Exclusive: Spanish judge seeks Sheldon Adelson security chief in Assange
spying case
MAX BLUMENTHAL·JULIAN ASSANGE·SEPTEMBER 29, 2020
A Spanish judges request to probe a Las Vegas Sands staffers apparent role
in a criminal spying operation against Julian Assange indicates the
investigation is homing in on US intelligence. Tellingly, the Department of
Justice is stonewalling the application.
By Max Blumenthal
The Spanish judge presiding over the trial of a security firm owner
apparently hired to spy on jailed Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange has
sent a request to the US Department of Justice for an interview with Zohar
Lahav, the Israeli-American vice president for executive protection at Las
Vegas Sands.
Sands is owned by the ultra-Zionist casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, one of
the single largest donors to Donald Trumps presidential campaigns and the
Republican Party.
According to court documents reviewed by The Grayzone, the judge seeks to
probe Lahavs relationship with disgraced UC Global CEO David Morales, who
was indicted for an array of crimes after allegedly presiding over a spying
operation targeting Assange while he was confined within Ecuadors embassy
in London.
This request follows a previous attempt at securing witness interviews that
was effectively blocked by the US Department of Justice.
The judge outlined four objectives for the interview with Lahav:
Determine Lahavs relationship with Morales
Determine the occasions when Morales and Lahav met in the United States and
Spain
Determine if Lahav had communications and meetings with Morales regarding
the alleged illegally obtained information under investigation
Determine if Lahav or his superiors in Las Vegas Sands, Sheldon Adelson and
Brian Nagel, had access to the alleged illegally obtained information under
investigation.
The judges interest in Nagel indicates that the Spanish investigation is
now probing the suspected role of US intelligence as the guiding hand behind
UC Globals criminal spying operation.
Before he was hired as Adelsons director of global security, Nagel serving
as the top cyber-crime investigator for the US Secret Service a role which
earned him a medal of commendation from the CIA. Together with Lahav, he was
likely to have played a central role in coordinating between Sands, UC
Global, and US intelligence.
Morales has fervently denied being a double agent, maintaining that UC
Global was contracted exclusively by the Ecuadorian security service known
as SENAIN to protect Assange while he was trapped in Ecuadors embassy in
London.
Fernando Garcia, the lawyer defending Morales in the Spanish case, insisted
to The Grayzone in a garbled email, David Morales never spied [on] anybody,
never sent any legal information [to] anybody but helped Assange [stay] safe
and comfortable [in the] Ecuador Embassy with NO[T] ONE incident under their
protection.
But as The Grayzone first reported in May, witnesses in the Spanish case
testified that Lahav recruited UC Globals Morales when the Spanish
mercenary visited a security fair hosted at Adelsons Las Vegas Sands
Convention Center. The two became fast friends, with Lahav communicating
constantly with Morales as the operation escalated from snooping to theft,
fraud, and assassination plots, according to testimony by several witnesses.
Emails obtained by the Spanish court and reviewed by The Grayzone contained
IP addresses revealing that Morales sent spying instructions to his
employees while he was staying at Adelsons Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
The Grayzone has now learned that Lahav and Morales have been identified
together in at least one US-allied South American country since the
operation at the embassy ended. Further, a Spanish police document seen by
this reporter placed Morales on Adelsons Queen Miri luxury yacht in July
2019.
Private communications by Morales and testimony by his former employees
strongly suggested that Adelsons Sands was functioning as a front for the
CIA.
According to a former UC Global business partner, Morales boasted that he
was working for the dark side after returning from his first trip to Las
Vegas and explicitly stated he had been contracted by US intelligence,
describing the CIA alternately as his American friends and the American
client.
In a text message obtained by The Grayzone, Morales told an employee that
his company had been hired to spy on Assange by the agency of the stars and
stripes.
By seeking an interview with Lahav and information about Nagel, the Spanish
judge presiding over the criminal trial of Morales is effectively
investigating the role of Adelsons security team as a channel between the
CIA and UC Global.
American cooperation with the Spanish judges request for a US-based witness
is mandated under the 2004 US-Spain Mutual Legal Assistance Instrument.
However, in an email reviewed by The Grayzone, DOJ trial attorney Susan Park
Hunter attempted to stall the investigation with vague and frivolous
requests for additional information, including the factual basis to
suspect [David] Morales Guillen of bribery and money laundering.
Hunters language indicates that the US government recognizes the gravity of
the judges request, and given the consequence of allowing a figure like
Lahav to testify, has resolved to do whatever is necessary to avoid
compliance.
Noelia Paez David Morales Las Vegas
Instagram posts by Morales wife, Noelia Paez, posted while in Las Vegas on
January 20, 2017
The CIAs men in Vegas?
