-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.newsmakingnews.com/ Click Here: <A HREF="http://www.newsmakingnews.com/">NewsMakingNews Secret Connections Covert Operat…</A> ----- THE PROMIS-LIKE PROFITS OF THE HARVARD ENDOWMENT by Catherine Austin Fitts © 2000 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.solari.com The Boston Globe's article of September 23, 2000 (Click to read) is an interesting follow up to NewsMakingNews' Harvard Series (Click to read the series). Here are seven points worth noting: 1. The article describes Harvard Endowment's above market performance of the last year, 32% for Harvard relative to 7.3% in the Standard & Poor 500. This is attributed to a 155% increase in private equity portfolio, which is 15% of the total. This is an astonishing performance for the private equity portfolio, particularly coming as it has from a sustained above market run from 1996 on. 2. When I was a partner at Dillon Read, Dick Bianco, my partner who ran Capital Markets, insisted the accountant for the trading groups sit in his office, providing him with a continuous feed of how we were doing. Whenever anyone would outperform the market within a 24 hour period, Dick would emerge and boom out his demand for an immediate explanation "Tell me, why am I so lucky?" 3. Now that the Harvard Endowment has outperformed the market, not for 24 hours, but for five years, the question remains unanswered "How is Harvard so lucky?" 4. In the two investments (NHP, Inc. and WMF, Inc.) in which I experienced the investment strategies of the private equity group, my impression was there were reasons for why they were so lucky that warrant a deeper look by the Harvard community. See my article, "The Money Lords of Harvard, How the Money Works at the World's Richest University" in NewsMakingNews. I quote, in particular, one sentence: "What was most surprising to me was how much money taxpayers and homeowners had to lose to satisfy the private housing industry's appetite for short term capital gains --- when alternative policies and business plans were available that could have ensured success for all concerned." In short, certain kinds of coordinated behavior by private investors results in a world where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and in a manner that destroys total social and economic wealth. This is why various forms of financial fraud, so hard for the public to discern, can exact a heavy toll on a society and economy. 5. My recent research on Harvard Endowment was inspired not by my own experiences with the Harvard private equity portfolio and its manipulation of government policy to serve its endowment profits, but by allegations by members of the media and intelligence community about: Harvard's private equity role in Harken Energy and Harken's role in promoting George W. Bush --- and in a number of Iran-Contra financial frauds. The role of Pug Winokur, a member of the board of the Endowment and the Harvard Corporation, and his investment company, Capricorn, in a defense contractor, DynCorp, involved with the management and development of PROMIS software. PROMIS provides access to world- wide banking and government data that is supposed to be subject to privacy laws. Allegations regarding the use of intelligence from the PROMIS system for insider trading and market manipulation are a bit like the gopher in the movie Caddy Shack ---- they just keep coming up. Capricorn does not disclose its investors, so it is uncertain whether Capricorn is a vehicle for Harvard's private equity portfolio. 6. Harvard Endowment dedicates a relatively small portion of its earnings to fund education. The majority of profits are reinvested and rolled over tax free. This retention policy means the Endowment's mission is not primarily education, but to serve as a multi-generational tax free private investment club. If the American people are going to offer substantial tax benefits to small private investment groups who invest, profit and reinvest for their own private benefit, the time has come that they been held to the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure standards applied to numerous investment vehicles. 7. The spectacular above market returns of Harvard Endowment since 1996 call for an analysis of how it is that Harvard is so lucky, and whether Harvard's luck benefits a wider community, or simply a few. One place to start is to (i) review who has been buying the private equity portfolio positions, (ii) examine how do their purchase prices compare to market valuations and (iii) look at the impact of government policies on the valuations. For those not familiar with the use of above-market purchases at the top of a bull market, see Pete Brewton's book on the S&L fraud in Texas, "The Mafia, CIA and George Bush." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HARVARD ENDOWMENT ZOOMS A THIRD TO $19.2B Author: By David Abel, Boston Globe Correspondent. Date: 09/23/2000 Page: F1 Section: Business. Patrick Healy of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Harvard, already the world's richest university by far, last year added significantly to its fantastic wealth: The school's endowment jumped nearly a third, to $19.2 billion from $14.4 billion. That's larger than the annual budgets of 142 countries, including Cuba, Jordan, and Lithuania. The $4.8 billion dollar increase alone is larger than the total endowments reported last year by some of the nation's other top universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($4.3 billion), Columbia University ($3.6 billion), and Dartmouth College ($1.7 billion). Many institutions expect to see a significant increase in their endowments this year, but Harvard's will likely extend its financial lead over other top universities. What does such a significant increase mean for Harvard's 18,000 students and 2,000 faculty members? "I don't think this should signal any kind of sea change," said Joe Wrinn, a Harvard spokesman. "A university has to think long term and about the cyclical nature of the economy. We don't know what our future needs will be. But we're very appreciative of what the management company has accomplished." The 32 percent return on the university's more than 8,600 investments was higher than in any other year since 1983. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.3 percent over the same period. The principal reason for the jump was a 155 percent return in private equity investments, which includes venture capital. Harvard is one of the few colleges that has enough money to invest in such accounts, which are considered speculative. Still, those investments represent only 15 percent of Harvard's portfolio. "We've always maintained a well-diversified portfolio," said Jack R. Meyer, president of Harvard Management Co., which oversees the endowment. "We're happy about where it is, and we'll be happy if venture capital does well again. But we're not planning any changes." Most schools have yet to report their endowment returns. Last year, 34 colleges reported endowments above the billion-dollar mark, and the average rate of return was 11 percent. The highest return was about 29 percent, according to an annual study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. "Obviously Harvard has done extremely well," said Damon Manetta, a spokesman for the association. "That's probably an indication of how the rest of the institutions are doing." The real question now for Harvard deans is what percentage of the endowment they will devote to the university's operating budget. Traditionally, the average spending rate for colleges is about 5.5 percent. Harvard, which provides generous amounts of financial aid but now costs students an estimated $33,110 per year, devotes 4 percent to 5 percent of its endowment to its operating budget. "The critical question for Harvard is what are its priorities," said Gordon Winston, an economics professor at Williams College and director of the school's Project on the Economics of Higher Education. "If they use it to significantly increase access to a superb education like Harvard, that's not faulting them. But it's also questionable whether children of the wealthy should get a Harvard education for nothing." Harvard's endowment comes from donations as well as investment income. In December 1999, the university ended a seven-year capital campaign that set a record in higher education philanthropy by raising $2.6 billion. In total through fiscal 2000, the endowment surpassed investment benchmarks in almost every account. Returns failed to beat benchmarks only in emerging markets investments and inflation-indexed bonds. Last fiscal year's increase more than doubled the previous year's 12.2 percent return and is higher than the 23 percent average return between 1996 and 1999. For now, Harvard officials say they don't expect their success to change next year's investment strategy. "The lesson, I would say, is that it's possible to earn substantial returns while still maintaining a pretty diversified portfolio," Meyer said. ARMS TRAFFIC TO COLUMBIA WORRYING COSTA RICAN OFFICIALS. By Tim Rogers© Tico Times Staff 9/22/00 While the U.S. "War on Drugs" continues to draw extensive media coverage throughout the Americas, here in Costa Rica, cocaine is not the only lucrative contraband being smuggled across the borders. In the last two weeks, Panamanian officials have discovered two large illegal weapons shipments that reportedly originated in Nicaragua and passed through Costa Rica before being confiscated en route to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Totaling more than 3,000 lbs. of military explosives, 300 AK-47 assault rifles, 318 grenade launchers, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition, the