Searcher said, pages earlier:
What is the latest on people like Michael Riconoscuito? William Hamilton? Robert Booth Nichols? (and what on earth was RBN's arms company being involved in farming out research to Japanese universities about "induction and activation of cytotoxic T-lymphocytes"??!![
Well, shit, if having information is a risk to life, please let me dump all the information I had collected at a much, much earlier date than this thread, on Earl Brian, or somebody else named Earl Brian, mentioned earlier in the thread, so please don't kill me:
Earl Brian, Busy Little Beaver: His Companies
Allen & Co.,
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
Allen & Co., a New York investment banking concern with close business ties to Earl Brian, helped finance a second company, SCT, which also attempted to purchase Inslaw. That attempt also failed, but in the process a number of Inslaw's customers were warned by SCT that Inslaw would soon go bankrupt and would not survive reorganization, Hamilton said in court documents. Broke and with no friends in the government, on June 9, 1986, Inslaw filed a $30 million lawsuit against the DOJ in bankruptcy court.
Alton, Inc
http://www.american-buddha.com/orlin.vince.27.htm
"...The indictment says that Brian also siphoned off $300,000 of the lease money to himself, by submitting a "bill" to FNN from another company he controlled, called Alton, Inc...."
American Cytogenetics
http://www.american-buddha.com/last.circle.11.htm
"...Dr. Brian ultimately directed his energies towards biological technology. Another of his companies, Biotech Capital Corporation of New York,
became 50% owner of American Cytogenetics, which was planning in 1982 to create a subsidiary to engage in genetic research. One notable investor in Biotech, when it went public in 1981, was Edwin Meese. Today, American Cytogenetics in North Hollywood, California, conducts Pap tests for cervical cancer. It also tests tissue samples for cancer and related diseases. Sales in 1985 were $3.4 million...."
American Systology Inc.
http://www.insightmag.com/main.cfm?incl ... yid=213410
"...
Insight has learned the two RCMP investigators plumbed the old Customs probe of Videnieks, the former DOJ official who was investigated for possible perjury. And what the Mounties found, according to some of those they interviewed, very well could confirm Riconosciuto's claim that he knew Videnieks.
For example, months before McDade and Buffam came looking for answers in the United States, they had established a working relationship with John Belton, a Canadian living in Ontario who had become involved with PROMIS as a result of a 1980s securities-fraud scheme in Canada allegedly involving Earl Brian and companies he owned or controlled, such as Hadron Inc., Clinical Sciences Inc., Biotech Capital Corp. (renamed Infotechnology Corp. in 1987); and American Systology Inc. Belton's securities-fraud claims resulted in a 1986 RCMP investigation and civil litigation that are ongoing today...."
(No links found independently other than as mentioned in relation to Earl Brian)
Bio-Rad (?)
http://www.american-buddha.com/last.circle.11.htm The Last Circle
"...Michael: "Check out Bio-Rad Laboratories. Their international headquarters are on half of the property that used to be the Hercules plant, in Hercules, California. Do you understand what I'm saying? Bio-Rad makes the most toxic biological and radioactive compounds known to man. And they're now located in the town of Hercules. Bio-Rad Industrial Park. That building of theirs, the headquarters, doesn't look like much, but it goes 20 stories down into the ground. It's a huge underground complex.
"See, Bio-Rad was the flagship company, and then they [Earl Brian] started InfoTech, and then they got mired in lawsuits and then Hadron was formed to be a cutout parent corporation, you know, just to be a firewall from law suits ..."
I asked, "What do they do at Bio-Rad?"
"Well, they make the most hazardous biological and nuclear chemicals in the world, for medical research."
"Who do they sell it to?"
"Well, front line researchers all over the world. Bio-Rad is the single source for this stuff ... actually Aldrich Chemical sells it, there's about 100 companies, but Bio-Rad is head and shoulder above all of them by a factor of ten on many things like Cytotoxins."
I remembered reading about Cytotoxins in the Wackenhut/Cabazon biological warfare letters to Dr. Harry Fair.
Michael continued ... "You look at Cytotoxic TLymphocytes. You go ask any medical professional what they're doing on the leading edge of research there? What the full implications to humanity are, OK?"
I wanted clarification from Michael, so I answered, "It looks to me like research on a cure for cancer."
