Taiwan Civil Government lobbyist Neil Hare at Roll Call Live special event (credit: Screenshot)
After months of biting his tongue and declining comment on the political fraud arrests of his clients Roger and Julian Lin, leaders of Taiwan Civil Government, group lobbyist Neil Hare opened up a media campaign to call for the dismissal of the charges. The occasion was a Roll Call Live post-election special program, apparently paid for by TCG.
Julian Lin had been invited by David Meyers, Vice President of Roll Call Live, however Lin was barred from attending by terms of her bail which require her to report to a Taoyuan police station every day. Until recently both Lins had been held incommunicado in solitary confinement punishment cells without furniture. In 2016, at a similar Roll Call Live show, Lin was the honorary mistress of ceremony. TCG sponsorship of that event was $20,000.
Although Julian Lin could not attend this year’s post-election program, a TCG delegation did make the trip, dressed in their trademark black suits sporting TCG lapel pins. Making the rounds of Washington media houses, the TCG delegation of a half-dozen was smaller than in the past. Group finances might be stretched thin as bond was over $1 million dollars to free the Lins from pre-trial detention. They are accused of tricking disgruntled group members out of donations by making false claims of support from the United States.
Hare has been long silent on the May 2018 fraud arrests. Hare’s firm, Global Vision Communications, was a subject of inquiry by a Taoyuan District Court judge at a pre-trial hearing in Roger Lin’s case. Recently, Hare was responsible for the placement of a full-page advertisement in the New York Times seeking international assistance for the Lins. Bail was granted one week after the newspaper ad.
In the Roll Call Live pitch Hare was every bit that a polished mouthpiece should be, albeit a little fuzzy on TCG goals. Hare hasn’t fully embraced Roger Lin’s vision of TCG becoming the provisional government of Taiwan with American military assistance. However, Hare has claimed the arrests were politically motivated because of TCG’s strong pro-American stance.
Taiwan’s seven decades of unresolved sovereignty, since the end of World War II, have left the former Japanese island caught in a strategic ambiguity called by a panel of US federal appellate judges “political purgatory.” The unresolved status has left the population conflicted and confused. There is even confusion over the name. Older residents and those of Japanese heritage call the island Formosa. The United States government uses the name Taiwan. The International Olympic Committee and the major airlines use Chinese Taipei. The governing authority goes by Republic of China.
Lack of sovereignty keeps Taiwan out of the United Nations, barred from the World Health Organization and banned from Interpol. Worse yet, the claim to own Taiwan by the Republic of China in-exile puts the island at risk of military invasion by the People’s Republic of China under the “one China” policy.
Taiwan’s political purgatory is haunted by an evil history with the 228 Massacre and subsequent White Terror period during harsh martial law imposed by the ROC on the Taiwanese people. Completing the formula of disaster is the shameful reality that the United States installed the ROC after World War II and then let them stay in charge of the island. During the bloodshed America looked the other way and ignored the cruel crimes of the Chinese.
American support for TCG’s desire to expel the ROC is a critical issue in the fraud case. Prosecutors claim there is no American role and rely on a letter, thus far kept secret, from the American Institute on Taiwan. However, countering the mysterious AIT letter are persistent rumors that TCG has secret support from the Central Intelligence Agency and Julian Lin’s tete-a-tete in Washington last year with Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump.
If Roger and Julian Lin are fraudsters, then Neil Hare is aiding and abetting political fraud. However, if the Lins are victims of an imposed government they seek to expel, then Neil Hare is a courageous American speaking out about international injustice. Hare was present in May 2017 when Julian Lin had her private session with White House adviser Conway. Maybe Neil knows something the rest of us do not.
J. Edgar Hoover, William Sullivan, Charles Brennan, John Mohr, Ivan Conrad, & Paul Young conspired in August 1970 to withhold a report on the identity of a policeman’s murderer in order to frame two Black Panther leaders for the crime. (credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Within hours of the August 17, 1970 bombing murder of Omaha policeman Larry Minard, leaders of the Federal Bureau of Investigation conspired to withhold a FBI Laboratory report on the identity of the anonymous 911 caller that lured Minard to his death.
Assistant Director Charles Brennan was alerted by an early morning call from the Omaha FBI office of Minard’s death. Brennan, in charge of the Domestic Intelligence Division, was pushing an escalation of counterintelligence actions under the clandestine COINTELPRO counterintelligence operation against so-called Black Nationalists. The FBI decided to help the Omaha police solve the crime.
Special Agent in Charge Paul Young in Omaha quickly conferred with Deputy Chief of Police Glen Gates and obtained a recording of the 911 call for the FBI Laboratory. Young stipulated the FBI could not be quoted nor would the Bureau issue a laboratory report. Young wrote to Director J. Edgar Hoover while detectives were searching crime scene rubble.
“Deputy Chief Gates inquired into the possibility of voice analysis of the individual making the call by the FBI Laboratory. He was advised the matter would be considered and that if such analysis were made and if subsequent voice patterns were transmitted for comparison, such analysis would have to be strictly informal, as the FBI could not provide any testimony in the matter; also, only an oral report of the results of such examination would be made to the Police Department. Gates stated he understood these terms and stated the Police Department would be extremely appreciative of any assistance in this matter by the FBI and would not embarrass the FBI at a later date, but would use such information for lead purposes only.”
