network operating in the United States,” the Justice Department said after his arrest.
    He had pleaded not guilty and the case had not yet gone to trial, attorney David Gerger said. A pardon was handed to him at 4:30 a.m. Sunday, allowing him to be released from prison after nine months behind bars, according to his attorney.
    Gerger described his release as “the right result,” adding that his client is now spending time with his family.
    “He is a good man,” Gerger said, “and we are glad to put this behind him.”
    U.S. companies violated Iran sanctions, indictment says

    Tooraj Faridi

    Faridi, of Houston, was vice president of Smart Power Systems and was accused of participating in the alleged scheme. In a statement released at the time of the indictment, an FBI official said such microelectronics shipments could put national security at risk.
    “The proliferation of sensitive U.S. technologies to Iran and the direct support to their military and weapons programs remains a clear threat to U.S. national security,” said Randall Coleman, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division.
    Faridi’s attorney told CNN affiliate KPRC that his client never posed a threat to the country.
    “He’s as American as anybody that was born in this country. He’s loved being here, he’s fought hard to be here and he’s going to stay here, so it’s been very stressful to him to be accused of being somebody who’s a threat to national security when he’s just as American and patriotic as anybody in this town,” attorney Kent Schaffer said.
    He faced charges for allegedly violating the Iranian embargo and money laundering. The case had not yet gone to trial. He was pardoned on Sunday as part of the deal.

    Bahram Mechanic

    Mechanic, the majority owner of Faratel and Smart Power Systems, also was accused in the same alleged scheme. He faced charges of violating the embargo and money laundering, among other counts.
    Attorney Joel Androphy told CNN that Mechanic, Faridi and Afghahi were met by their wives after their release and headed to their homes.
    “They were ecstatic to be out,” he said.
    The attorney told KPRC that his client eventually plans to return to Iran.
    Androphy told Forbes the accusations against his client were baseless and he believes they would have won if the case had gone to trial.
    Mechanic was pardoned on Sunday as part of the deal.

    Nima Golestaneh

    The 30-year-old Iranian national pleaded guilty in December to charges of wire fraud and unauthorized access to computers, the Department of Justice said.
    He was arrested in Turkey in November 2013 and extradited to the United States last February.
    According to a plea agreement, he conspired to hack the network and computers at Arrow Tech, an engineering consulting and software company in Vermont.
    His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Nader Modanlo

    The naturalized U.S. citizen, who lived in Potomac, Maryland, was convicted in 2013 of conspiring to illegally provide satellite services to Iran, federal officials said at the time.
    He was a mechanical engineer with science and engineering degrees from George Washington University. Prosecutors argued he’d broken the law by helping Iran launch communications satellites.
    He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013. That sentence was commuted as part of the deal.
    His lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Arash Ghahreman

    A naturalized U.S. citizen, Ghahreman was convicted in April of violating U.S. export and money laundering laws as part of a scheme to buy marine navigation equipment and military electronic equipment for illegal export to Iran.
    He was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison last August. That sentence was commuted Sunday as part of the deal.
    Attorney Ellis Johnson said Ghahreman and his family were extremely relieved after his release.
    “He plans to spend some time with his aunt and her family on the East Coast, reunite with his girlfriend who’s currently on the West Coast, and hopefully visit his elderly parents in Iran, whom he hasn’t seen in years since this case began,” Johnson said.
    Ghahreman, the attorney said, is a “kind, considerate man who poses no threat to the United States.”

    Ali Saboonchi

    A federal jury in convicted Saboonchi, who holds both Iranian and U.S. citizenship, in August 2014 of conspiracy and seven counts of exporting American manufactured industrial products to Iran.
    He was sentenced to 24 months in prison last February. That sentence was commuted Sunday as part of the deal.
    In a written statement, his attorneys described Saboonchi as a “hard-working family man and American” who poses no danger and “has a bright future ahead.”
    “He was born in the U..S and is proud to be raising his young family here. His arrest and incarceration were devastating to his many friends and family,” attorneys Elizabeth Oyer, Lucius Outlaw III and Meghan Skelton said. “Ali is thrilled and grateful for his release and return to his family.”

El Chapo Charged on his Drug Empire, but what About Murder?

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Remember when Sean Penn decided he could befriend El Chapo Guzman and successfully plotted to interview him? Was Sean Penn ever debriefed by DEA or other law enforcement officials for more intelligence gathering on El Chapo? In fact this case is so dangerous that the jurors are to be sequestered and protected by U.S. marshals.

Related reading: 2009 Indictment from Illinois

Related reading: The case against Guzman in the Eastern District of New York does not have murder charges, only all offenses relating to the drug empire.

