Ghouliani, North Korea, and Organized Crime. Connect the Dots.

From The Chicago Tribune, 11/21/07:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-rudy_singaporenov21,1,6418389.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

By Andrew Zajac and Evan Osnos, Tribune correspondents

WASHINGTON -

Nine days after registering his presidential exploratory committee

last November, Rudolph Giuliani appeared in Singapore to help a Las

Vegas developer make a pitch for a $3.5 billion casino resort.

Though the bid ultimately failed, and there was nothing illegal about

the involvement, it drew Giuliani into a complex partnership with the

family of a controversial Hong Kong billionaire who has ties to the

regime of North Korea's Kim Jong Il and has been linked to

international organized crime by the U.S. government.

Giuliani's participation as a security consultant in the Singapore

gambling venture illustrates the challenge he faces while attempting

to win the Republican presidential nomination with a law-and-order

message while maintaining a far-flung, international business

portfolio, an unknown portion of which remains in the shadows.

As a candidate, Giuliani is banking on his reputation as a hard-nosed

prosecutor and a crime-fighting mayor, along with his performance

after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to trump doubts about his

turbulent personal life, his tolerant stands on gambling, abortion and

other social issues and perhaps some of the decisions he has made as a

businessman.

So far, the strategy seems to be working, as Giuliani leads most polls

of GOP presidential contenders.

But as the primary campaign nears its first electoral tests in Iowa,

New Hampshire and other states in the coming weeks, new details of

Giuliani's extensive business dealings since leaving office continue

to emerge piecemeal.

Each revelation raises new questions for the first major presidential

candidate in memory to build a multimillion-dollar business on the

foundation of his time in elected office, and not the other way

around.

Confidential candidate

Even today, more than a year after the former New York mayor signaled

his intention to run for the presidency, it remains impossible to

fully evaluate Giuliani's business dealings because he has declined to

list all of the clients in Giuliani Partners, the consulting firm he

founded and heads.

Questioned during a campaign appearance Tuesday in Chicago, Giuliani

said that, "all of Giuliani Partners' clients, maybe with one or two

exceptions, I'm not even sure that's right, are public. ... At least

the ones that I was familiar with."

Confidentiality agreements prohibit disclosure of an unspecified

number of clients, Giuliani said, "but somehow I think you -- you

meaning the press in general -- have been successful in discovering.

I'd have to check if it's every client. But just about every single

client of Giuliani Partners. You'll have to check with them."

A spokeswoman for Giuliani Partners said that "a number of client

relationships ... must remain confidential, as per the specific

request of those clients."

She did not respond to questions about whether Giuliani was asking

those clients to waive privacy in light of his presidential bid.

Giuliani's public involvement in the gaming bid began at a September

2006 news conference in Singapore hosted by Mark Advent, CEO of Eighth

Wonder LLC, a Las Vegas development company heading one of three

consortia competing to build the Sentosa Integrated Resort.

Giuliani Security & Safety LLC, a division of Giuliani Partners, was

to provide security on a celebrity-studded, multibillion-dollar

project featuring participation by soccer legend Pele, chef Alain

Ducasse, New Age guru Deepak Chopra and designer Vera Wang, according

to Advent.

Advent estimated that he spent more than $30 million to assemble and

present his plans to Singaporean authorities.

He declined to disclose the fees paid to Giuliani, but described them

as "fair and priceless."

Advent said he sought Giuliani's services because he was impressed by

the way Giuliani ran New York, before and especially after the Sept.

11 attacks.

"In my personal opinion, the mayor is the best crisis manager,

post-traumatic event, of anyone I've ever seen," Advent said in a

recent telephone interview.

'Tremendous due diligence'

Behind the scenes, Giuliani had been involved in the project for three

months before his involvement was made public, and he had a 10-year

agreement to provide "security management on all levels," including

employee background checks, security features and disaster response,

said Advent, who previously developed Las Vegas' New York, New York

casino.

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Harry