MARBLEHEAD — You thought the Cold War was over — but Tanya DeGenova of Marblehead wasn't the least bit surprised when the FBI rounded up 11 people, including a Cambridge couple, and charged them with spying for Russia.

"Spying," she explained, "is the second-oldest profession."

DeGenova should know. From 1974 to 1996 she was an FBI special agent assigned to foreign counterintelligence. Tracking Soviet (later Russian) spies was her business. Today's alleged spies, including Donald Howard Heathfield and his "wife" Tracey Lee Ann Foley, have lived in this country for years. She was a real estate broker. He ran a high-tech consulting firm and attended the Kennedy School of Government, according to The Washington Post. The FBI said the real Donald Heathfield is a Canadian long dead. (DeGenova recalls agents tracking Soviet embassy officials to graveyards where they sought names and identities for their spies.) It's suspected that the man who took Heathfield's name is a highly trained Russian agent whose job was to pass as a native-born North American while probing U.S. nuclear policy.

Given their extensive training, DeGenova believes this team's origins could go back to the Cold War. "In the spy business they're called 'illegals,'" she explained. They are distinct from the ordinary illegal alien although they generally arrive with false documents. "They want to come in here in a very innocent manner," she explained. "Then, one day, maybe 10 years later they get a call from Moscow Center. 'We've got a little assignment for you.'" At that point, having been supported by their handlers for years, they have little choice but to follow orders. They seek all sorts of information, including military and economic secrets, DeGenova said. For example, knowing people with access to President Obama — like the sorts who attend prestigious schools — could provide insights into the intentions of the American leader. "And that will give (Russian President Dmitry) Medvedev a leg up when he meets with Obama."

Spies also seek to influence American officials, using everything from money to alcohol to sex in order to do it. Once the American gives in to the first offer, said DeGenova, "it's in the bag." Ironically, she said, Russian handlers tend to reject the information found in plain sight, including the technical details in trade publications. To be taken seriously, she said, agents pass such knowledge along claiming it comes from undercover operatives.

In her experience spies are caught in a number of ways — including through electronic counterintelligence picked up through listening posts. They are, for example, among the last holdouts still using Morse Code over hidden radios.  Additionally, spies and their handlers have been known to defect. "And the FBI will ask," said DeGenova, "'Do you know anyone else who is spying on the United States?'" Spies aren't always arrested once discovered, but the size of the recent sweep indicates that in this case the Bureau decided "enough is enough."

Having grown up in Morocco, DeGenova hails from a Russian family driven out of their country following the 1918 Revolution. Her ease with multiple languages and her hard-eyed view of Soviet communism proved especially useful during the Cold War. But she warned that the threat posed by spies hasn't gone away because of the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

"Any sovereign nation is going to spy," said DeGenova. And she wouldn't rule out the possibility that even "friendly" governments have agents in the United States seeking both information and influence to give them a strategic advantage.

Published: June 1 2010 

A London-based private investigator libellously accused three British executives of a $2bn scam in a bank collapse that has led to them being banned from leaving the Gulf state of Bahrain, according to a High Court claim. Hibis Europe wrongly alleged the trio had "systematically perpetrated a criminal fraud on a giant scale", state the documents, which highlight the risks facing private detectives commissioned to probe suspected financial wrongdoing in corporations. 

A BARRY-BASED private investigator has been given a suspended prison
sentence for his part in a fraud involving the former head of South Wales
CID.

Christopher Barnett, who gave his address to Bristol Crown Court as College
Road, Barry, admitted one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false
representation with the former head of South Wales CID.

He was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years.

 French Detectives hunt British conman who was convicted for swindling millions of euros out of expatriates in France - he is still a free man.

Warren Templeton was jailed for two years for his crimes by a court in Bordeaux on 8 June. He admitted defrauding eight victims in the Dordogne of nearly €2million, and the court also heard that he had previously been jailed in the UK on deception charges.

But it has now emerged that the 54-year-old crook has not yet started his sentence.  He is thought to be living at an unknown location and there seems little likelihood of his starting the prison term in France before the end of summer. It is understood that a letter from the French legal authorities ordering Templeton to start his sentence has not yet been sent to him or his legal representatives.

