Barry Oberholzer

Last updated
Barry Oberholzer
Born
Barend Oberholzer

Houston, Texas, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of South Africa,
American Military University
OccupationTechnology entrepreneur
Years active2001–present

Barend Oberholzer, [1] also known as Barry Oberholzer, is a federally convicted felon, [2] former professional rugby player, [3] an American entrepreneur, helicopter pilot and former intelligence operative. [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Early life

Oberholzer was born in Houston, Texas, United States, where his father Barry Oberholzer Sr. was the South African consul-general. He moved to South Africa after his father’s term ended in 1985. [7]

Oberholzer enrolled in the undergraduate course on Counter-Intelligence and Terrorism at the American Military University in 2012. [7]

Career

Oberholzer initially worked as a marketing manager for South African based helicopter company, Base4 Aviation. [7]

Oberholzer claimed that he has been a former intelligence contractor, serving as an informant, for the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Department of Homeland Security, Belgium Customs Intelligence Unit and the United Kingdom’s HM Revenue & Customs Intelligence to counter criminal operations, including narco-terrorism and smuggling networks. [6] When asked, these agencies have declined to comment, citing policy against confirming any individual's involvement as an informant. [7]

Technology

In 2017, Oberholzer founded SWORD, a mobile internet of things threat detection device, in an attempt to prevent casualties in mass shooting.[ citation needed ] The device is marketed as being able to "identify concealed threats, such as weapons, knives and explosive devices, and to identify people on customized watchlists."[ citation needed ]

Involvement with the South African government

Oberholzer served as a managing director of 360 Aviation. [8] In 2005, he advertised a Bell Helicopter on Barnstormers.com, an online marketplace for aviation. He was later contacted by Hussein Safari, an Iranian businessman who would help Oberholzer circumvent sanctions against Iran by selling American helicopters to Iran for a mark-up from South Africa. These deals garnered him over 3 million South African rands per transaction. Business increased in 2008 when South African President Thabo Mbeki encouraged more international trade between South Africa and Iran. 360 Aviation set up its own front company, Gemini Moon, to sell aircraft and parts, and set up other front operations for different Iranian entities. [7]

In March 2012, Oberholzer informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Joint Terrorism Task Force of these activities in exchange for immunity, fearing potential jail time as an American citizen if he had gotten arrested. [7] [9] This information included attempts to garner governmental backing in June 2011 from the South African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and his partner Gugu Mtshali in exchange for monetary compensation. Motlanthe has challenged these claims. [7] [8] [10] The negotiations, that failed, would have set up a five year contract of at least 450 million Rands for Gemini Moon to supply the National Iranian Oil Company with helicopters and parts. This would have violated the 2010 UN arms embargo. [10]

While the United States government could not confirm nor deny Oberholzer's involvement as an intelligence operative, The Sunday Times has corroborated his statements. [7]

Rugby

Barry Oberholzer represented the United States of America in two Junior World Championships. [11] [12]

Controversies

Oberholzer plead guilty to impersonating former CIA director and retired U.S. Army General David Petraeus in emails to venture capital firms in 2018, according to a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of New York in February 2021. On March 27, 2023, Oberholzer entered into a plea of guilty as to the charge of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. [13] and was sentenced in January 2024 to serve 15 months in prison along with paying restitution in addition to forfeiting $252,862. [2]

Mr. Oberholzer also is facing several civil lawsuits including from Unique Logistics.

Books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States National Security Council</span> U.S. federal executive national security and intelligence forum

The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the president of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, and composed of senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counterterrorism</span> Activity to defend against or prevent terrorist actions

Counterterrorism, also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to combat or eliminate terrorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Zealand Security Intelligence Service</span> National intelligence agency of New Zealand

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) is New Zealand's primary national intelligence agency. It is responsible for providing information and advising on matters including national security and foreign intelligence. It is headquartered in Wellington and overseen by a Director-General, the Minister of New Zealand Security Intelligence Service, and the parliamentary intelligence and security committee; independent oversight is provided by the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Security Service (Nigeria)</span> Nigeria government agency

The State Security Service(SSS), self-styled as the Department of State Services (DSS), is a security agency in Nigeria and one of three successor organisations to the National Security Organization (NSO). The agency is under the Presidency of Nigeria, and it reports its activities direct to the President, office of the ONSA, headquartered in Abuja.