Proof of UC Globals spying campaign and evidence of the firms relationship
with the CIA emerged following the September 2019 arrest of David Morales.
Spanish police had initiated a secret investigation called Operation
Tabanco under a criminal case managed by the same Madrid-based National
Court that presided over the arrest of former Chilean military dictator
Augusto Pinochet in 1998.
Morales was charged in October 2019 by the Spanish court with violating the
privacy of Julian Assange and abusing his attorney-client privileges, as
well as money laundering and bribery. A former Spanish special forces
officer turned mercenary, Morales was also accused of illegal weapons
possession when police found two guns with the serial numbers filed off on
his property.
Documents and testimony revealed in the Spanish court have exposed shocking
details of UC Globals campaign against Assange, his lawyers, friends, and
even American journalists. Evidence of crimes ranging from spying to
robberies to kidnapping and even a proposed plot to eliminate Assange by
poisoning has emerged from the ongoing legal proceedings.
Several former UC Global employees stated in court this August that Morales
explicitly proposed killing Assange with poison. One former staffer
testified that Morales devised the extreme measures after being informed
that the Americans were desperate to end Assanges presence in the
embassy.
Perhaps the most striking element exposed in the Spanish courtroom has been
the apparent relationship between UC Global, Adelsons Las Vegas Sands, and
Mike Pompeos CIA.
In a previous report, The Grayzone detailed how the Las Vegas Sands
corporation of Trump mega-donor Sheldon Adelson seemingly operated as a
liaison between UC Global and US intelligence, contracting the former on
behalf of the latter.
It was the second time Adelsons company had been identified as a CIA asset.
The first was in 2010, when a private intelligence report sponsored by the
gambling industry alleged that an Adelson-owned casino in Macau was
capturing footage of Chinese officials blowing huge sums of money at card
tables and feeding it back to US intelligence so those officials could be
blackmailed into serving as CIA informants.
Brian Nagel Sheldon Adelson
One of just a few publicly available photos of Las Vegas Sands Director of
Global Security Brian Nagel, taking during congressional testimony in 2007
Throughout this period, Adelsons Las Vegas Sands employed Brian Nagel as
its director of global security. Nagel earned his stripes through nearly two
decades at the US Secret Service, helping the agency set up an array of
anti-cybercrime partnerships with the FBI, Los Angeles Police Department,
and Department of Homeland Security.
To take down cyber-thieves, Nagel reportedly employed wiretaps, used
undercover informants, and oversaw an initiative to turn the tables on
criminal groups by empowering law enforcement to use the same
technologies hackers and cyber-criminals typically employed.
His efforts ultimately earned him the CIAs Intelligence Community Seal
Medallion, an award given to non-CIA personnel who have made significant
contributions to the Agencys intelligence efforts.
Nagel was mentioned in the Global Intelligence Files published by Wikileaks,
which consist of thousands of internal communications by employees of
Stratfor, a US-based intelligence firm known as the Shadow CIA. In an
October 2009 email, a Stratfor analyst detailed Nagels offer of a contract
for Stratfor to conduct proactive monitoring of security threats against
Las Vegas Sands casinos around the globe.
In December 2017, UC Globals David Morales made one of several trips to
Adelsons Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. From there, he sent instructions to
employees on setting up a secret surveillance channel from the Ecuadorian
embassy in London that could be fed back to another party without Ecuadors
security services noticing.
David Morales obviously didnt have the technical knowledge, a former UC
Global IT specialist who received the instructions testified, so the
document must have been sent by another person. Because it was in English, I
suspect that it couldve been [created by] US intelligence.
The Spanish-speaking Morales told his employees at the time, these people
have given me the following instructions, drafted in English.
Which employee of Las Vegas Sands had the technical expertise in electronic
surveillance to conceive the instructions? And who boasted years of
coordination with US intelligence and federal law enforcement, developing
the very tools that would have been deployed against Wikileaks when it first
came online? All evidence pointed to Nagel.
Now, a Spanish judge seeks to probe Nagels involvement in the illegal
spying ring run by UC Global. But first, the judge has to secure an
interview with Lahav, who was Nagels colleague at Las Vegas Sands and, by
all indications, the personal handler of Morales.
David Morales Vegas
UC Global CEO David Morales (left) at a 2016 security fair in Las Vegas
Business in Bolsonaros Brazil, cruising on the Queen Miri
The relationship between David Morales and Sheldon Adelsons security team
began during a trip the Spanish mercenary took to Las Vegas in 2016,
according to testimony by former UC Global employees. At a security fair
hosted inside Adelsons Sands Expo Convention Center, Morales was approached
by Zohar Lahav, the VP of the billionaires executive protection team.
A former UC Global business partner testified against Morales in Spanish
court, the head of security of Las Vegas Sands, a Jewish guy named Zohar
Lahav, made contact with Mr. Morales, getting to become good friends with
him at the security fair in Las Vegas. I sense that this person offered him
to collaborate with American intelligence authorities to send information
about Mr. Assange.