William Sullivan, third in command of the FBI as Assistant to the Director, was appraised of the developing counterintelligence action in Omaha and gave his written approval. Sullivan was the principal architect of COINTELPRO and kept close watch on clandestine operations.
Paul Young alerted Hoover with a second memorandum that quoted informant OM T-7 about the Minard bombing. Young’s informant stated that Omaha’s Black Panther affiliate chapter did not seem to be involved. Lack of involvement did not stop Young from pushing his plan to please Hoover.
“On August 18, 1970, OM T-7 advised that the members of the National Committee to Combat Fascism were pleased over the death of the “pig” but that their actions did not indicate that they had any knowledge of who set off the blast, and at this time seemed unaware of who could have committed the crime.”
Assistant Director John Mohr, head of the Administrative Division, assigned supervisor William Bradley to write a memorandum to Assistant Director Ivan Willard Conrad at the FBI Laboratory.
“The SAC, Omaha strongly recommends that the examination requested by the Omaha Police Department be conducted.”
“If approved, the results of any examinations will be orally furnished the Police on an informal basis through the SAC, Omaha.”
Hoover was on vacation when Conrad called Hoover by phone for instructions. Hoover conducted limited FBI business while on vacation and was only called on important matters, however Conrad understood the significance of letting a policeman’s killer get away with murder necessitated making the call.
A handwritten, initialed notation by Conrad stated, “Dir advised telephonically & said OK to do.”
Hoover returned to Washington from his vacation trip to California and promptly gave both Sullivan and Mohr an unexpected $250 cash bonus for handling matters while he was gone. Although Hoover did not directly link the money to the case in Omaha in his correspondence citing “additional responsibilities” the timing of the unusual reward is suggestive of blood money offered to settle any troubled consciences for letting a policeman’s killer get away with murder.
While Sullivan and Mohr were getting their checks, a second memorandum was sent to Conrad at the FBI Laboratory about the Minard case. “In referenced memorandum, 8/19/70, the Director approved a request to assist the Omaha Police Department in captioned case through the use of voice comparison examinations by the Laboratory.”
“By telephonic communication 8/21/70, the SAC, Omaha has requested that a Laboratory Supervisor travel to Omaha for the purpose of furnishing technical guidance to the Omaha Police.”
“The SAC, Omaha, noted that he had been instructed by the Bureau to suggest steps of possible assistance to the Omaha Police in solving the bombings. He advised technical guidance of the type requested would provide maximum immediate assistance, particularly since the existing recording of the false “bait” complaint to the police is the most important present tangible evidence in the possession of the police, and he recommended the Bureau send a Laboratory representative.”
The unidentified caller was an obstacle to placing the blame for the bombing on two leaders of the NCCF chapter, Edward Poindexter and David Rice (later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa). J. Edgar Hoover put his own pen to paper and wrote “OK” followed with his distinctive “H” initial. The anonymous 911 caller that lured a policeman to his death would not be sought.
Young sent Hoover another memorandum two months later reminding the boss that the 911 recording was not to be used. Duane Peak, the confessed bomber, would say he made the fatal phone call solving the problem of the unknown caller. Peak got a deal for his cooperation and never spent a day in prison despite planting the bomb. “Assistant COP GLENN GATES, Omaha PD, advised that he feels that any use of tapes of this call might be prejudicial to the police murder trial against two accomplices of PEAK and, therefore, has advised that he wishes no use of this tape until after the murder trials of PEAK and the two accomplices has been completed.”
The jury that convicted Poindexter and Rice in April 1971 never heard the 911 recording. The tape was never introduced as evidence and a killer’s voice went unheard. The two Black Panthers received life without parole sentences at hard labor. Rice died in March 2016 at the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary where Poindexter remains imprisoned and continues to proclaim his innocence.
Roger Lin, head of Taiwan Civil Government, was arrested in May 2018 on fraud charges (credit: News 52 screenshot)
Roger Lin, controversial head of Taiwan Civil Government, recently had his bail increased to 30 million NT$ ($975,000 USD) after Taoyuan District prosecutors appealed the release of Lin on bond. The prosecutors would prefer Lin remain incommunicado in solitary confinement as he had been for over four months until getting ten million yuan bail. Lin is accused of deceiving some of his followers into making donations with false claims about Taiwan’s future and the role of the United States.
Roger and his wife Julian Lin, along with Yu Hsiang-ching, TCG’s landlord, were released on hefty bail a week after a full-page ad in the New York Times sought international assistance for the imprisoned group members. Taiwan Civil Government seeks the expulsion of the exiled Republic of China administration from Taiwan and the installation of a temporary United States military government pending resolution of the island’s sovereignty.
The October 31 detention hearing was again held in a tiny courtroom that seats twenty people. Four hundred TCG members, all clad in their black business suit uniforms, lined the hallways. To counter the show of support by group members, eighty extra police and security personnel were present giving heightened tension to the scene.
