---
category: BCCI Scandal
summary: Eugene Holley was a former Georgia state senator who introduced Bert Lance
  to Agha Hasan Abedi.
tags:
- Person
- BCCI
---

Eugene Holley was a former Georgia state senator who introduced [Bert Lance](/people/bert-lance/) to [Agha Hasan Abedi](/people/agha-hasan-abedi/).[^1] He was the first person prosecuted under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for paying bribes in Qatar.[^2]

### Legal Issues and BCCI Connections

Holley was convicted of bank fraud in 1980 and sentenced to ten years in jail.[^3] He had set up a [Cayman](/places/cayman-islands/) oil company and accumulated a $17 million debt, from which Abedi bailed him out.[^4]

In October 1977, Holley arranged a meeting between Bert Lance and [BCCI](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/) chieftains Abedi and [Swaleh Naqvi](/people/swaleh-naqvi/) at [New York City](/places/new-york-city/)'s Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.[^5]

[^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9.
[^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 179.
[^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 179.
[^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 179.
[^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 180.