WILSON HEADED SCAM TO STEAL IRANIAN FUNDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820037-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2010
• Sequence Number: 37
• Publication Date: September 13, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/03: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820037-9
rPTICLE APPEARED
ON FAGS
JMX1flGT07i-3 t'E~.S JOIR NAL (0E)
13 September 1981
11so'n. head
to'steal Ira-man fu- hds STAT
D
WASHINGTON - To Joseph
Patrick Judge the evolution of
Edwin P. Wilson from senior
spy, surrogate father, to what
he calls a traitor has left a
i bitter taste in his mouth.
Joe Judge was Wilson's No. 1
international arms salesman.
He first met Wilson in the
1960's when Wilson recruited
him into the world of intelli-
gence at a Young Americans
for Freedom meeting in Wash
ington, D.C.
Wilson, a brilliant and
urbane man, turned Judge
from a raw recruit into an
international arms salesman.
Judge did all the chores he had
to do for Wilson, from carrying
rewards' to cooperative con-
gressmen and'senators to mak--
ing payoffs in the-millions to
the highest officials'of what
had been the Shah of Iran's gov-
ernment.
Joe Judge. bearded, dressed
like a wealthy lawyer, now is~~
filled with hate toward Wilson-,
"He ------ me on -a deal--I
was closing a deal with an Arab
in Miami on some arms. The
Arab and I bad been close and
he had warned me never to
trust Ed. He let me listen in on
the phone when Ed told my cus-
tomer that if he cut me out of
the deal Ed would kick back
my commission' . of course i
Ed would have only kicked part
of it back. That's when I under-
stood what he had become." -?
Before-Judge left. Wilson in-j
early 1978 to join with Thomas-
.Polk, another ex-Wilson sales-
man, he consumated one more
big score.
'The deal was a scam involv-
ing the Iranians. Wilson had'
been contacted toohelp the Shah
get more than halla billion out i
of Iran. I was'given the!
account.* Judge says,
Flipping through the tele-
grams, lawyers' letters,)letters
of credit and-other docpments
to illustrate "the tractor deal"
.Judge laid out-how he and Wil-
son conspired. with the highest
officials around the Peacock
Throne to resell.to various Ira-
nian government departments
roadbuilding equipment the
Iranian taxpayers had already
bought again and again.
`The roadbuilding equipment
originally cost $46-million. By
the time we finished up it had
been sold at inflated prices to
other government departments
in Iran for more than$600`7ail-.)
lion,". Judge said.
The documents -shpwed-a?1
large Washington,- D.C. law
firm with current -connections `
to the- CIA . handled. the deal-
Judge, requested the Sunday
News Journal not.identify:_the'
1
firm for his own protection.` --'
Top CIA sources independent
from ' Judge confirm that the
station chief in Tehran had
contacted Wilson for his help in
moving money out of Iran for
the Shah in August 1977.
Wilson told Judge that hewas
to handle the. deal through a
Wilson company called EXRM
Corp., a subsidary of. Safety
and Security International, a
Wilson firm' based in Amstel-
veen, Holland. -
Following Wilson's instruc-i
tions Judge wrote to the Shah's .
ambassador to the United'
State*'asking- if- the Iranian-1
goveramen?t- would -bel
interested-in-purchasing the-'
. roadbuildin'g equipment
,;-On Sept: 29;:197T-the Shah's ,
ambassador,-Aroeshir Zahedi, j
wrote back to:-Judge saying
that hewasfavorably disposed-]
to the'offer-and was fowarding'
it to--the Iranian Ministry of
Transportation:
-According to-Judge; "Ambas
sador -Zahedi received enough-
money in the deal to retire to.
Switzerland and pay for his
extensive medical expenses
there.'!- '-
Other letters*followed until
Transport' Minister Mortezi
SelehzLaccepted the deal:
According- to Judge,. Selehzi
never received his promised
-half million dollar rommission
from Wilson-despite the fact
that through double-billingg, fal-
,sified.records and vouchers,
phony shipping papers, the $46
million in government=owned
equipment had been resold to
Iran- for $382 million between.
September 1977and March
1978.
l 'The whole thing was a swin-
dle, a way of getting the Shaft
money,-Judge says. -
The documents show that at
the time the Shah's regime fell
Wilson had assisted him in get-
ting more than $600 million out
of the treasury for the equip--
ment. The money,- which went:I
to Exim's parent company,:;
was transferred to the UBS
.Bank and. other Swiss banks
into accounts. controlled by',
Wilson.
The money was.then laun-
dered through a.now,defunct ,
Australian bank: controlled by ,
the CIA -called Nugan Hand
Merchant Bank Ltd., and given
to the shah. _- ., -
`--.That -bank, which collapsed
in:1980, was the same one used
by:Wilson:in previous CIA
assignments-in Asia.-Y5
Judge said that Wilson's fee -i
in the-swindle."was in the mil.
lions.-Asked what he got out of
his role?-as_salesman,- the 37= '
Year-old former spy said: "Not
'JoeTrento
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/03: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200820037-9