Thor Halvorssen Hellum
Encyclopedia
Thor Halvorssen Hellum—commonly known as Thor Halvorssen—is a Venezuelan-Norwegian businessman who served as CEO and President of the Venezuela
n state-owned telephone company, CANTV
and later as Special Commissioner for International Narcotic Affairs in the administration of President Carlos Andrés Pérez
. In this post he held the rank of Ambassador. While investigating links to money laundering
and drug trafficking, he was arrested and jailed on charges of terrorism; he was beaten and mistreated in prison, but later found innocent of all charges. Halvorssen's case was taken up by Amnesty International. The set-up of Halvorssen was reportedly payback for his investigations into presidential corruption, mafia activity, and the money laundering activities of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar
.
He is a former CIA source, because of this, the US Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) during the government of George H. W. Bush
refused to work with him as the Special Commissioner for International Narcotic Affairs, citing as reasons "duplicity and manipulation." while the New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau praised his efforts as someone who provided assistance to his office in the fight against the international narcotics business, as well as to federal law enforcement officials of the United States.
in Venezuela before he began his own business operations. He was also the former Norwegian Ambassador in Venezuela. According to the journalist Gaeton Fonzi, who wrote an investigative story about Halvorssen's life, he led the "jet-setting life style" of a "happy-go-lucky" son of a wealthy businessman. With his twin brother Olaf, he befriended Jerry Wolman
, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles
football team. The three became partners in real estate transactions and night clubs. Halvorssen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
(UPENN) in 1966 and completed a Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
MBA in 1969.
After graduating, Halvorssen returned to Caracas
to help run the family businesses. The businesses required little attention; Halvorssen became involved in community service, working at Venezuela's largest charity, the Dividendo Voluntario Para La Comunidad for six years and serving as its President from 1976–1979. He started a program to build sports facilities in the poorest barrios and eventually met future President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
Pérez was elected in 1974 and in 1977 appointed Halvorssen acting president of the Venezuelan state-owned telephone company CANTV
; Halvorssen then served as president of CANTV from 1978 until Pérez completed his term. As president of CANTV, he was given a military-intelligence identification card, and worked with Venezuela's secret police and intelligence force
. When Pérez was elected President again in 1989, he named Halvorssen Venezuela's Special Commissioner for anti-Narcotic Affairs with the rank of Ambassador.
In the ten years between the two Presidential terms of Carlos Andrés Pérez, Halvorssen traveled extensively, spending time in the Middle East, El Salvador and Nicaragua during the US counter-insurgency
in Central America
; he would later be defended by Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo
and by former Contra
leader and Nicaraguan Senator Adolfo Calero
. He admitted to have been closely associated with Duane Clarridge, the former head of the CIA's Latin American division, involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and clandestine mining operations in Nicaragua's harbors during the 1980s. He developed contacts with anti-narcotics police in Japan, the UK, and the US; friends commented that he seemed to have developed "a bit of a James Bond complex" during these years, and was "bitten by the James Bond bug".
, writing in the British edition of Gentleman's Quarterly (GQ)
, observers say that Pérez may have offered Halvorssen the job as a necessary matching gesture when US president George H. W. Bush
appointed William Bennett
as his Director of National Drug Control Policy, thinking that Halvorssen was still drinking and wouldn't cause problems. Halvorssen performed his duties well, deciding to use his worldwide contacts and intelligence connections to detail the extent of Venezuela's role in the drug world. Halvorssen believed that Pérez wasn't responding to his reports on drug trafficking and money laundering and approached his ally, Venezuelan Senator Cristobal Fernandez Daló. In 1992, he was appointed special overseas investigator of an Anti-Money-Laundering Commission by the Venezuelan Senate. He was a liaison between law enforcement agencies around the world, working on drug and money-laundering cases.
Hilton reveals that Halvorssen was behind the extradition to Italy of the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan members Pasquale, Paolo and Gaspare Cuntrera. Gaeton Fonzi, former U.S. Senate investigator, wrote that "the remaining Mafia in Venezuela do not remember Halvorssen fondly for that". Halvorssen worked closely with Manhattan District Attorney
Robert M. Morgenthau
investigating the financial affairs of Venezuelan government officials. Halvorssen discovered the secret bank accounts of Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Pérez
, the man who had appointed Halvorssen. The evidence revealed $19 million that Perez and his mistress, Cecilia Matos, had deposited into numbered accounts. This discovery and the airing of the evidence in Venezuela led to the impeachment of President Perez in May 1993.
