Herbert Alwyn Smith

Herbert Alwyn Smith was a convicted British arms dealer. He contacted Ari Ben-Menashe through an informant in early 1991, while Ben-Menashe was in Lexington, Kentucky.¹

Smith, acting on behalf of the CIA, offered Ben-Menashe a deal: $2 million and U.S. citizenship in exchange for his silence and a signed statement that he had no legal claims or allegations against the U.S. government. Ben-Menashe received a letter of credit for the amount but did not accept the deal.¹

Smith visited Ben-Menashe in Australia five times over the next year. He also arranged for Ben-Menashe to meet with 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 Ben-Menashe to hand over control of part of the slush fund to the CIA.¹

Smith died in March 1992, purportedly of a heart attack, ten days after leaving Sydney, Australia.¹