The American Trap, page 27
It’s very simple: at MVCC everything can be bought, and everything can be rented. This ranges from narcotics trafficking to gym ‘places’ ($5 a week for a one-hour slot a day). There are hairdressers ($2 per haircut), grocers (notably a Mexican who has accumulated an impressive amount of products, sometimes stolen from the kitchen, and sells them for 20 per cent above the usual rates), tattoo artists, electronics technicians (who repair damaged radios), cleaners (to whom pod cleaning can be outsourced), and finally a few prostitutes (prisoners who sell themselves for survival). There is also an impressive pornographic magazine business. Such magazines are so rare that they are worth several hundred dollars. Although prohibited, betting (on basketball or American football results) and poker are also a considerable source of income, and many prisoners prefer to go to the hole (solitary confinement) to avoid paying their debts. Telephone minutes can also be purchased from those who need money. The exchange currency is the mack (a bag of mackerel worth one dollar).
The MVCC administration prefers to turn a blind eye to all this wheeling and dealing. It literally exploits prisoners, whom it uses for the preparation and service of meals, kitchen cleaning, maintenance of buildings (painting, plumbing, rubbish collection . . .) and green spaces, and programme management (courses, bookshop . . .). All inmates are forced to work, from one to five or more hours a day. For the first three months of detention there is no choice, everyone is assigned to the kitchens.
Remuneration varies according to tasks and qualifications and is set at between 12 to 40 cents per hour. So, for my first month of work in the kitchen, where I am assigned to the dishwasher (five hours a day, three days a week), I was royally paid $11.26 (€9.80). And there’s no way to escape it. This system is similar to modern-day slavery. Private investors have their ‘Made in America’ products manufactured inside this type of jail, where the labour costs cannot be beaten.
But there is even more hypocrisy to come. As we don’t reside in the United States, we all have the status of illegal alien in the eyes of the US government. Besides, many MVCC prisoners have been convicted of re-entry (prohibited entry into the United States). These illegal aliens, after being deported a first time, were arrested for trying their luck a second time. These men (who cannot legitimately work in the US) find themselves forced to work within these four walls for a pittance, and this in total legality. The prison administration has in effect applied the famous Thirteenth Amendment to the American Constitution abolishing slavery ‘except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted’. So, legally speaking, we are all slaves. And woe betide those who refuse to bow to this discipline. They go straight to the ‘hole’ and are then transferred to other GEO group prisons.
The most recalcitrant are subject to a special programme known as diesel therapy. They are rotated every two or three days from one prison to another, constantly being transported from one end of the country to the other in minivans. It supposedly calms them down. In Texas, inmates recently rebelled against this system in a GEO facility. It was closed after being partially destroyed by fire during riots.
In Moshannon Valley, the most daring way to express dissatisfaction is to go on a ‘counting strike’. They count us five times a day. At that moment, we must all stand silently by our beds. Two guards take turns to count us and write the result on a sheet of paper. If they come up with the same number, they proudly brandish their paper and express their satisfaction with huge grins. If not, they begin again. The ‘strike’ action therefore consists of being constantly on the move in the pod to prevent them from achieving their goal. Everyone is of course forced to join in the game and everyone does, at risk of being seen as a snitch.
To survive in this ‘parallel world’, I decided to continue writing my story. I send fresh scripts to Matthieu Aron, who edits and works on it. I also receive many letters from family and friends and reply promptly. And I start playing chess again, but the competition is very tough in the pod, where we have some excellent players. One of them, Chuck, a Hells Angels veteran sentenced to twenty-four years, who is due to be released next year, is just unbeatable. At the end of November, another good player arrived, a Briton nicknamed Fifa. He was arrested in Zurich just before the General Meeting of FIFA (International Federation of Association Football) in May 2015 and spent almost a year in prison in Switzerland before being extradited to the United States. Very quickly we strike up a friendship and discuss the similarities between our respective cases. According to him, the FIFA scandal (the payment of bribes to obtain the awarding of sports competitions) was nothing but revenge by the United States, furious at having been ousted by Qatar for the hosting of the 2022 World Cup. He is adamant, even though he does not give me any detail, that the Americans, despite taking the moral high ground, conduct themselves like most other countries. They also do not hesitate to lobby different federations.