Halvorssen worked with Annabelle Grimm, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) in Venezuela. According to Colombia's Dinero magazine, Grimm became involved with controversial controlled deliveries of cocaine shipments from Venezuela to the US. A DEA investigation uncovered a scandal in which a fellow US agency, the CIA, helped Venezuelan General Ramón Guillén Davila of the National Guard antidrug unit to run a profitable cocaine-trafficking operation. Grimm said she refused to cooperate with the CIA, but was removed from Caracas. Halvorssen became a persona non grata for the new DEA group that took over. Halvorssen appeared to be both a DEA informant and CIA source. Halvorssen denies being a CIA agent, but admits having "cooperated" with the agency.
When Halvorssen was imprisoned on charges (later dismissed) of terrorism, officials in Miami distanced the DEA from Halvorssen and stated that his drug information was considered unreliable. He was reported to have "unusual ties to and knowledge of drug traffickers"; the DEA said it "refused to deal with him, citing as reasons 'duplicity and manipulation.'" Halvorssen denied working with Florida agencies, and human rights advocates who knew him said that, considering his involvement in the fight against narcotrafficking, the accusations were not unexpected.
, he was arrested and imprisoned for 74 days on charges of terrorism that a Venezuelan congressman described at the time as a "set up because he was investigating Medellín Cartel
finances and links to Venezuelan businessmen and officials." Halvorssen was one of 12 people charged in a series of six bomb attacks in Caracas
in July and August 1993. Police claimed the motive was profit—to capitalize on stock market fluctuations caused by the bombs. Halvorssen denied the charges and claimed he had made no stock or bond transactions in the Venezuelan stock market for two decades.
One of the alleged members of the group of bombers, Ramiro Helmeyer, told police that Halvorssen was the leader. Helmeyer, initially recanted his confession claiming that the police "tortured me so that I would accuse Thor Halvorssen." However, in February 1998, Helmeyer said the bombing campaign was financed by the Banco Latino
by way of its president Gustavo Gómez López and that Halvorssen was the key organizer. Helmeyer was a relative of the family that founded the Banco Latino. Halvorssen says he was arrested after a Banco Latino official asked him to come to Venezuela from New York for a meeting with the bank's chairman, but after arriving in Caracas that meeting was cancelled, implying that he was set up.
Halvorssen was held without being charged for eight days. By the time he was released he had still not been charged with a crime—the only thing that kept him in prison was an order of arrest signed eight days after his actual detention. He was beaten while he was in police prison and suffered from mistreatment while in the notorious Retén de Catia prison, ranked among the most desolate prisons in the world by human-rights organisations. International organizations, including Amnesty International
, a Nicaraguan cardinal, and members of the British Parliament, protested Halvorssen case. He was found innocent of all charges. After his release, the United Nations
-affiliated International Society for Human Rights
appointed him director of their Pan-American Committee.
Hilton also covers Halvorssen's investigation of Orlando Castro Llanes
, a Venezuelan businessman of Cuban descent. She suggests that Castro arranged for the false charges against Halvorssen and a media campaign to destroy his reputation. According to Hilton, Castro was linked as a money laundering partner to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar
in a letter written by Escobar to his attorney; the authenticity of the letter is questioned. Castro had visited Halvorssen in prison with his son who beat Halvorssen while he was handcuffed to a chair. Wire reports and newspaper articles written during his time in prison portrayed Halvorssen as guilty and corrupt. A framework of opinion was created to destroy any credibility Halvorssen could have when testifying in a court of law in the United States. Regarding the charges of terrorism she writes: "In reality, the police case against Halvorssen was non-existent…He was completely exonerated."
