Covert Banker: Colonel Russell Hermann

The story of Colonel Russell Hermann (aka Herrmann) is almost as interesting as that of Leo Wanta. Both held covert funds on behalf of the U.S. government. Both seem to have concluded that the funds they held should be used for the benefit of the people of the United States rather than for dubious black operations. Wanta remains alive, but Herman may have died as a result of his efforts to hang on to funds.

Born in Lansing Illinois on July 2, 1927, Russell Hermann served in the military for 53 years, beginning with a stint in the Coast Guard when he wa far under age. Mostly he worked mostly for the Office of Naval Intelligence. He attempted to retire in 1990-1991 and was refused. Like Army Colonel Al Carone, he became a banker for the C.I.A. using military cover. He was also a C.I.A. paymaster and a launderer of money. Don Hughes was another of these government bag men. According to Herman’s widow, V.K. Durham, he once had a meeting with Vincent Foster in Marion, Illinois, and he was tasked with overseeing 175 secret accounts. He once couriered $30 million to Mexico for Ed Meese to acquire TIAS 12087 "Multilateral Inter-American Investment Corporation securities. Twelve years later, a TIAS 12087 GROUP bought space at One Worlds Trade Center. Durham Limited had five shares in the venture. Mrs. Herman said she gave the account numbers to Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Dan Burton.

Herman held some US government funds and securities through Cosmos Investment Corporation and Cosmos Seafood Energy Marketing in Nevada..V.K. Durham, claimed that , without her permission, Secretary of State James Baker used her Hereditary Owner Bonus 3392-181 as collateral for some Brady Bonds. Her owner bonus 3392-181 was based on gold certificates issued by the treasury under the Transcontinental Agreement of 1875, to some Latin American countries The Treasury thought it had redeemed all the certificates and considered them cancelled. . The U.S. government used this instrument and other non-performing foreign instruments to issue ten-year Brady Bonds, which in turn were used as collateral to acquire currencies, including dollars. The Brady Bonds were to come due September 12, 2001 and be redeemed through the auspices of the trustee, Cantor Fitzgerald. It is difficult to determine whether the government or the Hermans were owners of land and water rights in their name in California.

Hermann had been involved with the C.I.A. in the 1980s and had objected to the murder of women and children. He was tossed into a Latin American jail, but with the help of Chiapas Indians made his way back to the United States. Herman’s widow claimed that he had spent two years looking into the involvement of the G.H. Bush administration and Bill Clinton in the laundering of drug money. The Clinton involvement was about whether Governor Clinton permitted the C.I.A. to fly drugs into Mena, Arkansas. Mena is a town of about 5,000 was an extraordinarily large Interregional Mountain Airport. The arms and drug trafficking was called Operation Black Eagle. An Arkansas Republican Congressman carried on the same investigation but produced nothing on Clinton. Russell Welch, an Arkansas State Police investigator, says his doctor believes he was exposed to weapons grade anthrax because he would not ignore the drug shipments.

Colonel Herman was sprayed with something while mowing his lawn on July 1, 1993. He later found it was SERINE. He was never well after that. Herman was kidnapped on October 28, 1993. He was found at St. Mary’s Hospital , Clayton, Missouri in a wing occupied by ONI personnel. There is no evidence he was held in the Springfield, Missouri prison hospital where whistle blowers and dissidents are often sent. When he saw his wife, he told about how he had been tortured. At a Marion, Illinois Veteran’s Health Care Center, He complained that the hospital fed him rotten chicken and mashed potatoes cooked in water. He was being asked to sign over some securities, including her Bonus 3392-181, which was held in the Durham Family Trust. He claimed that high governmentofficials, including former President Bush, Alan Greenspan, and Oliver North came to the hospital to urge him to sign over the accounts. She claimed that when exiting an elevator, she saw the three men leave his room and go down the hall to another elevator.

On or about August 29,1994 Colonel Herman died. Mrs. Herman obtained the opinion of a second coroner who showed her the signs of torture and offered the opinion that Herman had been frozen to death. Grisly pictures of his tortured corpse are posted on the internet.

Subsequently, Nevada Secretary of State Frankie Sue Del Papa changed the names of the board of directors for his holdings there. Still later, the couple’s signatures were forged on a Goldman-Sach account certification.

Mrs. Hermann was denied widow’s benefits on the grounds they were married two days less than necessary. They had lost their 1987 Mexican marriage certificate and were remarried in 1993. She went to her Illinois Congressman for help, and a staffer shouted at her: RUSSELL HERMAN had no right to break his CODE OF SILENCE. RUSSELL HERMAN was U.S. Treasury. He had no right to break his CODE OF SILENCE!" There is other evidence, including his will, that he may have been an employee of the Secret Service, like Wanta. Later the Department of Health and Human Services dealt with her request for disability due to an auto accident and other factors by claiming she was “deceased.”

Bail Out Deal Stalled

House Republicans have refused to support the deal negotiated by the two banking committees. This should give progressive Democrats in the House an opportunity to improve the package on behalf of the American people. Above all, they must insist on tough reregulation as part of the package.

John McCain suspended his campaign--though his ads are still airing here-- and rushed to Washington. It is likely that the House Republicans will hold out until McCain garners publicity as deal maker, selling some sort of package. He brought his cmpaign manager to the meeting of peaders George W. Bush called. Obama brought a legislative aid.

Obama has a history of calling for regulation and should at least insist that the package include repeal of the most dangerous deregulatory provisions of the two "financial modernization" acts that Phil Gramm passed in 1999 and 2000. Obama introduced in 2006 a bill to regulate mortgage lending practives. In March of this year, he brought force comprehensive provisions to regulate financial markets. Of course, the Lying McCain advertisement ignore all this, suggesting he has no position.

If reregulation is not a big part of the package, we would be better off with no bail-out bill. We have seen a series of bail-outs since the mid-1980s because there was no re-regulation. This ruinous cycle must be broken, and Obama should focus the nation's attention on reregulation.

Otherwise, McCain's decision to politicize the financial crisis will bay off big time. Sharp observers believe he is shooting himself in the foot, but most voters are not that sharp. John McCain has a marvelous public relations operation which will
doubtless make him look like an unparalled leder and economic savior. It has shown that it can manufacture facts out of thin air. Just look at all the lying advertisements they have produced and how effective they have been.

It will do Obama no good to criticize McCain's tactics. He must make McCain deregulatory past and present insincerity on the subject a major issue---NOW.