Hang on in there and above all make sure you don’t get punished and lose your good-behaviour points for sentence reduction. It’s an everyday challenge. For example, when you work in the kitchen, you must steal food and bring it back to your pod. It’s an obligation. If you don’t, the other inmates will come after you. But if you get caught, you’re sent straight to the hole, plus you face cancellation of your phone rights, and you lose twenty-seven days of sentence reduction for good behaviour. This just happened to a Mexican for a chicken leg.
I’m permanently on my guard. I have set myself a roadmap, a kind of checklist that I try to respect rigorously. Get into a routine, stay physically fit, don’t look for trouble, don’t gamble, don’t accumulate debt, keep your head down, never complain, never brag, never lie about who you are or were outside, don’t snitch if someone breaks the rules, never raise your voice, never get angry, never touch or brush another inmate, don’t even talk to known snitches and convicted paedophiles, do not sit with inmates from another group, use your knowledge to help others but do not overdo it, create alliances, do not accept gifts that make you accountable, do not get involved in other people’s affairs, do not ask to change TV channels (one of the main causes of strife), do not stare at anyone, do not pity others, and, most importantly, be patient.
On 6 January my eldest twins Pierre and Léa celebrate their twentieth birthday and I am gutted about not being with them. Then, on 14 January, I celebrate my fiftieth birthday. Filippo, the Greek who shared my cell during my last month in Wyatt and whom I reconnected with here, made two cakes that we share with the ‘Internationals’ of Unit C, namely Muay Thaï, Hollywood, Vlad, two other Russians, two Georgians, one Romanian, and Fifa.
On 15 January I get some bad news The liaison officer, Marie-Laurence Navarri, has just informed my sister Juliette that the DOJ has refused my transfer to France. However, Ms Navarri does not give up. Upon the request of the French presidential office, which seems determined to help me, she drafted a letter that Emmanuel Macron was to send in person to Donald Trump, requesting a presidential pardon. I don’t have much faith in it happening, but nevertheless cling to it like a last lifeline.
On 22 January it’s the birthday of my youngest twins, Gabriella and Raphaella. I manage to speak to them for a few minutes by phone.
‘Daddy? When are you coming back?’
They haven’t asked me that for a very long time. All the bad memories come flooding back.
‘I don’t know Gabriella, but soon.’
‘You always say that. Like before the last vacation. I heard you and Mum talking about Emmanuel Macron. Is it up to him?’
‘It’s complicated, but yes, a little. You must be patient a bit longer sweetheart.’
‘If you don’t come home, I’m going to write to Emmanuel Macron that Daddy has to come home. And I will go on strike at school with all my friends.’
After hanging up, I suddenly feel very depressed. It doesn’t happen to me very often. The last time was in Wyatt when I heard that Alstom had fired me. As a prisoner, you cannot and must not confide in anyone during such moments. They’d take you for a loser, a wimp, a wuss. So you grit your teeth, say nothing and continue to act as if everything is fine. But damn, it’s hard!
Chapter 49
The parliamentary enquiry
I have become so out of touch with reality that I don’t even notice that the clocks have gone forward. It is mid-March and still snowing. Moshannon Valley Correctional Center is situated on a plateau 3,000 feet above sea level. It is extremely cold here. So cold in fact that a mere pullover or sweatshirt is now a tradeable high-priced commodity. But now is not the time to falter. In a few minutes’ time, I have a very important meeting in the visitation room.
I’ve been hoping for this moment for more than three years, and they are finally here, in front of me. Of course, I would have preferred to talk to them in different circumstances, I have so much to relate. Never mind, the main thing is they are here. Olivier Marleix (centre-right) and Natalia Pouzyreff (centrist liberal), Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee investigating Alstom, have travelled nearly 4,000 miles just to hear my story.
