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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
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December 16th,
2010 - Blackwater Seeks Dismissal of Iraq Shooting Suit News article from the
Associated Press |
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Blackwater Seeks
Dismissal of Iraq Shooting Suit By Tom Breen Associated Press December 16, 2010 Raleigh, N.C. - The security
firm formerly known as Blackwater told a federal judge Thursday that the U.S.
government - and not the company - should be held accountable for a 2007
shooting by its contractors that killed 17 Iraqis. The Moyock, N.C.-based
company and several of its contractors are seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit
that was filed on behalf of three people killed in the shooting - Ali Kinani,
Abrahem Abed Al Mafraje and Mahde Sahab Naser Shamake. It accuses the parties
of wrongful death and negligence, and seeks punitive damages. Lawyers for the company, now
known as Xe Services, argued in court that Blackwater contractors were
essentially acting as employees of the U.S. government because they were
providing security to State Department personnel. Unlike duties performed by
other contractors, the sensitive nature of providing security in a war zone
required the kind of oversight the government normally reserves for its own
employees, attorney Andrew Pincus argued. "This isn't food service,
where we can sort of leave it to the chefs," he said. Lawyers for both the
plaintiffs and the government disputed that, and said the practical effect of
transferring the focus of the lawsuit to the federal government would be its
dismissal. The federal government is exempt from such lawsuits. Judge Terrence W. Boyle
didn't immediately rule on the motions in the case, but said the most
important issue seems to be whether the government is ultimately responsible
for the actions of its contractors. "If the government can
cut the cord and let that drift off into space, that's one world," he
said. "But it's a different world if the government has to be held
accountable." In separate motions, lawyers
for Blackwater and the contractors argued they can't be sued by foreigners
for something that happened in a foreign country governed by foreign law.
They also argue that Iraqi law prohibits such lawsuits. The contractors contend
insurgents ambushed them in a traffic circle before they opened fire, but
prosecutors say the men unleashed an unprovoked attack on civilians using
machine guns and grenades. The five contractors were
initially charged with manslaughter for their role in the 2007 Nisoor Square
shooting, which strained relations between Baghdad and Washington. A year
ago, a federal judge dismissed those charges, citing missteps by the
government. A sixth contractor, Jeremy
Ridgeway, pleaded guilty in the criminal case. He filed a separate defense in
the civil lawsuit, arguing that the federal court in North Carolina has no
jurisdiction to hear the case. Blackwater changed its name
to Xe Services in March, saying its brand had been tarnished by its work in
Iraq. The company settled a separate series of federal lawsuits earlier this
year connected to the Nisoor Square shooting and others in Iraq. The company is now looking
for new ownership. Associated Press Writer Mike
Baker contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121606064.html Blackwater
Founder in Deal to Sell Company By Andrew Ross Sorkin & Ben Protess New York Times December 16, 2010 Erik D. Prince, the founder
of the private security firm formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, has
reached a deal to sell his embattled firm to a small group of investors based
in Los Angeles who have close ties to Mr. Prince, according to people briefed
on the deal. Blackwater, now called Xe
Services, was once the United States’ go-to contractor in Iraq and
Afghanistan. It has been under intense pressure since 2007, when Blackwater
guards were accused of killing 17 civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad. The
company, its executives and personnel have faced civil lawsuits, criminal
charges and Congressional investigations surrounding accusations of murder
and bribery. In April, federal prosecutors announced weapons charges against
five former senior Blackwater executives, including its former president. The sale, which is expected
to be announced on Friday, came after the State Department threatened to stop
awarding contracts to the company as long as Mr. Prince owned the firm,
people involved in the discussions said. These people requested anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak about the confidential talks. The
sale is intended to help shake the stigma associated with its ownership under
Mr. Prince. Yet questions remain about
Mr. Prince’s continuing relationship with the company. While he is expected
to step down from any management or operational role, he will have a
financial interest in the company’s future, according to people briefed on
the negotiations. As part of the deal, he will be paid an “earn out,” or a
payment that depends on the company’s financial performance over the next
several years, these people said. One of the lead investors in
the deal is Jason DeYonker of Forté Capital Advisors, who has a long
relationship with Mr. Prince and Blackwater. He helped advise Mr. Prince in
his development of Blackwater’s business plan when the company was founded
and helped negotiate the company’s first training contracts with United
States government agencies and the company’s expansion of its training center
in Moyock, N.C. In addition, he managed the Prince family’s money from 1998
to 2002. The other lead investor is Manhattan Growth Partners, a private
equity firm in New York. Exact terms of the deal
could not be learned, but people involved in the talks said the transaction
was worth about $200 million. Bank of America led the financing of the
transaction, these people said. Mr. Prince, a former Navy
Seal who created Blackwater in 1997, put his company up for sale in June and
moved his family to Abu Dhabi, court records show. Mr. Prince, who built
Blackwater using an inheritance from his family’s Michigan auto parts
fortune, stepped aside as Xe’s chief executive in 2009 but has remained
chairman until now. Mr. Prince sold the company’s aviation division,
Presidential Airways, to the AAR Corporation in March. The auction for Xe Services
has dragged on for months as speculation has swirled about the company’s
future and the auction process. Some bidders speculated that Mr. Prince had
always favored selling the company to the investor group led by Mr. DeYonker. The new buyers are hoping to
recast the company as a military training organization instead of a private
security service. The company’s training center in Moyock has trained more
than 50,000 United States government personnel and allied forces. The buyers
hope to receive new contracts to train forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen,
among other locations, especially as the United States withdraws troops and
needs to train local forces. After the sale, the company
will continue to be subject to an agreement it reached with the State
Department in August. Under the settlement, the company paid $42 million in
fines over hundreds of violations of United States export control
regulations, permitting it to continue to compete for government contracts. Wendy Wysong, a partner at
the law firm Clifford Chance, was appointed as a special compliance officer
for Xe Services as a result of the settlement. James Risen contributed
reporting. Copyright 2010 The New York
Times Company External link: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/blackwater-founder-in-deal-to-sell-company/ |