--- aliases: - United Press International - UPI - U.P.I. - United Press - United Press Associations - United Press International, Inc. - UP category: Private Organization created: 2026-10-15 location: Washington, D.C. relations: - fn: 1 reverse: true role: founder of the United Press start: 1907 type: founded with: '[[E. W. Scripps]]' - end: 1982 fn: 16 reverse: true role: owner until the sale to Media News Corporation start: 1907 type: owned with: '[[Scripps-Howard]]' - end: 1986 fn: 15 reverse: true role: owner (majority stockholders Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler) until the confirmed sale to New UPI Inc. start: 1982 type: owned with: '[[Media News Corporation]]' - fn: 28 reverse: true role: majority owner through New UPI Inc. start: 1986-06 type: owned with: '[[Mario Vázquez Raña]]' - fn: 28 reverse: true role: 10 percent partner in New UPI Inc. start: 1986-06 type: owned with: '[[Joe Russo]]' - end: 1986 fn: 18 reverse: true role: chairman, chief executive officer and president start: 1985 type: head_of with: '[[Luis Nogales]]' - end: 1991 fn: 2 reverse: true role: holding company with controlling interests in UPI and Financial News Network start: 1988 type: owned with: '[[Infotechnology]]' - end: 1991 fn: 2 reverse: true role: chairman start: 1988 type: head_of with: '[[Earl Brian]]' - fn: 35 reverse: true role: buyer out of bankruptcy for $3.95 million in cash start: 1992 type: owned with: '[[Middle East Broadcasting Centre]]' - fn: 37 reverse: true role: buyer; parent of The Washington Times start: 2000-05 type: owned with: '[[News World Communications]]' - fn: 36 reverse: true role: president and chief executive officer start: 1999-01 type: head_of with: '[[Arnaud de Borchgrave]]' - fn: 4 reverse: true role: president start: 1972 type: head_of with: '[[Roderick Beaton]]' - end: 1937 fn: 11 reverse: true role: United Press staff correspondent in Europe start: 1935 type: employed_by with: '[[Richard Helms]]' - end: 2000-05 fn: 13 reverse: true role: White House bureau chief from 1974 start: 1943 type: employed_by with: '[[Helen Thomas]]' - end: 1987 fn: 39 reverse: true role: investigative reporter start: 1985 type: employed_by with: '[[Gregory Gordon]]' - fn: 48 reverse: true role: intelligence correspondent start: 2003-04 type: employed_by with: '[[Richard Sale]]' - fn: 14 reverse: true role: reporter, Pierre, South Dakota type: employed_by with: '[[Seymour Hersh]]' start: 1907 summary: Wire service founded in 1907 by E. W. Scripps, merged with Hearst's International News Service in 1958, bankrupted in 1985 and 1991, and later owned by Earl Brian, Saudi investors and the Unification Church. tags: - Organization - NewsAgency - WireService - Media - CIA - PROMIS - Bankruptcy - ContraWar - UnificationChurch updated: 2026-10-15 --- United Press International (UPI) was created in 1958 by the merger of the United Press, founded by E. W. Scripps in 1907, with William Randolph Hearst's International News Service.[^1] The agency passed from Scripps-Howard to Media News Corporation in 1982, entered Chapter 11 in 1985 and again in 1991, and was bought in turn by Mario Vázquez Raña, Infotechnology, the Middle East Broadcasting Centre and News World Communications. Its copy is a principal source for reporting on [BCCI](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/), the [PROMIS](/programs/promis/) software dispute, Contra arms finance and the Mafia prosecutions of the 1980s.[^1][^2] ### Founding and the 1958 merger The United Press was founded in 1907 by E. W. Scripps.[^1] Hearst's International News Service was owned by William Randolph Hearst. After three years of talks, the two agencies announced on May 24, 1958, that they had combined into United Press International.[^1] In hearings before the [Senate Foreign Relations Committee](/organizations/senate-foreign-relations-committee/) in 1963, Senator J. William Fulbright questioned Earl J. Johnson, UPI's vice president and editor, about a UPI special service supplied to clients that included public relations firms representing foreign governments. Johnson told the committee that the service did not involve special pleading and provided only facts. The hearings also took testimony that in 1956 the International News Service had distributed dispatches financed by the Dominican Republic's dictator [Rafael Trujillo](/people/rafael-trujillo/).[^3] On August 22, 1972, UPI president Roderick Beaton met Premier [Zhou Enlai](/people/chou-en-lai/) in Beijing to discuss UPI news and picture agreements with the New China News Agency.[^4] ### Cover arrangements in the Church Committee and Bernstein record The final report of the [Church Committee](/events/church-committee/) in 1976 describes CIA use of the American press in a passage that begins on page 192 of Book I. The committee wrote that the [Central Intelligence Agency](/organizations/central-intelligence-agency/) had used the U.S. media for both intelligence collection and cover.[^5] Book I says that CIA placements in foreign outlets were often picked up by international wire services, and it describes two proprietary news services the CIA maintained in Europe, one of which was subscribed to by more than 30 U.S. newspapers.[^5][^6] The committee also reproduces the agency's 1976 restrictions. A letter from [William Colby](/people/william-colby/) limited operational use of full-time staff at major U.S. news magazines, newspapers, wire services and television networks, with less restriction on stringers and occasional correspondents.[^7] On February 11, 1976, the agency announced that it would not enter into any paid or contractual relationship with any full-time or part-time correspondent accredited by any U.S. news service, periodical, radio or television network, and that existing relationships in those categories would be ended as soon as feasible.[^7] Carl Bernstein's article "The CIA and the Media," published in Rolling Stone on October 20, 1977, named UPI among the major media whose top executives lent cooperation to the agency. The same list names the [Associated Press](/organizations/associated-press/), Reuters, Hearst Newspapers and Scripps-Howard.