Michael Soussoudis

Michael Agbotui Soussoudis (born April 1946)[1] is a former employee of the Ghahanian Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) who was arrested by the United States for passing over a list of suspected US spies to the PNDC government after eliciting the names from Sharon Scranage. He is also a distant nephew of Ghanaian leader Jerry Rawlings.

Early life

Michael Agbotui Soussoudis was born in April 1946 in Accra, Ghana. He was brought up in West Germany, and went to college in New York City, where he also was married and divorced to an American woman. He returned to Ghana after college, and was described as leading a "playboy lifestyle, due to his party lifestyle and friendship with American women, he was described as "more American than African." As an adult he was described as a handsome, debonair character.[2]

Involvement with Sharon Scranage

Soussoudis formed a romantic relationship with CIA employee Sharon Scranage sometime between May 27th, 1983 and October 1984,[3] eventually getting her to confide confidential information to him. The affair reportedly lasted 18 months and it is unclear if the CIA had directed Scranage to form a relatioship with Soussoudis, or if the relationship happened spontaneously.[4] The first indications of tha affair occurred in 1983 when an Office of Security officer was at Scranage's home for dinner and noticed a picture of a man, later identified as Soussoudis on the vanity of her mirror. The picture showed a shirtless Soussoudis with blankets pulled up to his chest.[5] Upon Scranage's return to the U.S. she failed a routine polygraph test, and further questioning led to the CIA uncovering how much information Soussoudis had obtained from her. American authorities claimed that Scranage had handed Soussoudis "sensitive documents and the names of virtually everyone working for the C.I.A. in the country."[6] Soussoudis is an example of employing a successful honey trap to gain classified information.

Fallout and Consequences

The information Soussoudis obtained from Sharon Scranage led to the arrest of 8 Ghanaian citizens spying for the CIA in Ghana, as well as the uncovering of a planned coup by Godfrey Osei, of which there are allegations that a western power supported.[7][8] This coup was allegedly already in motion with a boat carrying six tons of heavy weapons when the crew rebelled. This led to the boat of arms and mercenaries returning to Brazil and the mercenaries being arrested, and later breaking out of prison and making their way back to the United States.[9][10] Among the 8 arrested in Ghana included Naval Capt Oppong, Colonol Bray, Abel Edusei, Adu Gyamfi, Major John Kwaky Awuakye, and of these men most of them had been issued sentences ranging from 25 years of hard labor, to life in prison. These men constituted some of the most high ranking informants the CIA had in the government of Jerry Rawlings.[11] These 8 CIA spies were stripped of their Ghanain citizenship before being deported the the United States, and being relocated in the Virginia/ D.C. area.

Arrest and return to Ghana

After Scranage's relationship with Soussoudis was discovered, Scranage agreed to help the FBI lure him to America. While on leave back in the U.S. while Soussoudis was also there, Scranage contacted him and asked to meet at a motel in northern Virginia, where Soussoudis was arrested and charged with 8 counts of espionage.[12][13] During a closed court hearing, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the United States, but was eventually traded in exchange for eight of the agents whose identities he had helped compromise in Ghana. A condition of his release was that his sentence would be commuted if he left the United States in under 24 hours, and he was not allowed to return.[14] On December third, 1985 he returned to Ghana and was greeted by thousands of cheering citizens.[15]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/DOC_0000624354.pdf
  2. ↑ http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201985%20Dec%201985/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201985%20Dec%201985%20-%200261.pdf
  3. ↑ Kessler, Ronald. Inside the CIA. Simon and Schuster, 1994. 400. Print Page 198.
  4. ↑ http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2011/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201985%20Dec%201985/Geneva%20NY%20Finger%20Lake%20Times%201985%20Dec%201985%20-%200261.pdf
  5. ↑ Kessler, Ronald. Inside the CIA. Simon and Schuster, 1994. 400. Print Page 198.
  6. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1985/07/13/us/officials-think-spying-led-to-death-of-cia-informant-in-ghana.html
  7. ↑ http://www.mercenary-wars.net/ghana/nobistor-affair.html
  8. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-26/news/mn-1944_1_cia-training
  9. ↑ http://www.mercenary-wars.net/ghana/nobistor-affair.html
  10. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1985-11-26/news/mn-1944_1_cia-training
  11. ↑ http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/artikel.php?ID=48551
  12. ↑ http://openjurist.org/807/f2d/383
  13. ↑ http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/DOC_0000624354.pdf
  14. ↑ http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/theBigLeak.pdf
  15. ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=0JKkBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA330&lpg=PA330&dq=soussoudis+return+to+ghana&source=bl&ots=91smFTSB_Y&sig=6djFr5maOXrRBKEK8KDph4reZS8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=VTNAVc3dBe3_sAS54oHwAQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=soussoudis%20return%20to%20ghana&f=false