From: Sandy Sandfort <sandfort@crl.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 94 17:34:02 PST
To: Cypherpunks <cypherpunks@toad.com>
Subject: PRIVACY DIGEST
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.941126173252.5953A-100000@crl7.crl.com>
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                         SANDY SANDFORT
 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gary Jeffers wrote:

    ... Urgently needed are the opinions of Black Unicorn,
    or possibly Sandy Sandfort or Duncan Frissell as to
    whether or not the Costa Rican reference I gave is a
    "STING".

Sting are a lot less likely than plain old scams or poor advice.
When I was in Costa Rica I never met or heard of the folks in
question.  I haven't had any personal contacts or dealings with
them either.  However, I was not particularly impressed with the
material you posted.  Costa Rica is certainly NOT the best place
to set up a privacy business.  It's too far from where the
offshore action is.  A remarkably high number of con men are
based there, however.  The best places for a sting operation
would be in Caribbean islands, especially noted havens such as
the Cayman Islands.

The Cayman's was where Castle Bank (I think that was the name)
was chartered.  It was a conduit for CIA money laundering and
payoffs.  This all came to light when the IRS(?) used a Miami
prostitute to keep one of the bank officials occupied while the
contents of his briefcase--including confidential client
lists--were examined and photographed.  When the left hand found
out what the right hand had done, the IRS investigation was
dropped and the photos were destroyed lest some CIA asset might
be compromised.  (Gosh, don't we just love those euphemisms.)

Anyway, I doubt that the Costa Rica folks are a sting operation,
but I also doubt they offer much of value either.


 S a n d y

P.S.  "Live Free or Die" is the New Hampshire state motto,
      NOT the name of a book by Abbie Hoffman and Dr. Jack
      Kavorkian.

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