Investigative journalist Manuel Malaver in his book La DEA contra la Guardia Nacional de Venezuela claims that Halvorssen was part of parallel underworld of rogue police officers that became involved in a conspiracy to destabilize the government of Ramon Velasquez in association with a group of powerful adversaries against the possible presidency of Rafael Caldera
or Velásquez. Presidential elections were scheduled in December 1993 after the impeachment of President Perez in May 1993. Halvorssen publicly responded to Malaver in a 3,500 word point-by-point rebuttal. Halvorssen referred to Malaver as acting in bad faith, malicious, and violating journalistic ethics: "Lamentable, shameful, and cowardly."
fled Venezuela and was ultimately extradited from Miami to New York to face charges of grand larceny and theft.
Castro's own banks also collapsed leaving depositors unable to recuperate their savings. On April 4, 1996, Castro Llanes was indicted in New York by District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Castro's son and grandson were also arrested on charges of a scheme to defraud in the first degree. They were also under investigation by the US Federal Reserve
for laundering more than US$3 billion. The three Castros were convicted on grand larceny charges on February 19, 1997, and in April of that year sentenced to various prison terms. The larceny involved defrauding depositors of the Banco Progreso International de Puerto Rico of as much as US$55 million. His crime also cost the government of Venezuela more than US$8 million.
His adversaries claim that Thor Halvorssen was used to prevent Castro Llanes from buying the prestigious Banco de Venezuela
in 1990. While working as Venezuela's government drug czar, Halvorssen was hired by the board of the Banco de Venezuela for US$1.2 million (other sources mention US$ 7 million) to investigate whether Castro Llanes was using drug money, to thwart Castro Llanes' bitterly contested hostile takeover for control of the bank. According to Castro Llanes, he was never accepted in exclusive political and economic circles and was considered unfit by the Venezuelan elite to lead the country's most important banking institution.
A small group of shareholders, all members of the elitist Caracas Country Club, joined with the Banco Provincial, the powerful industrial group Grupo Polar
and Finalven opposing the Banco Consolidado of José Alvarez Stelling, the Grupo Progreso Latinoamericano of Orlando Castro and the Grupo del Banco Unión. According to a member of the board of the Banco de Venezuela, Halvorssen was contracted to prevent at all cost that Castro would become the major shareholder and would control the bank. Halvorssen concluded that Castro Llanes was laundering drug money and was involved in other financial irregularities and handed over the material to allies in the Congress who had parliamentary immunity. Castro's adversaries started a media campaign to discredit him.
According to Malaver, Halvorssen allegedly received US$ 7 million from the bank to demonstrate that Orlando Castro was a drug trafficker. According to Malaver the accusation of drug trafficking against Orlando Castro was false.
Charles Intriago—a Miami lawyer and former federal prosecutor, as well as editor of Money Laundering Alert and the well-known host of a biennial national money-laundering conference that attracts justice and law enforcement authorities, came to Castro Llanes’ defense and countered that Halvorssen ran a "smear campaign" and fed lies to US officials. It was later disclosed that Money Laundering Alert had received its seed money from Castro. Intriago's activities came under investigation of the House Government Reform Committee where he repeatedly pled the Fifth Amendment
when asked about his involvement with Castro and his own illegal campaign contributions to the re-election campaign of President Bill Clinton
. Despite Malaver and Intriago's claims that Castro was an honest businessman being smeared by Halvorssen, Castro was convicted and sentenced to prison in 1997. After completing his sentence Castro was extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for bank fraud. He was convicted and sent to El Junquito prison.
Halvorssen became entangled in a turf war between the CIA and DEA and lost backing of both the agencies when he said Guillen was innocent. According to a the former head of an intelligence unit who worked with both the DEA and the CIA: "what happened to Halvorssen was the result of a collision of some mighty forces. He thought he was enough of a fancy dancer to play games with the big boys and get away with it. Nobody is wearing white hats in this one. I would bet the DEA put some pressure on Orlando Castro to get himself an inside track into Banco de Venezuela. For some reason – most likely it had used the bank in the past or was still using it for some covert funny business – the CIA didn’t want that to happen. So both agencies were trying to squeeze each other out, but Halvorssen was in the middle and got his testicles caught in the wringer."
of Merchant Ivory Productions
. The script titled "Smoke and Mirrors" was written for the screen by Venezuelan architect and author Alex Ceppi (writer). Bestselling British investigative author David Yallop
wrote a novel, Unholy Alliance, that included the story of his own involvement in Halvorssen's case.
