[[Herbert Alwyn Smith]] was a convicted British arms dealer. He contacted [[Ari Ben-Menashe]] through an informant in early 1991, while [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] was in [[Lexington]], [[Kentucky]].[^1] [[Herbert Alwyn Smith|Smith]], acting on behalf of the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]], offered [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] a deal: $2 million and [[USA|U.S.]] citizenship in exchange for his silence and a signed statement that he had no legal claims or allegations against the [[USA|U.S.]] government. [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] received a letter of credit for the amount but did not accept the deal.[^1] [[Herbert Alwyn Smith|Smith]] visited [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] in [[Australia]] five times over the next year. He also arranged for [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to meet with [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] officials in [[Ireland]] in August 1991 and with [[Robert Maxwell]] in the [[Soviet Union]] the same month. The purpose of these meetings was to try to get [[Ari Ben-Menashe|Ben-Menashe]] to hand over control of part of the slush fund to the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]].[^1] [[Herbert Alwyn Smith|Smith]] died in March 1992, purportedly of a heart attack, ten days after leaving [[Sydney]], [[Australia]].[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 1992. (Hereafter, "Profits of War")