September 11 Commission Report - Gnostic Liberation Front

“Until 1998, Riggs owned a share of Valmet, an Isle of Man operation that set up shell companies and
accounts to hide and launder money for companies controlled by the oil mogul Mikhail Khodorkovsky,
now in a Russian jail….”[Profit Laundering and Tax Evasion, Lucy Komisar, Dissent, Spring 2005]
“Riggs Bank had been around for more than 160 years. It was known as the "bank of presidents"
served 21 first families over the years and financed the purchase of Alaska. Since 1981 it was owned
by the Texan Joe L. Allbritton and his family. Allbritton is close to the Bush family and has
contributed (along with Riggs' client Saudi Prince Bandar) over $100,000 to the Bush Presidential
Library. (And sshhhh!; President George Bush's uncle, Jonathan Bush, was the CEO of Riggs Bank's
investment arm).”
It is reported that Riggs-Valmet offered US citizenship to its clients, and that its Rusian
criminal clients did indeed receive US citizenship.
“Riggs Valmet announced in 1991 it was getting into the business of arranging for wealthy people to
obtain U.S. citizenship by making large investments in the U.S.” [Joe L. Allbritton, the Riggs
Chairman Wanted Washington & International Clout….” 'Bank of Presidents' Stumbles’ Glenn R
Simpson, Wall Street Journal, Apr 10, 2004,]
One of Riggs key clients –Alexander Knonaykhine – was apparently a beneficiary of this
program,
“The complaint was filed with Attorney General Valentin Roschacher in Bern; the Swiss anti-money
laundering law allows such private actions….The complaint alleges that Khodorkovsky, Lebedev, and
Golubovich are or were owners in Switzerland of the Swiss companies Menatep SA, Freiburg,
Menatep Finances SA, Geneva and Valmet SA, Geneva. (insert: also known as Riggs-Valmet, SA)It
claims that since its creation, “the Bank Menatep SA has been mixed with the affairs of members of
the Russian oligarchy and criminal organizations, such as Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Alexander
Konanykhine. (Konanykhine got asylum in the U.S. in 1999, was ordered deported last fall to face
charges in Russia, then had the order stayed and will have a new asylim hearing. American and
Russian law enforcement officials believe he was in charge of moving billions of dollars out of Russia
for the KGB; Konanykhin denies it.) It is also related to another mafia figure, Semyon Mogilvich,
called the godfather of organized crime in Russia.” [Khodorkovsky's High Stakes Gamble, Catherine
Belton, The Moscow Times, May 16, 2005]
The records shows that Riggs-Valmet – and Konanykhine – were assisted in this effort to
procure access to the U.S. by a company run by George Bush’s former Chief of Staff.
“Concurrently, I was a business partner of the late U.S. Attorney John M. Mitchell, Chairman of
Global Research International, and a principal in the firm of Murphy and Associates, Inc., founded by
Admiral Daniel J. Murphy, U.S. Navy Retired and former Chief of Staff to then-Vice President Bush.
… This project was brought to me by Carter Cornick, Eugene Propper and Jonathan Ginsberg of the
Washington, DC. based law firm of Ginsberg, Feldman and Bress. Cornick, Propper and Ginsberg
wanted my help in assisting them in accessing officials who could facilitate a favorable negotiation
climate for the establishment of a bank and expedite the procurement of the passports.” [Statement of
Karon von Gerhke-Thompson, Vice President, First Columbia Company, Inc.]
Note: all traces of Karon Von Gerhke-Thompson and First Columbia Company had
disappeard by 2004, according to Alan Block and Constance Weaver. (All Is Clouded
By Desire: Global Banking, Money Laundering and International Organized Crime,
2004, p134.)
THE SEPTEMBER 11 COMMISSION REPORT Page 209