Fed: Man wanted to sell arms to terrorists
In this Aug. 20, 2010, file photo Viktor Bout, a suspected Russian arms dealer, listens to reporter's question from his cell at the criminal court in Bangkok, Thailand. Credit: AP File, 2010
A wealthy former Soviet military officer U.S. officials call the Merchant of Death was willing to sell "staggering quantities" of weapons and explosives to anti-American rebels to make millions of dollars, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday as his trial got under way.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan McGuire pointed at Viktor Bout in Federal District Court in Manhattan as he accused him of promising to deliver 100 surface-to-air missiles, 20,000 AK-47 rifles, 20,000 fragmentary grenades, 740 mortars, 350 sniper rifles, 5 tons of C-4 explosives and 10 million rounds of ammunition in a shipment destined for Colombia in 2008.
"This man, Viktor Bout, agreed to provide all of it to a foreign terrorist organization he believes was going to kill Americans," McGuire said in opening statements.
The prosecutor added Bout did not know he was trapped in a Drug Enforcement Administration sting operation and that the two men he was dealing with were working for the United States government.
Bout, estimated to be worth as much as $6 billion, was brought to the United States for trial on four conspiracy charges last year from Thailand, where he fought extradition after his March 2008 arrest in a hotel conference room after meeting with two DEA informants. They had posed as officials of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC. The group has been classified by Washington as a narco-terrorist group.
McGuire said Bout, 44, had the experience, the will and the means to deliver "staggering quantities of weapons and explosives" to the rebels.
"Why? For the money," McGuire said.
He said prosecutors would play hours of taped conversations for jurors so they could hear Bout talking about the arms deal.
Defense lawyer Albert Dayan said the government had it all wrong. He told the jury that Bout was agreeing with whatever the DEA operatives were saying so that he could sell two transport planes for $5 million.
He said Bout lost his transport business and had turned to real estate after the UN blocked his travels.
"Viktor was baiting them along with the promise of arms, hoping just to sell his planes," he said. -- AP
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