Peter Videnieks

Peter Videnieks
(circa 2009)
© USCC.gov

Peter Videnieks is a Commissioner with the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. He was recently reappointed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for a second two-year term expiring December 31, 2010.[1]

Prior to his appointment, Videnieks served on the staff of Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV).[1]

Biography

Inslaw

Videnieks' wife, Barbara Videnieks, also served on Senator Byrd's staff. During the early-1990s, she was Chief of Staff. On the evening of August 9, 1991, freelance writer Danny Casolaro intended to meet in Martinsburg, West Virginia, with two employees of Senator Byrd's staff. Barbara Videnieks was believed to be related to one of Casolaro's contacts.[2]

Shortly before noon, the following day, Casolaro was found dead in his hotel bathtub, the apparent victim of a suspicious suicide. Casolaro had been researching material for Inslaw Inc. and that material had centered on Inslaw's arguments in a very contentious bankruptcy liquidation case against the United States Department of Justice.

Videnieks was the Contract Officer who oversaw Inslaw Inc.'s Promis contract for the Management Division of the United States Department of Justice.[3] Prior to joining the DoJ, Videnieks had administered three contracts between the Customs Service and Hadron Inc.[4] Hadron was a competitor to Inslaw, and was under the direction of controlling shareholder, Earl Brian, the former California health secretary under Gov. Ronald Reagan from 1971-3.[5]

At the time of Inslaw's contracts with Justice, Brian had become a venture-capitalist with a suspected connection to Director of Central Intelligence William J. Casey's covert intelligence operations.[6] During investigations surrounding the Inslaw Affair, Brian was accused of receiving a stolen copy of Inslaw's Promis software from Videnieks.

In a court affidavit[6] filed on March 21, 1991, by Michael Riconosciuto, on behalf of Inslaw's case, Riconosciuto claimed that "the Justice Department stole the Promis software as part of a payoff to Brian for helping to get some Iranian leaders to collude in the so-called October surprise."[5] Moreover, Riconosciuto named both Brian and Videnieks as being "among the frequent visitors" to the Cabazon Indian Reservation in Indio, California, where the Cabazon Band of Indians had formed a joint venture with the Wackenhut Corporation of Coral Gables, Florida, to developed and market munitions "to support the needs of a number of foreign governments and forces, including forces and governments in Central America and the Middle East."[6] By the early-1990s, the joint venture was rumored to be a California extension of the Iranian and Nicaraguan policy objectives of President Ronald Reagan's White House staff, more commonly known as the Iran Contra Affair.

Riconosciuto was a shady character with equally as shady contacts in black ops, according to the Executive Summary of the House Judiciary Investigation on Inslaw.[3] He claimed to have been directed by Brian to reprogram Inslaw's software sometime between 1983–84 so that it could be sold to dozens of foreign governments with a secret "back door" which allowed outsiders to track individuals using the Promis software.[3] Riconosciuto further claimed that Videnieks in a telephone conversation prior to Riconosciuto's filing of his affidavit threatened Riconosciuto's family with DoJ reprisals if Riconosciuto divulged any of this information in his initial interviews with House Judiciary investigators.[3] Eight days after he filed his affidavit, Riconosciuto was arrested on serious drug charges, then later convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.[7] Soon afterwards, Riconosciuto's wife was arrested on child custody charges; she eventually lost custody of their children.[8] During Riconosciuto's Tacoma, Washington, trial in which Riconosciuto claimed that he had been "set up" by the government on fraudulent drug charges, Videnieks denied ever having known Riconosciuto.[9][10]

To this day, there has never been any reliable or conclusive documentation in support of Riconosciuto's allegations. Riconosciuto claimed to have made three tape recordings of their telephone conversation; however no tapes to corrobrate Riconosciuto's claims have ever surfaced. Additionally, in House Judiciary investigations into the Inslaw Affair[3] both Brian and Videnieks "denied under oath even knowing each other"[2] though the House Judiciary investigating committee received information from Margaret Wiencek and John Schoolmeester in apparent contradiction to both Brian and Videnieks.[3]

Other

Videnieks has been an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revenue officer.[1] (One of two Enterprise Computing Centers for the IRS is located in Martinsburg, West Virginia.)

Education

Videnieks holds degrees from the University of Maryland (B.A. economics) and the George Washington University (M.S.A. with concentration in procurement and contracting).

Personal

Videnieks was born in Latvia and lives with his wife Barbara J. Videnieks on a farm in Northern Virginia; they breed show dogs.[11] His language skills are: Latvian, Spanish and German.[1] His wife Barbara has served as the chief of staff of senator Byrd[12] from at least 1992.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Dreyer, June Teufel (2008-11-20). "Commissioner Peter Videnieks". United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  2. 1 2 Richardson, Elliot (2001-07-24). "The Bua Rebuttal". Washington-weekly.com (a ZoomInfo cached page). Retrieved 2008-09-11. (mirrored version no. 2)
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Committee on the Judiciary (1992-09-10). "House Report 102-857:THE INSLAW AFFAIR, Investigative Report". Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  4. ↑ DiNardo, John (1991-05-29). "Index of/Politics/Conspiracy/DiNardo/Inslaw" (PDF). In These Times. pp. (see Inslaw.05). Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  5. 1 2 Richardson, Elliot L. (1991-10-21). "A High-Tech Watergate". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
  6. 1 2 3 Case No. 85-00070, affidavit: Michael J. Riconosciuto, March 21, 1991.
  7. ↑ Associated Press (1992-01-19). "Jury Says Guilty -- Man Claims Frame-Up But Faces 20-Year Term After Verdict On Seven Drug-Related". Seattle Times Company. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  8. ↑ Martin, Harry (1992). Federal Corruption Inslaw "Wife of key witness in Justice scandal - INSLAW case - is arrested in Napa" Check |url= value (help). Napa Sentinel. pp. (scroll to bottom of link). Retrieved 2009-02-13. (See also: "Hard Decision"; "Bobbie, Caught in the Middle"; and "Bobbie, Extradition")
  9. ↑ staff reporter (1992-01-16). "Justice Official Denies He Met or Threatened Riconosciuto". The News Tribune (Tacoma). Retrieved 2009-03-10.
  10. ↑ O'Meara, Kelly Patricia (2001-01-29). "Nothing is Secret, Part I". Insight magazine. Retrieved 2008-08-27.—The Plot Thickens in PROMIS Affair(Part II) — PROMIS Trail Leads to Justice, (Part III) — PROMIS Spins Web of Intrigue, (Part IV)
  11. ↑ "MS Roxie Rixey". Baltimore County Kennel Club. 2008-04-20. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  12. ↑ "Barbara J Videnieks, Congressional Staffer - Salary Data". Retrieved 2009-03-16.
  13. ↑ Sarah McClendon (1992-10-20). "Who were the Arms of the Octopus Squeezing the World?". Sarah McClendon's Washington Report. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
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