WENCKE SOUGHT JOB IN CIA IN 1979, DOCUMENT REVEALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000707120001-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 26, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 9, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
I
SAN DIEGO TRIBUNE
9 August 1980
Idly ?- I
C M ; Yf L5
Fu tivefinancier Walter Wencke may have asked the.U.S:'government to
provide hun;the best of,all hiding places .; , within the.Central Intelligence
Agency ,.:
During t a hearing yesterday to determine if. Catheryn:'Wencke'should be
held in. contempt for e concealing information :about her- former husband, a
counsel for;'the Securities and 'Exchange_Commission revealed that a letter
'
,. CIA's personnel
bearing., -YIencke's name had:. been prepared for the
.The-SEC's Ernest TKaufmann said he could not tell how he obtained the
document '
'? In the unsigned.letterWencke-laid he didn tbelieve the_CIA had anyone;
witn-his "unique combination o usinessand language expertise."---_.,
?f . Wencke was. reportedly a military intelligence specialist during and after
-.Woorld War I. In his letter. he claimed to have. been trained by the Army in
`~Ctiinese and Japanese,. and said1e. could also speak Russian, French, Spanish
"My primary business was the'investigation-and acquisition of financially
troubled companies," Wencke wrote, explaining how he could walk through a
manufacturing plant and assess its production
Wencke's letter, said he was -enclosing a newspaper, article describing his
troubles with federal law-enforcement`:agencies:
He said he expected to be a "guest" at the federal prison in Lompoc as a
rp sult of those troubles and, rather than spending 20 months "playing tennis
-or--playing: cards,':-I- would'-prefer to spend it productively utilizing my
s
knowledge for the benefit of the government.":.
?'In. other words; I want to- use my .time and energy for the government
rather than sit idle at its expense."
Wencke-has been. accused of acquiring-financially troubled companies with
the intent of looting them
.
During his - heyday' in the late 1960s,, he assembled a financial empire of
'dozens of companies,, hotels in five states and thousands of acres of California
farmland
He, Ws convicted of securities fraud and has been missing since Oct., 9,:
when he was to surrender to begin serving his term. Kaufmann said Wencke:
transferred $25,000 to banks in 'the Bahamas shortly before he vanished.
'llencke'sformer-wife has been accused; of falling to divulge all she knows
y s
receiver Robert Gould
ployment
which he sought.-ern
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the:federal government or-somebody- ^
she did remember typing a letter to the CIA i 7 {
MagistrateHarry,R. McCue commented that Mrs.-Wencke seemed `to
-have, difficulty -recalling events until she learned that documents were to be.
`She had a?miraculous re very}! of her, memory when she knew you had;
McCue stronglyurged Mrs. Wencke to tsysto remember events such as the '
lettei'to the . CIA,. noting that. anything that could_havekept her husband from
Wencke's letter to the CIA said, .'Why don't you give me a call and let me
knowtiwhat I'cando-forn you?,r
'
-`That can-be characterized;generous y as a rather bizarre proposal
:b'~7S?~.L'tX.i'iw+'.iwAiti~._ ~Nvu:.-"~.Y'3n tb..:.,~rt M+a,~.a+ia. ~ .ai~W.a~~
McCue said
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CIA
0B.)