Monthly Archives: October 2013

2013/10/17

EZ Jet Founder Pleads Guilty

By FAReport

Sonny Ramdeo, the founder and former CEO of the defunct Guyanese airilne EZ Jet, has admitted guilt to charges including embezzling between $20 and $50 million. The funds were taken from Promise Healthcare/Success Healthcare in Ramdeo’s role as payroll manager for those companies. They were then used to financially support his EZ Jet airline which failed in late 2012.

EZ Jet had been accused of receiving funds from politically connected Guyanese and questioned about the viability of their business model. And in an interview with a blogging site, Ramdeo admitted to knowing that cocaine was being transported on EZ Jet flights.

Wait. Was the cocaine transporting a part of the business plan or an unfortunate incidental? Ramdeo has avoided a trial with his plea deal so this line of inquiry might be left in the dust. Did their partners Dynamic Airways and Swift Air know about this? Did the former World Airways executives – Robert DuBois, Richard Lee, Rick McGough – who worked for EZ Jet know? Maybe Richard Lee could talk about his past dealings with Gaddafi’s Libya. That might be tangential but nevertheless very interesting.

Likely the case will be that Ramdeo goes to prison for a long time while everyone else walks away unscathed.

6 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized

2013/10/02

John Norman Sims: Well-connected Crook?

By FAReport

In our previous post, we highlighted the indictment of three U.S. Air Force contractors for contracting fraud among other charges. One of them, George Cannady, had been employed by North Carolina-based Dynamic Airways. John Norman Sims was the man inside the Pentagon who directed contracts to Cannady and his co-conspirator Ronald B. Powers.

Sims shows up in three entries on the government’s Excluded Parties List System (pdf) which tracks “those parties excluded from receiving Federal contracts, certain subcontracts, and certain types of Federal financial and non-financial assistance and benefits.” His most recent venture in government contracting was with Enkidu7 (whose website has reverted back to a generic template but here’s something about them) where he was the CEO according to a book blurb (image). Sims is in some way connected to another company called Cyber Dorylus, LLC. By looking up the internet domain name, the information below was found:

Domain Name: CYBERDORYLUS.NET
Registrar URL: http://www.godaddy.com
Updated Date: 2013-05-14 07:15:47
Creation Date: 2012-08-12 17:52:17
Registrar Expiration Date: 2015-08-12 17:52:17
Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
Registrant Name: Ravi Gupta
Registrant Organization: Enkidu7
Registrant Street: 225 Kings Ridge Ct
Registrant City: Southern Pines
Registrant State/Province: North Carolina
Registrant Postal Code: 28387
Registrant Country: United States
Admin Name: Ravi Gupta
Admin Organization: Enkidu7
Admin Street: 225 Kings Ridge Ct
Admin City: Southern Pines
Admin State/Province: North Carolina
Admin Postal Code: 28387
Admin Country: United States
Admin Phone: (832) 628-7284
Admin Fax:
Admin Email: ravi6@gmail.com
Tech Name: Ravi Gupta
Tech Organization: Enkidu7
Tech Street: 225 Kings Ridge Ct
Tech City: Southern Pines
Tech State/Province: North Carolina
Tech Postal Code: 28387
Tech Country: United States
Tech Phone: (832) 628-7284
Tech Fax:
Tech Email:  ravi6@gmail.com

The registrant, admin and tech organizations are all Enkidu7 while the addresses appear to be Sims residence in Southern Pines, North Carolina. Digging further into the name “cyberdorylus” shows it to be another Virginia company with its principal address at 12500 Fair Lakes Circle Suite 150 in Fairfax. That address is also the address of StoneHedge Global Partners, a company run by William Jasien who happens to be married to the sister of former Virginia governor and senatorial candidate George Allen.

Another connection goes up to the Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. In April 2013, he announced the creation of a “Cyber Security Accelerator” which included Enkidu7 as one of the contributing organizations. It’s listed along with In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology incubator, and SAIC which has been mentioned here in previous posts.

So what is the relationship between Enkidu7 and the Fairfax, Virginia address of William Jasien’s business? And what is the intention of naming your internet company after army ants?

9 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in Uncategorized