Hamas Arms Maker and 'Serial Fraudster' Gets 70 Years in Prison for Torture

Also: Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Prison for Torture and Illegally Exporting Weapons Parts and Related Services to Iraq (U.S. Department of Justice)

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Source: Rolling Stone

Hamas Arms Maker and ‘Serial Fraudster’ Gets 70 Years in Prison for Torture

Zack Kopplin
Thu, April 18, 2024 at 12:00 PM EDT·5 min read

In a secret recording produced at trial, Ross Roggio, an international arms dealer and con artist from Pennsylvania, spat defiance towards the federal agents investigating him. “They can fucking arrest me and torture me till the day they die,” he said.

The federal prison system is about to get a chance to do just that. Roggio, 55, was convicted of money laundering, wire fraud, arms smuggling, and torture last May. On Monday, he was sentenced by a federal judge to serve 70 years in prison — effectively a life sentence.

A “serial fraudster,” according to federal prosecutors, Roggio’s schemes were profiled in depth by Rolling Stone last year. He shook down Haitian earthquake victims and duped U.S. special forces veterans, but his crowning achievement, and downfall, was conning Polad Talabani, a Kurdish counterterrorism official who had contracted him to build an illegal weapons factory in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. Weapons made at Roggio’s factory ended up in the hands of militant groups, including Hamas.

Link to tweet

Roggio convinced Talabani — whose brother, Lahur, was then co-president and intelligence chief of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, (PUK), the party that rules Sulaymaniyah — that he could deliver a factory that produced thousands of M4 rifles and Glock-style pistols.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/hamas-arms-maker-serial-fraudster-160000314.html

Original Rolling Stone link (paywall): https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/ross-roggio-prison-arms-fraud-torture-1235006441/

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Source: U.S. Department of Justice

Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Prison for Torture and Illegally Exporting Weapons Parts and Related Services to Iraq

Monday, April 15, 2024
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced today to 70 years in prison for torturing an Estonian citizen in 2015 in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and for the illegal export of weapons parts and related services.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Ross Roggio, 55, of Stroudsburg, arranged for Kurdish soldiers to abduct and detain the victim at a Kurdish military compound, where Roggio suffocated the victim with a belt, threatened to cut off one of his fingers, and directed Kurdish soldiers to repeatedly beat, choke, tase, and otherwise physically and mentally abuse the victim over a 39-day period. The victim was an employee at a weapons factory that Roggio was developing in the Kurdistan region of Iraq that was intended to manufacture automatic rifles and pistols.

“Ross Roggio had his victim abducted and detained at a Kurdish military compound in Iraq, where Roggio and others physically and mentally tortured the victim over the course of 39 days,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “During that time, Roggio suffocated the victim and directed others to beat, choke, and tase him. Roggio’s victim worked at a weapons factory in Iraq, where Roggio illegally sent weapons parts and illegally provided services, in violation of export controls laws. Today’s sentence—following the second-ever conviction under the federal torture statute—shows that, no matter where such deplorable acts occur, the United States is committed to holding the perpetrators accountable.”

“As proven at trial and demonstrated by today’s sentence, Mr. Roggio committed egregious human rights abuses and smuggled restricted firearm components from the United States to launch an unsanctioned weapons factory,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We will not waver in bringing to justice those that violate our export controls in contravention of our national security and foreign policy priorities.”

“The sentence imposed by the court demonstrates the seriousness of Ross Roggio’s crimes and brings some measure of justice for his torture victim,” said U.S. Attorney Gerard M. Karam for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. “Violence against the dignity and human rights of any victim cannot be tolerated and our office will continue to prioritize and pursue those who would do so in violation of federal law. Ross Roggio was also convicted of United States export laws related to illegally producing firearms in Kurdistan, Iraq. Though more technical in nature, these laws are no less important and are designed to take into account human rights considerations on a larger scale, to limit access to our most sensitive technologies and weapons, and to promote regional stability. I commend all the prosecutors and law enforcement agents who worked tirelessly to bring justice in this matter.”

In connection with the weapons factory project, Roggio exported firearms parts and tools without the required approvals by the U.S. government. He also illegally trained foreign persons in the operation, assembly, and manufacturing of the M4 automatic rifle.

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/pennsylvania-man-sentenced-prison-torture-and-illegally-exporting-weapons-parts-and-related