Julian Lin’s bail was raised to 20 million NT$ ($650,000 USD) from the previous seven million and Yu’s was doubled to six million NTS ($195,000 USD). The additional bail money demanded was raised by TCG members within twelve hours giving this unique crime story a strong display of group loyalty to the supposed fraudsters.
Meanwhile, Neil Hare, TCG’s lobbyist in Washington, has been unleashed from his no-comment posture to be an outspoken advocate. Hare wrote a screed for a website called Federal News Network where he talked about the “battle for Taiwan.”
“One strongly pro-American group in Taiwan has been feeling the political pain of its convictions…. They would like to see the US regain control of Taiwan as a bridge to the Taiwanese people determining their own future.”
“This pro-US stance landed the leaders of the TCG, Dr. Roger Lin and his wife Julian Lin, in prison. Despite more than a decade of very public and peaceful protest, two lawsuits in the United States, and a robust global public relations effort, the Taiwan Authority accused the Lin’s of fraud. The Lin’s were recently detained for five months in prison, incommunicado and without any bail hearing. And, while they were released on bail temporarily, they were detained a second time and forced to pay additional bail for their release. They now live in constant fear.”
Hare then departs from his report on the history of the fraud case to offer a theory that the People’s Republic of China push to suppress Taiwan created hostility to Roger Lin by the Republic of China.
“Just as the Taiwanese people have been denied their human right, the Lin’s are being bullied and coerced for exercising their right to free speech and the legal rights we would deem fair in the US. In the wake of China’s efforts to suppress corporate references towards Taiwan and influence diplomatic rejection of Taiwan, it is no surprise that the Lin’s pro-US position is now being cloistered as well.”
Hare ends his pitch with a dramatic prediction and a confusing call for international recognition.
“The United States must reconsider their approach to Taiwan by formally recognizing it. In addition, the US should stand up for the Lin’s and tell the Taiwanese Authority to drop all charges against them. The future and foundation of Taiwan depends on it.”
If the future of Taiwan depends on the outcome of the fraud case then maybe Neil Hare should suggest another New York Times ad because the Federal News Network may not have enough readers to move a mountain.
Wearing a Taiwan Civil Government lapel pin, lobbyist Neil Hare speaks at the Heritage Foundation. (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Taoyuan District Judge Yi-Shan Yao recently questionedRoger Lin, the purported mastermind of what prosecutors have billed a political fraud ring, about the role of Global Vision Communications in Taiwan Civil Government operations. Lin told the court that GVC had no role setting up the Taiwan Civil Government Foundation, Inc. which has become a subject of judicial interest. Lin and others are accused of deceiving TCG members into making donations with false claims.
Global Vision Communications is a Washington public relations firm hired by Lin in 2015 to conduct a lobbying campaign for TCG to increase awareness of Taiwan’s unresolved international status. Neil Hare, president of the firm, declined comment on the courtroom query. Hare has previously stated he works under a non-disclosure agreement and was not concerned with events “on the ground in Taiwan.”
Hare might want to become more familiar with what is happening in Tayoun District Court. The judge also questioned Julian Lin about the Washington public relations firm owned by Hare.
Hare has registered with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agent Registration Act as a Foreign Agent of Taiwan Civil Government and arranged a full-page New York Times advertisement that sparked surveillance of Roger and Julian Lin four days after publication. The newspaper has been silent on its advertiser’s arrest on fraud charges and has not reported a single word about the case or the group link to Washington insiders, including Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Hare did make a formal statement, posted on a Taiwan Civil Government website, about a second New York Times ad that contained an appeal from Julian Lin for United Nations help: “Despite over a decade of very public and peaceful protest, two lawsuits in the United States, and a robust global public relations effort, the Republic of China government have accused the Lins of fraud….the Lins are being denied their right to free speech and legal rights we would deem fair in the U.S.”
Hare said the “pro-US stance has landed the leader of the TCG, Dr. Roger Lin and his wife Julian Lin in prison.” Hare stated Roger Lin was “expressing a legitimate political belief.”
Hare was the go-between for a parley and photo shoot with Julian Lin and presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway at a POLITICO event sponsored by TCG in May 2017. Hare did not detail the contact with Conway in his periodic FARA reports. The omission appears to conflict with federal law unless the POLITICO get-together was of little or no significance, which would undermine Julian Lin’s boast of her White House connection.
Hare arranged a meet between a TCG delegation and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and two United States Senators, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Joe Manchin of West Virgina. Ross cancelled minutes before the session in May 2018 at the Heritage Foundation under orders from the White House where he was called to an urgent meeting. Senators Sasse and Manchin went ahead with the TCG sponsored show. The delegation was to meet two United States Representatives later the same day at a Roll Call Live event, also arranged by Neil Hare, and paid for by Taiwan Civil Government. The two unnamed Representatives cancelled their appearance when they learned of the fraud arrests in Taiwan.
The lobbying tactics used by Global Vision Communications are media-based with advertising, events, sponsorship, and cocktail parties. The firm partnered with Angel Enterprises, headed by Shelly Hymes, for junkets and publicity events. The two companies snagged hefty fees for their costly campaigns. Hare defends the expense maintaining that TCG made significant inroads into the halls of power in Washington. The reach of TCG is important in the fraud case as prosecutors claim the Lins were making fictitious claims of United States support for their agenda to oust the exiled Republic of China from Taiwan.
