Sarkis Soghanalian was given an early release when he helped the Clinton administration to attempt break up of a counterfeiting ring in Lebanon.
16 Facts About Sarkis Soghanalian
1.
2.
Sarkis Soghanalian was born to an Armenian family in what was then French mandate Syrian Iskanderun.
3.
Sarkis Soghanalian later took up a job as a ski instructor in Lebanon, where he met and married his American wife.
4.
Sarkis Soghanalian was introduced to the world of arms trade in the beginning of the 1970s.
5.
Sarkis Soghanalian sold his first consignment of firearms in 1973.
6.
The Iraqi officials appealed to Sarkis Soghanalian, then based in Miami, Florida, who in turn approached several European governments.
7.
Sarkis Soghanalian found French leader Francois Mitterrand inclined to conducting the transaction so long as the deal was kept secret, since Iran was holding French hostages at the time, and France did not wish to antagonize it.
8.
Sarkis Soghanalian defended the sales when they were later revealed on the eve of the Gulf War, in January 1991.
9.
Sarkis Soghanalian helped sell to the Iraqi army military uniforms worth $280,000,000 from Romania.
10.
Sarkis Soghanalian's testimony exposed the role of American government officials in the illicit arms trade.
11.
Sarkis Soghanalian gives a first-hand description of official and unofficial American involvement in the enormous buildup of arms to Saddam Hussein.
12.
Sarkis Soghanalian was convicted on six counts for possession of armaments and intent to sell to Iraq.
13.
In 1999 Sarkis Soghanalian arranged for an air drop of 10,000 AK-47 assault rifles, originally from East Germany and Jordan, intended for use by the Peruvian government but most of it fell into the possession of the Colombian leftist guerrilla organization FARC, which were opposed to the US-backed government of Colombia.
14.
Sarkis Soghanalian had been able to purchase the rifles for $55 apiece in addition to a $20 transportation, and "shipping and handling" fee.
15.
Sarkis Soghanalian was one of the inspirations for the character of Yuri Orlov in the 2005 film Lord of War.
16.
Sarkis Soghanalian died on October 5,2011, at the Hialeah Hospital in Hialeah, Florida.