, Halvorssen married into one of Venezuela's first families, descendants of the country's first two presidents, Cristóbal Mendoza
and Simón Bolívar
.
Halvorssen's older brother, Erik, also graduated from the UPENN (in 1963) and his younger brother, Stein, attended Columbia University
. His twin brother, Olaf, graduated from UPENN in 1966 and is a recipient of Norway's Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. Østein and Stein were knighted by King Olav V.
Halvorssen Hellum's son is film producer and human rights activist Thor Halvorssen Mendoza, founder of the Human Rights Foundation
, and his wife is Nelly.
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n state-owned telephone company, CANTV
CANTV
CANTV is one of the first telephone service enterprises in Venezuela, founded in 1930. The company was re-nationalized in 2007.As of May 9, 2008, Cantv’s customer base numbered 10.1 million mobile subscribers, 5.2 million fixed telephony subscribers and 1,000,000 broadband subscribers.- Origins...
and later as Special Commissioner for International Narcotic Affairs in the administration of President Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez , also known as CAP and often referred to as El Gocho , was a Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993. His first presidency was known as the Saudi Venezuela due to its economic and social prosperity thanks to...
. In this post he held the rank of Ambassador. While investigating links to money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
and drug trafficking, he was arrested and jailed on charges of terrorism; he was beaten and mistreated in prison, but later found innocent of all charges. Halvorssen's case was taken up by Amnesty International. The set-up of Halvorssen was reportedly payback for his investigations into presidential corruption, mafia activity, and the money laundering activities of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
.
He is a former CIA source, because of this, the US Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA) during the government of George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
refused to work with him as the Special Commissioner for International Narcotic Affairs, citing as reasons "duplicity and manipulation." while the New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau praised his efforts as someone who provided assistance to his office in the fight against the international narcotics business, as well as to federal law enforcement officials of the United States.
Early career
Halvorssen, of Norwegian origin, is one of the four sons of a Norwegian war hero, Øystein Halvorssen. His father became the president of General Motors Acceptance CorporationGeneral Motors Acceptance Corporation
Ally Financial Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States at Tower 200 of the Renaissance Center. The bank slogan has more than 15 million customers worldwide and provides a range of financial services including auto financing, insurance, mortgage services, and...
in Venezuela before he began his own business operations. He was also the former Norwegian Ambassador in Venezuela. According to the journalist Gaeton Fonzi, who wrote an investigative story about Halvorssen's life, he led the "jet-setting life style" of a "happy-go-lucky" son of a wealthy businessman. With his twin brother Olaf, he befriended Jerry Wolman
Jerry Wolman
Jerry Wolman is a former Washington, D.C. developer and the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team of the National Football League. Wolman bought the Eagles franchise in 1963 from the "Happy Hundred," a group of investors that owned the team from 1949–1963, for a sale price of...
, the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
football team. The three became partners in real estate transactions and night clubs. Halvorssen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
(UPENN) in 1966 and completed a Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wharton was the world’s first collegiate business school and the first business school in the United States...
MBA in 1969.
After graduating, Halvorssen returned to Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
to help run the family businesses. The businesses required little attention; Halvorssen became involved in community service, working at Venezuela's largest charity, the Dividendo Voluntario Para La Comunidad for six years and serving as its President from 1976–1979. He started a program to build sports facilities in the poorest barrios and eventually met future President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
Pérez was elected in 1974 and in 1977 appointed Halvorssen acting president of the Venezuelan state-owned telephone company CANTV
CANTV
CANTV is one of the first telephone service enterprises in Venezuela, founded in 1930. The company was re-nationalized in 2007.As of May 9, 2008, Cantv’s customer base numbered 10.1 million mobile subscribers, 5.2 million fixed telephony subscribers and 1,000,000 broadband subscribers.- Origins...
; Halvorssen then served as president of CANTV from 1978 until Pérez completed his term. As president of CANTV, he was given a military-intelligence identification card, and worked with Venezuela's secret police and intelligence force
Dirección de los Servicios de Inteligencia y Prevención
thumb|250px|right|El Helicoide building in Caracas - old headquarters of SEBINSEBIN, the Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia , is the premier intelligence agency in Venezuela...