Michael took the bait. "Go ask a professional. I'd rather have you hear it from a collateral source other than from me."
"Well, give me some indication ..."
Michael responded hesitantly, "It would have been Hitler's wet dream. It's selective to such a degree that it's awesome. With the appropriate genetic material, you can wipe out whole segments of humanity. There's no stopping it."
"I asked, "You mean you could selectively wipe out certain races of people?"
"Sure."
"Jeez."
Mike continued ..."And, also, from the beneficial side, you can very specifically wipe out disease cells, cancer cells. Look at the patents. Look at Immunix (phonetic sp.) Corporation, look at the patent portfolios on Bio-Rad."
"Who's Bio-Rad's main buyer?"
"Well, the National Institute of Health, you know, every hospital in the world buys Bio-Rad products."
I had read about Sir Denis Kendall, the famous M16 British intelligence officer during World War II, in "Who's Who in America," 1989 issue. Kendall had worked with Michael in some, as yet, undefined capacity. Bobby Riconosciuto had noted to me that Kendall and Ted Gunderson had counseled Oliver North prior to his testimony to Congress. Kendall was also heavily involved in arms and biotechnology, according to Michael Riconosciuto.
Clinical Sciences
http://www.american-buddha.com/orlin.vince.27.htm
"...Brian also acquired control of a Canadian company called Clinical Sciences..."
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/med/clins ... ehandling/
DNA Sequence Handling, WMS, division of Clinical Sciences website
"...a)
Clone Manager
The main functions of Clone Manager are to create, view and print graphical plasmid maps, and to allow "virtual cloning" based on restriction enzyme sites in these maps...."
"...b) Lasergene (DNAStar)
Lasergene is a full-featured DNA and protein sequence analysis package, split into a number of modules: Editseq handles sequence file import and format conversions; GeneQuest performs DNA sequence analysis including ORF prediction and RNA folding; PrimerSelect allows the design of oligonucleotide primers for PCR and sequencing; Protean performs amino acid sequence analysis, such as secondary structure prediction; Megalign performs multiple sequence alignments and generates phylogenetic trees; Mapdraw performs similar functions to Clone Manager; Seqman allows the management of large sequencing projects; GeneMan handles sequence database access, including remote sites. The package incorporates on-line help and the manuals are available from Stores. The programme is installed on individual PC's by the IT staff.
c) Advanced sequence manipulations
Until recently, a suite of programmes known as 'GCG' was widely used in the Department for a variety of advanced sequence manipulations. GCG is still available for those who need to use it, however it is increasingly being superseded by other facilities, including Lasergene and also programmes available free over the Internet. Examples of the latter include Blast searches, for testing new sequences against the accumulated sequence database. Detailed advice on these is beyond the scope of this general guidance....."
http://www.american-buddha.com/last.circle.11.htm
The Last Circle:
"...Hadron, of which Dr. Brian was a director, provided engineering and computer consulting services, along with telecommunications products. Sales were $25.7 million in 1985. Clinical Sciences, Inc. sells biochemical products used for diagnostic tests and antibody analysis. Dr. Brian was also a director of this company. Sales in 1986 were about $4 million...."
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
"....As of this writing, Financial News Network's financial dealings were under investigation by a Los Angeles Grand Jury, according to sources who have testified before it. RLF What A Surprise! Earl W. Brian says he wasn't in Paris in October 1980, but investors were told a different story. As Inslaw President Bill Hamilton moved his company from non-profit status to the private sector in 1980, Ronald Reagan was running for President, negotiations for the release of the American hostages in Iran had apparently hit a snag, and Dr. Earl W. Brian was touring Canada touting stock in his newly acquired Clinical Sciences Inc. History records that the hostages were released as Ronald Reagan took the Presidential oath of office, and that shortly thereafter, Inslaw received a $9.6 million contract from the Department of Justice. At the same time, Earl Brian was appointed to a White House post to advise on health-care issues. Brian reported directly to Ed Meese. He also arranged White House tours to woo investors in his government contracting company, Hadron Inc., according to a Canadian investment banker who took a tour...."
