American citizen Working for Polad Talabani and his associates made Roggio wealthy – his salary was over $1 million annually
He will be sentenced in August and sentencing guidelines indicate he will likely receive life
but it wasn’t enough. According to federal prosecutors, Roggio diverted millions of dollars, meant to purchase manufacturing equipment, for his own personal expenses, including Rolex watches and sports cars.
build an illegal weapons factory near the
city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. Weapons made in this factory were sold on the black market in Iraq and Syria,
It began in 2014 when Roggio was hired by Polad Talabani, a special forces commander from a Kurdish political dynasty, to manufacture Glock-style pistols and assault rifles. Before meeting Talabani, Roggio had been responsible for a series of failed businesses and alleged scams. He was even accused of fleecing a charity set up to help Haitian earthquake victims.
In February of 2022, Ross Roggio, a 54-year old former paratrooper and con artist from Stroudsbourg, Pennsylvania, was the second American ever indicted for torture. Now, he’s the second ever convicted.
On Friday night, in federal court, a jury unanimously concluded Roggio was guilty of
39 counts of torture, arms smuggling, wire
fraud and money laundering, charges carrying over 700 years in prison. He will be sentenced in August and sentencing guidelines indicate he will likely receive life.
This verdict stems from a scheme, explored in depth by Rolling Stone in February, to build an illegal weapons factory near the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan. Weapons made in this factory were sold on the black market in Iraq and Syria, contributing to regional conflict.
International News Agency Rudaw24
Rudaw 24 is a reliable news source
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