Hare has remained tight-lipped about the case, an unusual silence for the mouthpiece of an organization. Resisting temptation to play spin doctor, Hare has followed pace with a news media whiteout about the case. Hare says he has not been contacted by ROC prosecutors and could be expected to tell them very little. Judge Yi-Shan Yao is not likely to get much help from Neil Hare about the business of Taiwan Civil Government.
Washington lawyer Neil Carrat Taiwan Civil Government rally (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Washington securities attorney Neil Carr is one person a Taoyuan District Court judge in Taiwan would like to question. Carr became a man of interest regarding the establishment of the Taiwan Civil Government Foundation registered in the District of Columbia. Carr’s possible role surfaced during questioning by Judge Yi-Shan Yao at a recent preliminary hearing for Julian Lin, accused of fraudulently deceiving members of Taiwan Civil Government.
Taiwan’s seven decades of political purgatory have left it administered by the Republic of China in-exile, without a seat in the United Nations, and forced to compete in the Olymics as Chinese Taipei. The unresolved status of the island long called Formosa has spawned a rainbow of Taiwanese independence groups and political parties. The pro-American TCG is one of the most vocal and controversial with its advocacy for a temporary United States military government to expel the Chinese. ROC prosecutors claim instead that TCG leaders are an organized crime ring to exploit money from gullible group members.
When Lin was asked by the judge about TCG identity cards her answer involved the Taiwan Civil Government Foundation which was to be linked to the identity cards through a Bank of America account. The purpose was to create an identification system for Taiwanese to conduct banking in America. Lin was an authorized signatory for the foundation and pointed out she was added to an existing account. The Bank of America account is confirmed by a foundation report to the Internal Revenue Service which included bank service fees.
Lin explained she would make payments to attorneys and public relations companies for their professional fees. Lin told the judge that because the United States has strict regulations for handling funds an “American lawyer” took her to the bank to add her signature to the account.
Tax records for the foundation reveal payments to Neil Carr’s law firm Babirak & Carr. There was also a September 2014 speaking tour in Taiwan for TCG where Carr was entertained and paraded around. Carr made the trip with crony Scott Bloch, a disgraced Bush Administration attorney, where Carr was given a seat at the weekly TCG round table meeting. Presumably Carr’s activity for Taiwan Civil Government, headed by Roger Lin also facing fraud charges, was proper and legal. Carr has declined comment.
Neil Carr is a managing partner at Somertons. Carr’s caseload includes business, corporate, finance, securities, mergers, acquisitions, international transactions, and the foreign corrupt practices act. Carr is in position to have been the “American lawyer” that helped Julian Lin with her banking.
The TCG Foundation was formed in 2010, although did not file its first tax return as a tax-exempt organization until 2013. The primary purpose for the exemption was “protection of the human rights of the people of Taiwan.”
The foundation underwent a name change to Taiwan Civil Government Foundation, Inc. and filed with the Internal Revenue Service as a Political Organization. The filing noted an expenditure of $12,000 for identification cards. The foundation also paid Neil Carr’s law firm Babirak & Carr a tidy sum of $17,301.03 for “professional fees.”
The first report to IRS as a tax-exempt organization reported an expenditure of $58,000 for identification cards. The report stated that approximately 10,000 cards were issued to the “people of Taiwan to identify their legitimate status as the real people of Taiwan.” It cannot be determined from the tax filings if the $12,000 amount is part of the $58,000 expense or in addition.
The foundation’s primary business was apparently to handle the issuance of TCG identity cards. The foundation’s registration in the District of Columbia has since been revoked and it is unknown what became of the Bank of America account. Answers to questions about TCG finances are hard to come by in the face of a pending fraud trial.
Neil Carr may want to think twice before scheduling a vacation trip to Taiwan. Now that Roger Lin is out on bail the exiled Republic of China has an extra punishment cell available. If ROC prosecutors level charges against Carr, being a high-rolling lawyer would make him a flight risk which could qualify Carr for some nasty pre-trial detention.
Imprisoned Black Panther Ed Poindexter has marked forty-eight birthdays in prison (credit: Omaha Police Department)
Edward Alan Poindexter was born November 1, 1944, in Omaha, Nebraska. Forty-eight birthdays have passed in prison as Poindexter, now 76, is two years short of a half-century locked up for a crime he says he did not commit. Poindexter and David Rice (later Wopashite Mondo Eyen we Langa) were convicted after a controversial trial for the August 17, 1970 bomb murder of Patrolman Larry Minard.
Leaders of Omaha’s Black Panther affiliate chapter, the National Committee to Combat Fascism, Poindexter and Rice were targets of COINTELPRO, a clandestine counterintelligence operation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The pair was arrested and prosecuted for murder in a trial marred by a missing 911 recording of a killer’s voice, contradictory dynamite testimony by two detectives, and planted dynamite particles.
