Erik Prince, the man behind one of the world’s most corrupt and notorious ‘private armies’, is due to face possible charges for money laundering and selling military services to Libya.
If you haven’t heard of Erik Prince, he was the founder of ‘Blackwater’, an infamous and incredibly controversial mercenary group which pays ex-military men to head back out to war for the sole purpose of making money.
Since its establishment in 1997, the company has changed its name numerous times in a lousy attempt to distant itself from its dark past, which has led many to describe Prince simply as a real life supervillian.
Blackwater was brought into the limelight in 2007 when five of their employees were charged for murdering 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians.
If that doesn’t sum them up then you watch the clip below and get a pretty good idea of the sort of bastards Blackwater are. Although it does feature some incredibly harrowing scenes so don’t say we didn’t warn you.
One comment on the above YouTube video reads:
They sure made Iraq a better place to live. Now we have ISIS ! Hooray !
Touché.
According to an exclusive article by The Intercept, when Prince sold off Blackwater in 2010, he set up the Frontier Services Group (FSG) with a lot of financial help from Chinese investment groups.
But his links with China don’t stop there, as apparently Prince sought their help to set him up with a Chinese bank account where he could deal with his Libyan activities.
It is thought that Prince was attempting to create a complete replica of Blackwater with FSG on a worldwide scale and with a completely fresh slate.
Since 2014, Prince travelled to at least half a dozen countries to offer various versions of a private military force.
Among the countries where Prince offered his paramilitary assets was Libya. A country still subject to a mass array of U.S. and United Nations restrictions.
One guy told The Intercept:
He’s a rogue chairman. Erik wants to be a real, no-shit mercenary. He’s off the rails, exposing many US citizens to criminal liabilities. Erik hides in the shadows … and uses [FSG] for legitimacy.
Upon hearing the news, several FSG colleagues accused him of trying too hard to recreate Blackwater while lacking the financial, logistical and even legal requirements to do so.
He is currently being investigated by the U.S Department of Justice…