. When Pérez was elected President again in 1989, he named Halvorssen Venezuela's Special Commissioner for anti-Narcotic Affairs with the rank of Ambassador.
In the ten years between the two Presidential terms of Carlos Andrés Pérez, Halvorssen traveled extensively, spending time in the Middle East, El Salvador and Nicaragua during the US counter-insurgency
Counter-insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
in Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
; he would later be defended by Nicaraguan Cardinal Miguel Obando y Bravo
Miguel Obando y Bravo
Miguel Obando y Bravo is a Nicaraguan prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the Archbishop of Managua from 1985 until his resignation on 12 March 2005. On 25 May 1985, he was selected by Pope John Paul II to be cardinal in Central America...
and by former Contra
Contras
The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...
leader and Nicaraguan Senator Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero
Adolfo Calero Portocarrero was a Nicaraguan businessman, and leader of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force, which was the largest contra rebel group opposing the Sandinista government. In the contra leadership, Calero was responsible for managing the bank accounts into which money was deposited and...
. He admitted to have been closely associated with Duane Clarridge, the former head of the CIA's Latin American division, involved in the Iran-Contra scandal and clandestine mining operations in Nicaragua's harbors during the 1980s. He developed contacts with anti-narcotics police in Japan, the UK, and the US; friends commented that he seemed to have developed "a bit of a James Bond complex" during these years, and was "bitten by the James Bond bug".
Drug czar
According to profiles of Halvorssen in magazines who covered his imprisonment, Halvorssen's years of socializing and partying caught up to him, and he developed a drinking problem. When Pérez offered him the position of "drug czar", Halvorssen accepted because, "I went to a detoxification clinic in the US and I was so appalled by what I saw there that I resolved that I would do anything I could to fight drug trafficking." According to Isabel HiltonIsabel Hilton
Isabel Nancy Hilton OBE is a Scottish journalist and broadcaster based in London.-Biography:She was educated at Edinburgh University where she studied Chinese to post-graduate level...
, writing in the British edition of Gentleman's Quarterly (GQ)
GQ (magazine)
GQ is a monthly men's magazine focusing on fashion, style, and culture for men, through articles on food, movies, fitness, sex, music, travel, sports, technology, and books...
, observers say that Pérez may have offered Halvorssen the job as a necessary matching gesture when US president George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
appointed William Bennett
William Bennett
William John "Bill" Bennett is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist. He served as United States Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W...
as his Director of National Drug Control Policy, thinking that Halvorssen was still drinking and wouldn't cause problems. Halvorssen performed his duties well, deciding to use his worldwide contacts and intelligence connections to detail the extent of Venezuela's role in the drug world. Halvorssen believed that Pérez wasn't responding to his reports on drug trafficking and money laundering and approached his ally, Venezuelan Senator Cristobal Fernandez Daló. In 1992, he was appointed special overseas investigator of an Anti-Money-Laundering Commission by the Venezuelan Senate. He was a liaison between law enforcement agencies around the world, working on drug and money-laundering cases.
Hilton reveals that Halvorssen was behind the extradition to Italy of the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan members Pasquale, Paolo and Gaspare Cuntrera. Gaeton Fonzi, former U.S. Senate investigator, wrote that "the remaining Mafia in Venezuela do not remember Halvorssen fondly for that". Halvorssen worked closely with Manhattan District Attorney
New York County District Attorney
The New York County District Attorney is the elected district attorney for New York County , New York. The office is responsible for the prosecution of violations of New York state laws....
Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert M. Morgenthau
Robert Morris Morgenthau is an American lawyer. From 1975 until his retirement in 2009, he was the District Attorney for New York County, the borough of Manhattan.-Early life:...
investigating the financial affairs of Venezuelan government officials. Halvorssen discovered the secret bank accounts of Venezuelan president Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez
Carlos Andrés Pérez Rodríguez , also known as CAP and often referred to as El Gocho , was a Venezuelan politician, President of Venezuela from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1993. His first presidency was known as the Saudi Venezuela due to its economic and social prosperity thanks to...
