Jonathan Ben Cnaan

Jonathan Ben Cnaan was an account executive with 53rd Street Ventures, a New York City venture capital firm that held a small equity investment in Inslaw. Bill Hamilton's affidavit claimed that in September 1983, Ben Cnaan described a meeting at 53rd Street Ventures with a "businessman with ties at the highest level of the Reagan Administration" who was eager to obtain the PROMIS software for federal government contract work. This businessman allegedly assured 53rd Street Ventures that Inslaw would never be able to resolve its contract disputes with the DOJ and was annoyed that Hamilton had previously rebuffed an attempt to buy Inslaw to obtain title to the PROMIS software. Earl Brian denied knowing Ben Cnaan and insisted he was not the unidentified businessman mentioned in Hamilton's affidavit.¹

The Special Counsel's investigation attempted to locate Jonathan Ben Cnaan, but his phone number was disconnected, and his last known company, Axiom Capital, was no longer at its listed address. It was believed he might have returned to Israel. The investigation concluded that even if the attribution to Ben Cnaan were correct, there was nothing to tie the claim to Hadron or Brian, as Brian denied it and Ben Cnaan himself did not refer to Brian in the affidavit. The report found no other evidence to support Inslaw's allegation regarding a Brian-DOJ conspiracy.¹