The news that Templeton is still at liberty has dismayed and angered his victims, some of whom have had their lives ruined by his crimes. He used the money he swindled to fund his lavish lifestyle in France.

‘It feels as if the French system is saying to him, “You can come and serve your sentence if you feel like it”,’ said one source close to the victims, who are bringing a civil suit against the bank that Templeton used to keep their money. ‘The authorities seem to be taking this case too lightly – this man ruined people’s lives. We want him behind bars where he belongs.’

http://www.thefrenchpaper.com/news/2009/6/the-rapper-and-the-politician.html

When Stephen Coleman and his wife Joy moved to France in 2001 it was to enjoy a well-earned early retirement in a beautiful and tranquil part of the world.  They had bought a 17th century house, which they lovingly restored as they settled down to their new lives in the stunning countryside near Sarlat in south-west France.

Eight years later and that dream retirement has been shattered They still live in the same village. But instead of a beautiful renovated farmhouse the Colemans’ home is now a caravan in a field where they endure the bitter cold of winter and the heat of summer, dependent upon the generosity of a friend.

The reason for this dramatic reversal in their fortune can be put down to one man – Warren Templeton. This plausible conman fleeced the Colemans of their entire life savings of €450,000, forcing them to sell their house. ‘We have no money and no income,’ Stephen Coleman says bluntly. ‘We have been living here for just over a year. It’s a friend’s caravan and she doesn’t charge us any rent, otherwise we’d be in trouble,’ Coleman says with devastating understatement.

Tragically, the Colemans are not alone. On 8 June 54-year-old Templeton was jailed for two years by a court in Bordeaux after admitting fraud, falsifying papers and swindling money out of eight people, mostly British and American expatriates living in the Dordogne. These  victims lost €1,988,265 (£1.72m), but they are not the only ones - the police investigation uncovered 42 people who had been defrauded by the smooth-talking crook and the total sum involved could top €5million.

For an habitual conman such as Templeton, the two year sentence was, presumably, simply another occupational hazard to be set against the fraud-funded lifestyle he enjoyed, which bought him a château, sports cars, a yacht and a seemingly limitless supply of champagne. For his many victims, however, the jailing of this conman for just 24 months was yet another insult added onto the financial injuries they have suffered at his hands. They are now battling to get their money back, whether from Templeton or from the bank where the fraudster deposited their cash.

Joan Sarginson, aged 84, moved to the Dordogne from Kidderminster in 1998 with her husband Bill, aged 87, and together they lost £110,000. She says: ‘Two years is not enough. Everybody has suffered tremendously and had a lot of money taken from them. We’ve been waiting for years, two people [who lost money] have died, my husband who has got Parkinsons has become much more feeble.’ New Yorkers Jerry Shively, 80, and his wife Red, 75, lost the largest amount of money – €800,000 – to Templeton. They have been forced to put their house in the Dordogne on the market, though they are unable to sell in the recession.

Jerry Shively, former EMEA chairman of McCann Erickson advertising agency, describes the crook as a ‘mini Madoff, a reference to the disgraced American financier Bernard Madoff who was behind a £39.5 billion swindle. ‘We were taken in by a very smooth fraudster. He was very plausible, attractive looking, very sociable, and able to convince us all. In one instance he actually bought a classic car, a white convertible 1968 Mercedes for me – with my own money that I thought I had invested. ‘He was very clever, and I don’t think he ever intended to do anything other than exploit us. He would work among friends, one of us would introduce him to another, which lowered our suspicions as we knew other friends had already invested.’

As for the Colemans, they had been introduced to the self-styled financial consultant – who among his boasts claimed that he resembled the actor Hugh Grant – three years before they moved to the Dordogne, by friends living in south-west France. ‘He kept in touch and told us he may be able to help with our finances,’ says Stephen Coleman, 54, originally from Kent in south-east England. ‘When we sold our business and home to move to the Dordogne he advised us on investments. At first the investments were genuine.’

