Breaking News: Gold Connection in the Russian Spy Ring Case
June 28, 2010
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This is no rumor.
This comes straight from the complaint filed by the FBI in the unfolding case of the alleged embedded Russian spies operating on long-term assignment in the U.S.
For those who haven't yet caught wind of the story, let's get you caught up on the news a little before moving on.
FBI Breaks Up Alleged Russian Spy Ring in Deep Cover
The FBI has arrested 10 alleged Russian spies and broken up a "long term, deep cover" network of agents that spent years adopting American identities and gathering an array of intelligence, from information about nuclear weapons to the gold market and personnel changes at the CIA.
In an indictment that might have been taken from the plot of a cold war thriller, the FBI alleges that the Russian intelligence service, the SVR, sent spies to live in the US under false names with the intent of becoming so Americanised they could build relationships with sources and gather information without raising suspicion. Some of the agents lived as married couples and had children who have grown up as Americans unaware that their parents are Russian.
The FBI alleges that the accused spies were able to get close to a scientist working with "bunker-buster" nuclear bombs and a New York financier with powerful political ties.
10 Alleged Russian Secret Agents Arrested in U.S.
WASHINGTON – The FBI has arrested 10 people for allegedly serving for years as secret agents of Russia's intelligence organ, the SVR, with the goal of penetrating U.S. government policymaking circles.
According to court papers unsealed Monday, the FBI intercepted a message from SVR headquarters, Moscow Center, to two of the defendants describing their main mission as "to search and develop ties in policymaking circles in US." Intercepted messages showed they were asked to learn about a broad swath of topics including nuclear weapons, U.S. arms control positions, Iran, White House rumors, CIA leadership turnover, the last presidential election, the Congress and political parties.
After a secret multiyear investigation, the Justice Department announced the arrests Monday in a blockbuster spy case that could rival the capture of Soviet Col. Rudolf Abel in 1957 in New York.
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Now ... that's the coverage thus far. But one editor at the Financial Times in London has blogged about some very interesting excerpts from the complaint filed by the Justice Department with the District Court in New York. You can find the entire 37-page complaint filed here.
According to the report, one of the alleged spies, identified as Cynthia Murphy, made a connection with a financier in New York with some high-level friends and connections. The document states:
"In a message dated "Feb 3 09", the New Jersey Conspirators reported that, through her work, Cynthis Murphy, the defendant, "had several work-related personal meetings with [a priminent New York financier, name omitted], and a personal friend of [a current Cabinet official, name omitted].
A response from Moscow Center indicated that the financier "is checked in C's database - he is clean. Of course he is a very interesting 'target'. Try to build up little by little relations with him moving beyond just [work] framework. Maybe he can provide [Murphy] with remarks re U.S. foreign policy, 'roumors' [sic] about White House internal 'kitchen', invite her to venues (to [major political party HQ in NYC], for instance, etc. In short, consider carefully all options in regard to [financier].
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That's the set-up, but now look at the one mention of gold (that I am aware of thus far) with respect to the defendant's 'target':
On a number of other occasions, the SVR specifically indicated that information collected and conveyed by the New Jersey Conspirators was especially valuable. Thus, for example, during the summer and fall of 2009, Cynthia Murphy, the defendant, using contacts she had met in New York, conveyed a number of reports to Center about prospects for the global gold market. In October of 2009, the SVR responded: "Info: on gold - v. usefull [sic]. It was sent directly (after due adaptation) to Min[.] of Fin[ance], Min[.] of Ec[onomic] Devel[opment].
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Just the very thought that a Russian spy program would find information on "prospects for the global gold market" a "very useful" intelligence stream is enough to make this story a fascinating development for those who have been tracking the myriad questions and allegations surrounding price suppression and coordinated manipulation of the gold market. I fully expect GATA to have a field day with this one, and well they are warranted in doing so.
I will share more information, thoughts, and analysis in due course, but I wanted to get the meat of this story out to my community in a timely fashion for your own consideration. Stay tuned ... you haven't heard the last of the relevance of this case to the gold market.
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