During a prison interview with Nebraska’s most controversial prisoner, Poindexter complained of the confessed bomber’s lack of remorse and his disgust of Duane Peak’s attidude about the bombing that left five young children fatherless. Peak, after six different versions of the crime, implicated Poindexter in exchange for never serving a day in prison and laughed about the murder. Poindexter empathized with the five children of Minard as he lost his own father at an early age.
Ed’s father helped him learn to read. “I remember learning how to read by sitting on the floor between my father’s legs as he read the newspaper, and would point up to words and pictures that he would either read for me or explain what the photos were.”
“Daddy worked on the railroad. He must have really hated his job and the role he had to play for white folks because he would never talk about the job, and would always return at the end of the day so angry that we’d often clear the living room until Daddy had chilled out and read the papers.”
“One day I misread Daddy’s mood, and went to sit on the floor in front of him for my daily lesson in reading, but he slapped me up side of the head and yelled to leave him alone. I ran upstairs toward the bedroom crying and mumbling under my breath, “I hate you! I wish you were dead!”
“I think that was on a Friday, because the next morning was a Saturday when I awakened and went downstairs. There was that familiar but peculiar odor of grease-fried hair under a straightening comb. The living room was filled with neighbors, quiet and somber. They all spoke to me, but said nothing else. A couple of the women were crying.”
“I entered the kitchen for breakfast, and Aunt Alice was frying Mama’s hair. She did not mince words with me or sugar coat it with typical fairy tales, but instead told me directly, “Butch honey, your father’s dead. He drown at Carter Lake last night, and you are never going to see him again.”
“I was stunned. The searing pain and shock was unspeakable. I was only eight, and Daddy was just twenty-six, and I’d never see him again.”
“I’d wished him dead on Friday, and come Saturday morning he was dead. Actually, he drowned Friday evening late. I got my wish. I blamed myself for his death, and it took me nearly two years to come out of my guilt shell and begin acting like a normal kid again. It wasn’t until 1992 that I finally come to grips with the entire issue of my father’s untimely death that was probably driven by his alcoholism.”
“My Uncle Bob would come to Omaha about once a year to check on us. I remember one visit Uncle Bob said he would buy me anything I wanted. I thought for a long time, kids want a lot of things, but I didn’t want anything. I just wanted my father back.”
At his April 1971 trial, Poindexter testified he did not know officer Minard, had no ill will toward him, and had nothing to do with his murder. Poindexter and Rice were convicted by a jury that never heard the 911 recording that lured Minard to his death. Nor did the jury know the dynamite testimony was unreliable as post-trial revelations would show. Rice died in prison in March 2016. Poindexter, who has repeatedly been denied a new trial, remains imprisoned at the maximum-security Nebraska State Penitentiary serving a life without parole sentence.
Ed Poindexter has never wavered in his steadfast denial of any guilt or role in the Minard murder and continues to maintain his innocence. “I was unjustly accused of a crime I did not commit.”
The story of Ed Poindexter, the flawed investigation, prosecution, and trial is now available in my new book, FRAMED: J. Edgar Hoover, COINTELPRO & the Omaha Two story, in print edition at Amazon and in ebook format at Kindle. Portions of the book may also be read free online at NorthOmahaHistory.com. The book is also available to patrons of the Omaha Public Library.
Julian Lin spoke at a Roll Call Live special event after the 2016 election. Lin has been invited to the 2018 election show but will be unable to attend because of pending fraud charges in Taiwan. (Taiwan Civil Government)
David Meyers, Vice President of Congressional Quarterly Roll Call Live, has invited Julian Lin to Washington now that she is out of jail on bail in Taiwan. Unfortunately, the terms of Lin’s bond for fraud charges prevent international travel. Meyers wanted Lin back after her appearance in 2016 when Taiwan Civil Government sponsored a special election show for Roll Call Live to the tune of $20,000.
Meyers’ new invitation, on Fiscal Note letterhead, promised a “networking opportunity” with some of the “smartest minds in Washington.” The event, called “After the Races,” is scheduled for November 8 to take an “immediate look” at mid-term Congressional elections and how the results will impact “government spending and defense/foreign policy.”
Meyers did not ask for money so there will be no reserved table in the studio like last time when Lin welcomed attendees. In May 2018, Lin’s group, Taiwan Civil Government, was to sponsor a show featuring a Congressional panel discussion entitled “Reshaping the State Department, A Fresh Start with East Asia.” The program was canceled the day of the broadcast. Roll Call Live CEO Meg Hargreaves explained the cancellation, “This is due to the fact that two Members of Congress scheduled to appear at the event withdrew from the program.” Hargreaves declined to name the two Members of Congress who got cold feet.
The Roll Call Live show was two weeks after the arrest of Lin and her husband Roger Lin, TCG founder. Both Lins were being held incommunicado in solitary confinement. The Heritage Foundation went on with a TCG sponsored event on “Trade in Asia” the same day as the Roll Call Live show. However, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross was a last minute no-show when he was purportedly called to an urgent meeting at the White House.
Besides Roll Call Live, TCG sponsored or underwrote events for POLITICO, Foreign Policy, the McLaughlin Group, and Heritage Foundation. All have declined comment on Taiwan Civil Government sponsorship and all have refused to report on the May 2018 fraud arrests in Taiwan. The Lins and others are accused of masterminding a complex scam to dupe TCG members disgruntled by belief their money was donated for false connections to the United States government.