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
"...Brian was interviewed by Senate investigators on July 28, 1992, and denied under oath any connection with the alleged negotiations. He told the investigators he did not have a valid passport during the October 1980 dates. But according to court documents and interviews, Brian told Canadian investors in his newly acquired Clinical Sciences, Inc., that he would be in Paris that weekend. Brian acquired controlling interest in Clinical Sciences in the summer of 1980. Clinical Sciences was then trading at around $2 a share. Brian worked with Janos P. Pasztor, a vice president and special situations analyst with the Canadian investment bank of Nesbitt, Thomson, Bongard Inc., to create a market of Canadian investors for the stock. Pasztor later testified in court documents that Brian said he would be in Paris the weekend of October 17 to do a deal with the Pasteur Institute (a medical research firm). Two other brokers, Harry Scully, a broker based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and John Belton, a senior account executive with Nesbitt-Thomson from 1968 to 1982 who is suing Nesbitt-Thomson and Pasztor for securities fraud, also claim that they were told that Brian was in Paris that weekend. But if Brian went to Paris to see the Pasteur Institute, he seems to have missed his appointment. An investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police into Clinical Sciences stock transactions revealed that the Pasteur Institute had never conducted business with, or even heard of Brian. When asked by Wired to elaborate on Brian's 1980 trip, Pasztor said, "These are political questions and I don't want to become involved." He refused further comment.Brian contends that the dates of his trip were in error and that he went to Paris in April 1981, not October 1980. But the passport he turned over to Senate investigators did not contain a French entry or exit stamp for April 1981. Through his lawyers, Brian refused to be interviewed for this story. RLF Earl W. Brian: Closet Spook?..."
Financial News Network (FNN) now CNBC
Data Broadcasting Company
http://www.american-buddha.com/affid.margaret.htm
AFFIDAVIT OF MARGARET WIENCEK
The INSLAW CASE:
AFFIDAVIT OF MARGARET WIENCEK
State of California, County of Los Angeles
I, MARGARET WIENCEK, after being duly sworn state as follows:
1. Between January, 1987 and October 1990, I was employed at the Financial News Network (FNN) located in Los Angeles, California as Director of Administration and Assistant to C. Steven Bolen, Chief Financial Officer.
2. During this period of time, Dr. Earl W. Brian was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Board and C. Steven Bolen was Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of FNN. Dr. Brian and Mr. Bolen also served during this same period as CEO and CFO, respectively, of Infotechnology (INFOTECH) and United Press International (UPI).
3. During part of my tenure as Director of Administration in
1987, I reported directly to C. Steven Bolen and had occasion to
become familiar with the names of parties who communicated with
Mr. Bolen by telephone.
4. Peter Vedinecks and Michael Riconisuitto (as I am unaware of the proper spelling of these individuals' names, I have spelled them phonetically as I would have done on any phone log when uncertain of the spellings of names) were individuals who made several phone calls to FNN during the first quarter of 1987 asking for Mr. Bolen and/or Dr. Earl W. Brian and leaving messages for Mr. Bolen and/or Dr. Earl W. Brian requesting that Mr. Bolen and/or Dr. Earl W. Brian return calls. I took several phone messages for Mr. Bolen from both of these individuals during this period of time. All messages were kept by way of phone message/log books and were maintained and logged by the person taking the calls. I have never met nor seen either of the individuals (Vedinecks/Riconisuitto). The only way I have knowledge of these individuals is thru phone calls/messages from these individuals to Mr. Bolen and/or Dr. Earl W. Brian.
5. In the course of my official duties, I became aware of a file in Mr. Bolen's office marked M.I.S. that contained copies of correspondence relating to the PROMIS computer software product. Dominick Laiti, then CEO of Hadron, Inc., a company controlled by Dr. Earl W. Brian through Infotechnology, Inc. was either the author or recipient of the letters in question in this file. It
is my understanding that M.I.S. is a common abbreviation for Management Information Systems and that PROMIS is a management information system for case tracking and workflow management applications.
