Seeker of Truth
05-26-2003, 07:07 PM
The Best-Connected Investor In America
(Filed: 27/05/2003)
The hugely profitable Carlyle Group has become a magnet for conspiracy rumours, writes Simon English
If you like a first-class conspiracy theory, the Carlyle Group is the business for you. Go to google.com, type in the company name, and watch as the gossip lines up. Within minutes, you may be convinced that this largely unknown Washington investment house is the secret ruler of the world, a potent gang of powerful men plotting wars, famines and the eventual takeover of Mars.
Some powerful men do indeed work for Carlyle, which, with 500 employees in 12 countries and 21 funds under management, is now one of the largest private equity firms.
There's former prime minister John Major, former US secretary of defence Frank Carlucci and former secretary of state James Baker, not to mention the first President Bush.
In the strange place that is America post 9/11, this combination of people and the fact that Carlyle has some defence holdings is enough to get the armchair conspiracists rocking.
Even worse, the estranged family of Osama bin Laden had a small investment in a Carlyle fund, on its own enough ammunition to spawn a thousand websites. When the Wall Street Journal reported this link and noted that bin Laden's family could gain financially from America's increased defence spending, the chatter went ballistic.
Cynthia McKinney, an outspoken and now out-of-office Democrat, claimed that "persons close to this administration are poised to make huge profits off America's new war", mentioning Carlyle. The dark hint was that US officials knew about the terrorist attacks and let them happen for their own financial and political gain.
More @ telegraph.co.uk (http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/05/27/wcarl27.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/05/27/ixworld.html)
(Filed: 27/05/2003)
The hugely profitable Carlyle Group has become a magnet for conspiracy rumours, writes Simon English
If you like a first-class conspiracy theory, the Carlyle Group is the business for you. Go to google.com, type in the company name, and watch as the gossip lines up. Within minutes, you may be convinced that this largely unknown Washington investment house is the secret ruler of the world, a potent gang of powerful men plotting wars, famines and the eventual takeover of Mars.
Some powerful men do indeed work for Carlyle, which, with 500 employees in 12 countries and 21 funds under management, is now one of the largest private equity firms.
There's former prime minister John Major, former US secretary of defence Frank Carlucci and former secretary of state James Baker, not to mention the first President Bush.
In the strange place that is America post 9/11, this combination of people and the fact that Carlyle has some defence holdings is enough to get the armchair conspiracists rocking.
Even worse, the estranged family of Osama bin Laden had a small investment in a Carlyle fund, on its own enough ammunition to spawn a thousand websites. When the Wall Street Journal reported this link and noted that bin Laden's family could gain financially from America's increased defence spending, the chatter went ballistic.
Cynthia McKinney, an outspoken and now out-of-office Democrat, claimed that "persons close to this administration are poised to make huge profits off America's new war", mentioning Carlyle. The dark hint was that US officials knew about the terrorist attacks and let them happen for their own financial and political gain.
More @ telegraph.co.uk (http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/05/27/wcarl27.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/05/27/ixworld.html)