Leo Wanta

Leo Emil Wanta, born 1940, is an American businessman who claimsFact|date=May 2008 to be the Reagan-appointed trustee of potentially trillions of dollars, the result of an arbitrage scheme to sink the Soviet economy.Fact|date=May 2008 The numbers claimed exceed the GDP of the Soviet economy at the time,Fact|date=May 2008 and the Soviet Ruble was a non-convertible currency.Fact|date=May 2008 He was president of AmeriChina Global Management Group Inc.,Fact|date=May 2008 an arms exporting firm based in Appleton, Wisconsin.Fact|date=May 2008 In 1988, he attempted to sell thousands of Browning 9mm pistols to Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.cite news
title=Proposed Gun Deal Exposed by Panamanian Officer
author=Gedda, George
date=April 9, 1988
work=Associated Press]

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 Canadacite news
title='Delusional' Con Man Gets Eight-Year Term
date=November 21st, 1995
work=The Capital Times] . He was deported to New York and then Wisconsin, on unrelated tax charges.Fact|date=May 2008 In 1995, Wanta was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to an eight-year prison term in the State of Wisconsin. Wanta's lawyer claimed that his client was delusional,Fact|date=May 2008 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.cite book | last = Reddaway | first = Peter | coauthors = Glinski, Dmitri | title = Tragedy of Russia's Reforms: Market Bolshevism Against Democracy | publisher = United States Institute of Peace Press | date= 2001 | location = Washington, D.C. | pages = 276 | id = ISBN 1929223064]

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,Fact|date=May 2008 he nevertheless adhered meticulously to its terms,Fact|date=May 2008 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.Fact|date=May 2008 A comprehensive dossier revealing how the State of Wisconsin may have scammed Wanta,Fact|date=May 2008 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.Fact|date=May 2008

• In July 2005, all illegally re-charged fines and imposts applied by Wisconsin were paid in full by a benefactor.Fact|date=May 2008 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.Fact|date=May 2008 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.Fact|date=May 2008

* "'CONTROVERSY

Much of the information on this page is blatant misrepresentation and highly inaccurate. It appears as purposeful misrepresentation by an interested party. Some information is very accurate but improperly supported. Court documents accessable to the general public are one record of some of what has gone on. Imprisonment in Switzerland for 128 days, solitary confinement and torture, are claimed by Wanta and not refuted. Claims on the internet of many trillions of dollars are obviously false. However, enough verifiable information exists to indicate extremely large amounts of money are "in question" and being sought by powerful public figures in the U.S. What is most likely is that the facts in this fascinating part of Cold War history may never be known.

Any examination of Wanta should include filings by his attorney, Jan Morton Heger."'

Notes

References

*Christopher Story [http://www.worldreports.org 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

Further reading

* [http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/9/17/203006.shtml What Is the Truth About Leo Wanta?] , by Geoff Metcalf, "NewsMax.com", September 18, 2006.
* [http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?noframes;read=97439 Wanta Fund Story About to Explode 1-1-2007]
* [http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/07/342899.shtml Federal Reserve Board Impedes The Wanta Plan, Fed Wants 1929 style crash for its masters] , "Portland Independent Media Center", July 21, 2006.