Probe of alleged extortion targets son of African leader
WASHINGTON -- Equatorial Guinea is a long way from Malibu — but a sprawling $30 million California estate is among a collection of jewels that is the focus of an investigation into an alleged extortion and money-laundering operation that has siphoned hundreds of millions from the West African nation.
At the center of the long-running scheme is the son of Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mbasogo, who U.S. prosecutors say has skimmed a fortune from the country's vast oil, gas and timber industries to bankroll a life of spectacular excess.
Tens of millions of dollars, according to federal court documents, financed the Malibu mansion where young Teodoro Nquema Obiang Manque lived while attending Pepperdine University— when he wasn't in residence at the exclusive Beverly Wilshire Hotel.
Although Obiang has been the subject of a federal criminal investigation, he has not been charged with crimes in the U.S. Prosecutors, however, have filed a civil action to seize some of the minister's most prized possessions: the mansion, a $38.5 million Gulfstream jet, part of a $3.2 million Michael Jackson memorabilia collection (including crystal-covered socks once worn by the pop star) and a 2011 Ferrari.
Since his 1998 appointment as forestry minister, Obiang used his title to amass much of his fortune, prosecutors say. He allegedly directed oil, gas and timber revenue directly into his personal bank accounts, while benefiting from the largess of corporations pursuing the government's business.
The $70.8 million in proposed seizures is the centerpiece of a Justice Department effort, known as the Kleptocracy Initiative, that began early this year and is aimed at seizing the U.S.-acquired proceeds of suspected corrupt world leaders.
"This case — and cases like it — represents the government's commitment to hold these officials to account,'' said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. "This is a very just and righteous course. … The United States will not be a hiding place for the ill-gotten riches of the world's corrupt leaders."
Breuer declined to comment on the criminal investigation.
The Equatorial Guinea Embassy in Washington said no one was available to comment on the matter.
The Justice Department action comes nearly seven years after substantial corruption allegations against the Equatorial Guinea government were highlighted by a Senate committee.
The 2004 Senate report cited Riggs Bank, which handled government deposits ranging from $400 million to $700 million, with "turning a blind eye'' to evidence suggesting that the bank was handling proceeds of foreign corruption.
The report said the bank (which merged with PNC Bank in 2005) allowed "numerous suspicious transactions to take place without notifying law enforcement.''
Riggs later acknowledged it failed to report the suspicious transactions and others involving former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who died in 2006.
Cash from the Equatorial Guinea account at Riggs, according to the new court documents, was drawn in massive amounts in 2001 to buy two Bentley automobiles from a Beverly Hills dealership and a $6.5 million home in nearby Bel Air.
Robert Palmer, an investigator for the human rights group Global Witness, which has closely tracked Obiang's activities, said the U.S. action will likely "send a strong message throughout the world that this kind of political corruption will not be accepted.''
Robert Williams, a professor of political science at Pepperdine who has written about the corruption in the West African nation, said the legal action effectively blocks Obiang from access to a favorite playground and may limit his travels in Europe, where friendly governments could seize his jet on behalf of the U.S. government.
On Pepperdine's picturesque campus, Obiang's lifestyle remains a profile in excess in which his preferred method of travel to English class was by limousine.
"He was clearly living at a different level,'' Williams said.