The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, transnational crime, the rise of China, and Pacific regional security.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBP Air and Marine Operations</span> Law enforcement agency

Air and Marine Operations (AMO) is a federal law enforcement component within U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). AMO's mission is to protect the American people and nation's critical infrastructure through the coordinated use of air and marine assets to detect, interdict and prevent acts of terrorism and the unlawful movement of people, illegal drugs, and other contraband toward or across the borders of the United States. Air and Marine Operations Agents and Officers are endowed with the authority to enforce Title 8 and Title 19 (Customs) of the United States Code in addition to the general law enforcement powers bestowed upon federal law enforcement agents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear Emergency Support Team</span> US federal government organization

The Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST), formerly known as the Nuclear Emergency Search Team is a team of scientists, technicians, and engineers operating under the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA). NEST is the umbrella designation that encompasses all DOE/NNSA radiological and nuclear emergency response functions; some of which date back more than 60 years. NEST's responsibilities include both national security missions, particularly; countering weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and public health and safety, including responses to nuclear reactor accidents. NEST's task is to be "prepared to respond immediately to any type of radiological accident or incident anywhere in the world".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces</span> Land service branch of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ground Forces, acronymed NEZSA, are the ground forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The IRGC Ground Forces are more geared towards internal disorder than the regular Iranian Army. However, in recent years, the IRGC Ground Forces and by extension the entire IRGC, have transitioned to becoming an expeditionary force, capable of projecting power abroad, through conventional military operations or via proxies and unconventional warfare. There are at least around 150,000 IRGC Ground Force troops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Special forces of Australia</span> Units of Australian Defence Force

The special forces of the Australian Defence Force are units of Special Operations Command and associated units of the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force that conduct and or support special operations to advance and protect the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. The special forces of Australia have a lineage to a variety of units raised in the Second World War such as the Independent and Commando Companies, Z Special Unit, Navy Beach Commandos, and the Coastwatchers. Australian special forces have most recently been deployed to Iraq in Operation Okra as the Special Operations Task Group, as the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan, in Afghanistan in support of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and regularly for counter-terrorism pre-deploy to locations of major domestic events throughout Australia in readiness to support law enforcement such as the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kgalema Motlanthe</span> President of South Africa from 2008 to 2009

Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe is a South African politician who served as the 3rd president of South Africa from 25 September 2008 to 9 May 2009, following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki. Thereafter, he was deputy president under Jacob Zuma from 9 May 2009 to 26 May 2014.

The counter-terrorism page primarily deals with special police or military organizations that carry out arrest or direct combat with terrorists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deployable Specialized Forces</span> Military unit

The Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) —formerly Deployable Operations Group— are part of the United States Coast Guard that provide highly equipped, trained and organized deployable specialized forces, to the Coast Guard, United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Department of Defense (DoD) and inter-agency operational and tactical commanders. The command was formerly headquartered in Arlington, Virginia where it was established on 20 July 2007, and was commanded by a captain. It was decommissioned by the Commandant of the Coast Guard, Admiral Robert Papp on 1 October 2013, with units previously assigned to the DOG being split between Coast Guard Pacific and Atlantic Area commands. The units were subsequently reorganized under Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF).

Erroll G. Southers is an American expert in transportation security and counterterrorism. He is the author of Homegrown Violent Extremism (2013). Southers is a Professor of the Practice in National & Homeland Security, the Director of Homegrown Violent Extremism Studies and the Director of the Safe Communities Institute at the University of Southern California (USC) Sol Price School of Public Policy. He is also the research area leader for Countering Violent Extremism at the DHS National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) and managing director, counter-terrorism & infrastructure protection at TAL Global Corporation. He was assistant chief of the Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) police department's office of homeland security and intelligence. He is a former special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was deputy director of homeland security under California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In 2009 he was nominated by President Barack Obama to become head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), but Southers withdrew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mzilikazi wa Afrika</span> South African journalist (born 1971)

Leonard Mzilikazi Ndzukula, better known as Mzilikazi wa Afrika, is a South African investigative journalist who worked for the Sunday Times newspaper. He resigned with a colleague, Stephan Hofstatter, in October 2018 after the newspaper publicly apologised for a number of stories they wrote between 2011 and 2016 which were found to be not reflecting an honest truth. He is a multi-award winning journalist, a music producer and also the author of Nothing Left to Steal.

