spoke to, however, were also hired directly by Smith or Le Roux himself, and had never heard the name Echelon.

58 a fake Zimbabwean birth certificate: I obtained copies of each of Le Roux's fake identities through correspondence with former employees who in some cases had helped Le Roux acquire them.

59 South African contractor named Marcus: Although this man lives under an- other name, “Marcus” is how Le Roux referred to him (see USA v. Hunter, Document 580, April 5, 2018, at 399). I initially agreed to grant him anonym- ity believing he was involved in one particular part of Le Roux's business about which I was seeking information. Later I discovered his role was much greater, and more disturbing. At that point, we had already made an agree- ment and he declined to allow his name to be used, out of fear of the conse- quences for him in South Africa.

59 an Irish ex-soldier named John O'Donoghue: O'Donoghue was another Irish- man who had co-founded Echelon, the security front company, with Dave Smith. From interviews with Tim Vamvakias, as well as USA v. Hunter, Docu- ments 576 and 580, April 4 and 5, 2018.

60 carrying a duffel bag full of American cash: This incident was described to me by a former contractor and referenced in USA v. Hunter, Document 589, April 12, 2018, at 1565.

60 gold hidden in the tailgate: Interviews with two contractors who were part of this mission, which involved driving gold into Mozambique and then flying it out on a Russian Antonov cargo plane owned by Le Roux.

60 supervise logging operations: Interview with Robert McGowan.

60 through La Plata Trading... the banner of Martenius Trading: Artifacts of Le Roux's former timber businesses live on in the form of business registrations for companies like La Plata and Martenius, online advertisements for their wood, job listings for roles in the operations, and the LinkedIn profiles of former employees.

CHAPTER 7

61 a relative from his extended family: This relative, who was close to Le Roux, asked that their name not be used as a condition for our interview, because they do not share a last name with Le Roux and fear personal repercussions if the connection were to be revealed. Unless otherwise noted, the childhood details here derive from interviews with this relative, Le Roux's cousin Mathew Smith, and his half-sibling Sandi.

61 born on Christmas Eve, 1972: I received a copy of Le Roux's real birth cer- tificate from a relative.

61 a soldier from South Africa: The relative and Mathew Smith both provided me this version of events.

61 Other family members recalled instead that Le Roux's father: Interview with Le Roux's half-sibling Sandi.