6. All phone records and documentation that may pertain to the calls (see paragraph 5 above) and file (see paragraph 6 above) for this time period were packed by me to be put in storage some time during 1988. In 1988 these items and all other items that pertain to this period of time were then moved to a new location of FNN. When FNN dismissed the entire Accounting and Administration Staff (of which I was a part), the documentation which is mentioned in paragraphs 5 and 6 above, as well as any and all other documentation was packed up by the person(s) that dismissed the staff as well as person(s) that were asked to help pack from other related companies of Dr. Earl W. Brian's (i.e., ACS, Hadron, etc.). All of these items were then shipped the same day as the dismissals were made (October 16, 1990). These items were boxed and shipped via airplane to 9990 Lee Highway -- Fairfax, Virginia -- in care of Atlantic Contract Services (ACS) and/or the Jim Arnold's Law Firm (Corporate Attorney to FNN, Infotech, Hadron, etc.).
7. I was requested to write this Affidavit at the request of Special Agent Scott Lawrence, United States Custom Service, concerning my knowledge of Peter Vedinecks and Michael Riconisuitto [Riconosciuto] as they relate to Dr. Earl W. Brian.
I have made the foregoing statement consisting of two pages. I understand this statement and it is true, accurate and complete to the best of my knowledge and belief. I made this statement freely and voluntarily without any threats or rewards, or promises of reward having been made to me in return for it.
FURTHER AFFIANT SAYETH NOT.
[signed] Margaret Wiencek
SIGNED AND SWORN TO BEFORE ME THIS 7th DAY OF FEBRUARY, 1993.
Hadron
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
"...But these seemingly random historical connections between Inslaw, Hadron, the Reagan White House and Earl Brian take on a new meaning when considered in light of the "October Surprise," the persistent allegation that the Reagan campaign negotiated with Iranian officials to guarantee that US hostages would not be released before Reagan won election in 1980. The October Surprise theory hinges in part on alleged negotiations between the Reagan campaign and the Iranians on the weekend of Oct. 17Ð21, 1980, in Paris, among other places. The deal, according to former Iranian President Abol Hassan Bani-Sadr, ex-Israeli spy Ari Ben Menashe, and a former CIA contract agent interviewed by Wired, included the payment of $40 million to the Iranians. According to several sources, Earl Brian, one of Reagan's close advisors, made it quite clear that he was planning to be in Paris that very weekend. Ben Menashe, who says he was one of six Israelis, 12 Americans and 16 Iranians present at the Paris talks, said, "I saw Brian in Paris." Brian was interviewed by Senate investigators on July 28, 1992, and denied under oath any connection with the alleged negotiations. He told the investigators he did not have a valid passport during the October 1980 dates. But according to court documents and interviews, Brian told Canadian investors in his newly acquired Clinical Sciences, Inc., that he would be in Paris that weekend. Brian acquired controlling interest in Clinical Sciences in the summer of 1980...."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/101499a.html
“…In 1978, Brian invested heavily in Hadron, a company based in Vienna, Va., that did high-tech communications and computer work for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence. Two years later, Brian gained control of the company and began acquiring small firms with their own national-security contracts….”
Infotechology
http://www.american-buddha.com/orlin.vince.27.htm
...previously named Biotech Capital Corp (renamed Infotechnology in 1987)...
...At the time, Brian's company Biotech Capital Corp (later renamed Infotechnology) controlled Hadron, which attempted a buyout of Inslaw...
...In February 1983 Brian sent Rafi Eitan over to the Inslaw offices for a demonstration of the PROMIS software. Rafi Eitan was to later head up LAKAM, Israel's scientific and technological espionage agency which oversaw the Jonathan Pollard spying operation....
...The indictment says one of the co-conspirators, a fellow named Bolen, caused a fraudulent $1 million to be paid to the offshore bank account of a company called Centerpoint, Inc., as a payment to himself....
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
"...In 1980, Brian formed Biotech Capital Corp., a venture capital firm designed to invest in biological and medical companies. Ultimately, Brian has invested in and owned several companies, including FNN (Financial News Network) and UPI, both of which ended up in dire financial straits. Ursula Meese, who like her husband knew Brian from the Reagan cabinet, was an early investor in Biotech, using $15,000 (borrowed from Edwin Thomas, a Meese aide in the White House and another Reaganite from California) to purchase 2,000 shares on behalf of the Meese's two children, according to information made public during Meese's confirmation hearings for Attorney General. It is those Reagan-Meese connections that continue to drag Brian into the Inslaw affair. For why would Brian, of all people, be the recipient of stolen PROMIS? PROMIS, after all, was a major part in government automation contracts estimated at $3 billion, according to Inslaw President Bill Hamilton. That's quite a political plum. One possibility is Ed and Ursula Meese's financial connections to Brian. Another is a payoff for Brian's role in the October Surprise . ...."
