Jack Blum is a former Senate investigator and chief counsel to [[Senator John Kerry]]'s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations, widely recognized for his pivotal role in exposing the [[Bank of Credit and Commerce International|BCCI]] scandal. Described as a crusader and a moralist, Blum was known for his unwavering pursuit of truth, even when it meant challenging powerful institutions and individuals.[^1] ### Early Career and Senate Investigations Blum began his career in Washington in 1965 after graduating from Columbia Law School, working as an investigator for Senator [[Phil Hart]]'s antitrust subcommittee. His work gained the attention of Senator [[J. W. Fulbright]], who moved him to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. By the mid-1970s, Blum had established himself as a counsel to Senator [[Frank Church]]'s subcommittee on multinational corporations.[^1] His investigations during this period were far-reaching, contributing to the downfall of a Japanese government and the imprisonment of Japanese Prime Minister [[Kakuei Tanaka]] due to the [[Lockheed payoff scandals]]. He also played a key role in exposing [[ITT]]'s improper activities in [[Chile]], identifying [[Robert Vesco]] and the $3-billion global [[IOS (Investors' Overseas Services)|Ponzi scheme]] as central figures, and was a driving force behind the creation of the [[Foreign Corrupt Practices Act]]. Notably, his questioning led to the indictment of former [[CIA]] Director [[Richard Helms]] for perjury.[^1] After a decade in private practice starting in 1976, Blum re-entered the public sector in 1986 as special counsel to Senator John Kerry's subcommittee. Here, he spearheaded probes into drug trafficking and produced a report accusing the [[Reagan administration]] of interfering with the "war on drugs" to protect clandestine support for the [[Contras]].[^1] ### Uncovering the BCCI Scandal Blum's interest in BCCI intensified in spring 1988 during Kerry's hearings on drug trafficking, which veered into [[Manuel Noriega]]. He discovered that BCCI was at the epicenter of Noriega's financial operations. Despite a Miami BCCI branch being busted for money laundering, Blum believed the plea bargain was a "very big fix" and that BCCI was a "global criminal empire" on the verge of collapse.[^1] He left the Kerry subcommittee after his proposal for a serious investigation into BCCI was dismissed, and his contract was not renewed. Blum believed a high-level cover-up was in place after Customs stumbled upon BCCI's money-laundering operations. He learned from a BCCI executive, "Witness A," that the bank was designed to hide illicit financial transactions for high-net-worth criminal clients, including drug cartels, and that BCCI secretly owned [[First American Bank]] and other U.S. banks.[^1] Frustrated by federal inaction, Blum approached Manhattan District Attorney [[Robert Morgenthau]] in March 1989, presenting the BCCI scandal as "the biggest bank fraud in the history of the world." He provided information from a tape-recorded debriefing of a former BCCI officer, [[Ali Mirza]], who detailed efforts to influence the Senate subcommittee, bribery of the Georgia legislature, and BCCI's secret ownership of American banks. Blum also brought "Witness A" for a similar taping.[^1] Blum's persistence helped prompt the [[Federal Reserve Board]] to investigate BCCI, leading to the bank's global seizure in July 1991. He consistently argued that BCCI was not merely a bank but a "global criminal empire" with deep ties to intelligence agencies and illicit activities.[^1] ### Key Beliefs and Contributions Blum's office wall famously bore the aphorism: "Never wrestle a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it." He believed that BCCI was using figures like [[Clark Clifford]] and [[Robert Altman]] as "ultra-respectable-looking front men" for its American operations.[^1] He also highlighted the involvement of [[Bert Lance]] and [[Jimmy Carter]] with BCCI, noting Abedi's financial contributions to Carter's charitable foundation and presidential library.[^1] Blum's efforts to expose the truth about BCCI were met with resistance and attempts to discredit him, with some "top people" calling him a "loose cannon."[^1] Despite these challenges, his work was instrumental in bringing the BCCI scandal to public attention and pushing for investigations into its far-reaching criminal enterprise. ### Footnotes [^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. _The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI_. New York: Random House, 1993.