Cold War relics are reported to have passed from Nicaragua to Panama hidden in vegetable trucks — a fact that is worrying Costa Rican officials. According to a report in the daily La Nación, Minister of Public Security Rogelio Ramos met with members of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) last Thursday to ask for help in curbing the illegal flow of weapons through Costa Rica. "We agreed to share all of our proposals with the U.S. to see how they can help us combat the problem [of weapons trafficking]," Ramos told La Nación. According to Ramos, the U.S. government shares an interest in combating arms traffic and will most likely supply the aid Costa Rica needs to fight the flow of contraband. However, when asked by The Tico Times about the meeting with Ramos, the DEA denied that it ever took place. "Sometimes the local press gets confused about what functions are attributed to different agencies within the U.S. government," Vance Stacy, Country Attaché of the DEA in Costa Rica, told The Tico Times. "The DEA sometimes gets credited [in the press] with doing everything." Stacy went on to clarify that the DEA’s mission in Costa Rica is to work closely with the government to advise, train, and mentor law enforcement agents in combating the trafficking of narcotics across national territory. Through the use of wiretapping, controlling the export of precursor chemicals (legal substances used to process cocaine and other illicit drugs), controlling border checkpoints, monitoring overland transportation routs, and initiating drug prevention programs, the 27-year-old relationship between the DEA and the Costa Rican government has been both positive and successful, according to Stacy. Regardless of which agency of the U.S. government Ramos actually approached for help, arms trafficking through Costa Rica is becoming an issue of serious concern to the government. In response to the recent discoveries of weapons caches in Panama, Ramos met early this week with the director of the Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), representatives from the Attorney General’s office, and members of the Department of Intelligence and Security (DIS) to come up with ways to combat illegal arms-trafficking. The functionaries discussed ways to tighten border controls and increase efforts to monitor the Inter-American Highway for weapons shipments. According to an investigative report last July by La Nación, an AK-47 assault rifle from Nicaragua can be sold for $50 to $100 in Costa Rica, resold for $300 to $700 in Panama, then sold again for $2,000 to the FARC in Colombia. However, not all the weapons smuggled south may be Cold War relics originating in Nicaragua and El Salvador. Although Costa Rica was not directly involved in the wars in Nicaragua and El Salvador, a 1981 investigation headed by the Legislative Assembly found that several high-ranking government officials were involved in large-scale clandestine weapons trafficking from Cuba to Costa Rica during the late 1970s and early 1980s. In response to a threat of invasion in 1979 by the forces of Anastasio Somoza, then-dictator of Nicaragua, Costa Rica scrambled to borrow weapons from Venezuela and Panama. However, in addition to the weapons on loan from the two "friendly" countries, it was later discovered that Costa Rican President Rodrigo Carazo and former Minister of Security Juan José Echeverría had masterminded a clandestine air bridge operation which supplied tons of Cuban war material to both the Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua and to Costa Rican security forces. According to testimony given by Guillermo Martí, the former security official responsible for receiving the secret arms shipments in Costa Rica, more than 300,000 lbs. of weapons were siphoned off by ranking members of Costa Rica’s security forces during the operation (TT, Jan. 30, 1981). While many of the weapons borrowed from Panama and Venezuela were returned to the respective countries after the threat of invasion passed, an unknown number of weapons trafficked from Cuba are thought to remain in secret caches in the north of Costa Rica. Although the government officials involved in the arms shipments claimed that all the weapons that arrived from Cuba were inventoried and accounted for, official reports suggested otherwise. According to a 1981 audit compiled by the office of the Comptroller General, 2,018 weapons were missing from the nation’s public security arsenals at the beginning of that year (TT, Feb. 6, 1981). Meanwhile, Colombian Police officials have alleged that a number of the arms that are now being smuggled to the FARC are originating in Costa Rica. Ramos was unavailable for comment this week. NEW BOOK EXPOSES SECRETS OF IRAN-CONTRA by Uri Dowbenko "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider" by Lt.Cmdr. Alexander