Institutional Research Network (IRN)??
http://www.orlingrabbe.com/part27.htm
"...The California indictment of Earl W. Brian was announced in September 1995. The indictment concerns ten of millions of dollars of fraudulent lease transactions, while Earl Brian was Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of three separate companies: Infotechology, Financial News Network (FNN), and United Press International (UPI).
The indictment claims that Brian and his co-conspirators engaged in some trick financing (worthy of Billy Sol Estes). In 1988 FNN (now CNBC) was losing money, so to hide that fact from its lending banks and from the investing public, Brian generated some extra "income" through false charges.
First FNN charged UPI $29 million to use a technology called the "vertical blanking interval". Next FNN charged another Infotechnology- related company called Institutional Research Network (IRN) millions of dollars (above actual costs) for a news product called FNN:PRO. Payments for these charges topped up FNN's income nicely.
But since neither UPI nor IRN had money to pay for these charges, the money had to come from somewhere else. The money came from leasing and finance companies, who bought broadcast and communications equipment from two affiliates of FNN, Telecommunications Industries and Micro Research Industries. (The equipment either did not exist or was sold to more than one leasing company at the same time, or was previously sold to customers of the FNN subsidiary Data Broadcasting Company.) The purchase price of the non- existent equipment was paid to FNN, who then made lease payments to the leasing and finance companies.
The indictment says that Brian also siphoned off $300,000 of the lease money to himself, by submitting a "bill" to FNN from another company he controlled, called Alton, Inc...."
Telcom
“…Brian also was president of the Los Angeles-based Xonics, Inc. in 1975-77. An FBI agent's memo to Stein described Xonics as a high-tech company with "several contracts with the Department of Defense and the CIA." Xonics specialized in telecommunications, radar techniques and X-ray imaging.
In 1978, Brian invested heavily in Hadron, a company based in Vienna, Va., that did high-tech communications and computer work for the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence. Two years later, Brian gained control of the company and began acquiring small firms with their own national-security contracts.
One of those purchases in December 1981 was Telcom, a communications engineering company that handled sensitive work for Jordan's armed forces and King Hussein. Telcom had a contract with the Royal Jordanian Air Force to set up a digital voice and microwave communications system, according to Hadron's Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1983.
Hadron's Form 10-K for 1984 described Telcom's upgrade of the communications system of the Jordanian Royal Palace in Amman. Telcom also operated the microwave network of the Special Communications Commission of the Jordanian Armed Forces.
In 1985, Hadron reported that Telcom personnel operated "a number of communications facilities" for "a proprietary U.S. Government agency," a phrase meaning an intelligence cut-out.
In other words, Eitan's account of Brian's activities would fit with the documentary evidence about Brian's businesses in the Middle East and in the United States. By the early 1980s, under Brian's guidance, Hadron had grown into a company with $30 million annual revenues, exclusively from national-security contracts….”
United Press International (UPI)
http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/d ... ntID=12482
"....UPI has been owned by a company controlled by the brother-in-law of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia since 1992. When it was sold to the Saudis, the company had about 500 news employees around the world, said Steve Geimann, a former executive editor of UPI who now works for Bloomberg Business News. Now, according to a statement released about the sale, the company is down to 157 employees, roughly 100 of whom work in the Washington bureau.
It was unclear whether the remaining individuals were regular employees or whether they were essentially "stringers" who rewrite news from other outlets for distribution on the UPI wire. It was also unclear whether UPI still had any domestic clients. The wire service has refused to discuss its client base for some time......"
"...The UPI of today bears no resemblance to UPI in its halcyon days. Virtually every domestic bureau has been closed, with reporters who still work for the wire service being forced to file from their own homes and put in the position of repackaging others' news rather than doing any original, independent reporting — with the exception of Thomas and a few other UPI Washington correspondents. The news service has gone through two bankruptcies, a court-forced liquidation sale and countless owners since its founder, E.W. Scripps, put the company on the sale block for the first time in the early 1980s.
