--- aliases: - Atlanta, Georgia category: City created: 2026-09-22 location: Atlanta, Georgia summary: Georgia capital where BNL's branch lent Iraq billions off the books until the FBI raid of 1989, where BCCI's frontman bought Bert Lance's bank, and where CIA-funded LSD tests ran at the federal penitentiary. tags: - City - Georgia - BNL - BCCI - MKULTRA updated: 2026-09-22 --- ### BNL Atlanta Between 1985 and 1989 the Atlanta branch of the [Banca Nazionale del Lavoro](/organizations/banca-nazionale-del-lavoro/), managed by [Christopher Drogoul](/people/christopher-drogoul/), extended more than four billion dollars in unreported loans and credits to Iraq, part of them guaranteed by the [Commodity Credit Corporation](/programs/commodity-credit-corporation-iraq-program/); the money financed the purchases of Iraq's military procurement network, including [Matrix Churchill](/organizations/matrix-churchill/) and the brass plant of [SerVaas Inc.](/organizations/servaas-inc/)[^1][^2] The [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) raided the branch on August 4, 1989.[^3] The acting United States attorney in Atlanta, Joe D. Whitley, recused himself on taking office on June 1, 1990, because his former law firm had represented Matrix Churchill.[^4] The indictment returned in Atlanta on February 28, 1991, named Drogoul and, among others, [Safa al-Habobi](/people/safa-al-habobi/).[^5] Judge [Marvin Shoob](/people/marvin-shoob/) called Drogoul and his colleagues "pawns and bit-players in a far more wide-ranging conspiracy."[^6] The investigation became the [BNL Scandal](/events/bnl-scandal/). ### BCCI and the National Bank of Georgia In January 1978 [Ghaith R. Pharaon](/people/ghaith-r-pharaon/) completed his purchase of the [National Bank of Georgia](/organizations/national-bank-of-georgia/) from [Bert Lance](/people/bert-lance/), with the help of [Agha Hasan Abedi](/people/agha-hasan-abedi/) of the [Bank of Credit and Commerce International](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/), who paid off Lance's 3.5 million dollar bank loan the same day. [First American Bank](/organizations/first-american-bank/), secretly owned by BCCI, bought the bank from Pharaon for 227 million dollars in 1987.[^7][^13] ### MKULTRA After May 1943 [George Hunter White](/people/george-hunter-white/) of the [Office of Strategic Services](/organizations/office-of-strategic-services/) tested a truth drug on suspected Communist soldiers at camps near Atlanta, Memphis and [New Orleans](/places/new-orleans/).[^8] Under [MKULTRA](/programs/project-mkultra/) Subproject 47 the [CIA](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) tested large doses of [LSD](/concepts/lsd/) on volunteers at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary through Emory University.[^9] ### Other Records The [Southern Christian Leadership Conference](/organizations/southern-christian-leadership-conference/), with Martin Luther King Jr. as president, was organized in Atlanta on January 10 and 11, 1957.[^10] [George R. Wackenhut](/people/george-r-wackenhut/) was an FBI special agent in Atlanta and Indianapolis from 1951 to 1954, before founding the [Wackenhut Corporation](/organizations/wackenhut-corporation/).[^11] The car [James Earl Ray](/people/james-earl-ray/) had driven from Memphis after the killing of King in April 1968 was found abandoned in Atlanta.[^12] [^1]: "Drogoul gets 37 months in BNL bank scandal." *United Press International,* December 9, 1993; *United States v. Drogoul,* 1 F.3d 1546 (11th Cir. 1993). [^2]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "Details on Iraq's Procurement Network," *Congressional Record,* House, August 10, 1992, and "Brass Factory in Iraq," September 25, 1992, p. H9502. [^3]: Gonzalez, Henry B. "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Scandal: High-Level Politics Try to Hide the Evidence." *Congressional Record,* House, September 14, 1992, p. H8349. [^4]: Lacey, Frederick B. "The Banca Nazionale del Lavoro Investigation: Report of the Independent Counsel," reproduced in House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs, *Testimony of Former Employees of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro,* Serial No. 103-95, 1993. [^5]: Friedman, Alan. *Spider's Web: The Secret History of How the White House Illegally Armed Iraq.* Bantam, 1993, pp. 185, 281. [^6]: "Justice probe finds no 'Iraqgate' conspiracy." Associated Press, in the *San Francisco Chronicle.* https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/justice-probe-finds-no-iraqgate-conspiracy-3160242.php [^7]: Beaty, Jonathan, and S. C. Gwynne. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI.* Random House, 1993, pp. 11-14, as cited on the National Bank of Georgia page. [^8]: Marks, John D. *The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA and Mind Control.* Times Books, 1979, ch. 1. [^9]: Earman, John S., CIA Inspector General. "Report of Inspection of MKULTRA/TSD," July 26, 1963, as cited on the Project MKUltra page; Marks, ch. 4. [^10]: Garrow, David. *Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.* William Morrow, 1986. [^11]: The Wackenhut Corporation, biographical sketch of George R. Wackenhut, annual reports, as cited on the George R. Wackenhut page. [^12]: Sides, Hampton. *Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for His Assassin.* Doubleday, 2010. [^13]: As cited on the First American Bank page for BCCI's secret ownership.