Gadhafi controls $32 billion, turned down Madoff, diplomat wrote

[IDemo]

Source: msnbc.com

By Robert Windrem
NBC News investigative producer for special projects

Moammar Gadhafi’s regime controls $32 billion in liquid assets around the world, including hundreds of millions of dollars invested in U.S. banks, according to a confidential cable written by the U.S. ambassador to Libya last year. The leaked diplomatic message was distributed through WikiLeaks.

The same cable reported that Libya had been approached by two men accused of running huge Ponzi schemes, Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford, but had resisted offers from them to invest Libyan funds with them. Madoff is serving time in a U.S. prison; Stanford has not been convicted of a crime and is awaiting trial.

The cable is entitled "Technology of Tourism: Head of Libyan Investment Authority Discusses Opportunities for US Business in Libya," and was written Jan. 28, 2010, by Ambassador Gene A. Cretz, after a meeting with Mohamed Layas, the head of the LIA, Libya’s sovereign wealth fund. Sovereign wealth funds are the vehicles used by Middle East and other governments to invest oil wealth. The LIA, according to U.S. intelligence, is controlled by Gadhafi's regime.

"Layas asserted that the LIA has USD 32 billion in liquidity, and noted that several American banks are each managing USD 300-500 million of the LIA's funds," according to the cable.

Read more: http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/23/6115987-gadhafi-controls-32-billion-turned-down-madoff-diplomat-wrote

[gateley]

1. I saw this story on the news (or some story) where the credit was

given to WikiLeaks. I love it!

[truedelphi]

3. So thank you, Julian., Thank you, Bradley. n/t

[Fire1]

2. So, the ole man still has a few marbles left. n/t

[razorman]

4. I remember being amused by Billy Carter, the president's brother,

borrowing a bunch of money from Gadhafi, and not paying it back. I always kind of admired the fact that he was enjoying his fifteen minutes of fame, and took advantage of it. Kind of ballsy, actually. Billy Carter was a real character.