[^8] Bernstein reported that CIA files recorded further cover arrangements with news-gathering organizations that included the Associated Press, UPI, Reuters and the [Miami Herald](/organizations/miami-herald/).[^9] The article records former Associated Press general manager Wes Gallagher denying that the wire service had employed agency staff, and it records agency officials saying that cover had been arranged through an unnamed person in the upper management of the Associated Press.[^9] Bernstein also identified the officials who initiated contacts with the heads of news organizations. They included [Frank Wisner](/people/frank-wisner/), Cord Meyer, [Richard Bissell](/people/richard-bissell/), [Desmond FitzGerald](/people/desmond-fitzgerald/), [Tracy Barnes](/people/tracy-barnes/), [Thomas Karamessines](/people/thomas-karamessines/) and Helms, whom Bernstein described as "himself a former UPI correspondent."[^10] ### Helms, the wire desk and Hitler [Richard Helms](/people/richard-helms/) worked as a United Press staff correspondent from 1935 to 1937, according to the finding aid for his papers at [Georgetown University](/organizations/georgetown-university/). The finding aid says he covered the 1936 Berlin Olympics and attended a lunch given by [Adolf Hitler](/people/adolf-hitler/) in 1936.[^11] Helms himself wrote in his memoir, *A Look Over My Shoulder* (2003), that in 1936 he interviewed Hitler at Nuremberg along with other correspondents.[^12] From 1937 to 1942 he wrote for the Indianapolis Times. In 1942 he entered the U.S. Navy and was transferred to the [Office of Strategic Services](/organizations/office-of-strategic-services/). He then spent a career at the CIA that began in 1947.[^11] ### Helen Thomas and the wire's reporters Helen Thomas joined what was then called United Press in 1943, after beginning as a copy girl at the Washington Daily News, according to a 2013 obituary distributed by Reuters. UPI assigned her to the White House in 1961. In 1974 she became the agency's White House bureau chief, the first woman to head a wire service bureau there. She later wrote a column for Hearst.[^13] The agency's reporting staff also included [Seymour Hersh](/people/seymour-hersh/), whom UPI sent to Pierre, South Dakota, before he joined the Associated Press in 1963.[^14] ### The 1982 sale and the 1985 bankruptcy Scripps-Howard sold UPI to Media News Corporation in 1982. Scripps received $1 from the buyers and agreed to spend a further $5 million on the service during the transition.[^1] The principal stockholders of Media News were Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler.[^15] The agency reported its first profitable quarter in 20 years in the last quarter of 1984.[^16] In March 1985 Ruhe and Geissler fired Luis Nogales as UPI president.[^17] UPI's principal lender, Foothill Capital Corporation of [Los Angeles](/places/los-angeles/), cut off funding in April 1985, and the agency announced that it could not meet the payroll for its 2,000 employees. The board voted unanimously on Friday, April 26, to authorize Nogales to file under Chapter 11, and an agreement in principle with Foothill followed on Saturday.[^18] UPI filed for protection on Sunday, April 28, 1985, reporting $45 million in liabilities against an estimated $20 million in assets. On Tuesday a federal bankruptcy judge approved an interim plan that allowed the agency to keep paying its employees. UPI's attorney, Richard Levine, then put the liabilities at $35.4 million against about $12.8 million in assets, with annual revenue of about $92 million. The agency was negotiating with Reuters and with a Florida investor group headed by Pedro Ramon Lopez, chairman of General Federal Savings and Loan Association of [Miami](/places/miami/).[^16] On May 20, 1985, a Delaware vice chancellor, Joseph Walsh, granted Ruhe and Geissler a preliminary injunction that removed Nogales as chairman of UPI's parent company and removed its board.[^17] A consent order entered on May 28, 1985, in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia abolished UPI's own board of directors and gave Nogales exclusive operating authority as chairman and chief executive officer. Media News and its principal stockholders, Ruhe and Geissler, signed the order. In an opinion dated April 22, 1986, Judge [George Bason](/people/george-francis-bason-jr/) extended the debtor's exclusive period to file a plan to June 30, 1986, granted UPI leave to file a plan and overruled Media News's objection that the consent order had unlawfully abolished the board. Charles R. Dougherty of the Boston firm Hill and Barlow appeared for the debtor and Emil Hirsch for Media News (Bankruptcy No. 85-00257).[^15] ### The 1985 bidders By September 1985 UPI's bankruptcy attorney, Richard Levine, said a prospectus had been circulated to more than 100 parties. The joint investment advisers were Bear, Stearns and Ladenburg Thalmann, and September 16 was the deadline for expressions of interest.[^19][^20] Four bidders were named in the press. Max Hugel, a New Hampshire businessman who had served as the CIA's chief of covert operations and was then chairman of the Republican committee Project 88, said he and investors "with great knowledge and experience in the telecommunications business" had submitted a proposal.[^21] Robert H. Cunningham, who left the CIA in 1964 after helping organize its domestic operations division, said he had bid for a group of investors he would not name, with a plan for an employee trust that would finance an international news supplement. The Houston developer Joe Russo bid for a nationwide investor group, and the Wire Service Guild, representing about 750 UPI employees, filed a bid of its own.[^21][^20][^22] The fourth bidder, Beurt SerVaas, chairman of the Indianapolis-based Curtis Publishing Company, said he represented a previously unidentified group that had made an offer of $13.9 million to $17.9 million on July 1, which UPI allowed to expire on July 15. According to the [Washington Post](/organizations/washington-post/), the group was represented by a Washington attorney named David M. Rubenstein.