Blackwater Worldwide created a web of more than 30 shell companies or subsidiaries in part to obtain millions of dollars in American government contracts after the security company came under intense criticism for reckless conduct in Iraq, according to Congressional investigators and former Blackwater officials.
While it is not clear how many of those businesses won contracts, at least three had deals with the United States military or the Central Intelligence Agency, according to former government and company officials. Since 2001, the intelligence agency has awarded up to $600 million in classified contracts to Blackwater and its affiliates, according to a United States government official.
The Senate Armed Services Committee this week released a chart that identified 31 affiliates of Blackwater, now known as Xe Services. The network was disclosed as part of a committee’s investigation into government contracting. The investigation revealed the lengths to which Blackwater went to continue winning contracts after Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in September 2007. That episode and other reports of abuses led to criminal and Congressional investigations, and cost the company its lucrative security contract with the State Department in Iraq.
The network of companies – which includes several businesses located in offshore tax havens – allowed Blackwater to obscure its involvement in government work from contracting officials or the public, and to assure a low profile for any of its classified activities, said former Blackwater officials, who, like the government officials, spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Senator Carl Levin, the Michigan Democrat who is chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that it was worth “looking into why Blackwater would need to create the dozens of other names” and said he had requested that the Justice Department investigate whether Blackwater officers misled the government when using subsidiaries to solicit contracts.
The New York Times
12:07 AM EST September 4, 2010
Source: MSNBC
More on Blackwater (now ‘Xe’):
– Secret tape of Blackwater founder Erik Prince exposed
– Feds Indict Former Blackwater President
– Blackwater Guards Stole Hundreds Of Weapons In Kabul And Went On Deadly Rampage
– Iraqi government orders Blackwater security guards to leave the country
– Pentagon backtracks after Defense Secretary Robert Gates ‘admits’ Blackwater operating in Pakistan
– US Federal Court Dismissed All Charges Against Blackwater Security Guards
– Exposed: American Police Force (AFP) Is A Blackwater Front Group (!)
– US: American Police Force (AFP) is taking over towns
– Why Is President Obama Still Using Blackwater?
– CIA hired Blackwater mercenaries to try to hit al-Qaeda
– “Incestuous” relationships between Blackwater and the US government
– Blackwater got a new $22.2 million deal from the State Department
– Blackwater security guards to be charged over mass shooting in Iraq
– Blackwater is building up its own Air Force
– ATF raids Blackwater armory, seizes automatic weapons
– Controversy: Mercenaries Training US Local Police Officers