Mxolisi Sandile Oliver Nxasana was the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) in South Africa, the head of the National Prosecuting Authority. In August 2013 he was appointed NDPP by President Jacob Zuma effective from 1 October 2013. After a protracted enquiry into his fitness to hold office, Nxasana agreed to step down from his position as NDPP on 31 May 2015, effective from 1 June 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Special Operations Command</span> Unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for special operations

The United States Special Operations Command is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense and is the only unified combatant command created by an Act of Congress. USSOCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collins Chabane</span> South African politician (1960–2015)

Ohm Collins Chabane was a South African Minister of Public Service and Administration. At the age of 17, he went into exile and joined the African National Congress (ANC) underground military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). Chabane also went to Angola for military training in 1980, and began work underground in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State Security Service of Georgia</span> State intelligence agency of Georgia

The State Security Service of Georgia (SSSG) is a state intelligence agency of Georgia, under the authority of the Government, which covers a broad spectrum of tasks to preserve national security in accordance to state legislature and relevant laws. Its missions are to protect the constitutional order, sovereignty, territorial integrity and military potential of Georgia from illegal acts of special services and individuals of foreign countries; to prevent violent and unconstitutional change of order and state authority. Further it is to ensure economic security and fight terrorism on national and international level, transnational organized crime and international crime as well as carry out measures towards prevention, detection and suppression of corruption.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ram Ben-Barak</span> Israeli politician

Ram Ben-Barak is an Israeli politician and former member of the Israeli security forces. He served as deputy director of the Mossad and director general of the Ministry of Intelligence Services and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

<i>The Black Market Concierge</i> 2016 non-fiction book

The Black Market Concierge is a 2016 American book written by former professional rugby player and intelligence operative Barry Oberholzer. The book is about Barry Oberholzer's secret life as a confidential informant for the CIA and other intelligence agencies. It has become the first book in which the NFT project of a TV series has been made.

References

  1. ↑ "Barry Oberholzer Saps Letter". Scribd . Retrieved 2020-12-30.
  2. 1 2 "Southern District of New York | Former CEO Of Defense Company Sentenced To 15 Months In Prison For Defrauding Investors And Creditors | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. 2024-01-16. Retrieved 2024-01-18.
  3. ↑ "US U-19 squad for Canada". ESPN. 2002-03-26. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  4. ↑ Waitt, Tammy (2020-06-22). "X.Labs High-Speed Checkpoint Combines Weapon, Facial, Thermal Imaging & Gunshot Detection". American Security Today. Retrieved 2020-12-26.
  5. ↑ Waitt, Tammy (12 March 2020). "COVID-19? Screen with AI-Base, Non-Contact Thermal Imaging for 'Feevr'". American Security Today.
  6. 1 2 Waitt, Tammy (7 February 2017). "Oberholzer Intro's World's First Counter-Terrorism App (See Video)". American Security Today.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "The spy who came in from the cold". The Sunday Times . 11 March 2012.
  8. 1 2 Davis, Gaye (March 13, 2012). "Bring on probe – Motlanthe". Independent Online . Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  9. ↑ Hofstatter, Stephan; Rose, Rob; Wa Afrika, Mzilikazi (18 March 2012). "Probe into dubious SA-Iran deals widens". TimesLIVE . Retrieved 2020-11-23.
  10. 1 2 Hofstatter, Stephan; Rose, Rob; Wa Afrika, Mzilikazi (11 March 2012). "'Nothing for mahala'". The Times (South Africa) .
  11. ↑ "Poland down USA in Under 19 Championship". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  12. ↑ "Canada dumps USA at Jr World Cup". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 2021-12-20.
  13. ↑ Brown, Stephen Rex (6 July 2021). "Fraudster posed as four-star Army general while pitching gun-detection app to investors: feds". New York Daily News. Retrieved 21 July 2021.

https://dockets.justia.com/docket/new-york/nyedce/1:2022cv02313/479103

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.