[^20] Records found do not establish whether he is the Washington lawyer David Rubenstein who co-founded The Carlyle Group in 1987. A UPI story by Gregory Gordon in November 1985 reported that SerVaas, president of UPI Acquisition Group, Inc., had offered $21 million in cash plus a pledge of $20 million in working capital over five years, and had not named his partners. SerVaas said he had served as a naval officer in the American intelligence command that became the Office of Strategic Services and later the CIA, that he left "nearly 40 years ago," and that he had been assisting General [George Marshall](/people/george-marshall/) in China when the agency was formed. He dismissed as lacking any evidence or proof published reports that he had invested in a South African newspaper operating as a government front, but acknowledged that he had considered it. Former employees of his revived Saturday Evening Post criticized his wage practices and his control of editorial content, and Securities and Exchange Commission records showed Curtis Publishing as defendant in suits to collect unpaid bills.[^23] ### Vázquez Raña and the June 1986 confirmation By October 1985 about 25 would-be buyers had informally expressed interest, and 300 to 400 UPI workers had been laid off.[^24] In November 1985 UPI's chairman, its employees union and a committee of key creditors announced that they would ask the bankruptcy judge to approve a $41 million sale to the Mexican newspaper publisher Vázquez Raña, with Russo as a 10 percent partner. The UPI report describes Vázquez Raña as president of the Mexican Olympic Committee and owner of the El Sol group of 70 newspapers. The package provided $21 million in cash, $9.5 million to unsecured creditors owed about $22.8 million, $3.4 million to the [Internal Revenue Service](/organizations/internal-revenue-service/) and state tax authorities, and about $4 million for claims of current and former employees. UPI reported reservations about foreign ownership of the agency, which Vázquez Raña answered by accepting Russo as a partner and pledging an independent board.[^25] Vázquez Raña had asked about 30 associates to meet him at the Madison Hotel in [Washington](/places/washington-dc/) in September 1985 to hear a plan to rescue the agency. Few would invest. Russo put up 10 percent of the money and Vázquez Raña the rest. After a short legal contest with another bidder, the offer was accepted.[^26] In a 1987 interview he said that the Mexican government had taken over the El Sol chain four years before he bought it, assuming its debts of nearly $80 million, and that when radio stations on the U.S. border complained of interference from Mexican transmitters he met President Miguel de la Madrid and a cabinet minister, after which the transmissions were adjusted.[^26] In March 1986 he pledged to keep UPI editorially independent if the bankruptcy court approved the purchase. UPI's president Nogales said the buyer had been chosen on personal integrity, entrepreneurial skill and available capital.[^27] On June 10, 1986, Bason confirmed the sale after the largest creditors voted 130 to 5 in favor. Vázquez Raña testified through an interpreter at the judge's request that he had placed more than $29 million in a Washington bank to complete the transaction and that he owned 62 newspapers in Mexico. The wire reported that the sale was valued at $36 million to $40 million.[^28] ### Infotechnology and the Financial News Network Vázquez Raña, who held 90 percent of the company, kept UPI as a general news service. UPI lost between $1 million and $2 million a month, and in 1988 he turned operational control over to Infotechnology, a New York company that held 46 percent of the cable network Financial News Network (FNN). Company histories report that ownership remained with Vázquez Raña, who arranged lines of credit to cover losses, and that [Earl Brian](/people/earl-brian/), Infotechnology's chairman, became chairman of UPI. A 1988 Washington Post article by Elizabeth Tucker reported that Infotechnology planned to make UPI the cornerstone of a high-tech information network.[^29] In July 1993 the [Securities and Exchange Commission](/organizations/securities-and-exchange-commission/) charged Brian and others with inflating FNN's revenue and earnings. Brian settled the charges without admitting guilt. UPI and FNN both filed for bankruptcy in 1991.[^2] A federal grand jury in Los Angeles returned a 24-count indictment, reported on September 6, 1995, against Brian and his chief operating officer, John F. Berentson. The indictment charged that they obtained $56 million in loans from Security Pacific and Toronto-Dominion in 1989 by misstating FNN's books. FNN's chief financial officer, C. Steven Bolen, and Gary Prince pleaded guilty and cooperated.[^2] A Los Angeles jury convicted Brian on ten counts of conspiracy, bank fraud and securities fraud in October 1996, after a trial of twelve weeks. He was sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison and a $25,000 fine, with prison to begin on August 18. Prosecutors said the scheme involved $72 million in fraudulent lease transactions, some using equipment that did not exist and some pledged to more than one leasing company.[^30] ### Bankruptcy courts and the PROMIS case The agency's bankruptcy file also intersects with the [INSLAW](/organizations/inslaw/) dispute. [Charles Docter](/people/charles-docter/), INSLAW's bankruptcy counsel, told the [House Committee on the Judiciary](/organizations/house-committee-on-the-judiciary/) that in July 1987 [Roger Whelan](/people/roger-whelan/), a former bankruptcy judge, came to his office and threatened to oppose the reappointment of Judge Bason over a delay in ruling on a fee application Whelan had filed in the UPI case. Bason ruled on the application on July 17, 1987. The special counsel [Nicholas J. Bua](/people/nicholas-j-bua/) reported that Whelan acknowledged representing a party in the UPI case and being frustrated by the delay, said his pleading was an application for compensation for his client and not for attorney's fees, and denied speaking to Docter about the case or trying to pressure Bason.