‘Moreover,’ Marleix tells me, ‘the Americans didn’t exactly make it easy for us; it took them more than a month to grant us a visitation right.’
Quickly, I notice that the two MPs are already very familiar with the background to the Alstom case. No need to convince them of American meddling in the affairs of large European multinationals. That would be tantamount to preaching to the converted. Two and a half years ago, Olivier Marleix actually attended the first conference on this theme at the Assemblée Nationale entitled ‘After Alstom, who’s next?’ But their information was incomplete. For instance, they still do not know when the US investigation was launched, nor how Alstom was able to negotiate a timeframe in which to pay its fine. Over several hours, I answer all their questions, fill in the blanks, trace back the timeline and draw their attention to the disconcerting coincidences of dates.
They tell me about the interview they had the previous day in Washington with the Head of International Relations at the DOJ and his old acquaintance, Daniel Kahn, who has since been promoted in June 2016 from Acting Chief to Chief of the FCPA unit, following his successful handling of the Alstom case. Both were, of course, asked about their refusal to transfer me to France. The Head of International Relations preferred to dodge the issue, asserting that he was not familiar with my file. This cannot be true. I know that the French Ambassador and the Minister of Justice informed them directly of my detention. But what difference does one more lie make? More interestingly, the two MPs also questioned their interviewees about the leniency shown by the DOJ to Patrick Kron.
‘Daniel Kahn replied that he did not have sufficient evidence to charge him,’ said Marleix.
Another falsehood. All you have to do is consult Alstom’s guilty plea to discover the contrary. The two MPs were determined to ‘grill’ my former CEO when they question him under oath in the Assemblée Nationale during their committee’s proceedings. And they keep their word. From my cell, in the far reaches of Pennsylvania, without internet access, I am only able to follow this enquiry in a piecemeal fashion, via press cuttings sent to me by my family. The reports are very explicit.
A headline in the newspaper Le Monde, dated 5 April 2018, says: ‘Takeover of Alstom by GE: Patrick Kron failed to win over MPs!’ That’s an understatement. In his opening remarks to the final report of the Parliamentary Enquiry Committee, Olivier Marleix takes an axe to the arguments raised by the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. ‘The line of defence adopted by Patrick Kron,’ he writes, ‘is one of evident deceit and untruths. Indeed, during his two previous hearings before the Economic Affairs Committee of the Assemblée Nationale on 11 March and 1 April 2015, he ruled out any association between the sale of the energy branch and the negotiations with the DOJ. But the truth is different. This is one of our Enquiry Committee’s main findings.’ Mr Marleix continues to labour the point: ‘Did the threat of a monetary penalty weigh in on Mr Kron’s decision to sell? Our Enquiry Committee answers this question in the affirmative.’
In the eyes of the Assemblée Nationale, Patrick Kron is therefore a liar. Does this worry him? Obviously not, because before the members of parliament, under oath, he still claims that he was never subjected to ‘any pressure whatsoever, or any blackmail, neither from the Americans, nor from any other jurisdiction’. Then, when asked about my legal situation, he admitted (for the first time publicly) that I had ‘done absolutely nothing in this affair for my own personal gain’. Given these circumstances, the MPs ask him why he fired me. And above all, why I received no compensation.
His reply was edifying. ‘There was no opportunity to obtain a favourable outcome to this issue,’ he replied coldly. Before daring to claim that he had ‘done all he could do to help me’. According to him, all those who challenge the validity of his transaction with General Electric are merely spreading ‘unfounded and insulting insinuations against him’.
However, before the Enquiry Committee, several witnesses contradict him. Arnaud Montebourg, the former Minister of the Economy, also testifying under oath, stated that he was convinced ‘that physical pressure had been exerted on Mr Kron, such as the threat of his arrest’. A former Alstom senior executive agrees. Pierre Laporte, former general counsel of Alstom Grid, the group’s branch specializing in electricity transmission, has a disturbing recollection to tell the members of parliament.
