Thread by @ElizabethleaVos

Long Before #Epstein: Sex Traffickers & Spy Agencies

The unsavory history of intelligence agencies providing protection to child sex-trafficking rings.

consortiumnews.com/2019/08/23/lon…

The full memo penned by Special Agent Ramon Martinez on the Finders group can be found here: web.archive.org/web/2019030209…

Several cases in the unsavory history linking intelligence agencies and sex scandals put the allegations against #Epstein in context. Among these was the U.K. #Kincora Boy’s Home, where at least 29 boys were reported to have been targeted from the mid 50s to the late 70s.

Former Labour Party MP Ken Livingstone said: "#MI5 weren't just aware of child abuse at #Kincora Boys' Home – they were monitoring it. They were getting pictures of a judge in one case, politicians, a lot of the Establishment of Northern Ireland going in and abusing these boys."

Three staff were eventually convicted of sexually abusing minors, which included the housemaster William McGrath, a loyalist “Orangeman” and allegedly an MI5 agent, according to the Belfast Telegraph in July 2014.

archive.is/zT8rx#selectio…

Although the U.K.’s Historical Institutional Abuse inquiry ultimately found “no credible evidence” to support the allegations, two former U.K. intelligence officers maintained their claim of #MI5’s involvement: Brian Gemmell and Colin Wallace.

Gemmell says he alerted MI5 to the abuse at #Kincora and was told to stop his investigation. Wallace consistently claimed that MI5, RUC special branch & military intelligence knew about the abuse at Kincora and used it to blackmail the pedophile ring to spy on hardline loyalists.

In the US, the New York State Select Committee On Crime in 1982 investigated nationwide networks of trafficking underage sex workers and the production/sale of child pornography.

web.archive.org/web/2019022521…

Dale Smith, a committee investigator, noted that call services using minors also profited from “sidelines,” besides the income from peddling prostitution. Smith said they sold information “on the sexual proclivities of the clients to agents of foreign intelligence.”

Presumably, this information could be used to blackmail those in positions of power. Smith added that one call service sold information to “British and Israeli intelligence.”

web.archive.org/web/2019022521…

Another UK scandal included allegations that Sir Peter Hayman, a British diplomat and deputy director of #MI6, was a member of the Pedophile Information Exchange (PIE).

Police discovered that two of the roughly dozen pedophiles in his circle had been writing to each other about their interest in “the extreme sexual torture and murder of children,” according to the The Daily Mail.

archive.is/hqfyy#selectio…

In 2015, @guardian reported that #MargaretThatcher had been “adamant that officials should not publicly name” #PeterHayman, “even after she had been fully briefed on his activities….formerly secret papers released to the National Archives shows.”

archive.is/oLvcs

@guardian Hayman was nonetheless unmasked as a subscriber to PIE in 1981 by M.P. Geoffrey Dickens, who also reportedly raised the national security risk of Hayman’s proclivities, implying they were a potential source of blackmail sought by intelligence agencies.

archive.is/hqfyy#selectio…

@guardian Hayman was never charged for his association with PIE: The U.K. attorney general at the time, Sir Michael Havers, defended the decision and denied claims that Hayman was given special treatment.

@guardian Hayman was not the only establishment figure allegedly linked with PIE. Labour Party MP Barbara Castle allegedly gave a dossier she compiled on pedophiles in positions of power to U.K. journalist Don Hale in 1984, in part due to concern re: the political clout PIE was gathering.

@guardian Source for above screenshot: archive.is/4Huoc#selectio…

@guardian Hale alleged that soon after being given the dossier, police from the “Special Branch, the division responsible for matters of national security,” raided his office and removed the Castle dossier.

archive.is/4Huoc

@guardian Hale contends that the police then threatened him with a “D-notice,” which prevented him from publishing the story based on Castle's dossier on the threat of up to 10 years in prison.

@guardian Another group accused of trafficking children, which had links to intelligence agencies, was the “#Finders” cult. In 1987, @washingtonpost reported that two members were arrested in connection with the alleged abuse of six children

archive.is/GT8QX

@guardian @washingtonpost A Customs memo written by special agent Ramon Martinez refers to files “relating to the activities of the organization in different parts of the world, including “London, Germany, the Bahamas, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Africa, Costa Rica, and Europe.”

web.archive.org/web/2019030209…

@guardian @washingtonpost Martinez’s memo notes multiple #Finders’ telexes including the ordered purchase of two children in Hong Kong, interest in “bank secrecy situations,” high-tech transfers to the U.K., the group’s interest in terrorism, explosives, and the evasion of law enforcement.

@guardian @washingtonpost Martinez describes the swift end to his investigation: he was told that all the data was turned over to the State Department which, in turn, advised that “all travel and use of passports by the holders was within the law and no action would be taken."

@guardian @washingtonpost He was told then informed that the investigation into the #Finders had become a #CIA internal matter. The MPD report was "classified, not available for review” and "no further action" would be taken.

web.archive.org/web/2019030209…

@guardian @washingtonpost Martinez was not the only one left with unanswered questions. The U.S. News & World Report wrote that N. Carolina Rep. Charlie Rose (Dem.), chair of the House Administration Committee, and Florida’s Rep. Tom Lewis (Rep.) asked:

archive.is/HsKJq/f489e78e…

@guardian @washingtonpost "Could our own government have something to do with this #Finders organization and turned their backs on these children? That’s what the evidence points to...I can tell you that we’ve got a lot of people scrambling, and that wouldn’t be happening if there was nothing here."

@guardian @washingtonpost The leniency shown by the State Department and the fact that the #CIA would designate the investigation of the #Finders group as “an internal matter” raises serious questions. What motive might have driven the CIA to associate with or protect a child abuse ring?

@guardian @washingtonpost This despite the fact that passports had been issued to locations including Moscow, North Korea, and North Vietnam from the late 50's to the mid 70's.

web.archive.org/web/2019030209…