[^31] Bua's report also records a 1990 approach to [Patricof and Company](/organizations/patricof-and-company/). [Patricia Cloherty](/people/patricia-cloherty/) told Bua that Brian had contacted the firm in 1990 with a deal proposal regarding UPI, that she never met with Brian directly, that she sent an associate to look into it, and that the firm decided not to pursue it.[^32] The report also sets out the 1986 testimony of [Cornelius Blackshear](/people/cornelius-blackshear/), who was later a bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York, before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Monopolies and Commercial Law on March 20, 1986. As the report quotes it, Blackshear described an Internal Revenue Service motion to convert a case, which the U.S. trustee opposed. In a later recantation, Blackshear said he had confused the INSLAW case with the UPI case, in which the trustee had told him of IRS pressure to join a motion to convert. The Bua staff found the recantation implausible, noting that Blackshear had four times before it said the trustee had told him of pressure from the Justice Department's trustee program head to convert the INSLAW case. The staff reported that the trustee said he had never been pressured to convert the UPI case and that the IRS and the Justice Department's Tax Division told INSLAW their offices had never attempted to have it converted. The report concludes that there was not sufficient evidence to find the recantation false.[^33] ### The 1992 sale to Middle East Broadcasting Centre UPI filed its second Chapter 11 petition on August 28, 1991. In June 1992 the Middle East Broadcasting Centre (MBC), a London-based Arabic television network privately owned by Saudi investors, bought UPI out of bankruptcy for $3.95 million in cash, outbidding a group of American businessmen at a bankruptcy court hearing in New York. Creditors were owed about $60 million. The other bidders included Leon Charney, who had financed UPI's operations for about ten days before the sale, and Pat Robertson, who withdrew from a $6 million bid for the assets and offered a smaller sum for the name. The sale was approved on June 23 and finalized on June 30.[^34] MBC's chairman, Walid Al-Ibrahim, committed up to $12 million to the agency over two years and pledged that it would remain independent and free of political associations. UPI had lost money for 30 years, and the sale was its second reorganization in a decade.[^35] ### News World Communications and Arnaud de Borchgrave On December 16, 1998, UPI announced that Arnaud de Borchgrave had been appointed president and chief executive officer, starting January 4 at the Washington headquarters. The announcement lists his earlier posts as editor in chief of the Washington Times from 1985 to 1991 and as chief foreign correspondent of [Newsweek](/organizations/newsweek/) from 1963 to 1980, and says he began at UP as Brussels bureau chief. He kept his posts as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he directed the Global Organized Crime Project, and as editor at large of the Washington Times.[^36] On May 15, 2000, UPI was sold to News World Communications, the parent company of the Washington Times, which was founded by [Sun Myung Moon](/people/sun-myung-moon/), leader of the [Unification Church](/organizations/unification-church/).[^37] The financial terms were not disclosed.[^38] Thomas resigned the next day. The Associated Press reported that she gave no reason for leaving and that she had no plans to join the new UPI. De Borchgrave, then chief executive, said she had outrun the best of them because she was the best of them.[^37] ### Searle and NutraSweet In October 1987 UPI distributed a three-part series by the investigative reporter Gregory Gordon, who had spent eight months examining industry research on the sweetener NutraSweet and the Food and Drug Administration's handling of its approval. The series reported that more than ten federal officials involved in the review had taken private sector jobs linked to the industry. The NutraSweet Company's president, Robert Shapiro, said that the series would leave a misleading impression, and a company spokesman said the firm was contemplating litigation. Senator Howard Metzenbaum quoted the series at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources on November 3, 1987.[^39] Parts 2 and 3 of the series cover the tenure of [Donald Rumsfeld](/people/donald-rumsfeld/) as chief executive of G. D. Searle and Company from 1977 to 1985. ### Contra arms finance, Bayshore and GeoMiliTech A UPI story of June 10, 1987, reported a Miami Herald account of the chief executive of the [Bayshore Bank of Florida](/organizations/bayshore-bank-of-florida/), [Louis Petrillo](/people/louis-petrillo/), who resigned as the bank was being sold. The Herald tied the sale to records showing that the bank had sent $2 million in 1986 on behalf of [GeoMiliTech Consultants Corp.](/organizations/geomilitech-consultants-corp/) of Washington.[^40] GeoMiliTech was run by [Barbara Studley](/people/barbara-studley/), a former Miami radio talk-show host, and it listed retired Maj. Gen. [John Singlaub](/people/john-singlaub/) as an adviser. The company acknowledged that it had helped arrange rebel arms supplies. Petrillo denied knowing of any arms deals and said he had left because the bank was changing hands. Studley declined to discuss details. The story reported that federal authorities, including the [Iran-Contra](/events/iran-contra-affair/) special prosecutor [Lawrence Walsh](/people/lawrence-walsh/), had begun investigating the transactions as Petrillo left the bank.