But as Templeton gained the Colemans’ trust, he began banking their money – amounting to their entire life savings of €450,000 – in his own personal bank account. Instead of securing the Colemans’ retirement, the money funded Templeton’s champagne and yacht lifestyle. He bought a château in the village of Coux-et-Bigarroque and a vintage car collection, including a Mercedes he claimed was once owned by Marilyn Monroe, an Aston Martin DB7 and a Jaguar XK120. His purchases were made with money he swindled from his victims between 2001 and 2004, many of whom were pensioners who introduced him to their friends in the area.

Coleman says: ‘He was our financial adviser. He came across as being extremely genuine: the [investment] funds existed, it’s just he didn’t invest in them. He came to our wedding, even offering to supply a car for my wife. ‘But he wasn’t the sort of person we socialised with, he was too flashy. He appeared to splash his money, drinking vast quantities of champagne. We were never in a position to blow money on stupid things. We weren’t wealthy. Then he disappeared in Christmas 2004.’

An Annsville man accused of shooting a private investigator with a shotgun after mistaking him for a turkey earlier this year pleaded not guilty to assault charges in Oneida County Court Wednesday morning.

William Wehnke, 51, of Briarwood Lane, was arraigned on a three-count grand jury indictment including charges of felony second-degree assault, misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, and unlawful manner of taking, a violation that alleges Wehnke was using an inappropriate type of ammunition for turkey hunting.
For the rest of this story:
http://www.uticaod.com/news/x1792920481/Annsville-man-pleads-not-guilty-to-shooting-investigator

Briton implicated in string of frauds thought to have changed his identity
By Jerome Taylor

Monday, 23 November 2009
A PRIVATE investigator whose company was paid more than £500,000 by the McCann family to look for their missing daughter has gone on the run after being implicated in a string of high-profile frauds.
Kevin Halligen, 48, is thought to have pocketed at least £300,000 from public donations that were given in the wake of Madeline McCann's disappearance before he went on the run from his mansion near Washington DC over a separate investigation into an allegation that he defrauded an international oil company out of more than £1m.
The FBI has issued a warrant for his arrest and US officials believe he is living with a girlfriend in Britain under an assumed identity. Halligen is also being pursued by a number of fellow private investigators and former secret-service officers who say they have also been defrauded by him. Halligen, who regularly claimed he had worked for Britain's security services but in fact had a background in consultancy work, was indicted by the US Department of Justice last week over an allegation that he used £1.2m which had been given to him by the international oil company, Trafigura, to fraudulently buy a mansion.
For the rest of this story:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/fbi-hunts-for-investigator-paid-163500000-by-mccanns-1825920.html

Daniel Morgan was a father of two A 50-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with the killing of a private detective 22 years ago. The woman is being questioned at a south London police station on suspicion of conspiracy to murder 37-year-old Daniel Morgan. Mr Morgan, from Monmouthshire, was found with an axe in his head in a car park in Sydenham, south London in 1987. Four men have been charged with his murder and are due to appear at the Old Bailey in July. Mr Morgan's former business partner William John Rees, 53, also known as Jonathan, of Weybridge, Surrey; James Cook, 53, from Tadworth, Surrey; Garry Vian, 47, of no fixed address, and Glenn Vian, 49, of Orchard Road, south Croydon, are all charged with his murder. A fifth man, Sidney Fillery, 61, a former detective sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, has been charged with perverting the course of justice. Mr Fillery, now a barman from Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was initially involved in the investigation but was later on taken off the case. Mr Morgan, who was originally from the village of Llanfrechfa, jointly ran a security firm called Southern Investigations. The father of two's body was found outside the Golden Lion pub on 10 March 1987.

Amanda Knox, the American exchange student accused of killing her British flatmate in Italy for refusing to play a sex game, is today expected to take to the witness stand at her trial. Meredith Kercher, 21, from Coulsden, Surrey, who was studying at Perugia's University for Foreigners, was found in November 2007 in a pool of blood.

Prosecutors allege she was killed during what began as a sex game, with Knox, 21, touching her with the point of a knife while Knox's Italian former boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, held her by the shoulders. Prosecutors have alleged that a third person, the Ivory Coast national Rudy Hermann Guede, tried to sexually assault Kercher and then Knox fatally stabbed her in the throat. Guede was convicted of the murder in a separate trial last year and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

"She's a bit nervous about going on to the stand, but she's also quite confident in what she has to say and that the truth will come out during her testimony," Knox's father, Kurt, told CBS's Early Show in the US."She is going to be telling the truth and answering all of the questions, and hopefully the court will see that and see that she had nothing to do with this and that she's 100% innocent."