Republic of China in-exile authorities resist Roger Lin’s advocacy, maintaining it offers false promises and is a financial scam based on political ideology. Lin’s group was severely fractured several years ago with top leaders quitting over complaints about money. Held over four months in harsh pre-trial detention, Roger Lin came out of jail to a hero’s welcome at TCG headquarters where he now prepares for his defense.
The Taoyuan District judge who released the Lins on bail did so one week after TCG bought a full-page ad in the New York Times complaining about denial of bail. The New York Times is another media house that is quick to take TCG money but ignores a unique, international crime story drenched in politics.
Secret memorandum from the Omaha FBI office to J. Edgar Hoover reminding not to use a 911 recording because it might prejudice the police case against the Black Panthers (credit: Federal Bureau of Investigation)
October 1970 was a month of deception against local leaders of the Black Panthers by Omaha police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There were three consecutive days of deceit by police and the FBI as a plot to blame leaders of the National Committee to Combat Fascism for the bombing murder of Omaha Patrolman Larry Minard went forward. Edward Poindexter and David Rice (later Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa) led the Black Panther affiliate group and were targets of COINTELPRO, a clandestine FBI counterintelligence operation.
The plot to blame Poindexter and Rice began the day of the bombing, August 17, 1970, with a police decision to send the 911 recording of the anonymous voice that lured Minard to his death to the FBI Laboratory, but ask for no report. Deputy Police Chief Glen Gates conspired with Paul Young, the Special Agent in Charge of the Omaha FBI office, to keep lab results on the identity of the anonymous caller from being reported. An unknown killer upset plans to pin the murder on the two Panther leaders.
The pair were arrested and charged with Minard’s murder along with a teen, Duane Peak, who confessed to planting the bomb. Peak made a deal with police and prosecutors implicating the two leaders and escaped prison by being declared a juvenile delinquent. The plot to pin the crime on Poindexter and Rice hardened in October 1970 with false testimony to a Congressional subcommittee by an Omaha police captain and untruthful statements by FBI leadership to news reporters.
October 12, 1970, Williamsburg, Virginia
Assistant FBI Director William Sullivan spoke to a convention of United Press International editors and reporters. When asked about communist responsibility for racial unrest Sullivan admitted that no evidence existed of communist instigation of any of the riots that erupted in cities around the nation over the summer and instead blamed extremists.
“The vanguard of black extremism today is the Black Panther Party with its demonstrated proclivity for violence. The party was founded in 1966 ostensibly as a self-defense group against police officers. It has, however, been constantly on the offensive in keeping with its battle cry of “off the pigs”—Panther jargon for “kill the police”. According to Panther thinking, the police are the first target in the program for “liberation” of the black community and the violent destruction of white America.”
Sullivan’s speech included a denial of counterintelligence actions against the Black Panthers which he supervised. Sullivan also made the only public FBI mention of the bombing in Omaha. Sullivan didn’t have all of his facts correct, he was wrong on the date and number arrested and did not mention the duplicity of the FBI Laboratory for which he initialed his approval.
“On August 12, 1970, an Omaha, Nebraska, police officer was literally blasted to death by an explosive device planted in a suitcase in an abandoned residence. The officer had been summoned by an anonymous telephone complaint that a woman was being beaten there. An individual with Panther associations had been charged with this crime.”
The FBI continues to censor its files on the case. David Rice’s FBI file is filled with redactions including a completely censored three-page memorandum prepared for Omaha police by the local FBI office. Records of the Inspection Division, which reviewed actions of the Omaha field office on the case have disappeared, with the FBI unable to explain when or why the records vanished.
October 13, 1970, Omaha, Nebraska
In Omaha, Special Agent in Charge Paul Young sent a memorandum to J. Edgar Hoover on the Minard murder. Young reminded Hoover that no report from the FBI Laboratory was wanted: “In a preliminary hearing held 9/28/70 in Municipal Court, Omaha, PEAK testified that he had made the telephone call to the Omaha PD telling them that a woman was screaming in a house at 2867 Ohio Street. Police Officer LARRY MINARD was subsequently killed when a bobby trap suitcase exploded as he, with other officers, answered this call.”
“Assistant COP [Chief of Police] GLENN GATES, Omaha PD, advised that he feels that any use of tapes of this call might be prejudicial to the police murder trial against two accomplices of PEAK and, therefore, has advised that he wishes no use of this tape until after the murder trials of PEAK and the two accomplices has been completed.”
“UACB [Until Authorized to Contrary by Bureau], no further efforts are being made at this time to secure additional tape recordings of the original telephone call.”
Hoover had ordered no lab report was to be issued, however Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tom Dugan called the FBI Laboratory and canceled all testing, before Duane Peak was arrested, ending any inquiry into the identify the unknown 911 caller that lured Minard to his death. The FBI allowed a policeman’s killer to get away with murder and walk free in order to make a case against Poindexter and Rice.
October 14, 1970, Washington, D.C.