[^40] ### Counter Terrorism Consultants and the FBI alumni On August 2, 1988, UPI reported from Washington that [Carter Cornick](/people/carter-cornick/), a former [FBI](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) special agent, and [Eugene Propper](/people/eugene-propper/), a former assistant United States attorney, had formed [Counter Terrorism Consultants, Inc.](/organizations/counter-terrorism-consultants-inc/), a private security consultancy seeded with about $500,000 from investors the founders declined to name. Its clients were to include foreign "democratic" governments, airline and shipping companies, sponsors of large international gatherings such as the Olympic Games, and multinational corporations.[^41] Cornick, who spent 16 of his 21 years with the bureau as a terrorist specialist, was its president and had directed the investigations into the bombing of the U.S. Embassy and the Marine barracks in [Beirut](/places/beirut/), the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 and the Achille Lauro seizure. Propper, an attorney with the Washington firm [Lane and Edson](/organizations/lane-and-edson/), was a full partner with no title and had been the government's chief prosecutor in the Letelier assassination case, with [E. Lawrence Barcella, Jr.](/people/e-lawrence-barcella-jr/) as his deputy. Barcella, by then with the firm Laxalt, Washington, Perito and Dubuc, and [Robert Scherrer](/people/robert-scherrer/) joined as consultants. The services offered included hostage negotiation and handling of the news media during a crisis.[^41] ### Pell's psychic research aide On July 17, 1988, UPI carried a report from Providence on the Providence Sunday Journal's account of [Claiborne Pell](/people/claiborne-pell/)'s interest in psychic phenomena. Pell's special assistant [C.B. Scott Jones](/people/cb-scott-jones/), a former naval intelligence officer, researched telepathy, unconventional healing and near-death experiences. The story says Jones kept a top secret security clearance and earned nearly $50,000 a year on the public payroll. In 1987 Pell invited the self-proclaimed psychic [Uri Geller](/people/uri-geller/) to Washington, where he performed before 30 congressional and Pentagon aides. [Ray Hyman](/people/ray-hyman/), a University of Oregon psychologist who had evaluated the military applications of psychic research for the Army, said Pell had been arguing very forcefully for a Manhattan Project-style effort to catch up with the Russians. Pell called Hyman's assessment "vastly exaggerated."[^42] ### Straight, Blunt and the 1981 interview On March 26, 1981, UPI carried a Washington story by Daniel Gilmore in which [Michael Whitney Straight](/people/michael-whitney-straight/) said that Anthony Blunt had approached him at Cambridge in February 1937. Straight said Blunt tried to recruit him as a Soviet agent, and "I flatly refused."[^43] ### Radford and the Joint Chiefs On February 20, 1974, a UPI report from Washington described the testimony of Navy yeoman Charles Radford before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Radford said that he had taken secret White House documents on the [Vietnam](/places/vietnam/) peace talks and other matters at the request of two [Pentagon](/organizations/department-of-defense/) admirals, beginning in 1970. He named Rembrandt Robinson, a Pentagon liaison clerk who had been killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam, as the first supervisor who taught him to take information the [Joint Chiefs of Staff](/organizations/joint-chiefs-of-staff/) wanted. He said that Robert Welander continued passing information to the office of Adm. Thomas Moorer. Moorer and [Henry Kissinger](/people/henry-a-kissinger/) had dismissed Radford's conduct as the independent work of an overzealous enlisted man. Radford also said he had funneled papers belonging to [Alexander Haig](/people/alexander-m-haig-jr/) back to the Pentagon.[^44] ### Sadat trial and the Los Angeles mafia On March 6, 1982, a three-man Supreme Military Court in [Cairo](/places/cairo/) sentenced five men to death for the assassination of [Anwar Sadat](/people/anwar-sadat/). UPI described Lieutenant Khaled Islambouli, 24, as the accused mastermind. It reported that two defendants were acquitted, including Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind preacher whom the prosecutor had described as the group's spiritual leader, and it reported the prosecution's claim that the killing was the first stage of an attempt to overthrow the government and install an Iranian-style Islamic revolution.[^45] On April 5, 1988, UPI reported from Los Angeles that the racketeering trial of Luigi Gelfuso Jr., John DeMattia and John Vaccaro had opened in federal court. The story said that eleven other men, including [Peter Milano](/people/peter-milano/), reputed boss of the [Los Angeles Crime Family](/organizations/los-angeles-crime-family/), had already pleaded guilty, and that the remaining three were named in some or all of an 18-count indictment returned the previous May. It records that Police Chief Daryl Gates had dubbed the group the "Mickey Mouse Mafia."[^46] ### BCCI sentencing in Abu Dhabi On June 14, 1994, UPI reported from [Abu Dhabi](/places/abu-dhabi/) that the Abu Dhabi Court of First Instance, presided over by Judge Shehab Abdul-Rehman, had sentenced twelve former BCCI executives to a combined 56 years in prison. The longest terms, six years each, went to [Zafar Iqbal](/people/zafar-iqbal/) Chaudhry, Hasan Mahmood Kazmi and Abdul Hafeez Mohammed Ahmed. [Swaleh Naqvi](/people/swaleh-naqvi/), who had been handed over to U.S. officials on May 7, received sentences in his absence. The court also ordered the executives to pay the former Abu Dhabi majority shareholders civil damages of more than $9.13 billion plus costs.