 

Moving ahead…         Mexico's El Chapo: From most wanted kingpin to extradited ... photo

Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman may face murder charges after several former Mexican police officers accused him of killing six Americans and a DEA agent within a nine-week span in late 1984.

Three former Mexican police officers told the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles they witnessed Guzman carry out the killing spree between late 1984 and early 1985. Jorge Godoy, one of the former cops who is now under witness protection, told WFAA that Guzman took pleasure in killing people.

“He likes to cut the people,” Godoy told the news site.

Four Americans who were Jehovah’s Witnesses — Benjamin Mascarenas, 29; his wife Pat Mascarenas, 27; Dennis Carlson, 32; and his wife Rose Carlson, 36 — were murdered during a missionary trip in Guadalajara, Mexico. Godoy said he was the bodyguard of drug kingpin Ernesto Fonseca at the time and the missionaries made the wrong decision of knocking on a drug lord’s door on Dec. 2, 1984.

He told WFAA he saw them rape the women and torture the Americans. He added that Guzman shot each person and watched their bodies fall into an open grave. Former DEA agent Hector Berrellez also said Guzman was involved in their deaths.

“He shot them with his Uzi 9mm and I have witnesses that were there that saw ‘El Chapo’ kill these four Americans after they had been severely tortured,” Berrellez told WFAA. “The women were even raped. We’re talking about an animal here.”

But the killings didn’t end there, according to Godoy. Two other Americans, John Walker, 35, and Albert Radelat, 33, were the crazed drug lord’s next targets in Jan. 30, 1985. Walker was a Vietnam veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient in Guadalajara writing a novel at the time. He and Radelat went to La Langosta restaurant to have dinner — in what turned out to be a fatal mistake.

Drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero mistook the two for DEA agents and ordered them in the restaurant.

“[Walker and Radelat] passed by me and I said, ‘Oh my God,’” Godoy recalled.

He said Guzman cut Walker’s throat. He then wrapped them and buried the two people in a nearby park, according to the report.

The last killing involved DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who busted the cartel’s marijuana fields and torched 10,000 tons of marijuana that cost them about $5 billion. He and a pilot who took him to the fields were tortured, killed and their bodies dumped on the side of the road. “Absolutely, he [Guzman] tortured both of them,” Berrellez said. “[Guzman] was seen by two witnesses slap, kick and spit in Camarena’s face. He was involved in physically torturing Camarena.”

Camarena’s death sparked one of the biggest manhunts by the U.S. government.

The families of the six Americans told WFAA they want to see “El Chapo” charged with the murders. The drug lord had murder charges dropped before he was extradited to the U.S. The U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles did not comment on the possible charges to WFAA. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where Guzman is awaiting trial, also declined to comment.

“El Chapo” pleaded not guilty to drug-related charges including money-laundering, use of firearms and murder conspiracy.

*** There is also the case of Rafael Caro Quintero : Despite being wanted in the U.S. for Camarena’s murder, Mexico’s Supreme Court in 2013 overturned the ruling that voided Caro Quintero’s conviction and led to his release. Once freed, Caro Quintero quickly disappeared and his current whereabouts are unknown.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.

“DEA and Treasury utilize every possible tool to attack and dismantle violent, deadly criminal organizations such as that of Rafael Caro Quintero, who is responsible for the 1985 murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena,” DEA Deputy Administrator Jack Riley said. “Thanks to this Treasury action, Diana Espinoza Aguilar has been exposed as a key enabler and facilitator for Caro-Quintero and his vicious global drug trafficking and money laundering regime.”

A founder of the now-defunct Guadalajara cartel, Quintero spent 28 years in jail for the 1985 murder of DEA agent Kiki Camarena, but was unexpectedly released in 2013 – to the disgust of the US government – and promptly disappeared. Today the ageing narco is said to be hiding out somewhere in the golden triangle, intent on reimposing old school narco order in Sinaloa. “There is no logic to what is happening,” the record producer said. “The sense I get is of an atmosphere of pending war.” Luís agrees. He spent 10 years as one of El Chapo’s gunmen, loading drugs on to planes heading to the US as well as torturing and killing cartel members who stepped out of line. Luis has retired and complains of nightmare flashbacks to his days as a killer, but he still keeps in contact with the few members of his old crowd who are still alive. They tell him all is not well in the cartel. “Before all the cows went in one direction. Now there are too many cowboys,” he said, sipping a beer and fiddling with a joint. “There will always be drugs moving, for as long as it is not legal, but I see a lot of weakness, a lot of internal disputes and mistreatment of the local population and that creates problems too.” Luis said that while the police were as accommodating as ever, new tactics being used by the federal government were causing problems. Time was, he said, when soldiers would help cartel members load up drug shipments “for a beer and a woman”. Now, however, he said army units were rotated so often that deals with corrupt commanders had to be constantly renegotiated.