By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published on April 9, 2018
Yesterday, I published an article titled, “The Life of a ‘Blitzkrieg’ Target.” The article describes the fifth investigation of my business and personal financial affairs since 2013. It is also the second investigation in the last three years that has been conducted by a federal grand jury on the same subject – baseless allegations of “securities fraud.”
The current investigation is a blitzkrieg campaign that is designed to take me down. It has all of the trappings of the FBI's old COINTELPRO program. COINTELPRO was a centralized smear and harassment program operated by the FBI and other federal agencies from 1956 to 1971. Unofficial COINTELPRO activities continued in local FBI field offices after 1971, particularly in the South.
Jay E. Town, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, is leading the current federal investigation. Town, who is assisted by prosecutors Lloyd Peeples, Xavier Carter and a special federal task force, is laser focused on my global waste-to-energy businesses activities.
These prosecutors are using a federal grand jury process and negative stereotyping to paint a false and misleading picture of my businesses practices and me. Without saying it directly to grand jurors and business stakeholders, prosecutors have strongly suggested that my international energy businesses have no discernible market value. While prosecutors are completely wrong in this regard, the intent behind this suggestion is to make my business stakeholders feel "victimized."
In order to smear my name in this manner, prosecutors had to suppress publicly available government records, scientific data, Wall Street investment bank assessments, insurance valuations, and other third-party documents that flatly contradict this false narrative.
This investigation is one of the reasons why I never let my enemies define who I am. Their motivations are never pure.
In contrast, my words, deeds and constellation of business documents speak for themselves. They define who I am.
Listed below are a few examples of the exculpatory evidence prosecutors have withheld from Grand Jurors and my business associates:
1. On March 27, 2012, Nabirm Global, LLC, an energy services company I formed in 2011 with two business partners, was awarded a uranium concession by Epangelo Mining Company (Pty) Ltd., which is the Republic of the Nambia’s national mining company. The Namibian government lifted a national moratorium on uranium concessions for nuclear fuels so that Nabirm could compete for this concession against Iran’s state-owned Iranian Foreign Investment Company and others. Nabirm worked closely with the U.S. State Department to make sure that our American-based company had the best chance of winning this uranium concession and keeping this strategic asset out of the hands of the Iranians, who were desperately trying to develop a nuclear weapons program at the time. U.S. government records about this entire event have been available to Birmingham prosecutors. Yet, they have failed to provide this information to grand jurors and the Nabirm stakeholders who were interviewed by them. Prosecutors withheld this information because it spoke to my true character and commitment to patriotism.
2. In October 2015, independent and highly qualified geotechnical oil and gas experts concluded their data interpretation on Nabirm’s 2D seismic program for the company’s offshore oil block. A report authored by a world-class, Texas-based, geophysics firm confirmed the presence of six prospects with total Pmean unrisked recoverable resources of 522 million barrels of oil and total Pmean unrisked recoverable resources of 583 billion cubic feet of carbane methane gas. Despite the confirmed and quantified presence of unrisked oil and gas, Birmingham prosecutors and their team of investigators led Charles Barkley, a 20 percent economic participant in my equity portion of this Nabirm asset, to believe that he has lost his money in this venture. Birmingham prosecutors never corrected Mr. Barkley's mistaken impression because they wanted him to believe that he was a crime victim.
3. Prosecutors suggested to the Grand Jurors and certain Masada Resource Group, LLC, stakeholders that a November 8, 2012 Strategic Alliance Agreement between Masada, a waste-to-energy company managed by me, and the company’s Riyadh-based Saudi Arabian business partner, who is a bona fide member of the Saudi Royal Family, is somehow questionable because the Agreement involved a “Saudi Prince.” Despite their personal biases and limited international business experience, these prosecutors had an affirmative duty to inform Grand Jurors and the Masada stakeholders interviewed by them that the company’s Strategic Alliance Agreement was duly registered with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry and U.S. State Department, as required by law. In fact, Secretary of State John Kerry signed the Certificate of Authentication for this Agreement on February 13, 2013 (Registration No. 13017063-1). Prosecutors withheld this exculpatory evidence from Grand Jurors, even though it was in their possession when this subject was covered in the Grand Jury proceedings.
4. In 2012, Masada worked with Senator Jeff Sessions and the State Department to address the spread of Iranian influence in Africa. As I departed Freetown, Sierra Leone on February 24, 2012, I witnessed the departure of an Iranian diplomatic mission at the airport and watched as the entire group boarded an Islamic Republic of Iran jumbo jetliner. To the outside world, Sierra Leone may be poor when judged by the conditions we see on the surface, but, like Namibia, Sierra Leone is very rich in strategic minerals and natural resources. The Iranians appeared to be offering much needed assistance to the national government of Sierra Leone in exchange for access to the country’s mined diamonds. Diamonds became Iran’s currency of choice after the U.S. blocked Iran from participating in the SWIFT system for international bank transfers. On April 30, 2013, I reported this diamond exchange to Senator Jeff Sessions’ office for an appropriate follow-up with the State Department. Prosecutors have documentation of this event in their possession, but they have not provided it to Grand Jurors.
5. From 2006 to 2008, Masada collaborated with Evergreen International Aviation in a deal to buy the cargo airline from Delford Smith, the company’s founder and owner. At the time, Evergreen was a contractor with several national security agencies, including the CIA. As part of the due diligence process, I met with the liaisons from the government agencies involved. When requested, Evergreen vetted Masada’s potential business partners in Central America. This collaboration was helpful to Masada and America’s national security interests. Birmingham prosecutors never shared this information with Grand Jurors, even though it was in their possession.
This list of exculpatory information and evidence goes on and on -- for a 13-year period. Yet, prosecutors, who possess a mountain of such information and evidence, have withheld all of it from the Grand Jury.
Why?
My character and service to America is well documented. In the era of what President Donald Trump calls politically motivated “witch hunts” by federal prosecutors, I do not give any politically appointed federal prosecutor "presumed credibility." Each one must earned his/her credibility by acting fairly, objectively, and ethically in every case. After all, a federal prosecutor and/or investigator who deliberately withholds exculpatory evidence during a criminal investigation is a danger to all of us.
PHOTO: My businesses work closely with the U.S. State Department in the international marketplace. Yet, prosecutors in Birmingham have withheld this pertinent information from a grand jury that is investigating my international business dealings.
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