*The FBI setup comes just before next weeks election and is part of a disinformation campaign against Venezuela.*
Cort Published: Saturday, September 18, 2010 Bylined to: Agence France-Presse <[email protected]> Published: Saturday, September 18, 2010 Bylined to: Agence France-Presse <[email protected]> Couple charged with attempting to sell nuclear weapons secrets to Venezuela - *Revelations may hurt relations between US and leftist regime* *Agence France-Presse:* A US scientist and his wife who worked at the leading nuclear research site were arrested Friday and charged with trying to sell secrets to help Venezuela start a nuclear weapons program, US officials said. The pair, US citizens, "have been indicted on charges of communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official and conspiring to participate in the development of an atomic weapon for Venezuela," the US Justice Department said in a statement. *The defendants, Pedro Mascheroni, 75, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, had both worked as contractors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the south-western state of New Mexico, and could face life in prison if convicted.* They had sought $793,000 in payment for the restricted and classified data which they believed they had provided to a Venezuelan contact, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The Justice Department was quick to acknowledge that the indictment does not allege any wrongdoing by the Venezuelan government or anyone acting on its behalf. But the revelations could still sharpen relations between the United States and Venezuela, whose firebrand leftist President Hugo Chavez is a vocal critic of Washington. The department revealed a series of startling details about the couple's plans to pass the nuclear secrets to Venezuela, beginning in March 2008 when the husband had conversations with the undercover agent. During the talks, Pedro Mascheroni "allegedly said he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that, under his program, Venezuela would use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium, and an open, above-ground reactor to produce nuclear energy," according to the Justice Department. *Pedro Mascheroni is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos from 1979 to 1988, while his wife worked there between 1981 and this year, the Justice Department said.* In July 2008, the undercover agent gave Mascheroni 12 questions purportedly from Venezuelan military officers and scientists, and months later Mascheroni delivered at the post office box being used as a dead drop location a disk with a 132-page document on it laying out his plan for a nuclear weapons development program. *Nearly one year later Mascheroni received another list of questions from the "Venezuelan officials" and $20,000 in cash as a first payment.* "On his way to pick up these materials, he allegedly told his wife he was doing this work for the money and was not an American any more," the indictment said. *One month later Mascheroni took a disk to the dead drop location that contained a 39-page document answering the questions -- and allegedly included "Restricted Data" related to nuclear weapons.* http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Couple+charged+ with+attempting+sell+arms+secrets+Venezuela/3543330/story.html - *Revelations may hurt relations between US and leftist regime* *Agence France-Presse:* A US scientist and his wife who worked at the leading nuclear research site were arrested Friday and charged with trying to sell secrets to help Venezuela start a nuclear weapons program, US officials said. The pair, US citizens, "have been indicted on charges of communicating classified nuclear weapons data to a person they believed to be a Venezuelan government official and conspiring to participate in the development of an atomic weapon for Venezuela," the US Justice Department said in a statement. *The defendants, Pedro Mascheroni, 75, and Marjorie Roxby Mascheroni, 67, had both worked as contractors at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the south-western state of New Mexico, and could face life in prison if convicted.* They had sought $793,000 in payment for the restricted and classified data which they believed they had provided to a Venezuelan contact, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent. The Justice Department was quick to acknowledge that the indictment does not allege any wrongdoing by the Venezuelan government or anyone acting on its behalf. But the revelations could still sharpen relations between the United States and Venezuela, whose firebrand leftist President Hugo Chavez is a vocal critic of Washington. The department revealed a series of startling details about the couple's plans to pass the nuclear secrets to Venezuela, beginning in March 2008 when the husband had conversations with the undercover agent. During the talks, Pedro Mascheroni "allegedly said he could help Venezuela develop a nuclear bomb within 10 years and that, under his program, Venezuela would use a secret, underground nuclear reactor to produce and enrich plutonium, and an open, above-ground reactor to produce nuclear energy," according to the Justice Department. *Pedro Mascheroni is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos from 1979 to 1988, while his wife worked there between 1981 and this year, the Justice Department said.* In July 2008, the undercover agent gave Mascheroni 12 questions purportedly from Venezuelan military officers and scientists, and months later Mascheroni delivered at the post office box being used as a dead drop location a disk with a 132-page document on it laying out his plan for a nuclear weapons development program. *Nearly one year later Mascheroni received another list of questions from the "Venezuelan officials" and $20,000 in cash as a first payment.* "On his way to pick up these materials, he allegedly told his wife he was doing this work for the money and was not an American any more," the indictment said. *One month later Mascheroni took a disk to the dead drop location that contained a 39-page document answering the questions -- and allegedly included "Restricted Data" related to nuclear weapons.* http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Couple+charged+ with+attempting+sell+arms+secrets+Venezuela/3543330/story.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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