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The indictment reads like a cinematic plot: A Harvard Fellow and another activist allegedly wanted to buy AK-47s, Stinger missiles and grenades to topple South Sudan’s government. What they lacked was enough cash.Now, Jane Street co-founder Robert Granieri concedes he put up the money — saying he was duped into funding the alleged coup plot. The role played by the wealthy recluse behind a Wall Street trading powerhouse emerges from the US prosecution of Peter Ajak, the Harvard Fellow who was accused last year of scheming to install himself atop the East African nation.
“Granieri is a longtime supporter of human rights causes,” his lawyer said in a statement. “In this case, the person Rob thought was a human rights activist defrauded Rob and lied about his intentions.”
The case came to light in March 2024, when federal prosecutors in Arizona charged Ajak and Abraham Keech with conspiring to illegally export arms to their home country. Both have pleaded not guilty.While prosecutors haven’t said where the defendants obtained several million dollars for an attempt to buy military-grade weaponry, Ajak’s lawyers pointed to Granieri in a recent filing — saying the 53-year-old financier was “vital to the plan.”
“Without the significant financing that Mr. Granieri could and agreed to provide, the alleged conspiracy would have been impossible,” they wrote in the document filed in late May.
The lawyers accused authorities of selectively prosecuting two Black men, even though support also came from Granieri and Garry Kasparov, the chess champion and prominent Russian dissident. The US hasn’t accused either of them of wrongdoing.
Today's show features:
- Bloomberg News Chief Wall Street Correspondent Sri Natarajan on Jane Street Boss Says He Was Duped Into Funding AK-47s for Coup
- John Erath, Senior Policy Director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation on latest with Iran’s Nuclear Program
- Kevin Kajiwara, Co-President, Teneo Intelligence; Geopolitical Expert on Advising clients amid Gulf Tensions
- and we Drive to the Close with Jeanette Garretty, Chief Economist & Head of Advisor Experience at Robertson Stephen
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