Madsen's report on funding for vote fraud: Follow up

You would hate shopping with me. I always get a case of morning-after buyer's remorse.

Last night, I felt certain that Wayne Madsen was on to something important. Now, although I still urge everyone to follow his work, I feel less confident.

Madsen, you will recall, is the fellow who has encountered sources -- as yet unnamed -- who say that vote fraud can be connected to a mysterious company, allegedly Saudi-linked, called Five Star Trust. If you haven't read my previous post, you'll need to do that now before we proceed.

(Go on. I'll wait.)

(Back? Excellent. Let us continue.)

Madsen has written some excellent material in the past, which is the main reason why I placed great stock in his article. Here's his bio:

Mr. Madsen has some twenty-five years of experience in computer security and data privacy. As a U.S. Naval Officer he managed one of the first computer security programs for the U.S. Navy. He subsequently worked for the National Security Agency's National COMSEC Assessment Center, Department of State, RCA Corporation, and Computer Sciences Corporation.

He has testified before the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Operations.

He is also a freelance investigative journalist and a syndicated columnist. His columns have appeared in the Miami Herald, Houston Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Atlanta Journal Constitution. He has appeared frequently as a guest commentator on television and radio.

Mr. Madsen is the author of The Handbook of Personal Data Protection (London: Macmillan, 1992)

A serious fellow, no doubt about it.

And Five Star Trust, as noted earlier, is a seriously suspicious company. Take the wheeler-dealer most closely associated with the company, J.R. Horn. This guy was convicted of wire fraud in 2001; while out on parole, he commited the same crime (the figure of a billion dollars has been mentioned), only to be sentenced to a mere 18 months. I can't help but compare Mr. Horn's cushy fate to those well-known cases of minor pot dealers sentenced to years in prison.

So why now does a touch of "buyer's remorse" color my initial enthusiasm for Madsen's piece?

Because everything about this "FIve Star" company reeks of con artistry. Yes, consters do frequently butt up against the worlds of covert operations, money laundering, espionage and so forth. Here's the problem: When you stumble into the world of the professional con artist, how do you know when -- or if -- these David Mamet characters are lying to you?

Those who followed parapolitical controversies in the 1990s may recall the "three Rs": Reed, Russbacher, and Riconosciuto. If you recognise those names, you'll know the difficulties of dealing with any source saddled with legal troubles and an elastic attitude toward the truth.

All of which makes me wonder about just who has been feeding Madsen his information. I'm sure that the writer himself is honest -- but what about his sources? Even the smartest researcher can be played for a sucker.

Madsen has promised a follow-up report very soon, so perhaps he will provide more details. Until then, we (or at least I) must face another poser:

I received a letter from someone unknown to me, telling me to place certain information on my blog. I won't reprint this text here, but a cautious summary should do no harm.

The badly-written letter stated that Greg Palast is working with Madsen on the "Five Star Trust" angle, and that they both need funding. I was directed to a web page offering a PayPal donation button.

The writer connected Five Star to CyberNet, which figures in Jeff Fisher's charges. You can read a good discussion of this business here.

This same letter also connected Five Star to Accenture, the Enron-linked (actually, Arthur Anderson-linked) offshore company which has received government contracts for a system identifying visitors to this country (photographs, fingerprints, perhaps even iris scans) and which also received a contract to provide the military with an online voting system, which bears the unnerving name "Secure Electronic Registration and Voting Experiment" (or SERVE). The letter closed with an unclear reference to the Green party.

This missive struck me as very suspicious. If Palast and/or Madsen need donations, surely they would make their own plea directly; why would they have Mr. Anonymous Stranger act on their behalf?

In short: I smell a scam. I've phoned Madsen and written Palast, and will soon know the facts. In the meantime, let me know if you have received a similar mailing.

For god's sake -- double-check (and triple-check)before making any donations!