-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 16, 2007 12:22:25 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Business As Usual for Chiquita
CHIQUITA CHARGED IN TERROR INVESTIGATION
By Matt Apuzzo
Associated Press, March 14, 2007
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1152AP_Terrorism_Bananas.html
WASHINGTON -- Banana company Chiquita Brands International was
charged Wednesday with doing business with a terrorist organization.
Federal prosecutors said the company and several unnamed high-
ranking corporate officers did business with the United Self-
Defense Forces of Colombia. The group is described in court
documents as a violent right-wing organization that the U.S. has
designated as a terrorist organization.
The payments were approved by senior executives at the Cincinnati-
based company, prosecutors wrote in court documents. Corporate
books were kept to conceal the deals, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Chiquita began paying the right-wing AUC after a
meeting in 1997.
"No later than in or about September 2000, defendant Chiquita's
senior executives knew that the corporation was paying AUC and that
the AUC was a violent paramilitary organization," prosecutors wrote
in Wednesday's court filing.
The document filed by federal prosecutors is known as an
information. Unlike an indictment, it is normally worked out
through discussions with prosecutors and is followed by a guilty
plea. A plea hearing is scheduled for Monday.
---------------
Chiquita Brands International Inc. NYSE: CQB is a Cincinnati, Ohio-
based producer and distributor of bananas and other produce, under
a variety of subsidiary brand names, collectively known as
Chiquita. Chiquita is the successor to the United Fruit Company and
is the leading distributor of bananas in the United States. The
company also owns a German produce distribution company, Atlanta
AG, which it acquired in 2003. Chiquita was formerly controlled by
Cincinnati billionaire Carl H. Lindner, Jr., his majority ownership
of the company ended as a result of Chiquita Brands International
exiting a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 19, 2002.
The trademark logo for Chiquita was created by Dik Browne, who is
best known for his Hägar the Horrible comic strip. Monica Lewis
voiced the famous "Chiquita Banana" advertising campaign.
In 1975, a SEC invesitgation revealed that the company had bribed
the Honduran President (dictator): Oswaldo López Arellano and
Italian officals. The scandal was named Bananagate.
In the 1980's, the company (then known as United Brands Company)
was involved in a leading Competition Law case when they were found
to abuse their dominant position in the banana and fruit supply
markets by the European Commission.
History
Chiquita Brands International Inc. was formed in 1871 by U.S.
railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs as the United Fruit Company. In
1970 it became the United Brands Company. And in 1985 it became
Chiquita Brands International.
On May 3, 1998, The Cincinnati Enquirer published an eighteen-page
section, "Chiquita Secrets Revealed" on Chiquita. The articles,
written by Enquirer investigative reporters Michael Gallagher and
Cameron McWhirter, charged the company with mistreating the workers
on its Central American plantations, polluting the environment,
allowing cocaine to be brought to the United States on its ships,
bribing foreign officials, evading foreign nations' laws on land
ownership, forcibly preventing its workers from unionizing, and a
host of other misdeeds.
Chiquita denied all the allegations, suing after it was revealed
that Gallagher had repeatedly hacked into Chiquita's voice-mail
system (no evidence ever indicated that McWhirter was aware of
Gallagher's crime or a participant).
A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate — the elected
prosecutor having ties to Lindner.
On June 28, 1998, the Enquirer retracted the entire series of
stories, published a front-page apology, and paid the company a
multi-million-dollar settlement. The Columbia Journalism Review
would report both $14 million and $50 million for the amount.
Chiquita's Annual Report mentions 'a cash settlement in excess of
$10 million'. One of the reporters, Gallagher, would be fired and
prosecuted and the paper's editor, Lawrence K. Beaupre, would be
transferred to the Gannett's headquarters amid allegations that he
ignored the paper's usual procedures on fact-checking in order to
win a Pulitzer Prize.
Chiquita has not formally challenged any of the factual claims
raised in the original articles.
------------
Carl Lindner, Jr. (born 1919 in Dayton, Ohio) is a successful
Cincinnati businessman and is among the world's richest people.
According to the 2006 issue of Forbes Magazine's 400 list, which
lists the 400 richest people in America, he was ranked 133 and was
worth an estimated $2.3 billion.
With his three sons, he controls roughly 42% of American Financial
Group, an insurance company. He is the former Chairman of the Board
of Chiquita Brands International.
Carl Lindner and his family have been strong supporters of the
Republican Party for quite some time. During the 2004 election
cycle, the Lindner family contributed tens of thousands of dollars
(funneled through each member of the family) to various
conservative groups, including the Republican National Committee
and several Republican politicians.
A close ally of George W. Bush, Lindner secured the use of Great
American Ballpark for the Bush's re-election campaign on October
31, 2004, a few days before the 2004 Presidential Election.
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