Who among us hasn't stumbled headfirst into a violent coup attempt involving millions of dollars of black market weaponry?
That's the argument Robert Granieri, multimillionaire cofounder of trading firm Jane Street, is invoking after being caught funneling hoards of cash to an opposition party in South Sudan. The funding allegedly included millions of dollars in backing to purchase rifles, Stinger missiles, bulletproof vests, and grenades meant to topple South Sudan’s government.
Granieri says he was “duped” into providing the funds by a man claiming to be an activist in the region. “Granieri is a longtime supporter of human rights causes,” his lawyer told Bloomberg. “In this case, the person Rob thought was a human rights activist defrauded Rob and lied about his intentions.”
Jane Street is notably the launchpad of financial fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried before he launched his now-cratered cryptocurrency platform, FTX. Granieri, meanwhile, has a record of donations to NGOs like Ideas Beyond Borders in Afghanistan, which have been accused of treating third-world violence and suffering as “ample photo opportunities” with which to attract donors.
The Wall Street hotshot's role in the plot was uncovered amidst the prosecution of Peter Ajak, a Sudanese political activist who was indicted last year for trying to smuggle the massive weapons cache from the US to the war-torn region. Though Ajak and his co-conspirator, Abraham Chol Keech, are alleged to be the masterminds behind the dramatic plot, it hadn't been fully explained who was funding the expensive venture.
Far from the Mr. Magoo scenario that Granieri's attorneys are claiming, Ajak's lawyers paint a picture of a Wall Street financier who was “vital to the plan.”
In May, the Sudanese rebel's lawyers claimed that “without the significant financing that Mr. Granieri could and agreed to provide, the alleged conspiracy would have been impossible.”
Perhaps the most bizarre twist is the alleged involvement of Soviet chessmaster Garry Kasparov, who came to know both Granieri and Ajak through his work as chair of the Human Rights Foundation, according to Bloomberg. For his part, Kasparov denies involvement, saying that his “record and values are clear, and they remain unchanged.”
South Sudan officially separated from Sudan in 2011, following years of upheaval amidst a broader struggle by the United States and China for control over resources in the region. In 2021, a military coup toppled the transitional Sudanese government, leading to mass unrest and a resurgence of state violence.
In the few short years since, over 10 million Sudanese residents have been displaced by war, while nearly 17 million people are considered food insecure.
If Granieri is found guilty of knowingly funding the coup, he'll be the latest in a long list of American moguls caught meddling in the affairs of foreign lands — and unleashing devastating consequences on sovereign people in the process.
More on Wall Street: This May Be the Most Terrifying Sign of Global Warming Yet
Source link
