Wackenhut

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The neutrality of this article is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(June 2008)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

The Wackenhut Corporation is a United States-based private security and investigation firm, and is headquartered in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Wackenhut was founded in 1954, in Coral Gables, Florida, by George Wackenhut and three partners, all former FBI agents. After early struggles — including a fistfight between Wackenhut and one of his partners — he took sole control of the company in 1958, naming it for himself. After working all day in the office, he sometimes worked as a security guard at night. By 1964, he had contracts to guard the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission's nuclear test site in Nevada; the company had an initial public offering the next year. In 2002, the company was purchased by Danish corporation Group 4 Falck (now Group 4 Securicor) for $570 million. At the time, the company operated in 54 countries, had $2.8 billion in revenue, and its founder still controlled more than 50% of its stock.

1 Overview
2 Wackenhut and private prisons
3 Wackenhut and the CIA
4 Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station
5 Wackenhut overbilled Miami Dade by six million dollars
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Overview

[edit] Wackenhut and private prisons

[edit] Wackenhut and the CIA

Frequent rumors that his company was in the employ of the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly in the 1960s, were never substantiated, but Wackenhut, who was obsessive about high-tech security gadgets in his private life, did not discourage the suggestion. Several of his senior executives were former CIA operatives, and his company's board of directors included former FBI director Clarence M. Kelley, former National Security Agency director Bobby Ray Inman, and former Defense secretary and deputy CIA director Frank Carlucci. On rare occasions, the company's clandestine work did land in the headlines. In 1991, a U.S. House of Representatives committee investigated charges that a Wackenhut executive, working for a consortium of oil companies, illegally spied on a whistleblower, former independent oil executive Chuck Hamel, exposing environmental damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill [1]. The executive, who had also discussed trying to implicate a California congressman in his sting, resigned immediately after a meeting with George Wackenhut.

[edit] Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station

In September 2007, former employee Kerry Beal videotaped fellow security guards at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station sleeping while on duty (albeit in a ready room). Beal had previously tried to notify supervisors at Wackenhut and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Wackenhut was fired from its role guarding Peach Bottom and nine other nuclear plants.^[1]

[edit] Wackenhut overbilled Miami Dade by six million dollars

In May 2008, an audit from Miami-Dade County found that Wackenhut had overbilled the county for up to six million dollars over three years for non-existing security guards at Metrorail stations and along bus routes, and tried to cover this up using inaccurate and falsified records,including payment to officers for ghost posts. Officers were paid and asked to sign in so management could bill the county , even though the hours were never worked. Numerous people have been fired/suspended by Wackenhut, including the Project Managers, Elijah Pendelton and Gerald Lepore, along with Major Kaslick, Major Holmes, Major Mora, Major Alverado, Major Colon and Major Pereira have all been relieved of duties with TWC for their part in the conspiracy and cover ups of fraud against the County. Indictments are now pending to be released soon and is expected to include high level County employees that processed these fraudulent invoices and allegedly through confidential sources close to the investigation stated, they all received kickbacks, some say to the tune of $100,000 dollars. The company disputed the audit, but has fired/suspended at least 8 management employees as of 28 May 2008 on the metro Rail Contract including, investigating of the current contract manager of TWC who is a recently retired Miami-Dade Police captain now working for Wackenhut metro rail, Mr Dennis Shaw. A call to his office resulted in a typical, " I can't comment at this time due to company Policy" . The Public corruption unit and the FBI and A.M.S have worked very hard on this case and a final outcome is near, including Grand Jury indictments and TWC losing the 92 million dollar contract and being banned from all future Miami-Dade contracts according to the Mayor, Mr. Carlos Alvarez, a former retired Miami Dade Police Director. It has been suggested to return police Officers to replace the Wackenhut guards who are now there. ...^[2]