Stanford Technology Trading Group International (STTGI) was a
shell company
A shell corporation is a company or corporation that exists only on paper and has no office and no employees, but may have a bank account or may hold passive investments or be the registered owner of assets, such as intellectual property, or s ...
founded by
USAF
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
Major General
Richard V. Secord
Major General Richard Vernon Secord, Retired (born July 6, 1932), is a United States Air Force officer with a notable career in covert operations. Early in his military service, he was a member of the first U.S. aviation detachment sent to the ...
and Iranian arms dealer
Albert Hakim Albert A. Hakim (July 16, 1936 - April 25, 2003) was an Iranian-American businessman and a figure in the Iran-Contra affair.
Born into a Jewish Iranian family, Hakim attended California Polytechnic State University, California Polytechnic Institute ...
, and a cornerstone of what was informally known as the "Enterprise", a complex web of for-profit business entities and non-profit
front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gro ...
s created by Secord and Hakim to facilitate sales of arms to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, transfers of arms to the
Nicaragua
Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...
n
Contras
The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...
, as well as side dealings that benefited the Enterprise's principals in various ways.
Anatomy of the Enterprise
Key people
*
Thomas G. Clines
Thomas Gregory Clines (August 18, 1928 – July 30, 2013) was a Central Intelligence Agency covert operations officer who was a prominent figure in the Iran-Contra Affair.
Background
Clines served in the 1950–1953 Korean War, and was awarded th ...
, ''aka'' "C. Tea". Earned $883,000 for his services to the Enterprise.
Walsh, Chapter 11
/ref>
* Willard I. Zucker, financial manager of the Enterprise's Swiss bank accounts.
Business and non-profit entities involved
* Compagnie de Service Fiduciaires (CSF)
* National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty
The National Endowment for the Preservation of Liberty (NEPL) was a shell company used by Oliver North to provide funds and support the Contras who were fighting the left-wing Sandinista government. The company was a way for wealthy American citiz ...
(NEPL)
See also
* The Channel-Miller Operation
References
Iran–Contra affair
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