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How Chichakli and Bout are Connected
Chichakli and Bout
What connects Richard Chichakli to Victor Bout
Richard is not and was not an employee/associate of Victor Bout or any of his companies for any length of time. Richard is not, nor was he ever the chief financial manager of Mr. Bout’s, nor the spokesperson for him or any of his organizations, nor was he ever an officer and/or director of any company belongs to Victor Bout and to which account any amount of money was sent or received for any purpose. It is imperative to understand that Mr. Bout was not sanctioned by the US government until July of 2004, and prior to that date there was not any prohibition to conduct business with him.
Richard has always called Victor a “brother and friend” and he is that to Richard, nothing more and nothing less. What was unique in the friendship of these two men is that after the UN published its report about Victor Bout in 2001 and which led to the financial collapse of Victor Bout, almost all of Victor’s friends abandoned him except for Richard Chichakli. For those who know Richard that would not be surprising because Richard is a descendant of a large Arabian family with history of values and traditions. Richard will not abandon a friend on the basis of “hearsay”, nor will he accept to “hush up” in order to be politically correct. Therefore, he publicly demanded of those using Victor Bout for personal gains to show evidence and corroborate facts, and that was fatal because he was the only one standing in the face of a current.
Richard Chichakli and Victor Bout developed a personal relation since their meeting for the first time nearly 14 years ago in the UAE. The two men were aviation enthusiasts who enjoy developing business, managing aircraft, and working in a fast-pace environment. The families of both men became friends and their children found a mate with whom they can speak and play in that conservative community where they lived. Since the year 1996 Richard maintained personal relations with Victor and his family, with periods of inert and active participation as commonly occur in friendships.
That is Richard's personal relation to Victor Bout, so was there any professional relation, and the answer is yes, there was but not any of the types mentioned at the beginning of this page, and not after his was sanctioned in 2004. Richard and Victor had professional consulting relation on three encounters in 1995, 1998, and the last in 2000 as follows:
Richard Chichakli first introduction to Victor Bout took place about 14 years ago, in August of 1995, in the state of Sharjah, one of the seven states in the United Arab Emirates. At that point of time Richard was an employee of the government of Sharjah, serving as the commercial manager of Sharjah Airport International Free Zone and Victor Bout was one of the hundreds of investors who were interested in setting up a business in that free zone.
Similar to meeting all potential customers, Richard, in his capacity as the commercial manager of the free zone met Victor and his accompanied party and received from him a copy of the business plan for the company he wanted to create in the free zone and which was an airline by the name of Aircess. The standard plan included the usual financial details, projections, and all other related information, and Richard's duty was to assess the feasibility of the proposed business venture in meeting the objectives of the free zone. This is where and when Richard acquired the knowledge he possesses about Aircess. Companies operating in the free zone were further required submitting periodic reports regarding their activities, and therefore updated information about Aircess was periodically available to Richard until July of 1996, when his contract ended and he returned with his family to the United States. As the employment relation between Sharjah Free Zone and Richard ended, so were the relations between the companies operating in the free zone and Richard Chichakli.
Shortly after returning to the US from UAE in July 1996, Richard started a management consulting company while working toward receiving licensing to open a public accounting practice in the state of Texas. About the second quarter of 1998, Victor who had moved from UAE to South Africa called Richard in Texas asking for his professional help in assessing the ability of Aircess to go public. As a management consultant in finance and aviation, Richard accepted the job and quoted Mr. Bout a fee for the service, upon which acceptance Richard travelled to South Africa to assess the ability of Mr. Bout’s company to go public. The job lasted for about 10 working days. In the course of doing the assessment, Richard was exposed to all details related to the structure and finance of Aircess and its related entities, and developed an understanding of the company’s operations. In conclusion, Richard informed Mr. Bout that in his opinion the company cannot successfully initiate an initial public offering, an opinion that was equally shared by Aircess lawyers and public accountants in South Africa. That was the second encounter between Richard Chichakli and Victor Bout, and during that time there were no sanctions against Victor Bout and no reasons whatsoever not to accept the assignment.
The third encounter between Richard Chichakli and Victor Bout occurred about June of 2000, just upon the collapse of Victor’s business in South Africa. Victor called Richard and conveyed to him that his business was in dire financial trouble and he is not sure about what to do or where to go. Richard advised Victor to settle and start a manufacturing business in the United States, where incentives, credit, and market are available. Victor agreed and asked Richard to start the process for business immigration for him, and so it was until Victor’s application for a US visa was rejected. This occurrence took place in June of 2000 while Victor Bout was not under any sanctions, nor were there any publications against him or any reason to prevent transacting with him.
At the end of 2004 the United States government placed sanctions against Victor Bout, and on or after that point of time there was no business relation between Richard Chichakli and Victor Bout. See the chronicle of events
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