A House Internal Security Subcommittee hearing opened on “National Office Operations of the Black Panthers and activities in Des Moines, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska.”
The Omaha Police Department was scheduled. However, no FBI representative was on hand to testify. Captain Murdock Platner, who testified to a Senate subcommittee earlier in the month, returned to Washington to testify again. Platner read a written statement that elaborated on his earlier testimony.
“I will outline for you the development of the militant actions in Omaha that led up to the murder of a police officer. Eldridge Cleaver came to Omaha and spoke to about 400 people in a city park. Several Black Panthers from California were in Omaha at this time. One, Wilfred “Crutch” Holliday, stayed on in Omaha for some time. He attended Black Panther meetings and on one occasion, with 30 people in attendance, rushed out to his car and brought in a shotgun, and waving it over his head, shouted, “This is the way to handle the pigs; you should get yourself a shotgun and shoot as many as you can.”
Platner mentioned the 1969 shooting of fourteen year-old Vivian Strong and the spontaneous rioting that followed her death.
“The next night after the girl was killed rioting and burning started. Several businesses were burned out in the Negro area. This lasted for 3 days. During the entire week militants from other cities came to Omaha. This was established through informants and surveillance of autos with out-of-State plates that were spotted in the area….Cars from California, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, and Colorado were in the area.”
“The militants obtained radios to monitor police calls. They had several people in cars with monitors, and every time a call was received by a police car in the Negro area a group of militants would show up and start interfering.”
Platner outlined the Minard murder investigation: “A 16-year-old Black Panther was arrested for the murder and implicated the deputy chairman, Edward Poindexter, and the deputy minister of information, David Rice, of the NCCF party, who were arrested and have been ordered to stand trial in district court for murder. Dynamite similar to that stolen from the Quick Supply in Des Moines was found in the home of one of the above. It is believed it is part of the supply from which the bombs were made.”
Platner explained Duane Peak provided the details of the bomb construction. Platner falsely described Peak’s testimony at the preliminary hearing and claimed that Peak said Rice supplied the suitcase and dynamite for the bomb: “I can tell you this, that one of the suspects in this, Duane Peak, a 16-year-old boy who was arrested, testified in a preliminary hearing, he testified that David Rice brought a suitcase filled with dynamite to his house or to somebody’s house. I am not for sure just which place; that they removed all the dynamite from the suitcase except three sticks; made the bomb, the triggering device, and so on, and put it together; and then packed the suitcase with newspapers and that he left with this suitcase.”
“Now I am a little bit hesitant to go into the rest of this because there is a trial yet to be held. I don’t know what I should say.”
Representative Richard Preyer thanked Platner for his testimony and revealed the shallowness of the subcommittee inquiry: “You have provided some of the most shocking and outrageous things here and yet you have done it in a perfectly calm manner and have not let your indignation carry you away and fly off the handle. Like good police officers you have stuck very close to the evidence and not jumped way beyond it. Most of the evidence you have recited here is circumstantial evidence, but as you know through experience in the courtroom there is nothing wrong with circumstantial evidence; it can be stronger than direct evidence.”
“So this circumstantial evidence here that you have received comes on pretty strong, the only shipment of this dynamite this year, and that sort of thing, it shows you certainly have prepared your case carefully and calmly and efficiently. So I say you are an example of the kind of police officer we need in this country. You are doing a good job.”
Poindexter and Rice were convicted in April 1971 after a controversial trial. Mondo, as Rice came to be known, died in March 2016 at the Nebraska State Penitentiary. Poindexter remains confined at the maximum-security prison where he continues to proclaim his innocence.
Taiwan Civil Government sponsored POLITICO’s Inauguration Hub party for Donald Trump and sought recognition from the new president but could not prevent being disowned by the United States. (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
The ongoing story of Taiwan Civil Government and the fraud arrests of its leaders is like peeling an onion. Each layer reveals another underneath. The recent report that the exiled Republic of China fraud investigation began on Sept. 22, 2017, when Julian Lin returned from a trip to the United States, is only accurate as to surveillance. The investigation was already underway when TCG purchased a full-page ad in the New York Times to highlight Lin’s visit to the United Nations building.
On August 2, 2017, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote to the American Institute on Taiwan inquiring about any official connection of Taiwan Civil Government and the United States. The AIT reply was sufficient to provide Taoyuan District prosecutors with probable cause to believe that fraud had occurred.
The early start date of the investigation, some four months before disgruntled TCG members came forward as complainants, raises questions about who ordered the probe and why. If prosecutors were already working on the case in July 2017, as seems likely based on the letter to AIT, then it was just weeks after a big TCG parade outside the Presidential Palace in Taipei.
The parade was a display of moxie and muscle and was replete with the Black Bear paramilitary squad, flashy color guards, and plenty of flags. Given the number of police that were involved in traffic control it is certain that the administration of Tsai Ing-wen was aware of Taiwan Civil Government’s desire to expel the ROC from Taiwan, the theme of the parade. Tsai has not made any public statement about the arrests of Roger and Julian Lin and others in May 2018 and remained silent about the incommunicado solitary confinement of the Lins.