, the man who had appointed Halvorssen. The evidence revealed $19 million that Perez and his mistress, Cecilia Matos, had deposited into numbered accounts. This discovery and the airing of the evidence in Venezuela led to the impeachment of President Perez in May 1993.
Halvorssen worked with Annabelle Grimm, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
(DEA) in Venezuela. According to Colombia's Dinero magazine, Grimm became involved with controversial controlled deliveries of cocaine shipments from Venezuela to the US. A DEA investigation uncovered a scandal in which a fellow US agency, the CIA, helped Venezuelan General Ramón Guillén Davila of the National Guard antidrug unit to run a profitable cocaine-trafficking operation. Grimm said she refused to cooperate with the CIA, but was removed from Caracas. Halvorssen became a persona non grata for the new DEA group that took over. Halvorssen appeared to be both a DEA informant and CIA source. Halvorssen denies being a CIA agent, but admits having "cooperated" with the agency.
When Halvorssen was imprisoned on charges (later dismissed) of terrorism, officials in Miami distanced the DEA from Halvorssen and stated that his drug information was considered unreliable. He was reported to have "unusual ties to and knowledge of drug traffickers"; the DEA said it "refused to deal with him, citing as reasons 'duplicity and manipulation.'" Halvorssen denied working with Florida agencies, and human rights advocates who knew him said that, considering his involvement in the fight against narcotrafficking, the accusations were not unexpected.
Arrest and imprisonment
In 1993, while Halvorssen claimed he was investigating the now defunct Banco LatinoBanco Latino
Banco Latino was a Venezuelan bank based in Caracas, and at the time of its 1994 failure was the country's second largest. It had a good relationship with the government, such that ministries moved their accounts to the bank, and the army and the state-owned oil company PDVSA entrusted their...
, he was arrested and imprisoned for 74 days on charges of terrorism that a Venezuelan congressman described at the time as a "set up because he was investigating Medellín Cartel
Medellín Cartel
The Medellín Cartel was an organized network of "drug suppliers and smugglers" originating in the city of Medellín, Colombia. The drug cartel operated in Colombia, Bolivia, Peru, Central America, the United States, as well as Canada and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded and...
finances and links to Venezuelan businessmen and officials." Halvorssen was one of 12 people charged in a series of six bomb attacks in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
in July and August 1993. Police claimed the motive was profit—to capitalize on stock market fluctuations caused by the bombs. Halvorssen denied the charges and claimed he had made no stock or bond transactions in the Venezuelan stock market for two decades.
One of the alleged members of the group of bombers, Ramiro Helmeyer, told police that Halvorssen was the leader. Helmeyer, initially recanted his confession claiming that the police "tortured me so that I would accuse Thor Halvorssen." However, in February 1998, Helmeyer said the bombing campaign was financed by the Banco Latino
Banco Latino
Banco Latino was a Venezuelan bank based in Caracas, and at the time of its 1994 failure was the country's second largest. It had a good relationship with the government, such that ministries moved their accounts to the bank, and the army and the state-owned oil company PDVSA entrusted their...
by way of its president Gustavo Gómez López and that Halvorssen was the key organizer. Helmeyer was a relative of the family that founded the Banco Latino. Halvorssen says he was arrested after a Banco Latino official asked him to come to Venezuela from New York for a meeting with the bank's chairman, but after arriving in Caracas that meeting was cancelled, implying that he was set up.
Halvorssen was held without being charged for eight days. By the time he was released he had still not been charged with a crime—the only thing that kept him in prison was an order of arrest signed eight days after his actual detention. He was beaten while he was in police prison and suffered from mistreatment while in the notorious Retén de Catia prison, ranked among the most desolate prisons in the world by human-rights organisations. International organizations, including Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, a Nicaraguan cardinal, and members of the British Parliament, protested Halvorssen case. He was found innocent of all charges. After his release, the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
-affiliated International Society for Human Rights
International Society for Human Rights
The International Society for Human Rights is an international non-governmental, non-profit human rights organization with Participative Status with the Council of Europe and is a member of the Liaison Committee of the Non-Governmental Organisations at the Council of Europe...
appointed him director of their Pan-American Committee.