He said that during the testimony his daughter would be speaking Italian, which she mostly learned during the year and a half she has spent in jail. Prosecutors claim Knox's DNA was found on the handle of the likely murder weapon – a kitchen knife found in Sollecito's house – and that traces of Kercher's DNA were on the blade.Knox and Sollecito, who have been remanded in custody since shortly after the killing, have given conflicting statements over their whereabouts on the night of the murder.Knox initially said she was at home and covered her ears as Patrick Lumumba, the Congolese owner of a bar where she worked, killed Kercher. Lumumba was cleared after being detained for two weeks, and Knox has since retracted the statement but it can be referred to in evidence.

Sollecito has said he was at his own flat in Perugia, working at his computer. He said he does not remember if Knox spent the whole night with him or just part of it. The two face life imprisonment if convicted of murder. The trial began in January and a verdict is expected after a summer break. Guede was given a fast-track trial at his request. His appeal against the conviction is due to start in November.

QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped a French tourist in a Pakistani region bordering Iran and Afghanistan Saturday, police said. Five French nationals, including two children, were traveling by road to Iran when one of them was abducted at gunpoint near Dalbandin town in the southwestern Baluchistan province. Dalbandin is 200 km (125 miles) west of the provincial capital, Quetta. "The gunmen took away one of the tourists and the remaining four later reported the matter to police," district police chief, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, told Reuters. Ahmed said foreigners were supposed to inform the authorities while visiting Baluchistan but the French tourists did not do so. "They were traveling without any escort. We are trying to recover the missing man as early as possible." 

No one claimed responsibility for the kidnapping in a region where Islamist militants are active. Ethnic Baluch militants have also waged a low-level insurgency for more autonomy and control over gas and other natural resources in the province. An American U.N. refugee official was kidnapped in Quetta in February and was later released in April. In Paris, the foreign ministry said in a statement that it had heard of the kidnapping of the French tourist, but gave no further details. 

"French authorities, notably the French embassy in Islamabad and the crisis center of the Foreign Ministry, have been fully mobilized," the statement said.(Reporting by Gul Yousufzai, writing by Zeeshan Haider)

http://www.lost-in-france.com/french-news/1116-murder-paris

Police in France have launched a manhunt for British businessman Ian Griffin who is believed to have murdered his girlfriend in a Paris hotel room.

The body of millionairess Kinga Legg who was aged 36 was found battered to death in a room that the couple had shared at Le Bristol Hotel in Paris. Mr Griffin is aged 39 and was last seen driving off in his grey Porsche 911 after telling hotel staff that his girlfriend did not want to be disturbed.

Staff later entered the room to find that it had been completely wrecked and discovered Mrs Legg's body slumped in a bath tub, she had been severely beaten.

Despite attempts by French police to locate Mr griffin his car was later found abandoned in Cheshire.

January 23, 2009
The head of a private detective agency allegedly involved in the cloning of actress Jun Ji-hyun’s cell phone was arrested yesterday.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the suspect, identified by the last name Kim, 39, duplicated the actress’s cell phone at the request of Sidus HQ, Jun’s management company. Kim allegedly received 6.4 million won ($4,659) in cash in return. Jun’s management company used the cloned phone to keep tabs on the actress, police believe.

Kim is accused of making duplicate mobile phones for 38 clients who suspect their spouses of infidelity or who were involved in property disputes, beginning in March 2006. Kim allegedly received between 500,000 won to 6 million won per case, amassing a total of 76 million won. 
 

He was also a vicious paedophile.

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4707508.ece

MADELEINE'S DESCRIPTION MADELEINE HAS BLONDE STRAIGHT HAIR AND BLUE/GREEN EYES. HER RIGHT EYE IS VERY DISTINCTIVE; THE PUPIL RUNS INTO THE IRIS (SEE BELOW PICTURE). SHE IS 90 CM TALL (2'11") AND IS NOW 4 YEARS OLD. http://findmadeleine.blogspot.com/2007/05/photos-of-madeleine.html