WILSON HEADED SCAM TO STEAL IRANIAN FUNDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP09S00048R000100020111-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: September 13, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

lll L I i '11 1LL1 11
Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09S00048R000100020111-8
ARTICLE APPZARED
ON PAGE -
'; IILMING T014 NEv.5 JOMIAL (Da)
13 September 1981
's rama fu
o - t teal I- nds
. Flipping through' the tele-
grams, lawyers' letters, letters
of credit and-other documents
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?mil-
lion," Judge said.."; ?~: r:.`:'
The documents=showed
large Washington,-. D.C.;.- law
firm with current:connections
to the; CIA, handled. the deal_ 1
Judge. requested the Sunday
News Journal not.identify;the-I
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 he way
to handle the. deal through a
Wilson company called EXIM
Corp., a subsidary of- Safety
and Security International, a
Wilson firm' based in Amstel-
veen, Holland. '
-Following Wilson's'instruc-1
tions Judge wrote to the Shah's
ambassador to the United!
States;asking- if the Iranian(
government' woutd -be:l
interestedirr'purchasing the'
.roadbuildingequipment.
=0n Sept -29, 197Tthe Shah's
ambassador; ~'Ardeshir Zahedi;'
wrote back to- Judge saying
that he.wasfavorably disposed-!
to theoffer-and was fowarding 1
it ta.the Iranian Ministry of
Transportation'-.
-According to Jud&,e; "Ambas
sador-Zahedi received enough-
money. in the deal to retire-to.
Switzerland and pay- for his
extensive medical expenses
there:"'. '- :..
Otherletters! followed until
Transport Minister Mortezi
'Selehzi=accepted the deal-.-
According- to Judge,. Selehzi
never received his promised
.half million dollar -commission
from Wilson - despite .the fact
that through double-billing, fat-
sified-eecords and vouchers,
phony shipping papers, the $46
million-in government=owned
equipment had been resold to
Iran for $382 million between-
September 197T.and March
1978.:. -:. . -
- "The whole thing was a swin-
dle, a way of getting the Shalt
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:
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:198&:wasthe same one used
'by- V - son,in-,previons CIA
.assignments in.Asia .-.
.Judge. said that Wilson's fee:
in the.swindle="was in the mil-"-:;
lions.- what he got out of:
his role?'as-salesman,: the 37-=_'
'Year-old- f ormer. spy, said:;"Not-.
oeTrento'
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
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 had been close and
he had warned me never to
trust Ed. He let me listen in on
the phone when Ed toldmy cus-
tomer that if he cut me out of
the deal Ed would kick back
my, commission of course
Ed would have only kicked part
of it back. That's when I under-1
stood what he. had become."
Before7Judge left. Wilson ini
early 1978 to join with Thomas-I
Polk,: another ex-Wilson sales-1
man, he consumated one more
big score. '
`The deal was a scam involv-
ing the Iranians. Wilson had
been contacted to.help the Shah
get more than hat a billion out
of Iran. I was 'given the
account." Judge says:;: ?..
Approved For Release 2011/08/05: CIA-RDP09S00048R000100020111-8