Hilton also covers Halvorssen's investigation of Orlando Castro Llanes
Orlando Castro Llanes
Orlando Castro Llanes is a Venezuelan businessman whosefinancial empire of banks and insurance agencies collapsed in 1994 and was subsequently convicted and imprisoned in the United States.-From Communist to capitalist:...
, a Venezuelan businessman of Cuban descent. She suggests that Castro arranged for the false charges against Halvorssen and a media campaign to destroy his reputation. According to Hilton, Castro was linked as a money laundering partner to drug kingpin Pablo Escobar
Pablo Escobar
Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...
in a letter written by Escobar to his attorney; the authenticity of the letter is questioned. Castro had visited Halvorssen in prison with his son who beat Halvorssen while he was handcuffed to a chair. Wire reports and newspaper articles written during his time in prison portrayed Halvorssen as guilty and corrupt. A framework of opinion was created to destroy any credibility Halvorssen could have when testifying in a court of law in the United States. Regarding the charges of terrorism she writes: "In reality, the police case against Halvorssen was non-existent…He was completely exonerated."
Investigative journalist Manuel Malaver in his book La DEA contra la Guardia Nacional de Venezuela claims that Halvorssen was part of parallel underworld of rogue police officers that became involved in a conspiracy to destabilize the government of Ramon Velasquez in association with a group of powerful adversaries against the possible presidency of Rafael Caldera
Rafael Caldera
Rafael Antonio Caldera Rodríguez was president of Venezuela from 1969 to 1974 and again from 1994 to 1999.Caldera taught sociology and law at various universities before entering politics. He was a founding member of COPEI, Venezuela's Christian Democratic party...
or Velásquez. Presidential elections were scheduled in December 1993 after the impeachment of President Perez in May 1993. Halvorssen publicly responded to Malaver in a 3,500 word point-by-point rebuttal. Halvorssen referred to Malaver as acting in bad faith, malicious, and violating journalistic ethics: "Lamentable, shameful, and cowardly."
Intrigue and mutual accusations
Three weeks after Halvorssen's release, Banco Latino folded and its directors were charged with numerous crimes. They are still fugitives. Depositors lost billions of dollars. Orlando Castro LlanesOrlando Castro Llanes
Orlando Castro Llanes is a Venezuelan businessman whosefinancial empire of banks and insurance agencies collapsed in 1994 and was subsequently convicted and imprisoned in the United States.-From Communist to capitalist:...
fled Venezuela and was ultimately extradited from Miami to New York to face charges of grand larceny and theft.
Castro's own banks also collapsed leaving depositors unable to recuperate their savings. On April 4, 1996, Castro Llanes was indicted in New York by District Attorney Robert Morgenthau. Castro's son and grandson were also arrested on charges of a scheme to defraud in the first degree. They were also under investigation by the US Federal Reserve
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
for laundering more than US$3 billion. The three Castros were convicted on grand larceny charges on February 19, 1997, and in April of that year sentenced to various prison terms. The larceny involved defrauding depositors of the Banco Progreso International de Puerto Rico of as much as US$55 million. His crime also cost the government of Venezuela more than US$8 million.
His adversaries claim that Thor Halvorssen was used to prevent Castro Llanes from buying the prestigious Banco de Venezuela
Banco de Venezuela
Banco de Venezuela is an international universal bank based in Caracas. It was the market leader in Venezuela until 2007, when it fell to third place, with an 11.3% market share for deposits; its major competitors are Banesco, Banco Mercantil and BBVA Banco Provincial...
in 1990. While working as Venezuela's government drug czar, Halvorssen was hired by the board of the Banco de Venezuela for US$1.2 million (other sources mention US$ 7 million) to investigate whether Castro Llanes was using drug money, to thwart Castro Llanes' bitterly contested hostile takeover for control of the bank. According to Castro Llanes, he was never accepted in exclusive political and economic circles and was considered unfit by the Venezuelan elite to lead the country's most important banking institution.
