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Feds Investigating Twenty-Something Contractor
Oh, man. Not cool. Not only has the Army suspended any further contracts for AEY (the shady contractor run by 22 year-old Efraim Diveroli), but the U.S. attorney in Miami along with Department of Justice prosecutors in Washington have picked up the case, The Miami Herald reports.
The probe launched as a result of an audit by the Army's Procurement Fraud Branch (it's unclear whether the probe launched as a result of The New York Times' inquiries), where officials determined that Diveroli appeared to have lied when he claimed that the ammunition he was providing came from Hungary when it in fact was made in China -- which he would have done because the Army prohibits using Chinese ammo.
If Diveroli did lie to the government, that would be a crime. You can read the Army's audit letter, in addition to the letter to Diveroli suspending his ability to win any further contracts, here.
The Herald also uncovered a second arrest for Diveroli: one for drunk driving earlier this month. That's the mugshot above. The earlier one, as the Times reported in the initial story, was for beating up a parking valet and getting busted with a fake ID (ironically just after his 21st birthday). The mugshot for that one is to the right. I guess sometimes the pressures of being a big time defense contractor are just too much.
Update: A number of stories have featured Diveroli's sadly out of date MySpace page. How a multi-million dollar contractor only has one friend I cannot understand.
For the curious, Radar was also able to get in touch with AEY's 25 year-old masseur VP (or someone claiming to be him, at least) through his MySpace page.
Comments (37)
Some good research on these guys going on in earlier threads.
Efraim recently registered Low, LLC with the State of Florida. I wonder what sort of business Low, LLC was going to be in?
Wild guess that Effraim is probably a dual Israeli-US national and probably spent some time in Israel doing his compulsory military service - and is probably familiar with munitions.
Do a Google search for "Ammoworks" and see just how involved these guys were. Apparently it wasn't only the Afghans who were upset with the quality of their products. The "low prices" seemed to go along with low quality.
March 28, 2008 11:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
Darn, Ammoworks web site shows 404 error. Parent site shows "Under Construction."
March 28, 2008 11:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
This has all the makings of a Hollywood movie..
If Tom Cruise was ten years younger, he could play the part, huh?
My biggest question... HOW DID IT ALL START?
If we ever get to dissect the story down to it's origins, the list of culpable accomplices might be astounding, if not surprising.
Seriously, who is this fella connected to?
Someone in high places played a role in landing those no-bid contracts, and there is no doubt a paper trail that will lead back to them.
But it may not be that difficult, it is probably as simple as digging up the one or two degrees of separation between this neophyte neocon and whoever the big shots were that set him up.
"Set him up"... there's a two edged term.
March 28, 2008 11:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
There's not much to go on Efraim's Myspace, but DP doesn't read like a typical neocon. His tastes in music, movies and reading are diverse and somewhat refined for a kid his age, so he doesn't come off as your run of the mill Bush administration uncultured dumbass.
Plus he watches the Daily Show.
March 28, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you kidding? The rednecks are just the people they pander to. They're not entirely unintelligent or uncultured people. They just have an incredibly cynical and predatory world view.
The real Machiavellian neocons are guys like Perle, who vacations at his French chalet when not warmongering in the US.
March 28, 2008 7:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
"This has all the makings of a Hollywood movie.."
Produced by Jack Abramoff of course.
March 28, 2008 7:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Packouz is logged into his Myspace right now!
I must say he has a pretty good taste in music and movies. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? This kid might as well have been my evil arms-dealing twin brother. Some pretty hot ladies too on his friends list.
Many connections to Israel on friends list too.
March 28, 2008 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is there any kind of Abramoff connection here? Seems like a logical question...
March 28, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry. Do a Google search for "Boz Kramer" (Director of Sales at Ammoworks) and you'll find plenty on various gun "enthusiast" bulletin boards, and the quality of the ammo.
Apparently Ammoworks was expecting a major shipment of Lithuanian ammo that they were all excited about. Some of the posts read like drug deals.
March 28, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
Good call mentioning the Lithuanian connection, because here's what I found on Aish Hatorah's Wikipedia page:
----
"Philosophically, Aish HaTorah follows the traditions of the Ashekenazi Lithuanian yeshivas, as compared to Hasidic Judaism."
----
Ten bucks says that Packouz was involved in shipping that Lithuanian ammunition to Ammoworks.
In addition, your guess that he has dual citizenship is likely correct, the Ashkenenazis have almost all put their roots in Israel since WWII.
March 28, 2008 12:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Strange. Any more on this Boz Kramer fellow? I grew up with a Boz Kramer in NY who went his own way in high school, a search for him on myspace leads to the profile of a 23 yr old guy living in Miami Beach... the scene of the crime!
I'm wondering if it's the same guy... it's not the most common name!
March 28, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Raw Story has an article about Ammoworks here.
March 28, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Cached copy of Ammoworks sales reps here.
March 28, 2008 12:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude! Where my ammo?
March 28, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Still, looks like Packouz is more involved than he's letting on. In a previous thread, I noted that he is the sole proprietor of a scrap metal importation business in Florida called "Intelliterran."
Now I'm not sure about the rules and regulations governing bringing Lithuanian bullets into the USA - but a "scrap metal" company might be good cover for that.
March 28, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can anybody translate Lithuanian? This youtube is of a phone call between Efraim Diveroli and Kosta Trebickes:
http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=b4MCOTQCm0g
March 28, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
dang,
thanks for the link. Amusing n'uff, if not so informative.
March 28, 2008 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Michael Diveroli's firm, World Wide Tactical has taken down the PDF file advertising 7 million pieces of NATO ammunition manufactured in 2003 according to STANAG specifications.