Zohar Lahav David Morales recommendation
A recommendation letter written by Zohar Lahav on official Sands letterhead
for his friend, UC Global CEO David Morales
Morales and Lahav formed a close friendship that has outlasted UC Globals
contract to spy on Assange inside the embassy. According to a witness in the
Spanish case, the two pals took a business trip to Brazil in 2018.
Fernando Garcia, the lawyer of Morales, told The Grayzone his client has
decided to stop talking about any travel because no journalist has
published his version of facts.
However, Garcia confirmed that UC Global has clients in Mexico, Colombia,
Brazil and other countries in South America. He would not deny that Morales
traveled to Brazil for work.
In 2018, when Morales allegedly traveled to Brazil with Lahav, the country
was governed by President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing ally of the US.
During his first US trip in March 2019, Bolsonaro made a special visit to
CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Adelson has lobbied hard for a relaxation of Brazilian laws forbidding
casino gambling in the country. This January, he experienced a breakthrough
when the presidents son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, traveled to Las Vegas
for a meeting with the Sands tycoon to discuss a proposal to allow casinos
inside Brazilian resorts. (Flavio Bolsonaro was indicted by Brazilian police
this September for embezzlement, money laundering, and operating a criminal
organization.)
Flavio Bolsonaros letter announcing a meeting with Sheldon Adelson to
discuss investments for the installation of new resorts in our country
Morales, for his part, appeared to have maintained his working relationship
with Adelson and Lahav up until the point that he was arrested in September
2019. Notes by Spanish police agents surveilling Morales as part of the
Operation Tabanco investigation indicate his presence on Adelsons yacht,
the Queen Miri, while it was docked on the Spanish island of Ibiza.
Im busy now with a client that always comes in summer, Morales told a
friend, referring to Adelson, and we have a lot of activity going on in
August with this yacht thing. Im now at Ibiza, like, Ive been a couple of
weeks, been to Palermo, Saint Tropéz, Mónaco, and now weve arrived to Ibiza
and Im staying here with these people until the 5th.
Morales continued by complaining about these messes at the [Ecuadorian]
embassy, and commented, Im fed up with the company, Im going to send it
all to hell.
The conversation was recorded on July 29, 2019 by Spanish police, according
to a document reviewed by The Grayzone. Less than three months later,
Morales was arrested by those investigators.
(L) Loren Slocum Lahav with her husband, Sands VP for executive protection
Zohar Lahav. It is the only publicly available photo of the security
professional. (R) Slocum Lahav with longtime business partner Tony Robbins.
Family ties to Trump Inc.s favorite self-help guru
Zohar Lahavs status as director of executive protection for Adelson,
perhaps the largest individual donor to the president, is not his only
connection to Trump Inc. The Israeli-American is married to a motivational
speaker, Loren Slocum Lahav, who has worked closely with Tony Robbins,
facilitating 160 workshops for the wealthy self-help guru over the past 14
years, according to her bio.
Robbins happens to have been a business partner of Trump during his brief
and abortive campaign for president in 2000. During Robbins Results 2000
speaking tour, he reportedly paid Trump $1 million to deliver 10 speeches at
seminars where participants were charged $229 each for entry. Candidate
Trumps exploratory committee described the appearances as campaign events.
Trump is making money running for president, an advisor told the press at
the time.
Coverage of Trumps ethically questionable business relationship with
Robbins surfaced during the 2016 campaign when Wikileaks published an email
by a Democratic National Committee employee disseminating opposition
research on the rival candidate.
When Trump entered the Oval Office in January 2017, the UC Global spying
campaign against Assange began. Initiated under the apparent watch of
then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who labeled Wikileaks a hostile non-state
intelligence agency, the operation appears to have been managed by Lahav
from its inception.
Sworn testimony by Lahav in a Spanish court might provide the final
confirmation of his suspected role as a liaison between US intelligence and
Trumps most influential donor in an illegal spying operation that violated
the rights of Assange, his lawyers, and associates while he was trapped in
Ecuadors embassy in the UK.
As The Grayzone reported, former employees of Morales have publicized a
rumor that Lahav was fired by Las Vegas Sands. When Morales was asked during
a court appearance this February if the rumor was true, he confirmed it,
stating that Lahav was terminated because of the mess he helped create.
Further evidence demonstrating the CIAs hand in a campaign of sabotage,
surveillance, and assassination plots would be certain to reverberate in the
Old Bailey courtroom in London, where lawyers for Assange are battling a US
demand for the journalists extradition and prosecution under the Espionage
Act. Perhaps it is no wonder that the Department of Justice is stonewalling
the request for Lahav.