‘In 2013, Mr Kron and Mr Carr met with the DOJ. Keith Carr, whom I saw the next day, then told me that he had phoned his two sons from the airport to warn them that he might not return from his next trip because the DOJ had threatened him and Kron with arrest.’
During the Parliamentary Enquiry he had initiated, Olivier Marleix also revealed an aspect of the Alstom/GE case that had been overlooked, i.e. the extravagance of the resources deployed by the two companies in media communication, financial arrangements and legal assistance. To complete the sale, Alstom used ten law firms, two financial advisers (Rothschild & Co.; Bank of America Merrill Lynch) and two communication agencies (DGM and Publicis). GE, for its part, used three financial advisers (banks Lazard, Crédit Suisse and Morgan Stanley), the communications agency Havas and numerous law firms. Alstom spent a whopping €262 million! It goes without saying that GE must have put a similar amount on the table.
‘Does such an excess of funding still allow the government and shareholders to make informed decisions?’ Marleix asks in his foreword to the Committee’s final report. He pursues his rhetoric with vigour: ‘Was there anyone left in the Paris marketplace who was willing to push through something that goes against those interests? Here are we not just witnessing remuneration for the mission undeniably carried out, but above and beyond, remuneration to influence the very decision itself?’ I couldn’t have expressed it better myself. I now understand why so few dissenting voices were heard at the time of the takeover. Silence is golden.
Finally, the Committee also points to the disturbing role played by Emmanuel Macron in this case. In October 2012, after being appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Élysée, fresh from Rothschild Bank (Alstom’s financial adviser), he urgently requested a confidential study to be carried out. The request is written as follows: ‘Evaluate the pros and cons of a change of shareholder in the company for French industry and employment.’ This ‘report,’ writes Olivier Marleix, ‘is based on accurate information relating to a change of majority shareholder’. Bouygues was Alstom’s reference shareholder, with a 30 per cent stake, which it decided to sell. Therefore, concludes the MP, ‘it is regrettable that the state authorities, who had enough accurate information at their disposal to commission a study at a cost of €299,000, at no time deemed it worthwhile to pursue their efforts in assisting Alstom, favouring a GE takeover scenario instead’. In other words, Marleix was convinced that Emmanuel Macron knew before anyone else what was being concocted.
In January 2019, Marleix reported to the prosecutor of the Republic of Paris the existence of a possible corruption pact concerning Emmanuel Macron. The file now in the hands of the Parquet National Financier (the French equivalent of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office) alleges that some people who heavily funded Mr Macron’s political campaign also benefited from Alstom and GE spending an extraordinary €600 million on consultants, financial advisers, lawyers and communication experts at the time of the takeover. I am obviously unable to know whether his analysis is relevant. Personally, I above all hope that Emmanuel Macron, who has since become President of the Republic, will write to Donald Trump to request a presidential pardon, as the information I receive on this subject is confusing. One minute, the liaison officer Navarri promises me that it has been carried out, and the next it appears to have been shelved. The timing is not good as Trump himself has big problems since his election in controlling the DOJ and the FBI. He even tweeted in August 2018 that ‘an incredibly corrupt FBI & DOJ trying to steer the outcome of a Presidential Election’, referring to the DOJ investigation over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 elections. He also stated in 2012 that the ‘FCPA is a ridiculous and horrible law’!
Anyway, at the end of our meeting in the visitation room, Olivier Marleix promised to check on the situation with the French Ambassador in Washington and Philippe Etienne, the President’s diplomatic adviser.
Emmanuel Macron is due to arrive in the United States on 24 April. He will be the first foreign Head of State to meet Donald Trump on American soil since his election. The two presidents (who share very different political backgrounds) seem to like each other. Who knows, this could go in my favour. My imagination starts to run wild. What if Emmanuel Macron were to succeed in obtaining a presidential pardon? I could return to France with him? I’m getting carried away . . . Wake up, Pierucci!
Chapter 50