[^47] ### Richard Sale and the Iraqi file On April 10, 2003, UPI published a story by Richard Sale, identified as its intelligence correspondent, that placed [Saddam Hussein](/people/saddam-hussein/) in a "CIA-authorized six-man squad" tasked with assassinating [Iraq](/places/iraq/)'s prime minister, Abd al-Karim Qasim, in 1959. The story says that, according to a former senior State Department official, Saddam was installed in an apartment opposite Qasim's office, and it attributes to the writer Adel Darwish the account that the CIA handler was an Iraqi dentist. The story quotes Con Coughlin and reports that [Miles Copeland](/people/miles-copeland/) told UPI in the mid-1980s that the CIA had close ties with Qasim's Baath Party. The former [National Security Council](/organizations/national-security-council/) staffer [Roger Morris](/people/roger-morris/) is also quoted on the Baath Party's role.[^48] [^1]: "United Press International, Inc. History," *International Directory of Company Histories*, reproduced at FundingUniverse, http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/united-press-international-inc-history/ (June 21, 1907 founding by E. W. Scripps; the three years of talks and the May 24, 1958 announcement of the merger; the $1 sale price and $5 million transition commitment in 1982). A Christian Science Monitor note of April 29, 1985, "Playing the underdog: UPI's history is a scrappy one," https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0429/a1pi-f.html, dates the founding January 21, 1907. [^2]: United Press International, "Former UPI execs charged with fraud," September 6, 1995, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1995/09/06/Former-UPI-execs-charged-with-fraud/3824810360000/ (Brian as former chairman of UPI and FNN; Infotechnology's controlling interests in both companies; the 1993 SEC settlement; the 24-count indictment and the $56 million in 1989 loans from Security Pacific and Toronto-Dominion; Bolen and Prince; UPI's 1991 bankruptcy filing). [^3]: Richard L. Lyons, Washington Post report on the hearings of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (Fulbright questioning Earl J. Johnson of UPI on its special service for public relations firms; testimony on International News Service dispatches financed by the Dominican Republic's Trujillo government in 1956), clipping in the CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP75-00149R000200930062-3, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp75-00149r000200930062-3; U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, *Activities of Nondiplomatic Representatives of Foreign Principals in the United States*, 88th Cong., 1st sess. (1963). [^4]: United Press International, "Chou En-lai Meets UPI President," Peking, August 22, 1972, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP88-01314R000300240014-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp88-01314r000300240014-2. [^5]: U.S. Senate, Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, *Final Report*, Book I, *Foreign and Military Intelligence* (April 26, 1976), p. 193 (CIA use of the U.S. media for collection and cover; placements picked up by international wire services), https://archive.org/download/ChurchCommittee_FullReport/_Book-I_Foreign-and-Military-Intelligence_djvu.txt. [^6]: Church Committee, Book I, pp. 199-200 (the two proprietary European news services, one subscribed to by over 30 U.S. newspapers), same URL. [^7]: Church Committee, Book I, p. 198 (the letter from William Colby on operational use of staff at major U.S. news magazines, newspapers, wire services or television networks; the CIA public statement of February 11, 1976), same URL. [^8]: Carl Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media," *Rolling Stone*, October 20, 1977, text as reproduced at https://archive.org/stream/nsia-BernsteinRollingStoneArticlesCIA/nsia-BernsteinRollingStoneArticlesCIA/Bernstein%20CIA%2001_djvu.txt (passage on the major media whose top executives cooperated with the CIA, and the list of other cooperating organizations). [^9]: Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media," same text (section on other major news organizations and cover arrangements, and the passage on the Associated Press and Wes Gallagher's denial). [^10]: Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media," same text (passage on the deputy directors and division chiefs who initiated contacts with heads of news-gathering organizations, including Richard Helms, "himself a former UPI correspondent"). [^11]: Georgetown University Library, Booth Family Center for Special Collections, "Richard M. Helms Papers," biographical note, https://findingaids.library.georgetown.edu/repositories/15/resources/10290 (United Press staff correspondent 1935 to 1937; coverage of the 1936 Olympics; a lunch given by Adolph Hitler in 1936; Indianapolis Times 1937 to 1942; Navy and OSS in 1942; CIA career from 1947). [^12]: Richard Helms with William Hood, *A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency* (New York: Random House, 2003) (Helms's account of interviewing Hitler at Nuremberg in 1936 with other correspondents). [^13]: Reuters, "Long-time White House reporter Helen Thomas dies at 92," July 20, 2013, https://www.bangordailynews.com/2013/07/20/news/long-time-white-house-reporter-helen-thomas-dies-at-92/ (copy girl at the Washington Daily News; joined United Press in 1943; White House assignment in 1961; bureau chief in 1974 as the first woman to head a wire service bureau there; later Hearst column). [^14]: EBSCO Research Starters, "Seymour M. Hersh," https://ebsco.com/research-starters/biography/seymour-m-hersh (Hersh's assignment to UPI in Pierre, South Dakota, and his 1963 hire by the Associated Press). [^15]: *In re United Press International, Inc.