The AIT response to prosecutors that TCG was not authorized by the United States could be a problem for Roger Lin, depending on what claims were made to disgruntled TCG members. However, there is one American agency that would not admit a link to TCG even if there was a connection, the Central Intelligence Agency.
Roger Lin has long hinted that he was backed by the CIA but always stopped short of giving details. Lin told Judge Yi-Shan Yao that he was visited last year by a mysterious American using an assumed identity. Purportedly the mystery man attended one of TCG’s weekly round table meetings. All the flag-waving and pro-American stance of the group is suggestive of a possible counterintelligence operation and TCG would certainly not be the first shadow government set up by the CIA.
However, proving the CIA helped establish TCG will be a task. If the CIA is involved, the spy agency might be content with leaving Roger Lin twisting in the wind rather than risk public exposure. If the CIA is not involved than Lin will be on his own defending accusations from unhappy TCG members.
Julian Lin’s visit to the United Nations and accompanying advertisement in September 2017 triggered surveillance by the Republic of China in-exile (credit: Taiwan Civil Government)
Although you haven’t yet learned about it reading the New York Times, a full page advertisement in the September 18, 2017 edition of the newspaper triggered undercover surveillance on the other side of the world. Julian Lin’s junket to New York City, where she attended a development meeting at the United Nations building, was accompanied by the full-page ad. Julian, wife of Taiwan Civil Government founder Roger Lin, is the group’s diplomatic face to the world. Julian is outspoken against the use of the name Chinese Taipei to describe Taiwan. Both Lins now face the possibility of long prison sentences for alleged fraud by the exiled Republic of China government they seek to expel from Taiwan.
The advertisement, timed for the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly, urged Taiwan’s membership in the international organization. TCG shelled out $114,437 to the newspaper for the space and another $3,525 to a pricey public relations firm for the ad design, for a total cost of $117,962.
The New York Times, considered by many to be the nation’s leading newspaper, was eager to take TCG money for the advertising income. However, editors have made sure the transaction was kept in the sales division and not transferred to a news desk. The newspaper has failed to print a single word about the arrests of its advertisers or the still being revealed story of TCG lobbying in Washington which scored a connection inside the Trump White House with presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway.
Roger Lin is accused of bilking money from donors in pursuit of political fiction. ROC prosecutors claim that Lin’s advocacy for a transitional United States military government is a hoax and that TCG identity cards and vanity license plates are not valid.
At the end of World War II the United States occupied Taiwan until October 1945 when the Navy’s Seventh Fleet landed battle-weary Kuomintang troops on the island, then called Formosa. The soldiers were supposed to be only there temporarily to process Japanese prisoners. However, the Chinese civil war got in the way and dictator Chiang Kai-shek was allowed to escape to Formosa in 1949 after his defeat by Communist revolutionaries led by Mao Tse-tung.
The United States refuses to recognize the Republic of China as a sovereign nation and conducts its “strategic ambiguity” foreign policy under a federal statute, the Taiwan Relations Act. The never-land that is Taiwan has been described by the District of Columbia U.S. Court of Appeals as “political purgatory” which urged then President Barack Obama to “expeditiously” resolve the island’s sovereignty, an action Obama never took.
The confused status of Taiwan, with both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China in-exile laying claim to sovereignty, has been fertile ground for a long suppressed Taiwan independence movement. A plethora of political parties and organizations have formed, each urging their own path to independence or statehood, as is the goal of several groups. Taiwan Civil Government formed ten years ago has become one of the most vocal with large rallies, parades, junkets, offices, lobbying in Washington, a magazine advertising campaign, and the full-page New York Times ad.
It was recently revealed in court documents that ROC surveillance of Taiwan Civil Government leaders began on September 22, 2017, the day Julian Lin returned to Taiwan from her visit to the United States. An undercover surveillance team watched Lin’s arrival at the airport and followed Julian’s car to the parking lot of TCG headquarters. The ROC probe was previously thought to have begun in December 2017 after disgruntled TCG “governor” Tsai Chou-peng purportedly visited prosecutors with a list of complainants. It now appears that Tsai did not trigger the investigation but instead made use of an ongoing probe that began as early as August 2, 2017.
The court hearing revealed the Lins have been treated much like political prisoners. The Lins were kept isolated with separate court appearances, held incommunicado in solitary confinement, in bare cells, and without bail. The hearings were held in a small courtroom which restricted the public to eighteen seats and required advance security clearance.
In a twist of irony, although it was a New York Times advertisement in 2017 that began trouble for Roger and Julian Lin, a second full-page New York Times ad in 2018, appealing for help from the United Nations, preceded by a week their release on bail despite prosecution objection.
Prosecutors have carefully avoided treason charges for creating a shadow government and portray the case as a financial crime. However, TCG’s notion that the Republic of China should be expelled from Taiwan is at the heart of the purported hoax, giving the case bad optics. The investigation that began with airport surveillance now promises to be a high-flying trial as Roger Lin explores the clouds of ambiguity that fog Taiwan’s status. This unique crime story is a long way from being over.
CORRECTION NOTICE: This article has been corrected with updated information pushing back the fraud investigation from Sept. 22, 2017 to August 2, 2017.
Richardson Reports 