Most Wanted Arms Trafficker Arrested in Thailand – on World-Check Since

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Most Wanted Arms Trafficker Arrested in Thailand – on World-Check Since

Release: Immediate World-Check Users warned of Suspected Arms Dealer Eight Years Ahead of his Arrest LONDON, 13 March, 2008: World-Check, the leading global provider of structured risk intelligence, is proud to announce that its researchers profiled Viktor Bout, suspected arms trafficker recently arrested in Thailand, as far back as 2000. World- Check has once again warned clients of the risks of doing business with an individual whose assets have also been frozen by various sanctions agencies. If convicted, Bout could face 10 years in prison on the Thai charge, and 15 years in the U.S., which is seeking Bout's extradition. On the 6th of March 2008 Bout was arrested by Thai officials in Bangkok on the suspicion of supplying weapons to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and of supplying huge arms shipments into Africa’s civil wars with his own private air fleet. Bout has reportedly built a network of air cargo companies with at least sixty aircraft in the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and the United States. He is also alleged to have supported the former president of Liberia, Charles Taylor’s regime in an effort to destabilize Sierra Leone and gain illicit access to diamonds. Bout has in the past been linked to various African leaders such as Jonas Savimbi (deceased), Mobutu Seko (deceased), and Mohammar Gadhafi among others. He also allegedly holds five passports, including two Russian and one Ukrainian. In December 2004 reports emerged of Bout’s business involvement in a Texas based charter firm that made repeated flights into Iraq, via a Pentagon contract allowing it to refuel at US military bases. It is alleged that these flights were made in connection with Kellogg Brown Root, the division of Haliburton hired to rebuild Iraq’s oilfields. “Significantly, Viktor Bout’s numerous aliases, known business interests, associates, and family members have been added to his profile on World-Check over the past eight years” said David Leppan, founder and CEO of World-Check. “Our unique visual relationship mapping tool enables institutions to trace the not-so-obvious secondary and tertiary relationships between primary heightened-risk individuals and their associates, financial vehicles and family members, making this the ultimate early warning system against reputation, regulatory and financial risk”. ABOUT WORLD-CHECK World-Check provides its global database of heightened-risk individuals and businesses to more than 2500 institutions, including 47 of the world’s 50 largest financial institutions and hundreds of government agencies. The database is updated daily in real-time by World-Check’s international research team, and is derived from hundreds of thousands of public sources. Coverage includes Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs), money launderers, fraudsters, terrorists and sanctioned entities - plus individuals and businesses from over a dozen other high-risk categories. World- Check's database and tools find direct application in financial compliance, anti-money laundering (AML), Know-Your-Customer (KYC), PEP screening, enhanced due diligence (EDD), fraud prevention, government intelligence and other identity authentication, background screening and risk-prevention practices. .

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