There are two sides to every story... Here is the view of someone involved....
www dot ar15 dot com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=150&t=989222
quote:
I would like to take just a few moments to thank everyone for their support here on AR15.com as well as offline. I am one of the 22 arrested just prior to Shot Show in the FBI sting.
Due to the ongoing nature of everything please understand if we cannot be specific about anything at this point nor answer detailed questions about the case.
The TRUTH about what happened.
The FBI employed a former 17 year Armor Holdings employee and company Vice President named Richard Bistrong (you can read about him here) to inject himself into the industry, become a PAID CONSULTANT FOR many companies (yes, he was their employee then at this point in many cases) and continue this pattern over approximately 2 years. He had been apparently caught and just plead guilty in the past day to providing $4.4 million in bribes over 5-6 years to foreign government officials. His ex-wife is Ambassador Nancy Soderberg and while it appears she was doing her thing in our government and with the UN, he had been working behind the scenes in the UN bribing people and doing his illegal contracting.
After getting busted and working his deal with DOJ and FBI, Mr. Bistrong was released to establish himself as a valued consultant and was introduced around the industry over and over, meeting new people along the way. The truth is he had been fired from Armor Holdings yet during all of the due diligence process every defense export industry company does prior to working with a new entity, even though Armor Holdings and the USG obviously knew he was tainted, they did nothing to put him on any of the Denied Persons or Debarred Persons lists which would have immediately alerted industry to a potential problem, and the country in question is also not on the embargoed countries list as of this writing. While I cannot speak for anyone else, I know we are rigorous in our vetting process and compliance goals that we actually post export law and all 7 debarred persons lists on our website and have since October of 2007! See here This is a guy who injected himself so far into lives that he dined at their homes, was invited to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, played with their children, and much much more.
Over the course of the next 2 years, YES, 2 YEARS, Mr. Bistrong set up his friends, former collegues and employers on behalf of the FBI and the allegations leave a whole lot out that happened, and add in things that didn't happen. Obviously what everyone sees in the press is what DOJ wants them to see and the timing of this was to grandstand and make a big publicity splash at Shot Show so "would-be FCPA violators should stop and ponder whether the person they are trying to bribe might really be a federal agent. according to the DOJ press release immediately after the arrests. Read Here
Your government will go to extraordinary lengths is all I can say, and I cannot stress enough how much we've learned over the past week as to the extent they are willing to go for headlines and the lives they are willing to destroy in that endeavor. Obviously we have years of dealing with law enforcement agencies, officers, military both foreign and domestic and have absolutely nothing but the highest regard for them. This is about a few, not the whole.
What is essentially happening is this. Literally a few words taken out of context and twisted.
If I were to accuse someone by saying...... "this guy is crazy, he said he was going to "take arms to sleep" " it would have one meaning, however in the context in which it really was intended, it would be readily apparent that when William Shakespeare wrote it in Hamlet he meant something entirely different :
To be or not to be that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep
I would ask that if ANYONE has any credible information regarding this case no matter how small it might seem, any prior contacts with Mr. Bistrong on any level, law enforcement involved with the case who witnessed things they know weren't right, proper or correct, or first hand knowledge about the case in any way please contact us via PM.
Stay vigilant and question everything.
Again, I thank everyone for the incredible support.
A. Bigelow
Mike
