The Bank of Credit and Commerce International: Adnan Khashoggi, Ted Shackley and the Iran-Contra scandal

In 1972, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International was founded by Pakistani financier Agha Hasan Abedi. Established with funds from the United Arab Emirates and the Bank of America, the BCCI would grow rapidly, establishing branches in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands. Operating during a period of corporate consolidation and financial speculation, the bank would come to a sudden end in the 1990s amidst a scandal over their finances, along with questions about their links to the murky world of covert intelligence and organised crime.

Part One coming soon, for more on the CIA’s links to terrorism and organised crime:

How the CIA helped the French Connection smuggle heroin

The Nugan Hand Scandal: Heroin, the CIA and a gangland war in Sydney

God’s banker: The CIA, Operation Gladio and the death of Roberto Calvi