*, 60 B.R. 265 (Bankr. D.D.C. Apr. 22, 1986) (Bason, J.) (Bankruptcy No. 85-00257; the consent order of May 28, 1985; Ruhe and Geissler as majority shareholders of Media News Corporation; the extension of exclusivity to June 30, 1986; counsel for the debtor and for Media News), https://static.case.law/br/60/cases/0265-01.json. [^16]: Barbara Bradley, "Court gives UPI breathing room to seek buyer and reorganize its news operation," *Christian Science Monitor*, May 2, 1985, https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0502/awir.html (the 1982 sale to Media News Corporation; the Chapter 11 filing on Sunday; the interim plan approved on Tuesday; liabilities and assets at filing and as restated by Richard Levine; annual revenue; the 1984 profitable quarter; negotiations with Reuters and the Lopez group). [^17]: Robert Engler, United Press International, Wilmington, Del., May 20, 1985, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/05/20/In-a-ruling-that-soon-may-be-moot-a/3317485409600/ (Vice Chancellor Joseph Walsh's preliminary injunction for owners Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler; their firing of Nogales as UPI president in March 1985; removal of Nogales and the Media News board). [^18]: Warren Richey, "UPI gets reprieve as it struggles to stay in business," *Christian Science Monitor*, April 29, 1985, https://www.csmonitor.com/1985/0429/api.html (Foothill Capital; the payroll shortfall; the board's unanimous vote on Friday authorizing Nogales to file; the weekend agreement in principle). [^19]: Gregory Gordon, United Press International, September 15, 1985, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100330001-6, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100330001-6 (prospectus circulated to more than 100 parties; SerVaas's July offer; Russo; the employees' 25 percent wage cut of 1984). [^20]: Nell Henderson, "UPI Receives at Least 4 Bids for Company," *Washington Post*, September 17, 1985, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600014-2, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100600014-2 (SerVaas, Russo, Hugel and the Guild; Bear, Stearns and Ladenburg Thalmann as advisers; the July 1 offer and its expiry; the attorney David M. Rubenstein). [^21]: Theo Stamos, "Former CIA officials among UPI bidders," *Washington Times*, September 17, 1985, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600011-5, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100600011-5 (Hugel and Cunningham; Russo; the Wire Service Guild). [^22]: "UPI union unit offers to buy troubled news service," Associated Press in the *Baltimore Sun*, September 17, 1985, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP91-00587R000100600012-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp91-00587r000100600012-4 (the Guild's offer; William Morrissey as union president; Nogales's statement). [^23]: Gregory Gordon, "UPI bidder faces questions about intelligence service, South African ties," United Press International, November 1985, CIA Reading Room, CIA-RDP90-00806R000201120001-4, https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp90-00806r000201120001-4 (UPI Acquisition Group; the $21 million offer and the $20 million working-capital pledge; SerVaas's account of his wartime service and the South African newspaper reports). [^24]: Christian Science Monitor, "Financial offers give UPI new lease on life after near bankruptcy," October 1, 1985, https://csmonitor.com/1985/1001/aupi.html (about 25 interested buyers; 300 to 400 workers laid off). [^25]: United Press International, "Mexican may purchase UPI," November 12, 1985, as printed in the *University Daily Kansan*, November 13, 1985, p. 11, https://digital.lib.ku.edu/islandora/object/ku-udk%3A26507/datastream/OCR/download (the $41 million proposal and its components; Vázquez Raña as president of the Mexican Olympic Committee; the El Sol group; Russo's 10 percent; the foreign-ownership reservations). [^26]: Michael Zamba, "What saved a chain of papers in Mexico is being tried at UPI," *Christian Science Monitor*, February 13, 1987, https://csmonitor.com/1987/0213/fupi.html (the Madison Hotel meeting in September 1985; Russo's 10 percent; the $41 million offer in early November 1985; the Mexican government's takeover and sale of El Sol; the meeting with President de la Madrid). [^27]: United Press International, "Vazquez-Rana pledges to maintain UPI independence," March 6, 1986, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/03/06/Vazquez-Rana-pledges-to-maintain-UPI-independence/9729510469200/ (the pledge conditioned on bankruptcy court approval; Luis Nogales on the choice of buyer). [^28]: Greg Gordon, "Bankruptcy Judge Approves Sale of UPI," United Press International, Washington, June 10, 1986, text reproduced at http://www.downhold.org/lowry/bank.html (Bason's confirmation; the 130 to 5 creditor vote; Vázquez Raña's testimony and the $29 million deposit; Russo as 10 percent partner). [^29]: "United Press International, Inc. History," FundingUniverse, same URL as note 1 (Vázquez Raña's 90 percent ownership; the 1988 transfer of operational control to Infotechnology, which held 46 percent of FNN; lines of credit; Brian as chairman; Elizabeth Tucker's 1988 Washington Post article quoted on the high-tech information network). [^30]: United Press International, "Ex-UPI chief gets prison term," May 20, 1997, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1997/05/20/Ex-UPI-chief-gets-prison-term/7027864100800/ (conviction on 10 counts after a 12-week jury trial in October of the previous year; four years and nine months; $25,000 fine; prison beginning August 18; the fraudulent lease transactions). [^31]: Bua Report, pp. 169-170 (Charles Docter's House Judiciary testimony as summarized in the report; Whelan's application in the UPI case before Judge Bason; the ruling of July 17, 1987; Whelan's account and denials), same URL. [^32]: U.S. Department of Justice, *Report of Special Counsel Nicholas J. Bua to the Attorney General Regarding the Allegations of Inslaw, Inc.