Among the former owners of UPI are Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler, two individuals active in the Baha'i religious sect; Mexican publisher Mario Vazquez-Raña and venture capitalist Earl Brian, who was subsequently convicted of federal bank fraud, conspiracy and lying to auditors for financial manipulations while he was in control of the company and another firm, the Financial News Network...."
"...UPI's employees were informed of the sale officially yesterday in a staff meeting, but the possibility of a takeover by the Unification Church had been rumored for more than a week. Employees all received their final paychecks from the old owners yesterday and were informed that all would need to reapply to the new owners if they hoped to continue to work for the wire service.
Geimann said he believed the purchase was made to "provide a distribution vehicle for the contents of The Washington Times. Looking at the announcement and all I know from reading the newspapers, their interest is in the name 'UPI,' which does still have a reputation and caché after 93 years. But also to have access to various communications channels and access to all the major news venues here in Washington and around the world."
Other than its Web site, Geimann said, The Washington Times does not have a distribution system to deliver news to areas beyond the Washington area. "What you're looking for is the ability to reach a large audience geographically with news distributed quickly," he said.
UPI through its various owners has never been profitable and has lost millions of dollars since the Saudis took it over in 1992. In that sense, UPI and The Washington Times have something in common. The Washington Post reported today that the Times had been a money-losing venture since its inception in 1982 and had lost $1 billion by 1997.
Without Helen Thomas, however, it is unclear whether even deep pockets can keep the wire service afloat, let alone bring back a semblance of the respect it once enjoyed.
"It's been a sad story for the past decade watching what was once a great journalism institution scrapping for news all over the world, getting some scoops and getting beat," said Geimann. "It's been said to watch its slow, sometimes agonizing decline."
Cohen described the sale as "prolonging the agony."
"I don't have any idea what they (News World Communications) could possibly do with it. It doesn't seem like there's enough still there on the bones to be able to resuscitate the patient."..."
http://www.auburn.edu/~lowrygr/speech.html
My first experience with UPI in any close proximity occurred in 1969 when I was a reporter in Southeast Asia. Our company, Group-W, Westinghouse Broadcasting, used the UPI lines to communicate among its staff. So I sent my messages back from the UPI bureau and then got to know the UPI people in Saigon and meet some of the UPI reporters who were covering the war…..
….Then in fall of 1985 it turned out that UPI was in trouble. I focused on it again and learned that it had been sold to some entrepreneurs and they had mismanaged the business and UPI was in bankruptcy and it might be up for sale. I talked to my colleague -- Dr. Earl Brian -- who was the chairman of FNN and ran a venture capital company called BioTech. Brian was helping to finance FNN and we got interested in UPI, thinking it might be a further step for The Financial News Network to become involved in UPI.
FNN was a new, news organization. It was growing and it had just turned profitable. So, in the fall of '85 we went to Washington and went to the offices of UPI. I spent four or five days there over a very intense period where we made a bid for UPI along with some other people.
We got to met all the people involved in managing the company at that time before we made a bid for it. Our bid, although higher numerically, was rejected by the executive committee, by the union, and by the bankruptcy committee -- all of whom had a say in whom the next owner would be. We just didn't do a very good job communicating with them.
They sold the company to a Mexican publisher named Mario Vasquez Rana and he took it over in 1985. And I thought -- in terms of my career and my life -- that I would never be involved again.
A bit later, I was working with another company that FNN owned called Data Broadcasting, a company that developed technology for transmitting textual and data information by putting it on Cable TV signals in the vertical blanking interval (VBI), the same technology that carries the text for the deaf.
At that time in the fall of 1987, we got a call from Mr. Rana, who was having some problems. He knew of us because, of course, we had met at the offices of UPI and we had been contesting him to purchase it.
That began a dialogue with him that lasted about three months.
Then, just about three years ago today, as a matter of fact, the third-Friday of February, 1988, there were three of us, driving in a car downtown to Washington: a public relations gentleman of long experience who had worked for UPI some 20 years earlier, an entrepreneur -- Dr. Brian -- who, as I have pointed out, had helped finance FNN and would finance any acquisition of UPI, and myself. Dr. Brian turned to the other gentleman -- with long longtime public affairs credentials -- and asked him: "Should we get involved in this?"