S. Martin (US Navy, Ret.) Available at Al Martin Raw ( http://www.almartinraw.com) According to this new book, Iran-Contra never ended. Government-sanctioned narcotics trafficking, wholesale fraud and illicit weapons deals are still part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. The high-level perps were never indicted. Meanwhile hundreds of witnesses and hapless participants have been liquidated. Whistleblower Lt. Cmdr. Al Martin (US Navy, Ret.) has written a powerful expose of the hidden history of America from the 1980s, through the 1990s and into the present day. He reveals details of wholesale corruption and unimaginable financial fraud foisted on US taxpayers. The book's premise is simple. Organized crime (actually a white-collar crime syndicate comprised of government bureaucrats, military officers, intelligence officers and con men or "beltway bandits") has taken over the US Government. Al Martin has first hand knowledge of the dirty deals, high-level scams, frauds, and treasonous activities of the Shadow Government. And he's definitely the man who knows too much. He has even testified before Congressional Committees chaired by Senator Kerry and Rep. Alexander. Al Martin's new electronic book-manuscript, "The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran Contra Insider," is a true crime story that's too been too hot for prime time. (It's only available on the internet.) Al Martin's book includes his own eye-witness accounts of government drug trafficking, illegal weapons deals, and a veritable epidemic of fraud -- securities fraud, real estate fraud, and insurance fraud by high level government perps. Because of what he's seen, Al Marton has recently been in hiding. He's a whistle- blower targeted by these very same bureaucrat-perps. To date, their criminal-government schemes have cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars. How did it start? When George Bush, Bill Casey and Oliver North initiated their plan of fraud and drug smuggling, they envisioned using 500 men to raise $35 billion. When Iran Contra finally fell apart, they ended up using 5,000 operatives and making $350 billion in illegal secret operations. And who is Al Martin? After he retired as a Lt. Commander from the US Naval Reserves, Al Martin's life went into the fast lane as a black ops specialist. At a meeting with General Richard V. Secord and Lawrence Richard Hamil, the US Government's own con man, Martin was briefed about Iran Contra operations and allowed to view CIA white papers on "Operation Black Eagle," code name for the illegal George Bush/Bill Casey/Oliver North program of government-sanctioned narcotics trafficking, illicit weapons deals and wholesale fraud. Now Al Martin tells the facts that have been ignored or covered-up for over 15 years. There are many detailed descriptions of ongoing fraud committed by the Bush family, specifically George Bush Sr., George Bush, Jr., Neil Bush and Jeb Bush. These include the Trinity Gas and Oil Fraud, the Tri-Lateral Investment Fraud, the Harken Energy Fraud, as well as major high-yielding real estate, insurance and bank frauds in Florida, Colorado and Texas. Al Martin names names, dates and events, which no one has ever dared write or publish before. Here are some of the chapter titles: * Confidential File: Alexander S. Martin * The National Programs Office (NPO) and Operation Sledgehammer * Oliver North: The Money Laundering Drug Smuggling "Patriot" * "Do Nothing" Janet Reno and Iran-Contra Suppression * Classified Illegal Operations: Cordoba Harbor and Screw Worm * The Don Austin HUD Fraud Case * Insider Stock Swindles for "The Cause" * Lawrence Richard Hamil: The US Government's Con Man. * US Government Narcotics Smuggling & Illicit Weapons Sales. * The Chinese Connection: US Weapons & High Tech Graft. * The Real Story of Operation Watchtower * KGB & East German Intel Activities in the US (1985-87) * Bush Family Corporate, Real Estate, and Bank Frauds Author Al Martin is an accomplished businessman, as well as one of the last remaining insiders of "Iran-Contra." Here are some of the explosive information you'll learn -- 1. What's the real story behind Oliver North and the National Programs Office? 2. Why was Iran Contra profiteering so popular with govt insiders? 3. What does George Bush say is the "greatest reliever of stress"? 4. What were the best real estate scams and frauds of the Iran Contra era? 5. What's in the future for government sanctioned fraud in America? "The Conspirators" by Al Martin is highly recommended reading for anyone interested in the secret history of the United States. (C) 2000, Uri Dowbenko. All Rights Reserved. Uri Dowbenko can be reached by email at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Omnia Bona Bonis, Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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