A small group of shareholders, all members of the elitist Caracas Country Club, joined with the Banco Provincial, the powerful industrial group Grupo Polar
Empresas Polar
Empresas Polar is a Venezuelan corporation, that started as a brewery founded in 1941 by Lorenzo Alejandro Mendoza Fleury in Antímano, Caracas. It is the largest and best known brewery in Venezuela, but has since long diversified to an array of industries, mostly related to food processing and...
and Finalven opposing the Banco Consolidado of José Alvarez Stelling, the Grupo Progreso Latinoamericano of Orlando Castro and the Grupo del Banco Unión. According to a member of the board of the Banco de Venezuela, Halvorssen was contracted to prevent at all cost that Castro would become the major shareholder and would control the bank. Halvorssen concluded that Castro Llanes was laundering drug money and was involved in other financial irregularities and handed over the material to allies in the Congress who had parliamentary immunity. Castro's adversaries started a media campaign to discredit him.
According to Malaver, Halvorssen allegedly received US$ 7 million from the bank to demonstrate that Orlando Castro was a drug trafficker. According to Malaver the accusation of drug trafficking against Orlando Castro was false.
Charles Intriago—a Miami lawyer and former federal prosecutor, as well as editor of Money Laundering Alert and the well-known host of a biennial national money-laundering conference that attracts justice and law enforcement authorities, came to Castro Llanes’ defense and countered that Halvorssen ran a "smear campaign" and fed lies to US officials. It was later disclosed that Money Laundering Alert had received its seed money from Castro. Intriago's activities came under investigation of the House Government Reform Committee where he repeatedly pled the Fifth Amendment
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
when asked about his involvement with Castro and his own illegal campaign contributions to the re-election campaign of President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
. Despite Malaver and Intriago's claims that Castro was an honest businessman being smeared by Halvorssen, Castro was convicted and sentenced to prison in 1997. After completing his sentence Castro was extradited to Venezuela to stand trial for bank fraud. He was convicted and sent to El Junquito prison.
Halvorssen became entangled in a turf war between the CIA and DEA and lost backing of both the agencies when he said Guillen was innocent. According to a the former head of an intelligence unit who worked with both the DEA and the CIA: "what happened to Halvorssen was the result of a collision of some mighty forces. He thought he was enough of a fancy dancer to play games with the big boys and get away with it. Nobody is wearing white hats in this one. I would bet the DEA put some pressure on Orlando Castro to get himself an inside track into Banco de Venezuela. For some reason – most likely it had used the bank in the past or was still using it for some covert funny business – the CIA didn’t want that to happen. So both agencies were trying to squeeze each other out, but Halvorssen was in the middle and got his testicles caught in the wringer."
Movie rights
New York film producer Marla Shelton purchased the rights to Halvorssen's life story while working for Academy-Award nominated director James IvoryJames Ivory (director)
James Francis Ivory is an American film director, best known for the results of his long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, which included both Indian-born film producer Ismail Merchant, and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala...
of Merchant Ivory Productions
Merchant Ivory Productions
Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory. Their films were for the most part produced by the former, directed by the latter, and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, with the noted exception of a few films. The films were often...
. The script titled "Smoke and Mirrors" was written for the screen by Venezuelan architect and author Alex Ceppi (writer). Bestselling British investigative author David Yallop
David Yallop
David Anthony Yallop is an agnostic British author who writes chiefly about unsolved crimes. In the 1970s he also contributed scripts for a number of BBC comedy shows...
wrote a novel, Unholy Alliance, that included the story of his own involvement in Halvorssen's case.
Personal
According to The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Halvorssen married into one of Venezuela's first families, descendants of the country's first two presidents, Cristóbal Mendoza
Cristóbal Mendoza
Cristóbal Hurtado de Mendoza was a Venezuelan politician. Cristobal became the first President of Venezuela in 1811.-Biography:...
and Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar
Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios Ponte y Yeiter, commonly known as Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military and political leader...
.
Halvorssen's older brother, Erik, also graduated from the UPENN (in 1963) and his younger brother, Stein, attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. His twin brother, Olaf, graduated from UPENN in 1966 and is a recipient of Norway's Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. Østein and Stein were knighted by King Olav V.
Halvorssen Hellum's son is film producer and human rights activist Thor Halvorssen Mendoza, founder of the Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights Foundation
The Human Rights Foundation is a non-profit organization whose stated mission "is to ensure that freedom is both preserved and promoted" in the Americas. The Human Rights Foundation was founded in 2005 by Thor Halvorssen...
, and his wife is Nelly.