We were at the brink of getting involved. The other gentleman said, "I don't think we should. Number one, if it fails you're going to be identified forever as the person who brought UPI its knees, and ended it; and secondly, I'm not so sure about the prospects in the newspaper market."
Then Dr. Brian asked me: "What do you think?". I said: "I'm not so sure that it is a good business idea, but I think it's worth doing it because it is worth saving."
That was the depth of my analysis of it at that moment, before we got a chance to take a deeper look at UPI's books. I just thought, as a journalist, that UPI was so important that we had to save it and do anything we could for it. Since Brian was willing to help finance it, I said I was going to do the best job I could to make it work, so that's how I got involved in it….
…..The newspaper industry, as a whole was more involved in the news in the sense that from the publisher on down everybody is looking closely at the product. What's happened is that because of the distillation of the news industry and the lack of competition, the spirit of journalistic competitiveness has changed. Newspapers were looking for one kind of product from us; the broadcasters were looking for another.
The broadcasters were still highly competitive with numerous radio stations and television stations (in every community). Broadcasters wanted breaking news. The newspapers on the other hand just weren't as interested any more in the kind of fast news that a news service like UPI had traditionally put out. So we had to develop completely different products for these two markets.
For example, we updated and developed our stock agate feed for newspaper stock pages because managing stock information was a problem, technologically, for newspapers.
So the different needs of the two marketplaces created one set of problems.
What we were seeing was that UPI news services had lost their competitive attractiveness from the perspective of many newspapers, with the overseas exception of Latin America. For some reason, I never had the time to analyze fully, but certainly it was true, in Latin America UPI remained very competitive. Probably because UPI started there early; probably because our the people there were competent; probably because over the years the tradition of service has kept up.
There is more on that subject if you want to learn about it in a book that is going to come out later this year that Professor Bruce Garrison and Professor Michael Salwen wrote, both of whom are on the University of Miami faculty, called Latin America Journalism. There is much more detail about reasons for the success of UPI in Latin America in that text……
…….But, we faced a major credibility problem. We -- the new owners -- had a lack of strategic, industry partners. The (news industry) said: 'Who are these guys? Who is Paul Steinle? Who is Earl Brian? Who are these people?' ….
….We tried to innovate. I mentioned the new stock tables that our management team came up with. We created several other new products. One was an analysis of political action committees where computers were following all the votes in Congress and categorizing those and seeing how they tied into political contributions.
We realized that with the technology we had we could establish an electronic-partnership with newspapers. This was a very important initiative.
Newspapers were very interested in selling their information in other ways. They realized there could be a future for them to earn more income if they could distribute their news products electronically.
The model that seems to be working is the model where information is delivered to personal computers and there is control at the user-end over what comes through. This was technology that UPI had developed to some degree for some other products and also had laid the network for so that the newspapers could exploit if they joined us. So we began to enlist the support and participation of newspapers in the expansion of content for the sale of an electronic information service to non-media clients. And, they were responding favorably to this concept.
Finally, we were targeting the non-media markets because, from a business point of view, we thought that what winning would look like was this. We would maintain our media market share and grow it perhaps slightly, but the real future financial growth would be on the non-media side -- selling to government agencies, selling to businesses and other institutions like that.
So this was my perspective in the summer of 1989 about 14 months into the turnaround effort.
We had reduced our losses from about $2 million a month on a cash-flow basis down to about $1 million. On a P&L basis, we were down to about $500,000 a month in losses.
We had a relatively good turnaround story to tell at that time and we had promising numbers.
But, even in the face of this, it looked to me like it was going to cost us at least another $50 million, which is a lot of money, to succeed.
My position at that time -- what I recommended -- was we should seek strategic news industry partners to go forth and do this, to go to the news industry and convince them to come in and join us as investors and part-owners.
Unfortunately, from my perspective, I had a discussion with the people I worked for and they didn't want to do that. They had always raised funds from institutional investors in the past; they felt that was the best way to raise money. That was the course we continued on, going in that direction.
From my point of view at that point, I could not see how we could succeed, because I feared that these institutional investors would not have the patience to stay in this business.
To be an investor in the news business, I believed, you had to be strategically involved, which means there had to be some benefit other than pure financial return for you.
I don't think an institutional investor -- an insurance company or venture capitalist, something like that -- has that perspective. They're looking totally at bottom-line involvement and how quickly they're going to get a return on their investment.