I kept the PDF file and took another look at the photos and drawings. According to one of the the drawings, the bottom of the cartridge is marked GGG XX which is supposed to be the manufacturer and year of manufacture.
GGG is a small Lithuanian arms manufacturer.
March 28, 2008 1:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ammoworks was selling GGG products, too. It looks like WW Tactical may have been selling GGG's 2003 ammo at a discounted price because GGG only earned the right to mark its ammo with the NATO interchangeability sign in 2005.
March 28, 2008 2:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man - this dood is SICK! He listed "Face Off" as one of his favorite movies????!!
Randy
Castor Troy: It's like looking in a mirror, only, not.
March 28, 2008 2:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude looks like a Jewish wiseguy!!!
March 28, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who fronted these guys? That's easy...
WE DID!!!
Every one of us who decided to vote those Dems and Reps into Congress who vote to give our money to other folks like these clowns, those clowns who have been throwing our money away in Iraq, those clowns who have talked Congress into allowing them to throw out any control over banking, those folks who can now fight wars forever without legal approval...
In short... all those folks who continually pay off the Democrats and Republicans who "We the People" vote into office...
Notice that the money continues to flow out more even after the corruption and mismanagement comes to light... should tell us just how much BOTH parties actually cares about this nation of ours.
So... GO TEAM! RAH RAH RAH! LET'S BEAT THOSE GUYS!
Sorry folks, this isn't just a game. Sometimwes both sides are evil... IMHO
March 28, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
I cant belive this kid did it alone. There must be some real adult who doesn't want publicity and is totally corrupt lurking in the background.
March 28, 2008 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
You have missed a huge section of this story.
Homeland Security, remember them?
With all of their powers, this pack of clowns could not even flag or find a twenty something punk in Florida that apparently was dealing huge amounts of arms worldwide.
He was dealing in huge amounts of arms and they did not even detect him. Yeah, I feel a lot safer.now.
How about we get all of their files on this case? Huh, huh, anyone up for let us prove these sobs are incompetent.
March 28, 2008 4:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
The dude is Jewish. They are looking for Muslims.
March 29, 2008 12:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
And importing ammo...
March 28, 2008 4:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
"The probe launched as a result of an audit by the Army's Procurement Fraud Branch"
Really? Did they do any other auditing in the last 5 years??? Like KBR?
The Times and DOJ should just hire all of you - excellent research!
March 28, 2008 6:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
regulararmyguy, I think you've missed the point...they weren't illegal arms smugglers. These kids were defense contractors hired for millions of US taxpayer dollars to provide weapons to the Afghan Army. It just turns out they were providing crap.
They actually won decent sized contracts from the Dept. of Defense.
That doesn't make me feel safer either.
March 28, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Didn't I read yesterday that this dude had a United States government defense contract worth $300 million? THAT is the "story" part of this story, yet tee-vee kay-bull news just keeps making it about the shoddy bullets and youthfulness of the creep doin the offendin. It's practically a "Britney Spears" story, the way they're airing it.
This is one of the Bush administration's defense contracts, paid for with your money. This guy. These shitty ole bullets. Right here.
March 28, 2008 10:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Q: "Seriously, who is this fella connected to?"
A: "Many connections to Israel on friends list."
Not that Israel has ever done anything nefarious in the realm of illegal international arms trading.
March 29, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
It looks the the defense industry got it's wish back in 2006, fewer "controls".
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=arms_dealers_to_the_world
March 29, 2008 7:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Please it's so freakin obvious that most of this $300 million ended up in Israel - these guys are sayanim or mossad - I find it absolutely amazing that we let this kind of stuff happen every day - take a look at the names of all the big frauds Enron, Tyco etc and look up the ethnicity/religion of the perpetrators !!!
Greed does not even begin to describe it.
March 29, 2008 7:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
And for those that think that this was just a financial crime remember Afghan troops are fighting alongside US troops and these bullets not working could cost US lives as well as others.
Here's my Nostredamus prediction - this guy will move to Israel since they refuse to extradite to the US - even for murder!!
March 29, 2008 8:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
take a look at the names of all the big frauds Enron, Tyco etc and look up the ethnicity/religion of the perpetrators
Oh, please, the most common theme of the corporate crooks is that they are white, straight, Republican and friends of Guiliani and huge Bush supporters, what?
Enron:
Ken Lay, white, Republican, Methodist
Jeff Skilling, white, Republican, religion??? but went to Southern Methodist University
Andrew Fastow, white, Republican, Jewish
Tyco guys, white, Republican, Jewish (one for sure, the other, who cares?)
Bernie Ebbers, white, Republican, Baptist
new addition, James Cayne, Bear Stearns, white, Republican, etc...
The trend I'm seeing has nothing to do with Israel...unless of course there is money to be made there bilking their people as well as people in the US.
March 30, 2008 12:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
When Blackwater rips off the American taxpayer, nobody chalks it up those damned Christian contractors--even though Eric Prince a high profile Christian.
Nobody ever singles out heterosexual contractors, white contractors, or male contractors, as dangerous or disreputable groups viz contracting--even though a straight white man seems to be behind almost every defense contracting scandal we hear about.
If there's a concrete link between Israel and the AEY procurement scandal, let's discuss it. There might well be. Efraim's uncle KB Botach is an Israeli national and an arms dealer.
But let's keep the focus on the specifics of this case.
March 30, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, to give the Pentagon the benefit of the doubt - maybe they thought they were buying 22 year old ammo from a 40 year old. /snark
March 30, 2008 4:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fastow, Koslowski, Swartz, Waksel, Milken, Belnick, to name a few ....I suspect greenspan and cramer will soon be on this list too :)
April 1, 2008 7:47 PM | Reply | Permalink