Round two: Wayne Madsen on the funding for vote fraud (UPDATED -- scroll down!)

A minute after I posted the piece below (which expresses a certain "morning after" skepticism toward Wayne Madsen's piece on vote fraud funding), I received word that Madsen's follow-up article had just made the Online Journal. You can read it here.

Bottom line: Madsen's sources still do not have names, and he probably won't get mainstream attention until someone goes on the record. But the story he tells is nevertheless intriguing:

The epicenter for the vote rigging operation is Dallas, Texas, and the operation may involve retired FBI agents who used a well-established "good ole boy" network to arrange for access to polling precincts by electronic voting machine technicians who took advantage of various November 2 security "lockdowns" to illegally alter the tabulation of votes in favor of Bush.

(This is not the first time I've heard references to an ad hoc organization of right-wing former FBI agents. But I swear -- if the dreaded name of "Ted G." shows up in the midst of all this, I am going to roll my eyes and switch to writing about chili recipes and movie reviews.)

Madsen says that the electoral "counting houses" in key states were "locked down" (that is, removed from exterior scrutiny), a claim that has fathered a fairly complex argument in the Democratic Underground forums. We do have certain knowledge of one such lock down in Ohio. Vote fraud, Madsen says, occurred when the curtain was pulled. The whole operation cost over $29 million dollars.

This reporter has obtained a copy of a bank check for $29,600,000 that was allegedly sent to cover the cost of the Texas-based vote rigging operation. The check is dated October 22, 2004, and was made payable to "Five Star Investment Ltd.," a trust said to have long connections to Saudi-funded operations in Texas and around the world.

So at least we know this much: Madsen's source -- whoever the hell he is -- established his credentials by waving around a copy of this rather startling check.

Question: Would someone with access to that check (or a copy) really be willing to divulge the scheme to a guy like Wayne Madsen? Sure, Madsen has written some terrific articles, but much of his work remains (unfairly) consigned to the progressive "ghetto." Why wouldn't an insider-turned-talker turn to 60 Minutes, Tom Brokaw, CNN, the New York Times, or any number of other mainstream sources?

Checks can be faked. Not long ago, Steven Spielberg made a film illustrating that very premise.

I am reminded of two of Karl Rove's previous tricks: 1. The "W did coke" story, which was handed to the easily-discredited James Hatfield; and 2. The national guard documents palmed off on Bill Burkett. (Let's not kid ourselves: We all know who engineered that last one.)

Is this $29 million check of a similar nature? Uncle Karl is sneakiness personified. And he may well have a personal grudge against Wayne Madsen, who once referred to Bush's chief consigliere as "America's Joseph Goebbels."

Read Madsen's article -- hell, read all his stuff -- and come to your own conclusions. He may have hold of something important. But right now, we cannot be sure.

UPDATE: This bit from Madsen's piece struck me as Google-worthy:

On October 6, 2004, some two weeks before Equity Financial Trust transferred the money to Five Star Investment Ltd., the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions for Canada listed Equity Financial Trust, along with Bankers Financial and Security Trust, Falcon Financial and Trust, and Unity Virtual Trust Group as "unauthorized financial institutions." In fact, the check for $29.6 million, which is marked "Not to exceed fifty million dollars," is drawn on the Laurentian Bank of Canada's Toronto branch.

I typed in the words "Equity Financial Trust" and sure 'nuff -- this page came up.

OSFI continues to receive information regarding entities posing as financial institutions. It is believed that these names are being used as part of various advance fee or “Nigerian letter” scams.

A small list of these entities follows, and on that list we find Equity Financial Trust, which does indeed have an address in Toronto.

Which leaves us with this nagging question: Would the Rovian hordes use fraudsters associated with that notorious "Nigerian letter" scam?

Maybe. Maybe con artists of that low sort travel on a far more rarified level than we ever dreamed. Or maybe someone is trying to mislead Wayne Madsen -- and, by extension, you and me.