Judges fines lawyers for Ringling Bros. circus owner $51K, payable to PETA

[Judi Lynn]

Judges fines lawyers for Ringling Bros. circus owner $51K, payable to PETA

By Matthew Barakat
ASSOCIATED PRESS

4:34 p.m. August 31, 2005

McLEAN, Va. – A judge sanctioned six lawyers representing the owners of the Ringling Bros. circus and ordered them to pay $51,000 in fines to the animal-rights group PETA for contempt of court and other violations.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment, which produces the circus, more than four years ago, claiming Feld ran an extensive corporate espionage campaign against it. PETA alleged Feld paid millions of dollars to a former top CIA operative to help run its spy operation.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Stitt issued the sanctions last week after PETA complained Feld's lawyers were obstructing the lawsuit.
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Clair George, the CIA's former covert operations director who was convicted of perjury in the Iran-Contra scandal but later pardoned, acknowledged in an unrelated case he did consulting work for Feld and helped oversee its surveillance of animal-rights groups.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20050831-1634-circusspylawsuit.html

[Kenneth ken]

1. Yay for PeTA

and all the non-human animals their efforts are meant to aid.

:)

[Judi Lynn]

2. I never paid any attention to "Clair George" in earlier times

bit seeing his name mentioned in this context sent me to google to find out what kind of pardoned Iran-Contra CIA man was doing covert work on animal-rights groups! Here's the first link I saw:

Chapter 17
United States v. Clair E. George
Clair E. George served as deputy director for operations (DDO) of the CIA from July 1984 through December 1987, after a long and distinguished career in the CIA's Directorate of Operations (DO) that began in 1955. During his tenure at the CIA, he completed numerous overseas assignments, often in dangerous locations. His primary activity was the recruitment of foreign agents to work clandestinely for the United States. Interspersed with these tours of duty abroad were assignments at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, during which George coordinated the CIA's activities in various parts of the world. He rose through the ranks at CIA during this progression of assignments.
(snip)

During the investigation of the CIA's role in Iran/contra, Independent Counsel uncovered evidence indicating that George was a well-informed supervisor of the CIA's support of the NSC effort to supply military aid to the contras and to sell weapons to Iran. The evidence indicated that George was aware of information he later denied knowing. The relevant evidentiary documents were, for the most part, either created, reviewed or received by George. The witness testimony came primarily from individuals who had worked closely with George, or who had provided information to his most senior, trusted assistants.

Independent Counsel's case against George centered on testimony he gave before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on October 10, 1986, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on October 14, 1986, and a federal Grand Jury investigating Iran/contra in 1991. The charges against him involved statements he made in the wake of the October 5, 1986, shootdown in Nicaragua of the contra-resupply plane carrying American Eugene Hasenfus. George was charged with falsely denying before Congress knowledge of who was behind the contra-resupply operation and the true identity of Max Gomez, a former CIA operative whose real name was Felix Rodriguez and whom Hasenfus had publicly identified as part of the resupply operation. According to the charges, George also falsely denied contacts with retired U.S. Air Force Major General Richard V. Secord, who was involved in both the Iran and contra operations.

George was tried in the summer of 1992 on nine counts of false statements, perjury and obstruction in connection with congressional and Grand Jury investigations. This trial ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a verdict on any count. George was retried in the fall of 1992 on seven counts, resulting in convictions on two charges of false statements and perjury before Congress. Before George was sentenced, President Bush pardoned him on December 24, 1992.
(snip/...)

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_17.htm

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Just how many vicious thugs DID _{George H. W. Bush} pardon, and why are they still trying to wage war on Americans?