So UPI made a decision to delegate its leadership authority to someone else. And, instead of seeking strategic investment, the company in the short-term, invested heavily in selling to non-media clients.
I never got to launch my pitch for strategic investors -- but in fairness, it might have met with complete failure.
Many in the news industry had written UPI off. But I believed that we had a reasonable story to tell, and more importantly, we had documented information to support our story, since the business was under tighter control. And the industry had a reason to invest -- since we were establishing a leadership position in technology and since there is still a hard-core group that wants two news services. But, getting these investors certainly would have been an exceedingly challenging task.
Anyway what happened was that UPI increased its sales staff and targeted non-media clients, but sales did not increase significantly and within a year losses were back up to $2 million a month, by the summer of 1990.
In the meantime, I had decided to leave UPI to do something on my own, but that is essentially what happened to the company. Now UPI is up for sale again. ….
…..Finally, as I wrap up my talk about UPI, I think we should mention three people who have been very important to UPI in the last six or seven years.
Sometimes these people are praised for what they have done. Sometimes they are condemned. If these men had not done what they had done, UPI probably would have been gone six or seven years ago.
The first is Luis Nogales, an attorney who got involved in UPI in the mid-80s. When the company was in bankruptcy in spring of 1985, he essentially took control of UPI kept it alive. He certainly had a vision. I think he deserves praise for piloting UPI through those hazards.
I think Mario Vasquez Rana, who came along in 1985 and financed the company essentially from his checkbook also deserves praise. Ultimately he did not succeed, but his participation and support deserves recognition.
Finally Dr. Earl Brian, for whom I worked: an entrepreneurial neuro-surgeon. He stuck his neck out to raise tens-of-millions dollars to keep UPI going since 1988.
From a business perspective, despite having more than 2,500 clients, the company was essentially dead -- D-O-A -- February 1988 when Brian took over, and pumped life and dollars into it. And now, three years later the news is still being put out. Dr. Brian nurtured the vision to reposition UPI technologically and make it a success, but ultimately he lacked the funds to complete the job.
There were mistakes made. Perhaps people reached farther than they should have. But, I think, the one major beneficiary has been the news business at large……
Xonics
http://www.american-buddha.com/orlin.vince.27.htm
"...A number of former Xonics officers went on to form a company called Hadron...."
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/octopus2.htm
"...In 1974, Brian resigned his cabinet post with Governor Reagan to run for the Senate against Alan Cranston. After his defeat, Brian moved into the world of business and soon ran into trouble. His flagship company, Xionics, was cited by the Security and Exchange Commission for issuing press releases designed to boost stock prices with exaggerated or bloated information. The SEC also accused Xionics of illegally paying "commissions" to brokers, according to SEC documents. At the close of the Reagan governorship, Brian was involved in a public scandal having to do with surprise stolen computer tapes. The tapes, which contained records of 70,000 state welfare files, were eventually returned Brian claimed he had a right to them under a contract signed in the last hours of the administration. (Brian said he just wanted to develop a better way of doing welfare business.)..."
http://www.consortiumnews.com/1999/101499a.html
”…I also discovered evidence of Brian's travels to Iran in the 1970s. I found proof, too, that Brian's Hadron was linked to U.S. intelligence and did top-secret work in Jordan.
Some information was in old newspapers. "Dr. Earl Brian reportedly is out to get a little of that Middle Eastern oil money," the Sacramento Bee reported on Jan. 12, 1975. "Brian, the secretary of the Health and Welfare agency under Ronald Reagan, is helping to write a proposal on health care for Iran."
I located other evidence at the National Archives in newly opened files from an investigation by Independent Counsel Jacob Stein who examined the personal finances of White House counselor Edwin Meese III. Brian was interviewed because in 1981, he had given Meese a $15,000 interest-free loan that Meese had used to buy stock in Brian's new Biotech Capital Corp.
Brian told one of Stein's investigators that he did "some corporate consulting" in Iran in the 1970s.
Brian also was president of the Los Angeles-based Xonics, Inc. in 1975-77. An FBI agent's memo to Stein described Xonics as a high-tech company with "several contracts with the Department of Defense and the CIA." Xonics specialized in telecommunications, radar techniques and X-ray imaging.
