"We were to become paymasters for the CIA around the world."

November 8, 2015 10:35 PM

The mysterious collapse of Australia's Nugan Hand bank (SLYT) has long been a favorite subject of the espionage mythos, with its chairman's suicide, the disappearance of its former CIA co-founder Michael Hand, the bank's ties to the CIA, apparent drug money laundering... basically, talk of ties to every CIA conspiracy theory of the last 30 years... the stuff of legends. Except, of course, that Michael Hand has been found by Australia's 60 Minutes, living in Idaho Falls, where he runs a business manufacturing combat knives for the special OPs crowd. Here is the full 60 Minutes report.
posted by markkraft (20 comments total)

I had a hard time finding Part 2 of the 60 Minutes report, but I found it over here.
posted by zachlipton at 10:59 PM on November 8, 2015 [1 favorite]

It autoplays for me right after the first video, but keep in mind that this just went live on the web minutes ago.
posted by markkraft at 11:01 PM on November 8, 2015

Web traffic on this is really high though. Hopefully, this will be stuck on YouTube, because it should be big news in the US too. We have a right to know who the hell this person was, and how he apparently evaded detection for so long.
posted by markkraft at 11:04 PM on November 8, 2015

All I can say is, "Thank you for posting this."
posted by ProfLinusPauling at 11:39 PM on November 8, 2015

Great story.
I really hope that he is prosecuted.
posted by dougzilla at 12:52 AM on November 9, 2015

"I really hope that he is prosecuted."

I do too, but if the US government is sheltering this guy from prosecution -- even though he also defrauded American citizens, and played a key role in helping the murderous global heroin trade -- well, it's very unlikely to happen without serious public attention.

Americans need to know to what extent the government supported this international criminal, and why. He needs to be extradited, but it may only occur once Americans know what happened... and right now, while this is getting lots of major media coverage in Australia, and some in the UK, it's getting none at all in the US.

Not promising.
posted by markkraft at 1:34 AM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

Hah. Growing up, Nugan Hand was the punchline to jokes about things that have gone missing, the way I suppose Lord Lucan was in the UK. If the CIA really was behind this then I'm actually surprised nobody knocked him off years ago.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:44 AM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'd never heard of the Nugan Hand collapse before, or maybe as a small footnote in relation to the other conspiracies. If the CIA really is sheltering the guy, I wonder if they will just relocate him yet again?
posted by Dip Flash at 5:05 AM on November 9, 2015

This is the book that broke the story.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 5:54 AM on November 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

This guy is a hero inside the agency. He ain't going nowhere. See Dennis Hastert.
posted by bukvich at 5:57 AM on November 9, 2015

This "Michael Hand" person is CLEARLY eccentric millionaire John Hodgman.

Which explains a great deal.
posted by GameDesignerBen at 6:09 AM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]

According to the story line in this gallery, Australia has known since 1991 that hand was in the U.S. There's clearly a lot going on here beyond just tracking a guy on the lam. One of the articles also mentioned that Hand destroyed back records before he fled, which may be why he was protected.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 6:11 AM on November 9, 2015

also recommended, the politics of heroin. have we discussed this book on the blue before/
posted by eustatic at 6:48 AM on November 9, 2015

How exactly do you defend yourself from embezzling fifty million dollars and from failure to pay taxes, even if you shred your records, I wonder?

There are still a lot of victims out there who lost their life savings. Presumably, they could sue Hand quite successfully for the value of his house and business, which seems to be doing quite well, with some expensive equipment and inventory.
posted by markkraft at 6:50 AM on November 9, 2015

Well done, Peter Butt. It's surprising that Hand wasn't found sooner, as he was using the same SSN, same first names, and had a fairly public profile with his knife venture. But maybe that's what it means to be protected. The US government response should be interesting. This guy could talk.
posted by grounded at 7:34 AM on November 9, 2015

Q: How exactly do you defend yourself from embezzling fifty million dollars and from failure to pay taxes, even if you shred your records, I wonder?

A: This guy could talk.
posted by el io at 9:25 AM on November 9, 2015

This is fascinating. The Jackson's Hole dwellers call nearby Idaho Falls, Idiot Flats. This is just so you know. All kinds of "stuff" is conveniently filed in Idaho. That which is way too hot, has a cabin in Montana. I imagine this guy will ceremoniously establish in the Supermax, over in Colorado, where they have some convenient back door for folks like this. Tying flies in Montana, to be his alternate, next gig, or else he can use all those knives to open up a wild hog slaughter/barbeque place in Texas.
posted by Oyéah at 10:29 AM on November 9, 2015

And to think, I was just admiring some of the TOPS brand designs over at Knife Center just the other week.
posted by cleroy at 10:31 AM on November 9, 2015

How exactly do you defend yourself from embezzling fifty million dollars and from failure to pay taxes, even if you shred your records, I wonder?

If he spent decades as some sort of undercover spook, that might just be for services rendered.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 11:02 AM on November 9, 2015

I'm still waiting for someone to find Ken Lay and exhume the hobo (or the pile of bricks) in his coffin - maybe we can put these guys on the case.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:17 PM on November 9, 2015 [2 favorites]