Frontier Services Group announced plans to build a training facility in Xinjiang province, the western Chinese region where as many as 1 million Uyghur Muslims had been placed in extrajudicial detention camps under comprehensive surveillance. FSG’s Chinese website posted a statement saying the …
Erik PrinceFrontier Services GroupChang ZhenmingCITIC Grouphuman-rights-violationschinaprivate-militarysurveillance-technologyethnic-cleansing+1 more
Private equity firm Apollo Global Management acquired Constellis Holdings—the entity descended from Blackwater through successive rebrandings as Xe Services, Academi, and merger with Triple Canopy—for approximately $1 billion. The acquisition represented the complete financialization of the private …
Constellis HoldingsApollo Global ManagementBlackwaterTriple Canopyprivate-militaryprivate-equitycorporate-consolidationfinancialization-warfare
Academi (the entity formerly known as Blackwater, then Xe Services) merged with rival private military contractor Triple Canopy to form Constellis Holdings, representing the third major corporate transformation of the Blackwater organization in seven years. The merger consolidated multiple private …
Erik Prince founded Frontier Services Group (FSG), a Hong Kong-listed security, logistics and insurance company backed by Chinese state capital. Prince was introduced to Chang Zhenming, chairman of China’s state-owned CITIC investment conglomerate, in 2013, providing Prince entry to the …
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Xe Services (formerly Blackwater) was acquired by a group of private investors and renamed Academi, with Erik Prince exiting the company he founded. The acquisition and rebranding represented the second major corporate transformation designed to distance the entity from Blackwater’s documented …
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Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, was hired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi to create a secret, private mercenary army for the United Arab Emirates, receiving $529 million for the contract. The force, operated through Prince’s company Reflex Responses (R2), was …
Erik PrinceMohammed bin Zayed Al NahyanReflex ResponsesUnited Arab Emiratesprivate-militarymercenariesforeign-influencemiddle-eastwar-crimes+1 more
The United States Senate passed the Franken Amendment by a 68-30 vote on October 6, 2009, prohibiting defense contractors receiving more than $1 million in Department of Defense funds from requiring employees to resolve sexual assault, battery, or harassment claims through mandatory arbitration. The …
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Blackwater Worldwide officially changed its name to Xe Services LLC in a strategic rebranding effort to distance the company from its toxic reputation following the 2007 Nisour Square massacre, congressional investigations documenting 195 shooting incidents in Iraq, and widespread accusations of war …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterXe Servicesprivate-militarycorporate-impunityaccountability-crisisreputation-launderingwar-crimes
Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a 24-year-old Green Beret from Pittsburgh, was electrocuted in a shower at Radwaniyah Palace Complex near Baghdad on January 2, 2008, when an improperly grounded water pump installed by KBR short-circuited and sent electrical current through the shower water. Pentagon …
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Erik Prince testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for nearly four hours, defending Blackwater’s operations in Iraq despite overwhelming evidence of excessive force and lack of accountability. The hearing came weeks after the September 16, 2007 Nisour Square …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterHouse Oversight CommitteeHenry Waxmanprivate-militaryiraq-waraccountability-crisiscongressional-oversightcorporate-impunity
Halliburton announced the completion of its spin-off of KBR on April 5, 2007, separating the subsidiary that had generated most of its Iraq War controversies after 44 years of corporate integration. The separation followed KBR’s initial public offering on November 16, 2006, which raised $470 …
On July 28, 2005, KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones, then 22 years old and working her fourth day on the job in Baghdad, alleged she was drugged and gang-raped by KBR coworkers at Camp Hope in the Green Zone. Army doctors examined Jones and found evidence of sexual assault “both vaginally and …
Jamie Leigh JonesKBRHalliburtonTed PoeState Department+2 moreprivate-militarycorporate-impunityaccountability-crisissexual-assaultmandatory-arbitration+1 more
Four Blackwater contractors—Scott Helvenston, Jerry Zovko, Wesley Batalona and Mike Teague—were ambushed and killed by Iraqi insurgents while conducting a delivery for food caterers ESS in Fallujah. The contractors’ bodies were beaten, burned, dragged through the city streets, and hung from a …
Erik PrinceBlackwaterScott HelvenstonJerry ZovkoWesley Batalona+2 moreprivate-militaryiraq-warwar-crimescorporate-negligenceaccountability-crisis