* (March 1993), p. 96 (Patricia Cloherty's account of Brian's 1990 approach to Patricof and Company regarding UPI), https://archive.org/download/InslawPROMISBuaReport/Inslaw%3APROMIS%20Bua%20Report_djvu.txt. [^33]: Bua Report, pp. 194-201 and 216-220 (Blackshear's first deposition, his recantation, the staff's conclusion that the recantation was implausible, the statements of the trustee, the IRS and the Tax Division, the report's statement that there was insufficient evidence to conclude the recantation false, and the March 20, 1986 subcommittee testimony as quoted in the report), same URL. [^34]: United Press International, "Middle East Broadcasting finalizes purchase of UPI," June 30, 1992, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/06/30/Middle-East-Broadcasting-finalizes-purchase-of-UPI/7013709876800/ (approval on June 23 in federal bankruptcy court in New York; the three bidders; creditors owed about $60 million; Chapter 11 since August 28, 1991; MBC's London base and Saudi investors). [^35]: Associated Press, "New owners say UPI will stay politically free," *Deseret News*, June 29, 1992, https://www.deseret.com/1992/6/29/18991932/new-owners-say-upi-will-stay-politically-free/ (Middle East Broadcasting Centre purchase for $3.95 million in cash, outbidding American businessmen at a bankruptcy court hearing in New York the previous week; up to $12 million over two years; about $60 million owed to creditors; losses for 30 years; second reorganization in a decade; Walid Al-Ibrahim's pledge of independence). [^36]: United Press International, "De Borchgrave named CEO of UPI," December 16, 1998, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1998/12/16/De-Borchgrave-named-CEO-of-UPI/2072913784400/ (appointment as president and chief executive officer; start date of January 4; prior posts at The Washington Times and Newsweek; his start at UP as Brussels bureau chief; the Global Organized Crime Project at CSIS; editor at large of The Washington Times). [^37]: Associated Press, "Venerable correspondent leaves UPI," *Deseret News*, May 17, 2000, https://www.deseret.com/2000/5/17/19507080/venerable-correspondent-leaves-upi (the sale to News World Communications on the day before the Tuesday resignation; News World as parent of The Washington Times and founded by Sun Myung Moon; Thomas's statements; de Borchgrave's statement). [^38]: Agence Europe, Europe Daily Bulletin No. 7720, May 19, 2000, https://agenceurope.eu/en/bulletin/article/7720/53 (News World Communications' entry into the capital of UPI; financial conditions not disclosed). [^39]: Gregory Gordon, UPI series on NutraSweet, October 1987, reprinted in *NutraSweet: Health and Safety Concerns*, hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, November 3, 1987, S. Hrg. 100-567 (the editor's note on the eight-month investigation; Part 1; The NutraSweet Company's response; Senator Metzenbaum's quotation of the series), https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41152617_0380. [^40]: United Press International, "Newspaper says banker involved in loans for Contra arms," June 10, 1987, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/06/10/Newspaper-says-banker-involved-in-loans-for-Contra-arms/9700550296000/ (the Miami Herald account; Petrillo's resignation; the $2 million transfer on behalf of GeoMiliTech; Studley; Singlaub listed as an adviser; the company's acknowledgment; Walsh's investigation; Petrillo's denials). [^41]: Jeff Stein, United Press International, Washington, August 2, 1988, "A group of top former FBI agents and federal prosecutors," https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/08/02/A-group-of-top-former-FBI-agents-and-federal/9684730900658/ (formation of Counter Terrorism Consultants; founders; investors; stated clients; Cornick's and Propper's careers; Barcella and Scherrer as consultants; services offered). [^42]: United Press International, "Pell keen on psychic research," Providence, July 17, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/07/17/Pell-keen-on-psychic-research/3613585115200/ (report on the Providence Sunday Journal story; Jones's clearance and salary; Geller's 1987 Washington appearance; Hyman's assessment and Pell's response). [^43]: Daniel F. Gilmore, United Press International, Washington, March 26, 1981, "Michael W. Straight, former deputy chairman of the National...," https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/03/26/Michael-W-Straight-former-deputy-chairman-of-the-National/9678354430800/ (Straight's account of the February 1937 approach at Cambridge and his refusal). [^44]: "Pentagon spied on White House?," United Press International, Washington, February 20, 1974, published in the *Oregon Daily Emerald*, February 21, 1974, p. 8, https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/2004260239/1974-02-21/ed-1/seq-8/ (Radford's testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee; Rembrandt Robinson; Welander and Moorer; the responses of Moorer and Kissinger; the papers from Haig). [^45]: W. G. Kirolos, "Five given death for Sadat assassination," United Press International, Cairo, March 6, 1982, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/03/06/Five-given-death-for-Sadat-assassination/6203384238800/ (the three-man Supreme Military Court; Islambouli as accused mastermind; the acquittals including Omar Abdel Rahman; the prosecution's stated aim). [^46]: Catherine Gewertz, "Trial begins for reputed members of 'Mickey Mouse' Mafia," United Press International, Los Angeles, April 5, 1988, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1988/04/05/Trial-begins-for-reputed-members-of-Mickey-Mouse-Mafia/4166576216000/ (the opening of the trial in federal court; eleven guilty pleas including Milano's; the 18-count indictment returned the previous May; Gates's nickname). [^47]: Thomas Hussain, "UAE jails and fines BCCI executives," United Press International, Abu Dhabi, June 14, 1994, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/06/14/UAE-jails-and-fines-BCCI-executives/7650771566400/ (the court and its judge; the sentences; Naqvi's handover to U.S. officials on May 7; damages of more than $9.13 billion plus costs). [^48]: Richard Sale, "Exclusive: Saddam key in early CIA plot," United Press International, April 10, 2003, https://www.upi.com/Exclusive-Saddam-key-in-early-CIA-plot/65571050017416/ (the six-man squad and the 1959 date; the apartment opposite Qasim's office; Darwish's account of the CIA handler; Coughlin; Copeland; Morris). --- *The Info Web has an MCP server for agents at https://theinfoweb.org/mcp (streamable HTTP, no auth): search by meaning, exact text, source or date, and follow typed, footnoted connections. Setup and the same tools over GET: https://theinfoweb.org/llms.txt*