Leo Wanta

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Leo Emil Wanta, born 1940, is an American businessman who claims^{[citation needed]} to be the Reagan-appointed trustee of potentially trillions of dollars, the result of an arbitrage scheme to sink the Soviet economy.^{[citation needed]} The numbers claimed exceed the GDP of the Soviet economy at the time,^{[citation needed]} and the Soviet Ruble was a non-convertible currency.^{[citation needed]} He was president of AmeriChina Global Management Group Inc.,^{[citation needed]} an arms exporting firm based in Appleton, Wisconsin.^{[citation needed]} In 1988, he attempted to sell thousands of Browning 9mm pistols to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.^[1]

Wanta was arrested in Switzerland in 1993 for attempting to defraud a bank of 81 million dollars. He claimed to have diplomatic immunity as the ambassador of Somalia (which, at that time, had no functioning internationally-recognized government) to Canada^[2]. He was deported to New York and then Wisconsin, on unrelated tax charges.^{[citation needed]} In 1995, Wanta was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to an eight-year prison term in the State of Wisconsin.^[2] Wanta's lawyer claimed that his client was delusional,^{[citation needed]} and really believed to be a secret agent of international central bankers, being disappeared at the behest of powerful figures.

In his book Tragedy of Russia's Reforms (USIP, 2001), Peter Reddaway states Wanta had some dealings with the government of President Boris Yeltsin. Reddaway also states in his book that Wanta was wanted for credit-card fraud by U.S. authorities.^[3]

However, the following arguments have been put forward by Christopher Story, a former adviser to British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and one of Mr. Wanta's main supporters:

• Leo Wanta's illegal incarceration was commuted to house arrest and Mr Wanta was confined for many years in Wisconsin (not, as stated, in Switzerland). Although his confinement was illegal,^{[citation needed]} he nevertheless adhered meticulously to its terms,^{[citation needed]} in accordance with his ethical standards and reverence for the Rule of Law (notwithstanding that his treatment was always illegal).

• Suggestions that Mr Wanta committed offences are completely inaccurate and without foundation. Everything he has done has been in accordance with his Presidential, Secret Service and other US official instructions.^{[citation needed]} A comprehensive dossier revealing how the State of Wisconsin may have scammed Wanta,^{[citation needed]} allegedly stealing both the payments that he managed to raise to pay illegally charged taxes that he did not owe, and how his assets were allegedly stolen as well, is in preparation.^{[citation needed]}

• In July 2005, all illegally re-charged fines and imposts applied by Wisconsin were paid in full by a benefactor.^{[citation needed]} As a direct consequence of this development, Mr Wanta satisfied the State's illegally imposed demands, and with effect from 14th November 2005, he was unconditionally discharged from Parole on the orders of a judge.^{[citation needed]} The funds remitted to secure his release have, according to US legal sources, also been scammed, because – unsurprisingly – the State authorities, having allegedly misappropriated the earlier funds, found themselves in a very difficult situation, with reference to which column, so to speak, the illegally imposed further charges were to be booked. This and related matters are under close continuing scrutiny. However the benefactor’s payment procured Mr Wanta’s full discharge from his illegal house arrest and probation.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Notes

^ Gedda, George. "Proposed Gun Deal Exposed by Panamanian Officer", Associated Press, April 9, 1988.
^ ^a ^b "'Delusional' Con Man Gets Eight-Year Term", The Capital Times, November 21st, 1995.
^ Reddaway, Peter; Glinski, Dmitri (2001). Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, 276. ISBN 1929223064.

[edit] References

Christopher Story Worldreports.org

Thieves' World- The Threat of the New Global Network of Organized Crime by Claire Sterling, Simon & Shuster, N.Y., N.Y., 1994. "The fact that scarecely anyone outside Russia has heard of the Great Ruble Scam may be explained partly by its seemingly unbelievable details, but partly, too, by Western reluctance to touch exquisitely sensitive political nerves." (Page 177.)
Conspiracy Encyclopedia: The Encyclopedia of Conspiracy Theories (Paperback) by Thom Burnett, copyright 2005. References to Leo Wanta: pp 160 and 173