Ian Stuart Spiro

Ian Stuart Spiro was a figure whose death was linked to a spy network and the Iran-Contra Affair. He was found dead of cyanide poisoning in the Anza-Borrego desert on November 8, 1992, one week after his wife and children were found shot to death in their Rancho Santa Fe home. His death was officially ruled a suicide, and the San Diego Sheriff's Department reportedly destroyed his files when the case was closed, stating he had no connection to the PROMIS software.¹

However, news reports, specifically from the Oceanside Blade-Citizen, noted that documents and U.S. intelligence sources implicated Spiro in the Iran-Contra Affair and an alleged Justice Department conspiracy to pirate software from a private company and sell it to foreign intelligence agencies. Spiro's name also appeared in Oliver North's personal notebooks documenting the Iran-Contra Affair, according to the National Security Archives in Washington D.C.¹

Former hostage David Jacobsen stated that Spiro helped negotiate the release of hostages in the Middle East. Spiro lived in Beirut, Lebanon, during the 1970s and 1980s, where he made contacts with Lebanese religious leaders and the Islamic Jihad. His brother-in-law, Greg Quarton, confirmed that Spiro maintained communication with Lebanese business associates until his death.¹

Michael Riconosciuto claimed that Marshall Riconosciuto (Michael's father) shipped documents to Ian Stuart Spiro for safekeeping. The week of the Spiro family's death, Robert Corson, a business associate of Spiro's indicted in a savings and loan scam and reportedly a CIA operative, was found dead in an El Paso, Texas, motel room, with officials stating he died of a heart attack. Corson was also alleged to have associated with California investor Wayne Reeder, who was seen at a Wackenhut Corporation/Contra meeting in Riverside County.¹